Discworld Monthly - Issue 116: December 2006

1. Editorial

Welcome to issue 116. Ho, Ho, Ho! Hogswatch is coming! This month Sky One will be broadcasting their two part adaptation of Hogfather and it looks fantastic.

I've just got back from the world premiere and it was an amazing evening. The Mob have worked wonders in actually managing to bring Discworld to life.

See section 7 for more details.

As you may have noticed we have been having a few problems with our mailing list recently. We have been working hard with our list provider to try and resolve this problem. We are hoping recent changes made to the server should resolve these issues.

--
Jason Anthony (Editor)
Richard Massey (Deputy Editor)
William Barnett (Bottle washer)

2. News

There is a recent interview with Terry about Wintersmith on the Harper Collins website located at: http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/terry/talk.html

The is also a Wintersmith interview on the SFX website at: http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=terry_pratchett_interview

News from Colin Smythe:

The Christmas issue of SFX (no.151) features HOGFATHER, with Michelle Dockery, Nigel Planer and Death on the front cover and has a seven page article 'Terry Christmas' devoted to The Mob Films / Sky1 production, with questions answered by Terry, Sir David Jason and Marc Warren.

Hogfather DVD news:

Amazon.co.uk now have the Hogfather DVD listed on their site. Note that this is a region 2 disk and will not play outside of the UK.

At the moment you cannot pre-order it but Amazon will email you when it becomes available.

See http://www.discworldmonthly.co.uk/?ISBN=B000JMJUZ0

Barrie Wakeford the official Discworld Jeweller is selling pendants and earrings made from teeth from the Hogfather movie. 1 GBP for each set sold will be donated to the Discworld Convention charities.

Visit http://www.jewellerybybarrie.co.uk and search for Teeth to find the available sets. Please mention Discworld Monthly on any orders you place.

News from BursarVixen:

Last Orders at BursarVixen Enterprises

We would like to take this opportunity to inform our loyal customers that we will be beginning the process of retiring the existing range of Discworld beers in bottled form and that they will not be available after August 2007.

As some people may be aware Paul has returned to his roots and become involved in organising the Discworld Jamboree for 2007 (bookmark http://discworldevents.com/ for details soon) and this is taking up a considerable amount of his time. To ensure the Discworld event of 2007 gets the attention it deserves we have decided to stop the production, development and sale of Discworld beers with final bottled stocks being available at the Discworld Jamboree in 2007.

Our delightful daughter Millie, along with other business and personal commitments, means that there just aren't enough hours in the day to continue with BursarVixen Enterprises and, rather than lowering the quality of our service to customers, we have decided to call time on BursarVixen's range of Discworld beers.

Since starting BursarVixen Enterprises in 2002 we have seen and done some amazing things. Our Discworld beers were selected for the Great British Beer Festival by CAMRA, and we followed Terry across the Atlantic for The World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon) in Boston where we organised the Guest of Honour exhibit and were the only UK based Discworld trader to brave the passage to the New World.

December 2005 marked another first with our Discworld Beer Festival held in Wincanton. We spent some interesting times at the 2004 and 2006 Discworld Conventions.

We are returning to Wincanton this Christmas for the second Discworld Beer Festival and providing cask beer for the Jamboree in August 2007. Discworld Beers will remain available for these special events in cask form only.

Our time among you is coming to an end - but there is a chance that bottled Discworld beer will live on. We would be interested to hear from anyone who would like to have discussions about carrying on the good work that was started by BVE and continuing with our Discworld beer licence. Anyone interested can email on the following address:

Any transfer of our licence is all subject to approval at the highest level, and discussions at this stage are purely theoretical, but why not get in touch?

We look forward to welcoming many of you at the Beer Festival in December and to the Jamboree in 2007. Until then, we remain ready to supply bottled Discworld beer between now and Christmas and beyond into 2007, while stocks last.

Australian readers are remininded not to forget that auditions for Terry Pratchett's PYRAMIDS are being held this Sunday (Dec 3rd) from 3pm at:- The Bakehouse Theatre, 255 Angas Street, Adelaide. (East end of Angas Street, not far from Hutt St.)

