Fandom

Terry Pratchett commemorative stamps available on eBay

27 March 2009 (17:58) Comment!

Two fans and artists of Terry Pratchett’s writings have created a set of commemorative stamps celebrating Pratchett’s life. The stampsheets are available now on eBay (or by emailing sirterry@stampsmyth.com). Here is the info, straight from the artists’ mouths:

We are Alan Batley and Colin Edwards, two fans of Terry Pratchett and his books from the UK, and two of the artists who worked with Terry on the very first Discworld stamps which you may know from the inside cover of the Going Postal hardback.

We thought it would be a fitting tribute to produce a set of commemorative stamps that celebrated Terry’s great achievements, and were thrilled that after receiving permission (and a lot of assistance with the details) from Terry’s agent Colin Smythe, he suggested that a framed copy of our work should be presented to Sir Terry at the lunch that followed his knighthood.

The 3 stamps celebrate:
40 Years of Published Writing
25 Years of Discworld novels
and his 60th Year, culminating in his Knighthood at Buckingham Palace.

In order to give Terry the very best quality of printing, Alan and I had to buy a small print run of the stampsheets and we are now trying to sell the remaining sheets of stamps to help pay for the printing and perforation of the stamps. A proportion of the royalties from the sales will be donated to Alzheimers charities in the East Anglia region; Alan’s mother had the disease.

We do not have a shop or website so we are selling these on eBay. The item details are at… http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250376103054&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

The artwork features an illustration of a very young Terry, based on Colin Smythe’s archive photographs of Terry at the launch of The Carpet People at the very start of his commissioned writing career; and Terry’s early signature from those days.

The central image is of Great Atuin, and the Discworld flying through space, celebrating the 25 years of Discworld novels.

The third stamp in the sequence is of Sir Terry as we all know him today in his trademark black hat and carries the modern signature we are more familiar with today.

Each stamp minisheet is presented with a numbered, certificate of authenticity dated on the day of Terry’s knighthood, signed by both of us, and hand stamped with a silver Great Atuin.

We hope you will take time to have a look at the listing, and might support a couple of fans who wanted to celebrate Sir Terry’s knighthood in an appropriate way, if you do not have an eBay account you can contact us at sirterry@stampsmyth.com for further details.

Thank you and congratulations again SIR Terry! Your recognition for services to literature has been long overdue.

Pictures!
http://s676.photobucket.com/albums/vv125/stampsmyth/?action=view&current=triptychcloseupRGB.jpg
http://s676.photobucket.com/albums/vv125/stampsmyth/?action=view&current=1minisheetcard2lores.jpg
http://s676.photobucket.com/albums/vv125/stampsmyth/?action=view&current=1lotsofminisheets.jpg]

Reminder: Second Life Gala Ball January 17, 2008

16 January 2009 (9:07) Comment!

As we reported earlier, the Second Life group responsible for creating the virtual Ankh-Morpork is hosting a Gala Ball in honor of Terry Pratchett’s knighthood on January 17, 2009 at noon Second Life Time.

A group notice sent out last week specified “Victorian costume,” but said that “roundworld medieval metalwear is not appropriate. It’s not easy to dance in for one thing.”

Two musicians and a DJ are planned for entertainment.

Terry Pratchett interview in the Irish Times

8 January 2009 (23:49) Comment!

Donal Clarke of the Irish Times interviewed Terry Pratchett when he was in Dublin for his honorary degree from Trinity College in mid-December, and just recently released the article. Terry Pratchett talks about his characteristic hat:

“There’s no significance to the hat,” he says in his focused way. “I just happened to see it in a shop one day and thought: ‘Bing! I am going to have a hat like that.’ Charlie Chaplin always said that there was no great plan to his image. He just looked into a wardrobe and saw this bowler hat, baggy pants and a cane.”

He also spoke of his Alzheimer’s campaigning:

“I do feel like something of a fraud,” he laughs. “I am sitting here talking to you and I guarantee that you would not guess there is anything wrong with me. What I have is posterior cortical atrophy, an early onset form of Alzheimer’s that happens on the rear of the brain. You have a whole bridge hand of problems, but initially they are all to do with visual acuity or sight in general.” … “Several people have told me I have been getting better recently,” he says. “Well, unless there has been a minor miracle that has not really been happening, but I am learning to cope. There is not really the language to explain how it affects me. I have to think before approaching a revolving door. My typing has got quite bad and my spelling has deteriorated. I also have a problem with my short-term memory.” He pauses and plays with his teacup.

