Danny Boyle to direct Truckers?
20 September 2008 Comment! Coming Soon reports that Danny Boyle wants to direct an animated Truckers movie based on Terry Pratchett’s children’s book.“You’re more like a ringmaster,” 28 Days Later director Boyle said of directing an animated feature, “[You’re] kind of organizing this huge army of illustrators who can change the movie. It’s really weird.”
Boyle tentatively hopes to work with screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, who has called Truckers his favorite book.
“Part of me thought: brilliant,” Boyce said of hearing Truckers would be adapted for the screen. “That’ll be a great film. But another part of me felt mugged. Truckers was my secret, a blessing I bestowed on the people I most liked.”
Danny Boyle has also directed Sunshine, Trainspotting, and Slumdog Millionaire, and hopes to work with Dreamworks on Truckers.
Pratchett essay on Nation from HarperCollins
19 September Comment! HarperCollins had published an essay Terry Pratchett wrote (slight spoilers at link) on his newest non-Discworld book, Nation which comes out September 30 in the U.S. (It is already available in the U.K.) To quote the essay:I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on a book…
Nation was born several years ago…. About four months later, when I hadn’t even scheduled the book, Indonesia was struck by the most recent tsunami, and I thought: There will be a time for Nation, but it’s not now. The story still cooked itself through, at the back of my mind, while I waited a few years.
After that disaster, I saw footage of people celebrating because the wave, which had flattened their whole village, had miraculously left their new mosque standing. But that seemed to me to be not much of a miracle—one that flattens flimsy huts and fails to disturb a solid-looking house of worship. Surely the miracle of a caring god would have razed his holy temple but left every little house intact? What had in reality taken place was the opposite of a miracle, wasn’t it? The trouble is, we call these things acts of God….
Is this the right kind of topic for a young adult book? Probably none better, I thought.
And the rest of the book fell into place like a clicking Rubik’s cube.
Pre-order and preview Nation
19 September 2008 Comment! American Pratchett fans can now pre-order the U.S. edition of Terry Pratchett’s newest non-Discworld book, Nation, which goes on sale September 30.
The cover blurb:
The sea has taken everything.HarperCollins is also offering a sneak peek of Nation.
Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne—a girl from the other side of the globe—is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave.
Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne’s sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives—all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down. . . .
Internationally revered storyteller Terry Pratchett presents a breathtaking adventure of survival and discovery, and of the courage required to forge new beliefs.
The U.K. edition of Nation was released September 11.
Competition: Win The Turtle Moves!
19 September 2008 2 Comments Lawrence Watt-Evans’s new guide to the Discworld series, The Turtle Moves!: Discworld’s Story Unauthorized. In celebration of its release last month, FromRimToHub is hosting a competition to win a free copy! Just answer the following question in the comments or by email (fromrimtohub * at * gmail ~dot~ com):The title of Watt-Evans’s book is taken from rallying cry of the Omnian rebels in Small Gods. If you were to write a Discworld fan guide, what would you call it and why?
You can find a review of The Turtle Moves! at FromRimToHub.com.
Pratchett receives honorary doctorate from Buckinghamshire New University
15 September 2008 Comment! Buckinghamshire New University honored Terry Pratchett for his career in literature and his charity work with an honorary doctorate, Pratchett’s sixth so far.This was of course another opportunity for an interview with the eloquent Terry Pratchett, and he expands a bit on his first decision to become a writer. After selling his first story for 40 pounds, he said he “bought a very good second-hand typewriter and that was it. I sold a few more stories and I decided that this was going to be for me.”
Terry Pratchett returned the favor to Buckinghamshire New University vice chancellor Ruth Farwell, making her an honorary wizard of the Unseen University, complete with a wizard hat, scroll, badge, and banana.
A video containing the beginning of Pratchett’s speech can be found at the BucksFreePress.co.uk.
Nation promotional campaign on Second Life; Pratchett on Second Life Oct. 9
14 September 2008 Comment! HarperCollins launched a month-long promotional campaign for Nation, Terry Pratchett’s newest non-Discworld novel, on Second Life on September 11.Terry Pratchett will participate in a live question-and-answer session on Second Life October 9.
