Sir Terry has a new one out and given his health issues we can only hope that there are many more to come. The new one is called I Shall Wear Midnight – US link/ UK link and features Tiffany Aching the witch from the Chalk.
I haven’t read it yet so most of this is from the publisher’s puff pieces but I have yet to be disappointed by Sir Terry’s work – with the exception of ”Nation” which was pants! This new story is about a man with no eyes. No eyes at all. Two tunnels in his head …It’s not easy being a witch, and it’s certainly not all whizzing about on broomsticks, but Tiffany Aching – teen witch – is doing her best. Until something evil wakes up, something that stirs up all the old stories about nasty old witches, so that just wearing a pointy hat suddenly seems a very bad idea. Worse still, this evil ghost from the past is hunting down one witch in particular. He’s hunting for Tiffany.
And he’s found her…
I Shall Wear Midnight – US link/ UK link is apparently a fabulous new Discworld title filled with witches and magic and told in the inimitable Sir Terry style, “I Shall Wear Midnight” is the fourth Discworld title to feature Tiffany and her tiny, fightin’, boozin’ pictsie friends, the Nac Mac Feegle (aka The Wee Free Men).
My lovely wife has organized a new Scythe for me. They are tough to get in the UK but in common usage in her part of Poland – apparently her Dad uses one daily to cut some salads for the livestock. So one will be on its way here shortly. Yippee!
The only downside is that I am incredibly clumsy these days so I have had to assure her that I will not cut my foot off with it.
Lynsey from the great man’s office has given us a date for our diaries: Going Postal (part 1) will be screened on Sky 1 on the 30th May and it’s apparently the best one yet!
I have just been watching Sky TV’s version of Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather – US link/Hogfather – UK link. I have seen it a few times before but it is good enough to watch and rewatch. They also did a version of the The Color of Magic – US link/The Colour Of Magic – UK link but while good it was not as great as the Hogfather. The stand out performance amongst many other great actors was that of Michelle Dockery. She played Death’s Granddaughter brilliantly capturing the cold knowingness of the role perfectly and looking just awesome as well. I thought that after this role she would go on to great things, and while she has done some other TV, movies have been a little thin on the ground. She is only 28 though and seems to focus more on theatre so let’s give her time.
By the way the book is even better.
There is a great interview with Terry Pratchett on Sky’s Book Show where he talks about how he writes the novels. He discusses how the early novels were generally quite lighthearted, while his later books reflect a more sombre mood. Going Postal – US link/ Going Postal – UK link for example, which follows the con-artist Moist von Lipwig, who must resurrect the Discworld postal service or be hanged, not only parodies the rise of the internet, but also digs its claws into the corporate world; Thud! deals with racism and the irrational fear of outsiders, while Making Money, which sees the return of Moist von Lipwig, is an inspired examination of the strangeness of the economy, which achieves the near miracle of making the economy a fascinating subject. Never less than topical, and increasingly political, Pratchett’s skill is to wrap his sharp observations on human life within fiction which provides such consistent entertainment.
The wonderful news is that Going Postal is going to be the next Sky TV production. Going Postal is a story of sweet romance and dark revenge set against an ongoing dispute between a traditional postal system and the Discworld’s equivalent of the internet. Richard Coyle and David Suchet headline an amazing cast that includes Charles Dance, Claire Foy, Andrew Sachs, Timothy West, Steve Pemberton, Ian Bonar and the beautiful Tamsin Greig.
When life as a travelling con artist catches up with swindler Moist Von Lipwig, it looks as though he will face the death penalty. But awarded a last minute reprieve, Lipwig is given one more chance on the condition that he takes up the cursed role of postmaster, and transforms Ankh-Morpork’s decrepit post office. Making an immediate enemy of bloodthirsty tyrant Reacher Gilt, Lipwig’s first instinct is to run… until he meets the spellbinding Adora Belle Dearheart with whom he falls in love. But what they both are unaware of is the part Lipwig played in the downfall of the Dearheart family. Is their romance forever doomed? Read the book, Going Postal – US link/ Going Postal – UK link, and find out now otherwise wait a few months for Sky’s sumptuous production.