You should all have received an audition notice by email quite a while back, but if you have forgotten all the details, all the information you require is on our website (right hand side of the home page) at:-

http://www.unseen.com.au

In a case of life imitating art it appears that round world now has its own version of The Sto Lat Plains - located in Bosnia. Apparently authorities in a Bosnian town plan to build a giant monument to the cabbage to honour their most important produce.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061115/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_life_bosnia_cabbage

Discworld Dates...

This section will contain events that you need to keep in your diary. Entries will remain until they go out of date. New entries will include the word [New] next to them. If this section gets too large we will start pruning entries.

[UK] The Thalian Theatre Group - Basildon, Essex will be staging Mort from Wed 29th November - Sat 2nd December. Contact for more details.

[AU, NEW] Maskerade's production of "Wyrd Sisters" will take place in Melbourne, Australia on Dec 1, 2, 3 at the Kingston Arts Centre, Cnr South Rd and Nepean Highway Moorabin. Tickets are 20 AUD and 15 AUD (includes a cup of tea and a bun, or a biscuit). Bookings (03) 9877 7095.

[NE] Wyrd Sisters will be performed in Rotterdam by ToKiJo1 on December 20, 23, 27 and 29. This is believed to be the first-ever Dutch adaptation of Wyrd Sisters.

So far, it looks as though they are booked for four performances by Project Sprookjesstad, an initiative that aims for children to visit the theatre more often. Of course, since it's Terry Pratchett, it's also good stuff for adults!

Telephone: 00-31-(0)636107476 Email:

[AU, UPDATED] Nullus Anxietas: The Australian Discworld Convention Melbourne, February 9-11 2007

Guest of Honour: Terry Pratchett Virtual Guests of Honour: Stephen Briggs, Bernard Pearson, Colin Smythe

Our draft programme is now online - have a look at http://www.ausdwcon.org/detail/show/programme - and we'd love to hear your thoughts on it. We've also dropped the price of our Gala Dinner from 90 AUD to 60 AUD. Don't forget, if you're coming along and plan on staying at the Carlton Crest, we recommend booking your hotel rooms sooner rather than later.

More details, as always, are out our website: http://www.ausdwcon.org

[DE] The first German Discworld Convention "Scheibenwelt-Fest 2007" will take place at a real castle near Siegen in Germany from February the 23rd till the 25th.

The organisers claim they will try to entertain you with a broad range of different workshops, shows, guests of honour and other events at this Uberwald-themed festival.

Tickets cost only 47.50 GBP for both days including accommodation in the castle, breakfast and dinner.

You can find the registration and further information at: http://www.discworld-convention.de

[US] Terry will be guest of honour at the MidSouthCon from March 23-25. The Convention takes place in Memphis, TN. http://www.midsouthcon.org/

Small Ads...

Please note, DWM has no way of checking the veracity or validity of any of the items in our small ads section. As always, exercise caution when giving out your details over the Internet. We *strongly* recommend parental supervision for younger readers who
follow up any of these contacts.

writes: I'm a moderator of a newish chat forum dedicated to Discworld, and wondered if it would be possible to advertise our site in a future edition. The link is http://mendeddrum.5.forumer.com/index.php

We're a very diverse and friendly group, with discussion on everything to do with fantasy and sci-fi, but of course the one thing we have in common is a love of all things Pratchett. Sometimes we take our noses out of our books long enough to have a good old chat about them, and we would love the opportunity to make ourselves known to as many fans as possible.

Jessica Woodcock writes: I am a second year drama student at Loughborough University. I am currently undertaking a project based on Masquerade by Terry Pratchett in which I am designing and making costumes for a hypothetical production. I am emailing to see if there is any reading material or publications referring directly to Masquerade or costume design for Discworld in general that you know of and could point me in the direction of! This is a project that I am very enthusiastic about and keen to gather the best research that I possibly can on previous ideas for costuming or thoughts on the play.

3. Readers' Letters

If you have any letters or comments, please email them to

We assume any correspondence is eligible for use in the newsletter unless otherwise stated, including the sender's email address. We may also edit your letters and redirect them to the Hogfather.

It is vitally important that you don't pass off other people's work as your own. If you use information from other resources please let us know so we can give proper credit.