Second Lifers can get a look at Mau’s island, digitally imagined, on the digitally created world The Nation. The island will include scenes and locations from Nation, as well as opportunities to win Second Life prizes and real-life prizes through a treasture hunt.
Pratchett interview on Nation
14 September 2008 Comment! Publishers Weekly interviewed Terry Pratchett recently (slight spoilers at the link) about Nation, calling it “more somber,” to which Pratchett responds, “It’s important for the hero to have tragic relief, the opposite of light relief. Let’s not forget that at the very beginning, the young hero has to bury everyone he’s known in his life and spends quite a lot of the book teetering on the edge of insanity. The book deals with issues that can’t be handled lightly.”The interview takes a bit of a detour, of course, into Alzheimer’s. Pratchett points out that “Alzheimer’s made a mistake, because it hit me with a variant that leaves me still more than capable of thinking and writing and speaking, and a lot of my time now is taken up with publicity for Alzheimer’s funding.”
He also talks a bit about kid’s reading, saying, “when I was a kid I read books well ahead of what my parents thought I read. It’s a wise child that doesn’t always let their parents know what they’re reading. I picked up quite an extensive vocabulary from reading although I must confess that for years I thought the word ‘ogre’ was pronounced ‘ogrey.’ I’d never actually heard it spoken, but I’d read it hundreds of times.”
Most intriguing of all, to those who haven’t yet read Nation Pratchett’s answer to whether or not Nation is “magical”: “That depends.”
Nation came out Sept. 11 in the U.K. and Sept. 30 in the U.S. (it is now available for preorder).
Nation review
14 September 2008 Comment! Amanda Craig of TimesOnline.co.uk reviewed Terry Pratchett’s newest book (slight spoilers at link), Nation, which comes out this month in both the U.K. and the U.S. To quote the review:It is hard not to see the terrible wave crashing through Mau’s people’s memories as an extended metaphor for the Alzheimer’s that has stricken Pratchett’s ever-fertile mind, and Mau’s struggle to recreate something new out of devastation akin to the author’s grappling with an assault on his creative powers. Yet like all serious writers of fantasy, Pratchett has always been proccupied [sic] with death. It is curious how those who dislike this form of literature believe it to be escapist when in fact it tends towards the opposite, dramatising the sorrow of eternal loss.Nation, a non-Discworld book, can be ordered on Amazon.co.uk and pre-ordered on Amazon.com.
The Discworld Convention 2008
3 September 2008 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!
Pratchett writes on Alzheimer’s drug Aricept
17 August 2008 Comment! The full text Terry Pratchett’s article, which begins with “The NHS is seriously injured,” and was found on page six of today’s News of the World, can be found on the website today. In it, Pratchett complains that the NHS in Britain is not doing it’s job:A drug called Aricept can slow the progress of the disease, and the good news is it costs just £2.50 a day.
The bad news is there are 400,000 Alzheimer’s sufferers in the U.K. so Aricept has been ruled out for NHS use in the mild stages of the disease everywhere except Scotland…. I’m a millionaire so I have no trouble paying, but there are people who can’t…. I would very much like to know the basis on which these decisions are made because some of them don’t seem to make very much sense. It is interesting to note I could get Viagra for free. I’m not too certain it’s the State’s job to provide Viagra.
He also points out that the NHS is not equipped to handle the upcoming wave of aging baby boomers.
Other interesting tidbits:
My wife and PA both noticed real changes in me after two or three months on it. I used to fumble with buttons and needed help with seatbelts. Now, I get dressed normally and seatbelts slide in first time. Mentally, it’s the difference between a sunny day and an overcast day. Ye Gods, that’s worth it!—————
I can still work at home and control my environment, and my rare variant of the disease is not yet a real burden. The novels turn up as they always have — only the typing is hard. There will now be a moment when the letter A, say, vanishes. It’s as if the keyboard closes up and the letter A is not there anymore. Then I’ll blink a few times and concentrate and it comes back.—————–
I’ve handed in my driving licence — if my brain won’t let me see that A, it might not let me see the child on the pedestrian crossing. Unlikely, at this stage, but who would risk it?
