Terry Pratchett

[MrRING]

[Emp edit: Merged a couple of threads to make a general TP / Discworld thread.

See also:

The 4 Bikers of the Apocalypse...
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=362 ]

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Terry Pratchett's Troll Bridge

If anybody here is a Discworld fan, there is a semi-pro fan group making a short film based on this story:

http://www.snowgumfilms.com/trollbridge/index.htm

What is Troll Bridge?
Troll Bridge is a short-story written by esteemed author Terry Pratchett. Originally included in the anthology After the King: Stories in Honour of J.R.R. Tolkien, (and soon to be re-released in Once More, With Footnotes), it is a tale set in the Discworld and features the world's last barbarian hero (at the age of eighty-seven) facing his ultimate challenge yet: to defeat a troll in combat. Things (of course), don't go as planned. Troll Bridge is now being adapted into a short film by Snowgum Films, a keen and enthusiastic group of film-makers based in Melbourne, Australia.

Who is Terry Pratchett and what is the Discworld?
Terry Pratchett is best known for his Discworld stories. Set on the back of a giant turtle gently swimming through the gulfs of space, the Discworld reflects and parodies our own world and literature while maintaining an underlying bite that sets it apart in a category of its own. As of this writing, Terry Pratchett has written over thirty stories set on the Discworld, and is Britain's bestselling (living) fictional author of this decade. He sells over a million and a quarter books a year.

Why a movie?
Because we thought it would be fun. Seriously, the producer/director got sick of the amount of bad films flooding the market and decided that he'd put his money where his mouth was for once. Troll Bridge was eventually chosen because, for some unfathomable reason, no one had yet made a Discworld film. Of the short-stories featuring Discworld characters, Troll Bridge was also the one that simply appealed the most. The fact that it gives us an excuse to choreograph a fight scene, and features a geriatric wearing furry underpants, was simply a bonus.

 

[Stormkhan]

As a long-term fan of Terry Pratchet, count me in!

Since I'm not in Oz, is there anyway I can take part?

 

[sunsplash1]

Crikey! What a great idea!

 

[Melf]

can i be a warrior from the land of llameruggub?

or the god of beards please? please? can i?

 

[Anonymous]

Terry Pratchett's Going Postal

I have just started reading this and am quite enjoying it. However, after a while it dawned on me that there seemed to be something different about this book than his others...

Chapters!

Can anyone tell me, is this Mr Pratchett's first book with chapters? I don't seem to remember them in any of the others.

Working in IT and having an understanding of network communications protocols, is making fun reading when he is describing the workings of the Clacks system.

Regards

MF

 

[Hot_Cross_Nun]

Yes, I believe it is the first Discworld novel that's in chapters with proper chapter headings. Wonder why he changed his style?

I read Going Postal just a few weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it. It has a sort of Wild West, "man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" feel about it.

What has really tickled me, though, is the fact that someone started making Discworld stamps and apparently there are collectors - check out http://www.discworldstamps.com/index.html.

I particularly admire the Three Penny Stamp, sponsored by the Fish Mongers.

 

[Soong2]

Its a cool book, read when it came out and things still remind me of it. The network stuff was very well contrived too.

But...

Chapters, are you sure?

*Soong goes off to check*

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

It was better than Monstrous Regiment. That almost put me off Pratchett.

 

[Stormkhan]

I haven't read Going Postal yet ... but Monstrous Regiment was a load of pants! A real let-down.

 

[Soong2]

...pants! A real let-down.

Dont let it put you off, Postal is pure class, it works on many levels. )

Go on Stormy, dip in...

 

[Slejpner1]

Monstrous Regiment was OKish. Soul Music and Moving Pictures were pants. Reaper Man is the only one I've read twice (I never normally read books twice)

Won't comment on Going Postal as I'm still reading it, so I've got my fingers in my ears going 'La La La La La'......

 

[Hogarth999]

Going Postal is most excellent - the most recent 'Thud! is pretty darn good too (but not as good as GP).

I'd also heartily recommend the Tiffany Aching books titled The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, these are splendid.