“I also have a problem with my short-term memory. And then there’s my short-term . . . ” Yes, yes, yes. I can see where this is going.

Asked about his view of Death as described in the books and whether it’s changed since his diagnosis, he responded:

“No. I wouldn’t say I have changed my view,” he says. “Death is not a buffoon in the books. He’s still Death, but he has a certain amount of compassion. As he points out, it is the falling rock, the microbe or the bullet that kills you. Death’s job is just to take you away.”

He also says something we’ve never heard before about his rise to prominence in his early writing career:

“The Colour of Magic was serialised on Woman’s Hour and that brought some attention,” he said. “When I wrote the second one I really began to sense something moving out there. Later, I remember being summoned to my boss’s office at the CEGB. He had three of my books in front of him and he said: ‘Did you write these?’ I thought I was in trouble, then he asked me to sign them for his sons.” Pratchett quit the job shortly afterwards.

He also spoke about the marginalization of fantasy in literary circles:

“Alternate worlds are now the stuff of Booker winners, but they call it ‘magic realism’ not that ‘awful fantasy stuff’,” he says.

And he reiterates the fact that not all of his fans are 14-year-olds named Kevin (as the runners of this site can attest to):

“The first thing I would say is that 70 per cent of the people who come to my conventions are female,” Pratchett retorts. “Look, the stereotype lacks any accuracy. The stereotype fan is a 14-year-old in an anorak called Kevin. If that ever was true then Kevin is now long married to Daphne and he is beginning to wish he’d started his pension plan a little earlier. If you have parents who are Discworld fans then you will, most likely, be surrounded by books. Fantasy fans tend to read everything.”

And about the media interest in what is Britain’s most high-profile Alzheimer’s patient:

“Now, if somebody phones up and says, ‘I am from Radio WANK, tell me about Alz-heimer’s’, then I know they just want to fill an hour with Pratchett. I tell them to piss off. But it never occurred to me not to announce it.”

There’s much more in the article itself, including a powerful observation: “They say, ‘Don’t let them see you bleed’. But I say, ‘If you let them see you bleed then one of them might offer you a bandage’.”

Second Life event: Gala Ball in celebration of Pratchett’s knighthood

7 January 2009 (16:25) Comment!

The Second Life group responsible for creating the virtual Ankh-Morpork is hosting a Gala Ball in honor of Terry Pratchett’s knighthood on January 17, 2009.

The first Irish Discworld Convention (IDWCon ‘09) to be held November 2009!

2 January 2009 (13:50) Comment!

The first Irish Discworld Convention has been announced recently. It will be held November 6-9 2009 in the Falls Hotel, Ennistymon, Co. Clare in Ireland.

The organizers, Mary-Ellen and Nicola Murphy, are looking for volunteers. If interested, email them at info@idwcon.org.

Retro News: Pratchett’s fan updates October-December 2008; health “stable”; documentary “looks pretty good”; Unseen Academicals finished by May?

1 January 2009 (15:02) Comment!

Since October, Terry Pratchett has posted three updates on PJSMPrints, all of which contain a wealth of information about his writing progress, the media interest in Terry Pratchett The Alzheimer’s Patient, the documentary Living With Alzheimer’s, and so on.

To quote Pratchett’s October update (scroll down at the link):

At last some progress is being made on Unseen Academicals since we got through the making of the BBC2 documentary and all the alternative calls on my time that seemed to have filled the past year. Today, for example, I have nothing to do but write and Rob and I were just mentioning how odd it is to have a day which does not involve some kind of travel, meeting, or interview. In fact Rob is about to interview me right now:

(more…)

Announcing Sir Terry (Article Updated And Revised)

31 December 2008 (20:40) Comment!

Queen Elizabeth II’s annual New Year honors list includes Terry Pratchett, who was named a Knight Bachelor for services to literature earlier today (Wednesday in the U.K.).

Pratchett has previously been named an Officer Of The British Empire (OBE).

This comes after a failed petition in August 2007 to award Pratchett the honor of knighthood.

Terry Pratchett responded to the announcement by saying, “there are times when phrases such as ‘totally astonished’ just don’t do the job….I am of course delighted and honored and — needless to say — flabbergasted.”

(more…)

Nullus Anxietas (Australian convention 2009) updates: convention ticket sale, Gala Dinner tickets available

28 December 2008 (20:48) 1 Comment

Nullus Anxietas, the Australian Discworld convention 2009, is offering tickets $15 off for the holiday season, with the offer ending the 31st of December. Additionally, the Gala Dinner tickets (which are bought separately) are now on sale.