And I can afford a voice recognition programme for the computer. There’s no way I’m going to retire, I’ll be writing until I die. It’s my passion. I stood up and said I had Alzheimer’s. I didn’t expect all the fuss, or my mailbox to melt. Good grief, you write best sellers for 25 years in a kind of welcome obscurity, then you catch one lousy disease and every chat show wants to talk to you.Also, catch Pratchett tomorrow on a special Panorama program called The NHS Postcode: It Could Be You Monday at 8:30 p.m.
Unofficial Discworld guide The Turtle Moves!, now available!
6 August 2008 (21:19)
Comment! The Turtle Moves: Discworld’s Story So Far (The Turtle Moves!: Discworld’s Story Unauthorized in the U.S.) is now available in paperback. Published by Benbella Books, the unofficial guide “offers 62 chapters describing the Discworld for fan and neophyte alike,” according to the product description on Amazon.co.uk. Another description reads:From the banks of the river Ankh to the walls of Sto Lat, the entirety of Terry Pratchett’s renowned Discworld series is explored in this expansive resource. Essays discussing a range of topics—among them Pratchett’s place in literary canon, the nature of the Disc itself, and the causes and results of the Discworld phenomenon—accompany a chronological account of the more than three dozen novels in the series. Perfect for veteran fans and neophytes alike, this is the complete guide to the world on the cosmic turtle’s back.The book is “highly recommended by those in the know,” according to fan newsletter Wossname.
Pullman, Pratchett, and Potter author denounce age banding for children’s books
5 August 2008
Comment! Prominent children’s author Philip Pullman is leading a campaign against age banding, a program designed by publishers to guide consumers buying books for children. More than 700 authors and illustrators, including of course Terry Pratchett, have signed the Statement by Philip Pullman, which says, in part, “the proposal to put an age-guidance figure on books for children is ill-conceived, damaging to the interests of young readers, and highly unlikely, despite the claims made by those publishers promoting the scheme, to make the slightest difference to sales.”The statement also claims that “each child is unique, and so is each book. Accurate judgments about age suitability are impossible, and approximate ones are worse than useless….
“Everything about a book is already rich with clues about the sort of reader it hopes to find – jacket design, typography, cover copy, prose style, illustrations. These are genuine connections with potential readers, because they appeal to individual preference. An age-guidance figure is a false one, because it implies that all children of that age are the same.”
Pratchett explained why he was opposed to age banding, saying “when I was a child I read books far too old for me and sometimes far too young for me. Every reading child is different. Introduce them to the love of reading, show them the way to the library and let them get on with it. The space between the young readers eyeballs and the printed page is a holy place and officialdom should trample all over it at their peril.”
Most children’s publishers in the U.K., including Scholastic and HarperCollins, were to introduce age banding this fall. The plan, led by Random House, featured a motif placed near the bar code with the categories 5+, 7+, 9+, 11+ and 13+/teen.
The Publishers Association’s Children’s Book Group claimed that 86% of book buyers approved of the proposed age guidance, while 40% said they would probably buy more books with the plan.
Scholastic agreed to dispense with age banding on Pullman’s books, but as Pullman found that not all authors had that advantage, he “signed this petition because I believe passionately in what it says. It is an act of solidarity not only with other authors, but with booksellers and librarians.”
The authors’ campaign placed a full page ad in Britain’s book trade premier publication The Bookseller, where Philip Pullman and over 80 others publicly disassociated themselves from age banding.
J. K. Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson, Alexander McCall Smith, Neil Gaiman, Quentin Blake, Beverley Naidoo, Eva Ibbotson, Iain Banks, Diana Wynne Jones, Lynne Reid Banks, and Anthony Horowitz all joined the anti-age banding campaign.
If you would like to add your name to a list of over 3500 readers, librarians, teachers, writers, and others, send an email to signup@notoagebanding.org. See the contact page of the No to Age Banding site for more details.
Philip Pullman’s statement against the age guidance concluded, “writers take great care not to limit their readership unnecessarily. To tell a story as well and inclusively as possible, and then find someone at the door turning readers away, is contrary to everything we value about books, and reading, and literature itself.”
