February 2008

Wyrd Sisters play at Kenton Theatre

28 February 2008 (18:32) Comment!

The Henley Players will be performing a play based on Wyrd Sisters at the Kenton Theatre in Henley-on-Thames Oxfordshire in the U.K. The production will be performed every day from March 25 (Tuesday) to March 29 (Saturday) at 7:45 p.m. and on March 29 at 3 p.m. Grainne Harling from the Henley Players said, “rehearsals already promise a great show and the enthusiastic cast would love to welcome Terry Pratchett fans to the production … join us at the lovely Kenton Theatre, the fourth oldest working theatre in the country, for a delightful descent into Discworld.”

Bath Literature Festival report

26 February 2008 (16:45) Comment!

Terry Pratchett’s appearance at the literature festival in Bath last weekend was attended by fellow Discworld fan Sarah Brett (whose blog can be found here), and she has graciously agreed to let FromRimToHub.com publish a report of the event, which follows.

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of seeing Terry Pratchett speaking at The Forum in Bath. He was “in conversation” with Sarah LeFanu (Art Director of the Festival) and the subject of the evening was ‘25 years of Discworld’. This was only the second time I had seen him in the flesh, the first being at a book signing at Ottakers in Walsall about 7 years ago. I was surprised, as I was then, at how unassuming a character he is in real-life. Small, balding, with a neatly trimmed beard, and customary black hat, he talks in a slightly high-pitched voice and seemed a little nervous when he first walked on-stage. However, his ready wit immediately came to the fore as he began answering LeFanu’s questions. Their chat meandered through a variety of subjects, beginning with how he first came to the world of Fantasy/SF (via a Saturday job in a library) and moving through subjects such as his fillings, tarletane dresses, his new book ‘Nation’, and ended by touching on his recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.It was fantastic to hear him speak about so many subjects, both related directly to Discworld and also about his own life, which he is generally pretty reticent about. He talked about his house and how he had his own library built, with shelves high enough to require a ladder, and a magnificent open fireplace with stone lintel, which he regularly bangs his head on and led to him wearing an Edwardian velvet smoking cap when sitting in their of an evening. It’s details such as these which remind me why I identify with Terry so much, he is a lover of reading books as well as writing them. I also dream of being able to afford to have my own library, ideally two-stories with a spiral staircase leading up to a balcony running round the top shelves… Though I don’t know what the Librarian would have to say about having an open fire near all of those books (actually, I do, he’d say Oook!).

Terry also read us an extract from his new book ‘Nation’, due to be released in September. This will be another stand-alone book, without the usual suspects (though I assume Death will make an appearance). It is set on a small Pelargic island, known as ‘Mothering Sunday Island’, which near the start of the book is hit by a massive tsunami, killing all but one of the inhabitants. The boy who is left is shortly joined by another survivor, a girl who has been shipwrecked on the island by the wave. So far that’s all we know, though Terry then proceeded to read the extract, taken from the beginning of the book it described the wrecking of the ship from the captain’s perspective. A religious man, he has lashed himself to the wheel, and proceeds to sing ‘For those in peril on the sea’, adding his own alternative final verse as the ship is swept inland on the crest of the wave. The reading also involved Terry singing the verses as the captain heads toward his doom, which was highly entertaining. It was a tantalising glimpse into the new novel and has certainly whetted my appetite, it sounds like it will include Terry’s usual insightful wit and unusual characters. At the end of the talk Terry signed the paper which held the extract and proceeded to auction it off there and then, with the proceeds dedicated to the Alzheimer’s Foundation. It was finally won by a lady sitting a few rows behind me, with a winning sum of £425!

After the conversation part of the evening then Terry answered questions from the audience, sadly no-one asked any terribly insightful ones but he answered with good humour and told a couple of anecdotes. We learnt of the inspiration for the Luggage, as most people know the inception of this character occurred when Terry saw a rather large American woman struggling with a massive suitcase on wheels, apparently with a life of its own. However he went on to say that the Luggage then started life as a character in his next door neighbour’s sons’ RPG games. It was a walking inventory, which was liable to wander off and turn up later, but without your carefully secured weapons and items of value. He also talked a little about Sam Vimes, possibly his most well-loved character, and drew an interesting parallel between Sam’s discomfort with his elevation to the landed gentry, and how this reflects Terry’s own journey from his working class origins to his current status as one of the wealthiest authors in the world.

