Terry Pratchett News Update For 13 April 2008

Nation: cover art, synopsis, September release date?

13 April 2008 (14:07) Comment!

Terry Pratchett’s newest novel, Nation, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk. (There is also a Nation page on the American version of the site, although pre-ordering is not yet available there.) According to Amazon.co.uk, the hardcover is 300 pages long, and the publishing date is approximately September 11, 2008. (The American Amazon states a publishing date of September 9.) Interestingly, the (probably non-Discworld) book is categorized as a children’s book. To quote the synopsis:

Finding himself alone on a desert island when everything and everyone he knows and loved has been washed away in a huge storm, Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He’s also completely alone–or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird and gives him a stick which can make fire. Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. She’s certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship’s parrot. As it happens, they are not alone for long. Other survivors start to arrive to take refuge on the island they all call the Nation and then raiders accompanied by murderous mutineers from the Sweet Judy. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things–including how to milk a pig and why spitting in beer is a good thing–and start to forge a new Nation. As can be expected from Terry Pratchett, the master story-teller, this new children’s novel is both witty and wise, encompassing themes of death and nationhood, while being extremely funny. Mau’s ancestors have something to teach us all. Mau just wishes they would shut up about it and let him get on with saving everyone’s lives!

Here’s to happy reading about Mau, Daphne, and the mutineers in September!

The Folklore Of Discworld, by Jacqueline Simpson and Terry Pratchett

12 April 2008 (13:56) Comment!

The Folklore Of Discworld, a book we’ve heard Terry Pratchett speak about on his Making Money tours last year, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk. (There is also a Folklore Of Discworld page on the American version of the site, although pre-ordering is not yet available there.) To quote the synopsis:

Most of us grow up having always known to touch wood or cross our fingers, and what happens when a princess kisses a frog or a boy pulls a sword from a stone, yet sadly, some of these things are now beginning to be forgotten. Legends, myths, fairytales: our world is made up of the stories we told ourselves about where we came from and how we got there. It is the same on Discworld, except that beings that on Earth are creatures of the imagination, like vampires, trolls, witches and, possibly, gods, are real, alive and in some cases kicking on the Disc. In “The Folklore of Discworld”, Terry Pratchett teams up with leading British folklorist Jacqueline Simpson to give an irreverent yet illuminating look at the living myths and folklore that are reflected, celebrated and affectionately libelled in the uniquely imaginative universe of Discworld.

TerryPratchett.co.uk on-line

12 April 2008 (13:33) Comment!

U.K. Discworld publishers Transworld have put up an official Terry Pratchett site at TerryPratchett.co.uk. The full site is still coming soon, but the site already has a “featured books” section, a competition (rules here and registration here), and promises “a great destination site for all fans.” Future updates are expected to include a forum, exclusive news, downloads, and games.

TV Zone magazine features Tim Curry in The Colour Of Magic

11 April 2008 (18:13) Comment!

TV Zone’s 226th issue features Tim Curry, who acted Trymon in the recent Discworld TV adaptation, The Colour Of Magic. The excerpt available on-line includes Curry marveling at the technology available to the producers of The Colour Of Magic. To quote Tim Curry in the article:

The technology has taken such huge leaps. It’s so interesting that even in television, the director can now say ‘Oh, don’t worry about that, we’ll paint it out’, or, ‘This section is a CGI’. In Legend there was nothing like that. They weren’t even puppets…. I’ve seen images of [the creatures in The Colour Of Magic]. I saw the two dragons today that looked fantastic.”

And then there’s the all-important question (to fans at least): Was he a fan of the Discworld series? But alas:

I wasn’t aware of Terry Pratchett until I was sent this script, although I’m told that he sells very well in America… I hadn’t been aware of him before.

Motion in U.K. Parliament: “Terry Pratchett and Alzheimer’s Research Funding”

9 April 2008 (20:17) 1 Comment

The Match It For Pratchett website has received a message from Andrew Scheuber at the Alzheimer’s Research Trust about a motion in Parliament “to increase funding and promote further research” for the disease. The letter reads, in part:

If you’re a UK citizen, please write a letter to your MP urging him or her to sign EDM no. 1337 http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35577&SESSION=891

The House of Commons motion is called TERRY PRATCHETT AND ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH FUNDING and it reads:

That this House applauds Terry Pratchett, who is donating $1 million to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust; notes that there are 700,000 people with dementia in the UK, a number forecast to double within a generation; notes that for every person with Alzheimer’s, £11 is spent each year on UK research compared with £289 for each cancer patient; supports the work of the UK’s leading scientists, who recently met at the Alzheimer’s Research Trust’s Network Conference in Bristol, in researching better treatments and possible cures for dementia; welcomes the campaign by Terry Pratchett and the Alzheimer’s Research Trust to increase funding and promote further research into the diagnosis, treatment and a possible cure for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Your MP’s address is: The House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA.