An update from Terry Pratchett
4 August 2008 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.
The Discworld Graphic Novels re-released
3 August 2008
1 Comment In honor of the 25th anniversary of the publishing of The Colour Of Magic, The Discworld Graphic Novels: The Colour Of Magic And The Light Fantastic is being re-released (for the first time in hardcover) in both the U.S. and the U.K.The synopsis:
Imagine a flat world, sitting on the backs of four elephants who hurtle through space balanced on a giant turtle. The Discworld is a place (and a time) parallel to our own—but also very different. That is the setting for Terry Pratchett’s phenomenally successful Discworld series, which now celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary.The U.S. edition and the U.K. edition are both available on Amazon.
The Discworld Graphic Novels presents the very first two volumes of this much-loved series in graphic novel form. First published fifteen years ago, these fully illustrated versions are now issued for the first time in hardback. Introduced here are the bizarre misadventures of Twoflower, the Discworld’s first ever tourist, and possibly—portentously—its last, and his guide Rincewind, the spectacularly inept wizard. Not to mention the Luggage, which has a mind of its own.
Terry Pratchett the most “evergreen” author
1 August 2008
2 Comments The British book trade’s premier publication, The Bookseller, released today for the first time a list of “evergreen” titles–titles that have never fallen out of the top 5,000 bestseller chart since 1995. The list consists of only twelve (out of more than 1.8 million) books, three of which belong to the Discworld series.The Colour Of Magic, The Light Fantastic, and Mort all received the honor. No author besides Terry Pratchett has more than one book on the list, earning him the title “‘evergreen’ king.”
Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks, topped the list. The other books on the list were Complete Cookery Course, by Delia Smith; The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield; A Long Walk To Freedom, by Nelson Mandela; and the favorites of The Hobbit, A Brief History Of Time, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.
The Big God Brouhaha
30 July 2008
1 Comment As you may or may not know, in the past few months an interview with Terry Pratchett kicked off media speculation that the famously-atheist author had got religion, a misconception he then rebutted in an essay for The Mail On Sunday, which paired the essay with a misleading headline.Got it? Well, if you didn’t, here’s the story, slowly, with the details:
Brian Appleyard from The Sunday Times interviewed Terry Pratchett in an article titled “Terry Pratchett, Lord of Discworld, fights to save his powers.” It starts out innocuously enough, with light chat about yellow mustaches.
‘Do I,” says Terry Pratchett suddenly, “have a small yellow moustache at the moment?” He does. His wife Lyn has just given him a turmeric drink.The article discusses the effect Alzheimer’s has had on Pratchett’s writing and daily life.
“There is some evidence from America that it has some effect on Alzheimer’s, slows it down, but anyway I like it. She had me on that from the word go.”
Aricept and/or turmeric seems to be working for him. His condition has improved since December. In the car, he no longer has to keep stabbing away with the seatbelt; he can fasten it in one. Dressing, he’s no longer baffled by his clothes; he just puts them on.And it mentions the 25th anniversary of the Discworld series this year, as well as the spates Pratchett has had with other popular authors over the years.
… when I bring up Rowling he sits there comically tight-lipped. I get round this by talking about the novelist Margaret Atwood, who displayed similar genre snottiness when she said that Pratchett didn’t write sci-fi but “speculative fiction”.Only near the end does the article kick off the controversy, saying “Pratchett may have found God.”
“Oh good! Right!” he roars, “Well, I’m writing advanced folklore, perhaps – alternative folklore!” He slips into a prissy Atwood persona – “I’m just speculating about the future. It’s got robots in it, but it’s not science fiction.”
“I’m certainly not a man of faith, but as I was rushing down the stairs one day . . . it was very strange. And I say this reluctantly, because I am trying to deal with this situation in as hardheaded a way as I can. I suddenly knew that everything was okay, that what I was doing was right and I didn’t know why.” …Other news mediums immediately leaped at this “news.” Here’s a sample of what journalists had to say:
It was his first such experience. Did it make him rethink his lack of faith?
“Faith in what? If I get pushed in this corner, I believe in the same God that Einstein did. Einstein was a clever bloke . . . And it is just possible that once you have got past all the gods that we have created with big beards and many human traits, just beyond all that on the other side of physics, there just may be the ordered structure from which everything flows.