After his talk Terry came down to the front of the auditorium to sit and sign books. Unfortunately a result of his illness is that he is no longer able to sign dedications, and indeed he did seem to be tiring as we in the queue were encouraged to be as quick as we could when having our books signed. Fortunately I had done the restrained thing anyway, taking only one book to be signed: ‘Guards Guards’, which was the first Discworld novel I ever read. However, the queue stretched from the front all the way around the stalls and out of the door at the back, so I suspect he was there for quite a while.

It was a highly enjoyable evening all in all, it was the first time I had heard Terry speak at length and he was as brilliant and funny as you would expect him to be. I also very much enjoyed being amongst such a large gathering of Discworld fans. I don’t usually attend fan events, more by accident than design, but in future I may try to get to some. The atmosphere was great, everyone was chatting about things that I usually only hear of through the e-fanzines and websites, and I immediately felt that I was amongst kindred spirits (even if some of them did smell a bit strange).

For any fans who may be reading this Terry also mentioned that ‘Night Watch’ is to be broadcast on Radio 4, beginning on Wednesday 27th February at 11pm. He also confirmed that he has a small cameo in the forthcoming adaptation of The Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic, though he was unable to give us any further detail of the date of its premiere on Sky.

Colour of Magic TV spot

25 February 2008 (23:45) 8 Comments

With The Colour of Magic premiering in little more than a week on March 3 in London, it’s little wonder Sky One has begun airing TV spots for the adaptation. Fans have kindly made the video available on YouTube.  Here is a transcript for your perusal:

Rincewind: The colour of magic!
Twoflower: It’s–it’s sort of … um ….
Rincewind: Pink.
On Screen Lettering: From the makers of Hogfather.
The Arch-Astronomer: And green.
Rincewind: It’s a little bit yellow.
Cohen the Barbarian: Silvery.
Herrena: Gred. (?)
The Librarian: Oooooooook. (Caption says “Orange.”)
Bethan: I think it’s gray.
Trymon [ominous]: It’s very, very gray.
Death: A little darker.
The Arch-Astronomer: Wow. (?)
Twoflower: It’s a fluorescent … greenish-purple.
On Screen Lettering: Coming Soon
Rincewind: It’s the pigment of your imagination.
Narrator & On Screen Lettering: Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic.

Don’t forget to check out our Colour of Magic info page, which includes a full cast list, trivia, quotes from Terry Pratchett on the adaptation, and airing date information.

Night Watch radio dramatization begins Wednesday

22 February 2008 (16:44) 4 Comments

A dramatization of Night Watch is being broadcast this Wednesday, February 27 on BBC4 radio at 11 p.m. The half-hour radio broadcast, dramatized by Robin Brooks, will feature a full cast, including:

* Sam Vimes ….. Philip Jackson
* Young Sam ….. Carl Prekopp
* Carcer ….. Paul Ritter
* Fred Colon ….. Sam Dale
* Jocasta Wiggs ….. Clare Corbett
* Sergeant Knock ….. Matt Addis
* Dr Lawn ….. Ben Onwukwe
* Willikins ….. Peter Marinker

Check the BBC4 webpage for more information.

 Edit: The broadcast actually consists of five different half-hour episodes, the first of which will be broadcast Wednesday.  Future episodes will be broadcast March 5, March 12, March 19 and March 26.

Reminder: Terry Pratchett at Bath Literature Festival this Saturday

21 February 2008 (18:34) Comment!

Terry Pratchett will be appearing at the 2008 Bath Literature Festival (“Origins & Identities”) on Saturday, February 23 at 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. To quote the event (titled “Terry Pratchett: 25 Years of Discworld”) description:

For a brilliantly insightful representation of human life, stretch out a hand, pick up a book, and find yourself in the Discworld. The corruption of politicians, the power of money, the vainglory of celebrity, the optimism of youth, and the ubiquity of Death – all is there in the Discworld. We’re delighted to welcome Terry Pratchett, reinventor of ancient myths into modern form and storyteller par excellence, back to the Festival for an inaugural event to kick off the celebrations for the twenty-fifth year of Discworld.

More information and tickets are available online.

Colour of Magic official site from Sky One

19 February 2008 (20:54) 10 Comments

Sky One’s official site for The Colour of Magic is now on-line, at http://www1.sky.com/colourofmagic/index.html. The flash site includes many pictures from the adaptation.

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The site also has extensive interviews with Terry Pratchett, David Jason (Rincewind), Sean Astin (Twoflower), Tim Curry (Trymon), and David Bradley (Cohen the barbarian), as well as extensive comments from director Vadim Jean.

Colour of Magic premiere: March 3

17 February 2008 (15:01) Comment!

The Colour of Magic film adaptation premiere screening is set for Monday, March 3, 2008 at the Curzon Cinema in Mayfair.