A preliminary program can be seen at the Nullus Anxietas website.

Another update: Here’s a video promoting the convention:

Nullus Anxietas from Snowgum Films on Vimeo.

Retro News: Pratchett interview, in which he actually talks about things other than Alzheimer’s (29 November 2008)

28 December 2008 (19:57) Comment!

Deborah Orr at the Independent.co.uk interviewed Terry Pratchett late in November, and in doing so provides some insight into Terry Pratchett’s writing process.

The article gets the requisite Alzheimer’s questions done early. Terry Pratchett summed up the effect of his very public diagnosis:
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Retro News: Pratchett interview (08 November 2008)

28 December 2008 (18:07) Comment!

In a Daily Mail interview titled I’m not beaten yet: Terry Prachett on the frustration and fury of Alzheimer’s, Terry Pratchett shared with the interviewer some more about his attitude towards the “embuggerance” of Alzheimer’s. To quote the article:

Although he calls it a ‘wretched disease’, since disclosing that he has it, he has retained his dark sense of comedy. He began an address to his latest convention of fans by cracking a joke. ‘I said, “Hello my name is…” Then I retrieved a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket and read out my name,’ he recalls.

The audience laughed because Terry, afflicted by an illness that steals both memory and identity, was permitting them to do so.

(more…)

Second Life event: Hogswatch party

27 December 2008 (13:56) Comment!

The Ankh-Morpork Experience, the group of fans on Second Life who built a virtual Ankh-Morpork, is hosting a Hogswatch ball starting at 1 p.m. SLT (Pacific Time Zone). A message sent out to the Ankh-Morpork Experience group members said:

Don’t forget the ball today , discworlders. 1pm SLT until late at the Ankh Morpork sim.

The Hogfather, DJ’s, live performances, and who know what else might turn up! Anything can happen and probably will.
Kahlan Docherty has graciously donated 1000 L as the prize for the most imaginative Discworld costume, so it has been decided to divide this between the best male and best female costumes. It’s time to get wracking your brains and your inventories!

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Ankh-Morpork, now on Second Life

25 December 2008 (16:35) Comment!

As of October 27, a group of fans (Ankh-Morpork Experience) opened up a world on Second Life based on the city of Ankh-Morpork. In a message sent to members of the Terry Pratchett Fans group, the fans announced “THE GRAND OPENING OF THE ANKH MORPORK EXPERIENCE SIM.”

The Second Life world includes the fans’ conceptions of many buildings found in Ankh-Morpork, including the infamous bar The Mended Drum, the patrician’s palace, a temple, and some of the guilds’ buildings.

New visitors to Ankh-Morpork are welcomed with the following message:
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The Discworld Convention 2008

3 September 2008 (8:29) 3 Comments

Many of you were lucky enough to go to the convention–but many more weren’t so lucky (including the admin of this site, a.k.a. me).  Fortunately for us, demdike from The Cunning Artificer’s forum was nice enough to be our scribe and write a convention report, in which we learn a bit about Nation, slightly more about Going Postal and other future film adaptations, and a lot about our favorite fandom:

The First Day: Friday, August 22, 2008

[The convention] started (officially) with the Opening Ceremony. There were voice-over messages asking for the stage to be cleared of party debris and on came Lu Tze with his broom. After telling everyone to go home–the Con had been and gone, and the disruption in the Number 7 procrastinator was blamed–the Men in Saffron (1 of the 2 was me) were called in to rewind 72 hours.  Cue stone grinding and Tardis noises, the lights went up and Lu Tze and the Men in Saffron had been replaced by Terry.

After briefly touching on his illness (most of which has already been printed online in most places) he spoke about the last year which has propelled him from relative media obscurity to celebrity status.

The evening ended with Terry’s bedtime stories, where the usual nutters turned up in their nightwear clutching their various bed companions (mostly furry).  Terry then read from Nation. I had to leave after an hour and a half so I apparently missed the lighter passages.  Definitely a darker book than any previously written.

The Second Day: Saturday, August 23, 2008

[Saturday] was spent trying to familiarize myself with the Hotel. Although the standard of the rooms was very high, it lacked the atmosphere of previous venues. The rooms were at the end of very long corridors. There was no one place to congregate, [the hotel] having a number of bars and eating places, so I never saw some people I knew were attending, and some I saw briefly in passing and never again.  Although the lectures and workshops were very well attended, quite a lot were scheduled for the same time. In fact the lady running the candle workshop came down the corridor wondering what the queue was for and was quite horrified to find out it was waiting for her. Previously she had had around a dozen people attend and this time it was 60!  She had only brought the materials for 60 candles, so had to turn people away.

The Masquerade I shall have to leave others to describe as I took part and was locked up in the ‘Green room’ with the other participants for all of it, but I can say that during the acts the Ankh-Morpork street refuse collector was called and the anonymous disgusting gnoll that came to clear up was none other than our own Pam Gower, and the fact that she was unrecognised pleased her no end, and of course the costume was all her own work as usual.  In fact, off stage I didn’t recognise her myself until I overheard her speaking.

The Third Day: Sunday, August 24, 2008

I attended the “2008 Is Wallace Year” lecture given by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, which was both entertaining and informative and as usual showed that the Roundworld can be as wierd and wonderful as the Discworld, with many similarities.

Pat had made the great error of describing his audience as sitting ducks–bad move as most of the auction (and every other appearance he made) was punctuated by duck calls.  The Octavo made an extremely impressive centrepiece and I had to leave before it came up, because it never would have fitted in the car.

The evening was rounded off by the Gala Dinner and Dragon racing.  The meal was very enjoyable except for the fact that I went out for a nicotine fix between courses and someone replaced my pudding with 2 grapes on a plate!

Terry gave a speech mentioning that for half the attendees it was their very first convention, which does raise the question of what has happened to half of the regulars?  The last speech was given by Lord Vetinari and his statement of one man one vote and he had it was interrupted by Terry begging to differ. Terry also said that he wasn’t bad–he was just written that way, which amused everyone.

The Dragon racing was enjoyable with a Tote using our free money and despite numerous stewards enquiries, photo finishes and one dragon being lifted and ‘helped’ to the finishing post by Nac Mac Feegles went off very well.

The Fourth Day: Monday, August 25, 2008

[Monday] was spent mostly packing, saying goodbye to friends old and new.  The Mob had brought David Jason’s Rincewind hat (the one that had fallen in the water, so suitably snotted), Kring the magical sword, and the Bafta, which Stephen Briggs managed to photograph it held by many people.

During the Meet the Mob presentation it was mentioned that the order of the next films will be Going Postal, Making Money, then Sourcery.  Unfortunately there may be limited fan involvement as the next two will be filmed in Hungary due to a lack of suitable buildings here and that most of the action is set amongst architecture.

The Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony was the usual mix of sadness and joy.

Joy because the prizes were given out, and we were all able to fit into the room together as at the Opening ceremony, but also sadness as one of the prizes for the Guild member who remained in charactor for the whole convention and who had contributed greatly to their guild and in promoting other peoples enjoyment was given an award named for Ewan the young assassin who captured everyone’s heart at the 2006 convention and who died shortly afterwards.

At the very end when the guests and con committee had left the stage there was the voice overs asking for someone to clear the stage of the mess and on came Lu Tze and despite being told we had only just got there, was adamant that we only got one time turn and this time really had to go home, so we did.

Home again, Wadfest next weekend, then the frantic saving for Hogswatch and Nadcon in Arizona.

Many many thanks to demdike for the report!

Would anyone else like to share their experiences? And for those who couldn’t go, how jealous are you?

It’s August 8, 2008–otherwise known as 08-08-08!

8 August 2008 (10:07) 1 Comment

It’s an important day for Discworld fans.  While celebrating the coincidences of an arbitrary calendar system may seem irrational, that’s no reason not to have some good fannish fun today!  Some Discworld-y things to do today, in honor of the triple-eight (or is that 7a?):

• The Wikipedia entry for the number 8 starts like this: “8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. The SI prefix for 1000⁸ is yotta (Y), and for its reciprocal yocto (y).”  Sounds fun, for those math-oriented types.
• Feel like you’re a Discworld fan?Well, you won’t after you see this amazing Discworld wedding cake!
• But if you want a non-perishable Discworld, get some paper and start folding.
• Seen C.M.O.T. Dibbler recently?  He’s been hiding out in January 24’s Non Sequitur comic.
• Check out our page of online quizzes!  They’ll quiz you on your Discworld knowledge and tell you which Discworld character you are, and entertain you for at least a few minutes.
• You know you read too much Discworld when …
  • … you have tasted dried frog pills.
  • … you know the recipe to Mr. Dibbler’s sausage-inna-bun.
  • … you go tobed with a sign reading “I ATEN’T DEAD.”
  • … you ask the orangutans at the zoo for help navigating the library’s referene section.
  • … you are always kindto cats, just in case the dude with the glowing blue eye-sockets shows up unexpectedly.
  • … you talk to gargoyles and expect an answer.
  • … you actually have gotten an answer.
  • … you ask to see a license if you are being robbed, mugged, or assassinated.
  • … you know all the words to the Hedgehog Song.
  • … you ask salespersons for the suitcases-with-legs section, and complain loudly when you discover there isn’t any such section.
  • … and so much more at the Discworld Compendium.
• Watch an old interview Terry Pratchett gave when Wintersmith came out in the U.S.
• Discworld fans, being the smart people they are, seem to make the news a lot.  Check out some other authors, spelling-bee winners, actors, and even some regular Joes on our Fans In The News page.

Other suggestions are welcome in the comments!

An update from Terry Pratchett

4 August 2008 (8:58) 2 Comments

www.PJSMPrints.com has another update from Terry Pratchett. Here it is in full:

Folks,

To those that want to know, it would be true to say that my life right now is occasional short periods of writing interspersed and interrupted with requests for interviews.  As my UK readers will know, merely catching a variant of Alzheimer’s has propelled me onto more prestigious chat show sofas than I have ever seen in 25 years of quietly writing the Discworld series. 

My general health is good.  The most recent test by my specialist indicates, in effect, that I am no worse now, and possibly slightly better than I was at the back end of November.  I have no idea when Unseen Academicals will be finished, simply because of the amount of media interest that continues to be generated by recent developments in the treatment of AD.  Frankly, and with the agreement of my publishers, I feel that this is something that I should give priority to.

In a week’s time we are flying to the States to talk to a number of specialists in AD research and, incidentally, go out with the LAPD officers who are tasked with – and I am not kidding – locating and bringing home those elderly joggers with memory difficulties who have jogged five miles and can’t remember where they live.  I thought this was an urban myth, but apparently it is true.  We will, obviously, be back in time for UK convention, which I would not miss for root canal surgery.

The bad news is that it looks as if, for various reasons, Going Postal The Movie will be delayed and shooting will not begin until the start of next year. However, the guys from Mob turned up this morning and filmed my sequence for the Colour of Magic DVD which will be released in October.

600-mile bike ride to support Alzheimer’s Trust

31 July 2008 (9:36) 1 Comment

A Gwendolen Morgan is biking across Vietnam to support the Alzheimer’s Trust this November, and friend Rachel Jarrett is helping her raise money for the charity bike ride, hoping to surprise Morgan with as many sponsors as possible.

Rachel Jarrett said, “As Terry fans and devotees we have all been reminded of this terrible disease and the frankly disgusting underfunding that researchers and doctors face whilst treating the illness, as well as the amount and range of support that can be offered by charities that do a brilliant job.”

Checks, etc. should be made to Gwendolen Morgan and sent to Rachel Jarrett (14 Bolingbroke Close/Great Leighs/Chelmsford/Essex/CM3 1NZ), and should be received by the middle of September.  Please provide a name and address.

Anyone willing to help can email Jarrett at rayj6@hotmail.co.uk for more information.

At least £2,500 has been raised so far,  £320 of which was raised withe aid of a cake sale.

Terry Pratchett book signing June 14

25 May 2008 (12:44) 1 Comment

To celebrate the launch of the Making Money paperback, Terry Pratchett will be signing books at the Foyles bookshop on the Southbank this June 14, beginning at noon.  The Saturday signing ends at 2:30 p.m., and fans are urged to arrive early.

Warning: Do not buy Discworld novels from Hill House, Publishers until further notice

1 May 2008 (19:53) 5 Comments

Hill House’s proposed facsimile editions of the first twelve Discworld novels, advertised since at least 2005, will probably not be published, according to Terry Pratchett’s agent Colin Smythe.

The new editions were supposed to reproduce the early Discworld novels “in exact facsimile editions,” with the use of identical binding, paper, type, and jacket art as the originals. The books were due to be published about every four months and since 2005 only The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic have been published.

Terry Pratchett’s literary agent Colin Smythe responded to questions with “as far as I’m aware, the owner of Hill House, Publishers Peter Schneider has been ill and as it’s a one man operation I don’t believe that he’s going to publish any more of the facsimiles. It’s a considerable disappointment.”

Discworld fans should be warned that the series of facsimiles is still being advertised on the site, with no mention of these concerns.

“I … paid the company $210 for the first six titles–[which] sounded like a good deal,” said one fan, whose complaint brought the situation to light. “As of [April 2008] only two books have been published. At $105 per book this doesn’t sound like as good a deal.”

He had emailed Hill House repeatedly, with no response and no refund.