 

[Yithian]

Jingo was one of my favourites. Proper social commentary. Funny as hell. Dickens mode on full.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

I'd also heartily recommend the Tiffany Aching books titled The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, these are splendid.

Now this is interesting:

January 10, 2006

Raimi's Next After Spider-Man 3 Aint Gonna Be Evil Dead 4.

(Posted In Comedy Film News Sci-Fi / Fantasy USA and Canada )

Okay, it's not the return of Ash, which is sad, but Raimi's next after Spider-Man 3 should be an awful lot of fun.

Word is buzzing all over the place that Sam Raimi has picked up rights to Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men. Now, my Pratchett exposure is limited to just a couple titles - I chose Xanth over Discworld in my pre-teen years and never made up for it - but The Wee Free Men is one of the Pratchett's I have read and in the right hands this should make a fantastic film. It's frequently laugh out loud funny but has enough of an edge to it to keep things interesting. Funny with an edge is something Raimi obviously excels at. And if there's any one reason why Pratchett's never made it to the big screen until now it's because doing him right will take a bucket of money and lo! money in buckets is also an attribute of the post-Spidey Sam. Looks like good material in the right hands to me.

www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004757.html

 

[Boulters_Canary1]

I'd also heartily recommend the Tiffany Aching books titled The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, these are splendid.

Now this is interesting:

January 10, 2006

Raimi's Next After Spider-Man 3 Aint Gonna Be Evil Dead 4.

(Posted In Comedy Film News Sci-Fi / Fantasy USA and Canada )

Okay, it's not the return of Ash, which is sad, but Raimi's next after Spider-Man 3 should be an awful lot of fun.

Word is buzzing all over the place that Sam Raimi has picked up rights to Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men. Now, my Pratchett exposure is limited to just a couple titles - I chose Xanth over Discworld in my pre-teen years and never made up for it - but The Wee Free Men is one of the Pratchett's I have read and in the right hands this should make a fantastic film. It's frequently laugh out loud funny but has enough of an edge to it to keep things interesting. Funny with an edge is something Raimi obviously excels at. And if there's any one reason why Pratchett's never made it to the big screen until now it's because doing him right will take a bucket of money and lo! money in buckets is also an attribute of the post-Spidey Sam. Looks like good material in the right hands to me.

www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004757.html

But wqould you take the word of somebody who reads Piers bloody Anthony?

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Video interview with Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, talking about their new, multiple Earths SF novel, 'The Long Earth'.

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter on The Long Earth - video interview

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter talk to Alison Flood about their new collaborative science fiction work, The Long Earth. Prachett and Baxter hold court on the writing process, the nature of collaboration, the beauty of hard science-fiction literature and creating the start of a trilogy

guardian.co.uk, Alison Flood. 9 July 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2012/jul/09/terry-pratchett-stephen-baxter-long-earth-video

Video at link.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Pratchett going back to doing SF - excellent!
I liked his early SF work.

 

[Sergeant_Pluck]

The reviews on this book are right down the middle. You'd think Baxter and Practchett would be a perfect storm, wouldn't you, but it doesn't seem to have been that well received. I know Amazon reviews aren't terribly useful, but this book has about 15 votes in all star-ratings (i.e.15 x 1*, 15 x 2* etc).

 

[bagins_X]

Well having read it.. it's not bad, no plot to speak of but the FT gets a mention or two.


Wm.

 

[47Forteans]

It was better than Monstrous Regiment. That almost put me off Pratchett.

I like Monstrous Regiment! It was a well written look at the nature of war, propaganda and gender rolls...

 

[Novena]

Terry Pratchett: My daughter Rhianna will take over the Discworld when I'm gone
In an interview for this week's New Statesman magazine, the fantasy author tells Laurie Penny, "the Discworld is safe in my daughter's hands".

Terry Pratchett plans to hand over the Discworld series to his daughter Rhianna, he reveals in this week's New Statesman.

In an interview with Laurie Penny - who has returned to the NS as a contributing editor - the author, campaigner and "professional morbid bastard" talks about his life and work. They discuss his diagnosis with posterior cortical atrophy, a rare form of Alzheimer's, in 2007. Since then, his health has declined markedly

etc.