All fans who participated as extras in the film will get tickets, but still need to apply for the tickets. (See your exclusive webpage for more information.) Everybody else should email rob@colourofmagicthemovie.com with the subject “Colour of Magic Premiere Tickets” by February 22 to obtain non-transferable tickets to the premiere. Tickets will be allocated first-come-first-serve. Please include your name, address, and mobile phone number in the email, and only apply if you can be in London the evening of the premiere.

Terry Pratchett will be at the premiere.

Thank you to WWW.PJSMPRINTS.COM for the news.

Book news: Translations in Czech, Romanian

16 February 2008 (16:31) Comment!

In book news, Terry Pratchett’s agent has given us this information:

Talpress in the Czech Republic will be issuing a 2-in-1 omnibus of The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic to mark the 25th anniversary of the start of the Discworld. They’re also issuing a collection of the contents of the Discworld Diaries 1998-2007 in a single volume.

Rao in Romania are taking licenses for Pyramids, Moving Pictures, and an unillustrated edition of Eric.

Laguna (Serbia and Montenegro) have acquired licenses for Hogfather and Jingo.

Proszynski (Poland) have just signed a license for Monstrous Regiment.

Making Money on FBS tournament shortlist

15 February 2008 (18:46) Comment!

FantasyBookSpot.com released the shortlist for its annual book tournament. In the 2007 release category, Making Money earned a spot, with competition from Un Lun Dun by China Mieville, Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin, Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, and more than fifty others. Starting March 9, books will matched up individually and voting starts to eliminate books from the competition. Here’s to Making Money’s victory in April!

Terry Pratchett to open Britain’s largest planetarium

10 February 2008 (17:30) Comment!

ThisIsHampshire.net is reporting that Terry Pratchett will open Britain’s largest planetarium at INTECH’S Science Centre in Winchester this March 19. INTECH director Phil Winfield said that Terry Pratchett is “a keen amateur astronomer and he was very excited about,” going on to say the 176-seat planetarium “puts Winchester on the map.” The planetarium will open for the public two days after the official opening, on Friday, March 21.

Colour of Magic screenplay on Amazon

9 February 2008 (16:01) 3 Comments

The illustrated screenplay for the Colour of Magic adaptation is now available for pre-order on Amazon, with a price of 11 pounds on the U.K. version of the site. (No price is yet available on the American Amazon). The 196-page hardcover screenplay (full title “The Colour of Magic: The Illustrated Screenplay”) is published by Gollancz, and has a recorded release date of March 6, 2008. No cover art is yet available.

Pratchett audio interview on Alzheimer’s

3 February 2008 (16:07) 1 Comment

BBC.co.uk interviewed Terry Pratchett about dealing with Alzheimer’s, in which Terry Pratchett explained how he found out and his family’s reaction. In the five-minute clip, he said philosophically, “I regard it as an unwanted intrusion into my writing time. There are so many variables in a situation like this, that all you can do is plan for the unexpected.”

Good news from Terry Pratchett, Alzheimer’s research fund to be set up

1 February 2008 (18:30) 1 Comment

Terry Pratchett updated his fans on the Alzheimer’s front on the PJSM Prints website. In the letter, he also mentioned his progress on Nation, his current non-Discworld project, his events schedule this year, and information on how fans can help, buy donating to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. More information, as well as the full text of the letter, follows:

Folks,

Happy New Year!

I’m going to keep this short because I’d like to finish Nation by the end of the week, but things here are looking up a bit since my last report.

I shall very soon be on medication that in theory should blow some of the cobwebs away and I hope my typing speed and accuracy will improve. Meanwhile, we are in contact with various organisation and researchers and keeping in touch with developments in the field, which is something of a Cinderella compared with other major illnesses.

In short, we are trying to set up a system so that if any researcher anywhere shouts “Eureka!” I’ll be banging on his door even before he’s found a towel.

I still expect to be able to go to the UK and US conventions. Apart from that, all my time in the office these days is spent writing, although there are a few events that I am taking on this year. I regret to say that I’m even cutting down on answering fan mail because my typing is so slow.

A new book or an answer to your fan letter - don’t make me choose.

We’re still getting lots of people saying “Is there anything we can do?” (Including high end brain specialists or other knowledgeable people who make up my “Greek Chorus” of advisors.) What will undoubtedly help, if you feel inclined, is to send some money. We will shortly be setting up a mechanism for you to do so and will post news on this when it is ready. This will be passed onto the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, who have been very helpful.

Terry Pratchett