If you don’t know who your MP is, go to www.theyworkforyou.com and type in your postcode.

Writing a real letter tends to be most effective, but if you’d prefer to do things electronically go to www.writetothem.com

Use your own words; it doesn’t have to be long. Just a message asking the MP to sign EDM 1337 would suffice. If you want ideas on what else you could write, check out http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/info/statistics/ or see what Terry Pratchett has to say about dementia research funding http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/news/article.php?type=News&id=205

A few days after sending your letter, if you have a spare few minutes, call the Parliamentary switchboard on 020 7219 3000 and ask for your MP’s office. Check that your letter has been received, ask if the MP will sign EDM 1337, and explain why you’re concerned about the underfunding of dementia research. Please be extremely polite to the researcher or secretary; they are overworked, underpaid and dedicated to helping constitutents.

Match It For Pratchett advertising badges to be removed

8 April 2008 (18:08) Comment!

Because of concern expressed by Terry Pratchett and his agent, Colin Smythe, the badges for the Match It For Pratchett campaign which use Discworld characters and settings should be removed from blogs. The Match It For Pratchett website has addressed the issue, saying:

They’re lovely badges and they were made for a good cause, but Terry Pratchett has no wish for his Discworld characters to be used for advertising of any kind.

They will be dropped from this website ASAP, of course. The idea of the Match It For Pratchett campaign is to raise money for Alzheimer’s research in honour of Terry, not to create problems for him or to use his intellectual property in ways that he doesn’t want.

Terry Pratchett on J. K. Rowling

2 April 2008 (20:42) 2 Comments

Terry Pratchett, as fantasy writer extraordinaire before J. K. Rowling came along and Stole His Thunder, Causing Him To Become Intensely Jealous And Bitter (according to the newspapers, anyway), has been asked once more about his attitude towards J. K. Rowling. Of course, most journalists can’t resist over-dramatizing a story (thus the heading on this article: “Broomsticks at dawn as Pratchett curses JK.” I mean, really.), but here’s the quotage anyway:

At the screening of the TV adaptation of Pratchett’s mass-translated novel The Colour of Magic, I asked if he was a fan of [J. K. Rowling].

“Not particularly,” he said bluntly. “I read the first one [Harry Potter], that was fine, but now I read other things. You don’t have to be a fan, it’s not compulsory.”

The article also mentions Terry Pratchett’s take on the Rowling’s recent lawsuit against RDR Books, who intended to publish a print version of the Harry Potter Lexicon. To quote Terry Pratchett:

In fantasy writing, accusations of copying are very difficult to make. You know who invented wizards? Who invented Goblins? If we were going to start paying royalties for nicking one another’s ideas, we’d have all given our life savings to the Tolkien family a long time ago.

Not particularly surprising, or unreasonable. And very funny. I don’t see any cursing, do you?

Colour Of Magic premiere Q&A transcript

1 April 2008 (21:00) Comment!

DenOfGeek.com, in addition to the review we told you about earlier, has made available a complete transcript of the Q&A session that followed the screening March 3. Director Vadim Jean, Sir David Jason (Rincewind), Sean Astin (Twoflower), and of course Terry Pratchett participated in the session. Some selections:

Terry Pratchett: … some screens actually glittered at home but now, well, some screens didn’t glitter so much – I’ll put it that way.
Vadim Jean: It’s definitely the projector! In glorious high definition – which you’re all going to go out and buy just to see this, it’s, well, stunning.
Terry Pratchett: Actually, for once, he’s not lying! I’ve seen it on the big TV screens and there was masses of colour.
Vadim Jean:We’re just stretching the technology to the limit, throwing it 150 feet.

————

Sean Astin: Richard, the prop guy who worked it from inside – there actually was someone inside working it – after 45 minutes you’d forget someone was inside there. You’d lift the lid and he’d be just about dead, make-up running, sweating and everything, and they’d like ‘we’re gonna go for another one, jump over the hill again?’ and he’d say ‘no problem! No problem!’

————

David Jason: I think this is accessible to everyone. The Rambo-lovers as well as mums and dads – we’ve got our little ones here and they’ve been loving it, and Sean’s little ones too. I think that given a fair go, and reasonable publicity, that this will attract a lovely family audience, and that’s what we made it for.

Match It For Pratchett: “Not official”

31 March 2008 (17:37) Comment!

Terry Pratchett issued a statement on The Cunning Artificer’s about the Match It For Pratchett campaign. The campaign is organized by fans to match Pratchett’s recent half-a-million-pound donation to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust in the U.K. To quote Pratchett’s post:

As far as we are concerned this is not official, and if we don’t think its official, it aint. I hate to appear to be in any way negative about what appears to be very good intentions, but I could wish that the gentleman concerned had got in touch with us first before going ahead.

I have to say there are certain things that worry me about this project, not because they are in any way fraudulent, but raising and distributing money for charity can involve rather more problems than seem apparent at the start – especially in the loveable volatile world we know as fandom.

Most of the £13,000 raised since last Thursday has been sent to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust (https://www.committedgiving.uk.net/art/public/donor.aspx?id=cc) directly, which at least has the benefit of being straight forward.

Luggage auction ends at £3,667.42

30 March 2008 (11:31) 1 Comment

The charity auction for the one-off replica of the Luggage used in the Colour Of Magic ended on Monday March 24, with a bid of £3,667.42. All £3,667.42 of that goes to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust in the U.K. The Luggage was filled with the complete set of Discworld books, signed by Terry Pratchett, and the new film tie-in edition of The Colour Of Magic, signed by some of the actors in the movie.

Colour Of Magic premiere report; Terry Pratchett, Sean Astin, and David Jason on video

27 March 2008 (0:51) 1 Comment

BBC has a video report on the premiere of The Colour Of Magic, which includes interviews with Terry Pratchett, Sean Astin, and David Jason. Terry Pratchett says seeing the film is “like wandering around on the inside of my own head,” while Sean Astin and David Jason bring the on-screen double-act into real life, bantering about David Jason’s daughter’s impressions on the film as well as other things.

The premiere took place March 3, and the Colour Of Magic adaptation aired for the first time last Sunday and Monday in the U.K.

Terry Pratchett on Alzheimer’s: “I’ve never felt more alive.”

27 March 2008 (0:04) Comment!

In the wake of Terry Pratchett’s 500,000 pound donation to Alzheimer’s research, BBC has posted a video interview with Terry Pratchett. In the fairly long (fifteen minutes long) interview, Terry Pratchett is asked about his life since the diagnosis, what his plans are for writing in the future (”I’ve started the next book.”), his access to medicine, what he feels about Alzheimer’s underfunding compared to cancer, and a whole myriad of other interesting topics.

Also made available by the BBC website: Terry Pratchett’s donation speech, including the preliminary banter about the evolutionary reasons for Alzheimer’s.

Terry Pratchett audio interview on Arthur C. Clarke

26 March 2008 (23:46) Comment!

Arthur C. Clarke died at age 90 recently, and accordingly, BBC interviewed Terry Pratchett on Clarke’s contribution to the science fiction/fantasy genre. The audio of the interview can be found on the BBC website. In the two-and-a-half minute clip, Terry Pratchett speaks about the effect of Clarke’s Space Odyssey, his astonishingly accurate predictions, and how he “put some science into science fiction.”

The Colour Of Magic finishes airing; early reviews good

25 March 2008 (8:10) Comment!

As you all know, The Colour Of Magic, the TV adaptation of the first two books in the Discworld series, finished airing for the first time March 24 in the U.K. The reaction fans so far has been excellent, and the early reviews so far have been similarly good. To quote a TimesOnline.co.uk article on The Colour Of Magic:

The two-parter was better than Sky’s previous Discworld adaptation, the story more clearly told (I could understand it) and David Jason happier as the hopeless wizard Rincewind than as Albert in The Hogfather [sic]. It also benefited from an excellent villain in Tim Curry. It looked good, in an over-glossy, Hallmark Productions kind of way …

Another article, from The Scotsman, said, “this was a good-looking production that proper fans probably appreciated.” However, criticisms were also evident in both articles:

Every now and again the budget (tight, it was implied, by the accompanying “Making of” documentary) looked stretched. If it could show characters falling off the edge of the world, make a trunk walk and blow up the Broken Drum Inn, why is it impossible for the skeleton Death to open its mouth when it speaks?

And:

The opening instalment, based on Pratchett’s first and possibly worst Discworld book, was far too long, dragging out its attempts at satire with leaden direction and script.

The Guardian.co.uk some preliminary viewing figures for the adaptation:

• The second part concluded with almost 1 million viewers last night, with an average of 967,000 viewers and a multichannel share of 4.7%. The viewer numbers peaked at 1.1 million viewers at 7:15.
• The first part (which aired Sunday March 23) attracted 1.5 million viewers and an 8% multichannel share.

Compare these numbers to Hogfather’s: 2.4 million for the first part (a record-breaking number) and 1.5 million for the second.

Update: Another highly enthusiastic review.

Reminder: The Colour Of Magic aired 6 p.m. on Sky One tonight

23 March 2008 (17:57) Comment!

The headline says it all, really. Viewers in the U.K. had the opportunity to see the first part of the much-awaited Colour Of Magic adaptation tonight at 6 p.m. Part two airs tomorrow, also at 6 p.m. Don’t forget to check out the official site, where galleries and videos can help you pass the time until tomorrow! FromRimToHub.com’s Colour Of Magic section will also help pass the time.

David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry, Terry Prachett on Colour Of Magic

22 March 2008 (14:41) Comment!

An extensive article from TimesOnline.co.uk includes quotes from David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry, and Terry Pratchett about the coming Colour Of Magic two part adaptation, which will be broadcast this Sunday and Monday at 6 p.m. To quote Sean Astin in the article:

It’s a little weird…. Some guy has a brain fart and I’m wearing big furry feet for two years. Another guy has an acid tablet and I’m in a pond in the back of Pinewood…. Terry obviously loves Tolkien and fantasy but he also loves to … take the piss out of it.

Tim Curry, with some less colorful language, also speaks about the Discworld series:

Terry’s big on satire and drawing conclusions in his worlds that you can take into this one…. I don’t think class has passed him by, or the advancements of technology. Trymon is such a wonderfully double-dealing slimeball–he’d be totally at home in Brussels. I’ve had a lot of extremely uncomfortable pointy shoes to wear, and lots of great hats.

And finally, Terry Pratchett himself also speaks:

Hogfather was more serious; The Colour of Magic is about humour…. It’s a buddy movie except that one of the buddies [Rincewind] doesn’t want to be a buddy. It’s a road movie although roads are probably the last thing they manage to travel on most of the time.

[On signing over the rights to The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic] I tried to conceal the fact that I really wanted them to do it but really would like to be paid a lot of money…. The nice thing is that The Colour of Magic really had no plot. It was a series of episodes and we could, like a smorgasbord, pick what we wanted. So it wasn’t quite the slaughter job that I thought it would have to be.

Terry Pratchett also addressed the concerns of many fans on the casting of David Jason as Rincewind, since many consider Rincewind to be younger and skinnier:

It was mainly the book cover illustrations that did that…. I’m very good at not describing characters. David Jason has got three amazingly good attributes. Firstly, he is an excellent actor. Secondly, he’s Sir David Jason, and that name counts for something. And thirdly he’s a Discworld fan and about 15 years ago he declared that he wanted to play Rincewind. I thought, ‘Wonderful!’

The article also has a set-report aspect to it, as it describes the filming of the scene where Rincewind is close to being swept over the edge of the Discworld. To quote the article:

“I don’t want to leave this world!” gurgles David Jason. Britain’s Most Popular Actor [sic] is clinging to a log in the middle of a foaming torrent of water, which swirls through his red robes and greying beard and plasters his hair across his face. “DON’T MIND ME - I’VE GOT A BOOK TO READ,” deadpans a skeletal figure in a deckchair on a nearby rocky outcrop. Slowly, Jason’s grip relaxes on the log and he disappears beneath the surface.

“Cut!” barks a voice through a megaphone. A bedraggled Jason re-emerges, and is shepherded by a squad of frogmen to the edge of Pinewood Studios’ 100-square metre water tank, as the huge compressed air generators that were creating the torrent wind down. It’s an overcast August afternoon near the end of the 11-week shoot for The Colour of Magic, Sky One’s multimillion- pound Easter adaptation of the first two books in Terry Pratchett’s supernaturally successful Discworld series…. In this scene [Rincewind] is attempting to avoid being swept over the Discworld’s oceanic rim and into space, which will be represented on the vast blue screen behind him. His travails are observed by the sardonic Death, whose vocal duties have passed from the late Ian Richardson to Christopher Lee, who voiced him in the Pratchett animations Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music.

The article also informs readers that the fight with Tim Curry has been filmed in addition to the upside-down fight in the Wyrmberg.

For continually updated news, check www.FromRimToHub.com.