The best letter of the month will receive a Kiss the Cook print supplied by Bonsai Trading. Bonsai Trading is the Discworld store that brings you Clarecraft figurines, diaries & calendars, Thud and much more. http://bonsai.discworldmonthly.org

*
* From: Steve Munro
*
Ian Gascoyne writes in DWM 115 about the problem of getting the really good DW covers on books in the USA and the cost of importing them from the UK.

If you don't mind waiting about a month after the UK release, you can get these versions from amazon.ca at quite reasonable prices. For some reason that baffles me in this era of instantaneous international events, the DW books rarely show up here the same day.

We in Canada have always received the UK editions right from the first, long before any of Terry's books were known south of the border (one of the leftovers of having been a colony is that we get a lot of books from mother England). Those are the editions that, thank goodness, are still sold here both online and in bookstores. I have started to notice some of the paperback editions of older books with new boring artwork, and I suspect they are sneaking in from our friends to the south. Harper Collins Canada seems to be using the USA versions of the books.

I just went to Amazon and did a search on Terry's name. Most books come up with the UK artwork, but some have the dreaded new designs. Good hunting!

*
* From: "Eolake Stobblehouse"
*
I found it interesting to read the letter complaining about the Boring Covers on Terry's books in the USA, because I have actually myself bought books *from* the USA paying for shipment to the UK, because I can't stand those garish UK covers. :)

Of course like Terry said to me, they seem to help the books selling, so I might be in a minority.

*
* From: "Peter Barker"
*
Could this be the origin of Nanny Ogg's cottage name in Wintersmith??

The legend of Tir-na-nog

Tir-Na-Nog is a very beautiful land. In Tir-Na-Nog the leaves don't fall from the trees or die. The flowers bloom all year round, and you can smell the scent of them miles away. If you are ever lucky enough to go to Tir-Na-nOg you would see young, happy people there.

If you spent five days in Tir-Na-nOg, it would be about three or more years in Ireland. Tir-Na-nOg has a stream going through it and green hills all over. The people there have beautiful clothes, and you would eat off of gold plates and drink out of crystal glasses.

For entertainment the people would play tin whistles or play gold harps. The scenery is beautiful and the sun shines most of the time. The people tell wonderful exciting stories, and the children play lots of games. Tir-Na-nOg means "The land of ever young."

I'm sure the Irish will be happy.

*
* From: "Thonoir"
*
Now I know this won't be revelatory or possibly even vaguely interesting but I made me laugh so I'm going to share anyway.

I've recently moved to Bangor (North Wales), returning to university after a 4 year absence and as is normal in such situations I've been reacquainting myself with the student lifestyle. Thus it was that I was walking back to my halls of residence up a bloody great hill when I stopped and tried to make sense of what my drunken eyes were showing me. Just down the hill there's a nursery called Tir Na N'Og. I was halfway through Wintersmith at the time... I don't know if I woke anyone with my laughing but now I know it's there, it makes me smile most mornings.

*
* From: "Bob Trost"
*
Long time subscriber and DW citizen since 1989!

I must be a Tsort-ian but the records clerk was looking in a mirror when he recorded my name as I have been stuck with the family name of Trost since 1952-ish

What are the plans for broadcasting / releasing the Hogfather and Johnny films in the US?

I was patient when the Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music Cartoons came out, and they were finally released in the states, but I'm hoping that we don't have to wait years for the two new releases.

Please let me know whatever rumours may come your way and thanks for a wonderful newsletter.

*
* From: "Kate Daniels"
*
I may not be the first to send you this information, but I was watching late night news tonight, (11pm Friday Nov 3, Western Australian time), and the sports news announcer said something about a horse running in next Tuesday's Melbourne Cup with an unusual name - Anke-Morpork! I about choked on my close-to-midnight snack - the owners must be PTerry fans. I am going to put ten dollars on it on Tuesday, for the sheer love of the name.

DWM replies: Kate gets this month's Letter of the Month.

*
* From: "Gabriella"
*
My name is Gabriella and I am an Italian Pratchett fan.

First I beg your pardon for my bad English: I have learned it by myself, enough for reading scientific literature (my job) and Pratchett novels (my hobby), but not enough for to write someone!