“That is both a kind of philosophy and totally useless - it doesn’t take you anywhere. But it fills a hole.”
[Terry Pratchett] said an unexplained experience had caused him to reconsider his beliefs. (from Telegraph.co.uk)
TERRY PRATCHETT, the fantasy writer suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, has suggested he may have found God after years of atheism. (from TimesOnline.co.uk)In response to this unwarranted speculation, Pratchett obliged The Mail On Sunday with an essay about his faith, or lack thereof. He made clear that he is still an atheist, saying “There is a rumour going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.” The entire essay is well worth a read (although a very slight spoiler warning is appropriate). Terry Pratchett ends:
It’s that moment, that brief epiphany when the universe opens up and shows us something, and in that instant we get just a sense of an order greater than Heaven and, as yet at least, beyond the grasp of Stephen Hawking. It doesn’t require worship, but, I think, rewards intelligence, observation and enquiring minds.
I don’t think I’ve found God, but I may have seen where gods come from.
Colour Of Magic DVD to be released October 2008 in U.K.
29 July 2008 9 Comments Despite rumors that the The Colour Of Magic DVD would not be released, PJSM Prints has confirmed that the DVD will be released this October in the U.K. by Twentieth Century Fox. There is no information available about DVD extras, though entertaining “Tourist Guides” and other video extras can be found on Sky One’s official site.The Colour Of Magic adaptation, starring David Jason as Rincewind and Sean Astin as Twoflower, aired as a two-part miniseries on Sky One this Easter, and is based on events from the first two books in the Discworld series. Terry Pratchett also appears in a cameo part.
There is no information pertaining to a U.S. airing of the film.
Terry Pratchett on On The Ropes on BBC
22 May 2008 (15:01)
Comment! BBC4’s radio program On The Ropes interviewed Terry Pratchett May 20 with the tagline “he [Terry Pratchett] has everything, except his health.” The interviewer, John Humphrys, asks Terry Pratchett about his adolescent dreams of being a world-famous author (nonexistent), his choice to become a journalist (he was no good at anything else), the origins of The Carpet People, and the “upward escalator” toward writing success. Terry Pratchett recounts the story of the man who was too radioactive to walk out of the nuclear plant, the story of his job interview at the local newspaper, and so on. Terry Pratchett even talks about J. K. Rowling’s success and his objection to the Muggles in the Harry Potter series. The half-hour program concludes with a discussion of Alzheimer’s and its effect on Terry Pratchett’s life.Making Money: Locus Awards finalist
19 May 2008 (11:35)
Comment! Discworld’s latest entry, Making Money, has made it to the the Locus Awards finalist list in the fantasy novel category. Making Money attained the honor by ranking in the top five in Locus Magazine’s yearly poll and survey, and shares the honor with Endless Things, by John Crowley; Pirate Freedom, by Gene Wolfe; Territory, by Emma Bull; and Ysabel, by Guy Gavriel Kay. The winner will be announced June 21, in Seattle, at the Locus Awards Ceremony during the Science Fiction Hall Of Fame Awards Weekend.Finalists in other categories include The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, by Michael Chabon; Powers, by Ursula K. Le Guin; Un Lun Dun, by China Mieville; After The Siege, by Cory Doctorow; Memorare Gene Wolfe; The Witch’s Headstone, by Neil Gaiman; Overclocked, by Cory Doctorow; The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2007: Twentieth Annual Collection, by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant, ed. ; and Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictonary Of Science Fiction, by Jeff Prucher, ed.
Terry Pratchett opens display at Bath’s Postal Museum
18 May 2008 (17:49) Comment! ThisIsBath.co.uk reports that Terry Pratchett opened a new exhibition, which runs till September, at Bath’s Postal Museum on Northgate Street. The exhibition celebrates Victorian innovations like the penny post and post boxes. To quote Terry Pratchett:Terry Pratchett used the Postal Museum while researching for Going Postal.This has been a wonderful exhibition and I am pleased to be here to look around.
The Victorian period was such a great age of inventions and they were all inventions which we could get our heads around - they were easy to understand unlike today’s inventions.