I love Terry Pratchett! When he is on form, which is almost all of the time his books are wonderful. As a result his are the only ones I usually buy in hardback. Before this one I had bought Nation which I had been unable to finish. This was strange as I had never DNF’ed one of Pratchett’s books. I was worrying that his Alzheimers had affected his abilities. Yes I know that sounds selfish but I really NEED his books so I hope he continues to win the fight against the disease!
A great cover design!
So it was with some trepidation that I bought Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. I was worried that it might not be readable. The books conceit is that Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork. Asnd as usual the satire is lightly done with the usual cast of Wizards and Coppers having to deal with the lower classes passion for mob violence and sport. The book is as good as most of the Discworld works. It is not one of the very best but it was the best of the more recent ones. Which bodes well for the forthcoming I Shall Wear Midnight which, by the title, appears to be another Tiffany Aching story (though I might be completely wrong). Actually, according to Wikipedia, it seems I am right and it is the fourth Tiffany Aching novel in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series scheduled for publication in September 2010. In his 1st October 2009 update on Paul Kidby’s website, Pratchett said that “the progress on I Shall Wear Midnight is rapid”. The series is apparently written for younger readers, these novels are related to the Witches series, as they all feature the young apprentice witch Tiffany Aching, whose power is drawn from the chalk landscape where she was brought up. A natural witch, she is aided by the toughest clan of fairies, the Nac Mac Feegles. They are an easy read but don’t feel particularly childish and are just as much fun as his more adult orientated work. In fact, one of the series, A Hat Full of Sky, is one of my favourite of all the Pratchett’s. It is the second Tiffany Aching book and features the hiver, a mysterious and dangerous creature which enters Tiffany’s mind causing her to abuse her powers of magic. It is explained that the Hiver does not change the way she acts, merely allows her to do what she would do without a conscience. Her fellow witches are worried by Tiffany’s strange behavior and try to bring her back to herself. The combination of the prickly Tiffany and the even pricklier Granny Weatherwax is wonderful!
But back to Football in Ankh Morpork in Unseen Academicals. It is a hilarious read and features a new character, the mysterious Mr Nutt (and no one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt, which worries him, too) who is even a new species and rather a wonderful one of that. He has come from Überwald, a place where the climate and conditions contrive to fulfil human expectations: for example, Überwaldian lightning strikes whenever someone makes a particularly forceful pronouncement. In The Truth this phenomenon is referred to as “psychotropic weather.” I wont tell you what Mr Nutt is, but would just like to say that he appears to be remarkably strong and really very good at fighting indeed. As well as football, Pratchett takes a few shots at the huge open goal that his high fashion. We hear about a Dwarf fashion house with its exciting creative head, the slinky fashionista Pepe! I hope he does a whole book on fashion as the scenes with Pepe and the charming Madame Sharn are excellent in a Gok Wan sort of way. I definitely recommend this one.
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. I have seen it a few times before but it is good enough to watch and rewatch. They also did a version of the 
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but while good it was not as great as the Hogfather. The stand out performance amongst many other great actors was that of Michelle Dockery. She played Death’s Granddaughter brilliantly capturing the cold knowingness of the role perfectly and looking just awesome as well. I thought that after this role she would go on to great things, and while she has done some other TV, movies have been a little thin on the ground. She is only 28 though and seems to focus more on theatre so let’s give her time.
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for example, which follows the con-artist Moist von Lipwig, who must resurrect the Discworld postal service or be hanged, not only parodies the rise of the internet, but also digs its claws into the corporate world; Thud! deals with racism and the irrational fear of outsiders, while Making Money, which sees the return of Moist von Lipwig, is an inspired examination of the strangeness of the economy, which achieves the near miracle of making the economy a fascinating subject. Never less than topical, and increasingly political, Pratchett’s skill is to wrap his sharp observations on human life within fiction which provides such consistent entertainment.
by Terry Pratchett. I was worried that it might not be readable. The books conceit is that Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork. Asnd as usual the satire is lightly done with the usual cast of Wizards and Coppers having to deal with the lower classes passion for mob violence and sport. The book is as good as most of the Discworld works. It is not one of the very best but it was the best of the more recent ones. Which bodes well for the forthcoming