I don't know if someone has already pointed it out, but this morning I've finished "The science of Discworld III, Darwin's Watch": in the very last page, the "Afterthought", I've read the translation of Darwin family's motto... and I think it's wrong.

My far latin lessons recollections makes me translate "Cave et aude" not "Watch and listen" like in the book, but "Be careful (or pay attention) and dare".

I know that this remark has not great importance, but Pratchett's works are ever so fine and accurate that even this little spot is a strange finding, that could be revised in further editions of SoD III.

*
* From: "Yvonne Duffy"
*
Can anyone help?

I have been given a copy of Men at Arms and from the look of it, it has been about for a long time. Is there a way of using the ISBN number to date this copy? It still has its dust cover but it is sadly split in one or two places.

4. DiscTrivia

To tie in with the premiere of Hogfather this month I decided to ask questions about Discworld's movie novel: Moving Pictures.

Q1.: What is Discworld's equivalent to Lassie called?
Q2.: How many elephants does Dibbler promise on the advert for Pelias and Melisande?
Q3.: Who when asked "Can you sing?" answered "A Bit. In the bath.But not very well"; a) Victor Fugelbend; b) Victor Tugelbend; c) Victor Googlebend; d) Victor Roundthebend
Q4.: Who blushed the colour of fresh-cut garnet when blown a kiss?
Q5.: What snack was provided at the clicks?

The results, as always, appear at the end of this issue.

5. Review: Hogfather The Illustrated Screenplay

Reviewed by Jason Anthony.

Wow! What a brilliant way to build anticipation for the upcoming adaptation of Hogfather!

I wasn't going to bother with getting a copy of this book originally because I was expecting something like the Ladybird book version of Truckers that Thames Television produced many years ago. This, however, is something completely different. At nearly 250 pages and slightly larger than A4 there is a lot of book to look at.

Inside the book is the complete shooting script used to make the Hogfather. It will not be the same as the final edited version because things have a habit of evolving in the cutting room.

The main text of the story is interspersed with photos (both on and off set), technical drawings and sketches of sets and ideas. These just add to my confidence that The Mob will have done a great job on the adaptation.

From the photographs some of the sets look fabulous. I love the old panelled office of Lord Downey, and the life timer room looks amazing, like some kind of old underground station.

Vadim Jean's adaptation also seems to have captured the spirit of the original novel well. Whilst there are always going to be compromises (Vadim acknowledges some of them in his introduction) the essence of the novel is still there. Some parts of the text seem to have been lifted straight from the novel as I remember it.

If you are looking for a special gift for a Discworld fan this year you could do a lot worse that getting them this book. A must for any Discworld fan.

You can purchase Hogfather: The Illustrated Screenplay from Amazon.co.uk via our affiliate link (for only 12.00 GBP + postage).

http://www.discworldmonthly.co.uk?ISBN=0575079290

6. Competitions

This month we have three prizes to give away courtesy of Bernard "The Cunning Artificer" Pearson. Bernard has just opened the Octiron Forge (http://www.octironforge.com). This is a range of objets d'art ranging from a Room 3b plaque to a Goddess Anoia kitchen utensil all made in "lead free" pewter.

This month's prizes, however, are reproductions of the ring Tiffany has made in Wintersmith. The first prize will be made from silver and the three runners up prizes will be made from pewter.

In order to win one of these great prizes you just need to email the answer to the following question to by 20th December 2006.

Q1. The Tiffany rings are available in four sizes. What sizes are they?

The randomly selected winner will be announced next issue.

Last month we were offering teeth! But not just any teeth (these are teeth from the upcoming Sky One adaptation of the Hogfather). Barrie Wakeford donated a complete set of teeth jewellery (pendant and earrings) for us to give away.

All you had to do to win a "Set of Teef" was answer the following simple question.

Q1. How much is a "Set of Teef" from Barrie's website (not including postage)? (See http://www.jewellerybybarrie.co.uk for details).

The randomly selected winner was Emily Code of Great Yarmouth.

7. Review: Hogfather Premiere

Reviewed by Jason Anthony.

The premiere of Sky One's adaptation of Hogfather took place at the Curzon Mayfair in London on Monday 27th November 2006.

There were two showings of the first half of the two part series. The first showing was for cast / crew and press and the second showing was for the fans. I was invited to the first showing along with a few other very lucky fans.