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture...rhianna-will-take-over-discworld-when-im-gone

:cry: but also

 

[Kondoru]

Faugh!

 

[FrKadash]

I was very pleased to see this in today's news:

22 March 2015 Last updated at 12:56
''Terry Pratchett pub sign unveiled in Wincanton''

"I commissioned the new sign, and was hoping that Sir Terry would unveil it himself. Sadly he died, but the sign is now up and serves as a memorial to a great author and character."

More here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-31984861

 

[FrKadash]

Good stuff in today's Telegraph:

''Graffiti tributes to Terry Pratchett emerge in London and Bristol''
By Rupert Hawksley
7:37PM BST 02 Apr 2015

One of the artworks is located on Code Street in London's East End, near to where Brick Lane meets Sclater Street, and features both the author and characters from his Discworld series of novels.

Just read a really good tweet in the article:

Geoff Pearson @GCobber99
As the great Terry Pratchett says:
"You ignore graffiti at your peril. It's the heartbeat of a city. It's the voice of the voiceless.''
12:12 PM - 26 Jan 2015

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...y-Pratchett-emerge-in-London-and-Bristol.html

 

[Megadeth1977]

I've got an audio book of soul music but the have not finished it yet.

 

[GNC]

Anyone watch the Pratchett documentary on BBC2 tonight? I didn't have high expectations based on the description (Paul Kaye plays Sir Terry in dramatisations), but it was unexpectedly great, funny and moving. Even if you haven't read one of his books in ages (the last one I tried was in the 90s) give this a go. Especially nice to see the critics on that clip be proved utterly wrong about him, bunch of snobs. But it was positive overall, a fine tribute.

Now I've just ordered Night Watch, because Neil Gaiman said that was Pratchett's best. Anyone else read that one? Is it as good as he said?

 

[Ulalume]

Anyone watch the Pratchett documentary on BBC2 tonight? I didn't have high expectations based on the description (Paul Kaye plays Sir Terry in dramatisations), but it was unexpectedly great, funny and moving. Even if you haven't read one of his books in ages (the last one I tried was in the 90s) give this a go. Especially nice to see the critics on that clip be proved utterly wrong about him, bunch of snobs. But it was positive overall, a fine tribute.

Now I've just ordered Night Watch, because Neil Gaiman said that was Pratchett's best. Anyone else read that one? Is it as good as he said?

Haven't seen the documentary, but have read Night Watch. Quite a coincidence you mentioned it, as I was just thinking about it maybe an hour ago. Yes, it's quite good. Worth a read, certainly.

My favorite Pratchett book is Wintersmith, but that one's kind of girly.

 

[GNC]

Val McDermid on the doc said Night Watch was an excellent crime novel, but I suppose she would say that. Might explore more if this is a good read.

 

[Krepostnoi]

My favorite Pratchett book is Wintersmith, but that one's kind of girly.

That's one of the major reasons why I like the Tiffany Aching sequence so much. I particularly like the contrast between the respective approaches to wizardry and witchcraft those books subtly explore: hi-tech, grandiose, top-down solutions versus putting the basic, hard work in, every day. Intelligence vs wisdom, if I have to really distil it down.

I re-read "I Shall Wear Midnight" with my younger daughter recently (with judicious pruning of the very dark details here and there). It's a completely different ending to the one I remember. In my recollection, Tiffany comes of age, and shucks off the mentorship of Granny Weatherwax, their relationship changing to a more equal footing; not quite enmity, exactly, but certainly not friendship. I particularly seem to recall great emphasis being placed on Tiffany's decision to start calling her Mistress Weatherwax once again, instead of the more intimate but more subordinate Granny Weatherwax, to reflect this new evolution. There was nothing like that in the re-reading...

We still haven't read the Shepherd's Crown in our house. My elder daughter said if we don't, we'll always have a new Discworld novel to look forward to :cry:

 

[Tigerhawk]

I like the Tiffany books, and saw the return to Mistress Weatherwax as a sign of respect between two people doing their own thing, rather than teacher/student...