The Curzon had gone all out for the premiere with Hogswatch trees dotted all around the entrance and lobby and a dusting of fake snow all over the floor. So instead of the red carpet treatment we got white carpet treatment.

It's a very strange sensation sitting in a cinema with the likes of Ian Richardson, David Jason, Tony Robins and Nigel Planer just a few seats away from you. I wonder how it feels to be an actor and watching yourself on screen?

After a brief video introduction of Sky One's line-up for the winter season we were told a bit about how Sky got involved with Hogfather and then Vadim Jean the screen writer and director spoke briefly about the cast, crew and his interaction with Sky.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long before the lights dimmed and the film started. I don't think I took my eyes off the screen for the next 90 minutes. From the moment I saw Great A'Tuin flying through space I was hooked.

Visually the film is looks amazing - especially when you consider it has been made for television rather than for cinema. The fact that it was shot in High Definition means that even when blown up to full cinema size it looks fantastic. A indication of just how good HD looks.

I think the thing that really made it real was when the camera zoomed in on the plaque outside the guild of Assassins, it felt so life like - I could really imagine I was there.

As far as I can remember, the film closely follows the the original novel. There are obviously going to be scenes and characters missing (for example the beggars, cheerful fairy and peachy are all missing) but this is only to be expected. The Mob had three hours to tell the story and, if you consider that an ISIS recording of a Discworld Novel is about 10 hours long something has to give.

The casting is spot-on: Michelle Dockery is the perfect Susan, David Jason plays Albert so well and Nicholas Tennant really manages to bring Nobby to life. I don't think there is a single character that is wrong in the whole cast.

After the film we were treated to a short and entertaining question and answer session with Terry, David Jason, Michelle Dockery and Vadim Jean. We were then ushered out of the cinema so that the second showing could take place. There was an after show party at the nearby Hilton hotel on Park Lane, which we attended. This gave us opportunity to talk to some of the stars and to be a bit of fan boy and get things signed. I've have a copy of the Illustrated Screenplay to give away in a future issue that has been signed by Terry, Michelle Dockery, Vadim Jean and Stephen Marcus who played Banjo.

I also had chance to have a few words with Sir David Jason. When I asked him did he enjoy the role of Albert he answered that he always enjoys the roles he takes. And that he feels privileged to work in a profession that he enjoys so much.

Whilst I was "networking" with the stars, the second performance was taking place and form what I have heard the atmosphere was incredible. I guess that 100 Discworld fans can make a lot of noise when sat together enjoying themselves.

We had a fabulous night and cannot wait for Hogfather on appear on Sky One. It was an amazing event and not one that I will forget in a hurry. Thanks to Sky and especially to Rob Wilkins for all his hard work in organising the fans and to everyone else that made the event possible. If you don't already have Sky One this is the only excuse you need. It may even convince Sky to adapt more of Terry's novels.

Hogfather will be shown on Sky One on Sunday 17th December at 8:05pm and Monday 18th December at 8:00pm. There is also a "making of" which will be shown on Sky One on Saturday 16th December at 2:00pm.

8. The End

Discworld Monthly would like to thank Sonnet UK for hosting our mailing list for us free of charge. For more information about Sonnet UK visit their website at http://www.sonnetuk.net

* Contact Information *

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* Latest Book Information *

Discworld hardback: Wintersmith http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385609841/87

Discworld paperback: Thud http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0552152676/87

Discworld hardback Companion: Where's My Cow? http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/038560937X/87

Discworld Young Adult paperback: A Hat Full of Sky http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0552551449/87

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* Disc Trivia Results *

Q1.: What is Discworld's equivalent to Lassie called?
A1.: Laddie
Q2.: How many elephants does Dibbler promise on the advert for Pelias and Melisande?
A2.: 1,000
Q3.: Who when asked "Can you sing?" answered "A Bit. In the bath. But not very well"
A3.: b) Victor Tugelbend.
Q4.: Who blushed the colour of fresh-cut garnet when blown a kiss?
A4.: Detritus (the kiss was from Ruby)
Q5.: What snack was provided at the clicks?
A5.: Banged Grains

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Discworld Monthly - Issue 116: December 2006

Table of Contents: