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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!news-peer.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!news.idt.net!dispose.news.demon.net!demon!news.clues.com!lspace.org!news.lspace.org!not-for-mail From: Orin Thomas <orin@lspace.org> Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett.announce,alt.fan.pratchett,alt.books.pratchett,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: [FAQ] Pratchett Newsgroups Supersedes: <afp-faq_872722801@faqs.lspace.org> Followup-To: poster Date: 28 Sep 1997 01:00:22 +0200 Organization: Unseen University, Melbourne Campus. The Wizards of Oz. Sender: leo@pds.twi.tudelft.nl Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu,afpa-mod@lspace.org Message-ID: <afp-faq_875401201@faqs.lspace.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: rama.twi.tudelft.nl X-Server-Date: 27 Sep 1997 23:00:33 GMT Lines: 1229 Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.fan.pratchett.announce:639 alt.fan.pratchett:134307 alt.books.pratchett:5664 alt.answers:29218 news.answers:113176 Archive-name: pratchett/afp-faq Posting-Frequency: monthly (on the 28th) Last-modified: July 1997 URL: http://www.lspace.org/faqs/ Maintained-by: Orin Thomas (orin@lspace.org) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE LAWS AND ORDINANCES OF ALT.BOOKS/FAN.PRATCHETT or PRATCHETT NEWSGROUP FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS or even WHAT THE FAQ IS GOING ON AROUND HERE? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "alt.fan.pratchett ... is a little like written CB, and something like being at a party. Or several parties. all in one go. Blindfolded." - Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs DISCWORLD COMPANION Hearin lies a document containing a list of frequently asked questions (and, of course, their answers) for the internet newsgroups alt.fan.pratchett and alt.books.pratchett. This tome contains biographical information about Terry Pratchett, as well as information about his books, his collaborators, upcoming releases newsgroup ettiquette and Pratchettian internet resources. ----------------------------------------- CONTENTS. ----------------------------------------- THE NEXT BOOK. THE USENET NEWSGROUPS. alt.fan.pratchett, alt.books.pratchett and afp.announce General Nettiquette Pratchett Newsgroup Peculiarities. The Use of [R] and [I] What is a spoiler warning and when should I use one? Posting to alt.fan.pratchett.announce The [ABP] header. OTHER INTERNET RESOURCES. The Lspace Web. Annotated Pratchett File. Pratchett Quote File. Discworld Timeline. Rouges Gallery. Fan Fiction Mailing List. AFP Recipies. irc.lspace.org Discworld MUD. The Pratchett Archives. Merchandise FAQ. Terry Pratchett Bibliography. Ppint's FAQ. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Terry Pratchett. Personal History. How did he come to write? Discworld Book List. Neil Gaiman. Stephen Briggs. Josh Kirby. WHERE CAN I GET THE BOOKS? Why is the USA so far behind in publishing Terry's Books? Ppint. Translations. TERRY PRATCHETT AND THE INTERNET. Terry's email address Terry's setup COMPUTER GAMES The Colour of Magic. Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Discworld II Writing MUDS and MUSEs MERCHANDISING AND FANDOM. ClareCraft. Octarine. Guild of Fans and Disciples. The Wizards Knob. Clarecraft Collector's Guild. Discworld Conventions. PTERRY ON THE PTELLY. Truckers. Johnny and the Dead. The Mort Film. Discworld Movie. Soul Music/Wyrd Sisters. Terry Pratchett's Borneo Adventure. Theatrical Plays. Discworld CD. COMMON THREADS AND HOW TO COPE WITH THEM. (Or "Not the FAQ") What is UNCLEAR PHYSICS and Where can I get a copy? Posting an Annotation. Critisising Terry Pratchett on Alt.Fan.Pratchett Why Pterry? Movie Casting. How should I Pronounce Rincewind's Name? How should I Pronounce Gaspode's Name? What are the Words to The Hedgehog Song? What are the rules to Cripple Mr Onion? What/Where is The Missing Chapter? What is a "Merkin"? Does Terry Pratchett post here or what? Due South/Frazier/Carrot hey aren't they ... What is [A], [C], [G], [O], [O], [K] Your "Purity Test" Score. Ppoints. MISCELLANEOUS. Similar Authors. The Future. Discworld Calendar. Discworld Gurps Roleplaying. Discworld Post Pterry. Big "No No's"! Posting your own Stories to alt.fan.pratchett Posting "Posting Statistics" Comments on "Proposals" Posting "Test Posts" Inconsistencies. Appearances. Book Signings. The Orang-Utan Foundation Approximate number of Books Published. ----------------------------------------- THE NEXT BOOK ----------------------------------------- Jingo. (Working Title: Not Final!) Late 1997 (September?) Involves the Watch and a War with Klatch. The Last Continent. May 1998. I am assuming Rincewind and a can of XXXX. Map of the Ramtops. (with CMOT) May 1998. Find out how Granny finds the Privy. ----------------------------------------- THE USENET NEWSGROUPS ----------------------------------------- Welcome to the Pratchett Usenet Newsgroups. Where possible, pointers to existing information (such as books, magazine articles, and ftp sites) are included here. This FAQ is currently posted to news.answers alt.answers alt.books.pratchett alt.fan.pratchett and alt.fan.pratchett.announce All posts to news.answers are archived, and it is possible to retrieve the last posted copy via anonymous FTP from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/pratchett/pratchett/faq Those without FTP access should mailto:mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body to find out how to get archived news.answers posts by e-mail. The 'working draft' of this FAQ can always be viewed via WWW at http://connexus.apana.org.au/~orin/pratchett/faq.txt This FAQ was mostly written by Orin Thomas, Nathan Torkington and with contributions by Leo Breebaart and the readers of alt.fan.pratchett and alt.books.pratchett (pterry included). If you have any questions *NOT* covered by this document, feel free to post them to alt.fan.pratchett (or, if you feel a little intimidated by that, email me ... it's what I am here for). If there is something you feel should be included in this document ... don't hesitate to write. Alt.fan.pratchett, alt.books.pratchett and afp.announce ------------------------------------------------------- There are three newsgroups devoted to the author Terry Pratchett on the internet. These are. alt.fan.pratchett The oldest and perhaps the best known Pratchett newsgroup. It has a fairly large amount of traffic much of it not directly Pratchett related. Think of it more as the discussion of a group of Terry Pratchett fans meeting at an on-line pub. alt.fan.pratchett.announce AFPA is the noticeboard of the aformentioned on-line pub. People post FAQ's like this one, notices of fan meetings and other important information. Terry also posts his signing tour details here. alt.books.pratchett alt.books.pratchett is to alt.fan.pratchett as a Cafe is to a Pub. This is where the more serious pratchett discussions take place. If you want a serious discussion of an idea you want to explore this is a better place to start. Posts should be denoted with the [ABP] header. GENERAL NETTIQUETTE. ------------------- If you haven't already done so, now is as good a time as any to read the guide to Net etiquette which is posted to news.announce.newusers You should be familiar with acronyms like FAQ, FTP and IMHO, as well as know about smileys, followups and when to reply by e-mail to postings. Posting a question covered in a well circulated FAQ shows a disregard for polite nettiquette. PRATCHETT NEWSGROUP PECULIARITIES. -------------------------------- Being a rather unique bunch of people we also have some guidelines that are more or less being used on alt.fan/books.pratchett. --- THE USE OF [R] and [I]. --- "In theory they are forums for those who appreciate the books, but exchanges segue into something completely different with extreme rapidity. On alt.fan.pratchett they generally head in the direction of the topics of food, traffic roundabouts, drink and, for some reason, pubic wigs." - Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs. DW Companion. [R] is for Relevant. [I] is for Irrelevant. Anything about Terry Pratchett, His Books, His Characters, the Computer Games, and items Pratchettesque should be labeled [R]. Anything else should be labeled [I]. Given the high volume of posting to AFP it would be appreciated if you could please modify the subject line as often as you can. Be aware that some [R] threads can turn [I] very quickly. Make sure you don't cross post an [I] thread to the group alt.books.pratchett as this will make people very cross. Discipline via Orang-Utan is possible. Other [X] letters are covered by Ppint's FAQ on letters. These letters sometimes use asterix's to denote what is going on. One reason for the change is that an asterix denotes a wildcard and hence some newsreaders go a little BODFP (Bursar on Dried Frog Pills) when they see it. --- WHAT IS A SPOILER AND WHEN SHOULD I USE ONE? --- Spoilers, like [R] and [I], should be mentioned in the subject line of your post. A spoiler would be information in a book not yet published in paperback. Many people don't get the hardbacks and get a little narky when someone blabs it all out. The majority of the Pratchett newsgroup's readers are paperback buyers so beware. At the moment Spoilers would apply to Hogfather and Jingo. For Example: [R] Susan (HF) as a subject line would be good. --- Posting to Alt.Fan.Pratchett.Annouce --- The Moderated Newsgroup devoted to the important posts that might be missed in the clutter of alt.fan.pratchett. Mike Knell is the moderator and if you have something important to announce to alt.fan.pratchett then mailto:afpa-mod@lspace.org Please note, the submission criterion are not particularly strict. If you email Mike with something (an annotation perhaps) that has already been covered by one of the FAQs or files then you will be politely pointed towards the aformentioned source (without any embarrasment). If you think that it is important and that the whole newsgroup should know then post it. A.f.p.a is not just for FAQs! --- The [ABP] header --- Alt.fan.pratchett's sister group alt.books pratchett is the more "serious" forum for discussion of the works of Terry Pratchett. Many articles are "cross-posted" (that is, posted to both groups). These articles should be marked with the special [ABP] header to deter people from posting [I] articles. ABP was created because there was a serious threat in early 1996 that many readers (Terry included) were leaving AFP because of its high irrelevancy level. ----------------------------------------- OTHER INTERNET RESOURCES. ----------------------------------------- --- The LSPACE Web --- Perhaps the most important development in the last year has been the setting up of the Lspace web pages. These are essentially an online library to Pratchett Fandom. There are mirrors at many places around the world and the sites are updated weekly, if not daily. This is sort of the "permanent record" of internet pratchettdom. If you log onto the main server at http://www.lspace.org you should be redirected to your closest lspace mirror. Things on the Lspace Web include: The Annotated Pratchett File This file explains some of the subtleties of Terry's works. It is currently at v7.a and can be retrieved via anonymous FTP from the Pratchett Archives. If you've ever gone ... "I know where he got that from" ... this is the file for *YOU*! The APF is pretty much the alt.fan.pratchett encyclopedia including many of the best quotes from Terry on the net over the years. It is in various formats including Windows Help file format. Reading this will answer almost any question about the books. Pratchett Quote File Another Leo Breebaart production (the Cassununda of afp)) this is a file of all the best of Terry's quotes from all the books. If you want to look up a quote in a hurry, or look for something impressive in a .sig file, take a gander at this one. The Discworld Timeline A highly impressive document suggesting which events followed other events which might have proceeded certain events but only after particular events which are known to have caused final events. Available in the pratchett archives (and hopefully soon in HTML) Rouges Gallery. Photos and personal information on some of the Pratchett Newsgroup's more active denizens. Find out what your favorite posters look like. You will also find the words to the "Hedgehog Song" and "A Wizard's Staff" as well as the rules to Cripple Mr Onion. --- Fan Fiction Mailing List --- This gives pratchetteers a chance to write their own stories without violating the 'don't post your own fiction to AFP' rule. (reasons for this rule detailed in the NO-NO's section). If you want to get onto the mailing list send email to: mailto:listserver@dairyho.demon.co.uk in the body of the message have the following subscribe tp_fanfiction Your_Real_Name_Goes_Here end Subscriptions to the mailing list should be sent to mailto:tp_fanfiction@dairyho.demon.co.uk. --- AFP Recipies --- Starting immediately, you can all submit your favourites to the address: recipe-submit@lspace.org To get an index of the current recipes, send an email to: recipe-serv@lspace.org with "send index" in the subject line. This resource also resides at the Lspace Web. --- irc.lspace.org --- An IRC server has been set up with the address irc.lspace.org It holds several chat channels and looks like becoming the irc site for pratchett conversations. There is a web site at http://irc.lspace.org explaining a few of the conventions on the site. This is very cool. Watch out for *boing* and *smack* and *vom* noises. Ask Hamster what this is about. Watch out for Monsters under Joann's Bed. (yes it is a bit wierd here) Best time to try is daylight GMT. --- Discworld MUD --- There is a Discworld Mud on the Net, it can be accessed through telnet://discworld.imaginary.com 4242 It has a web page discussing a few of its conventions which is located at http://discworld.imaginary.com:5678/ --- The Pratchett Archives --- Leo Breebaart (leo@lspace.org) maintains an FTP site of Pratchett related material that is mirrored around the world. The home site is: ftp.lspace.org It is mirrored by ftp-usa.lspace.org:/pub/people/pratchett (USA) ftp-au.lspace.org:/Mirror/Pratchett (AUS) This FAQ, the Annotated Pratchett, the bibliographic information, rules for Cripple Mr Onion, lyrics to the Hedgehog Song, and gifs of all the covers are kept on these sites. There is a mail server as well for the archives. In order to learn how to use the server, send mail to: archives@lspace.org with in the body (commands should *not* be in the Subject line) the lines: send help index The first line will cause the server's help file to be sent to you. This file lists and explains all the commands the server recognizes, most of which you'll never need, but be sure to check out the "index" search command. The second line will cause the current index file for the Archives to be sent to you. --- The Merchandise FAQ --- Also circulated by Leo Breebaart this contains lists of Pratchettesque items that are available from various suppliers. Includes Web sites for International Bookshops, mailing addresses for Clarecraft and where to get the Album. --- The 'Terry Pratchett Bibliography' --- this contains ISBN numbers, titles and blurbs for all TP's books. It is available at the pratchett archives and maintained by me. The working copy can be found at http://connexus.apana.org.au/~orin/pratchett/bib.txt This is posted around the first of every month to alt.fan.pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett.annouce alt.answers and news.answers. --- Ppint's FAQ --- Ppint also ciculates an FAQ explaining some of the wierder headers that turn up on alt.fan.pratchett. ----------------------------------------- BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ----------------------------------------- This is stuff about Terry Pratchett himself. Information about Terry is usually hard to find if only because he prefers to talk about his works rather than himself. This information is condensed from the "About the Author" sections of his books. TERRY PRATCHETT. ---------------- --- PERSONAL HISTORY --- "People never read these biographies anyway, do they? They want to get on with the book, not wade through masses of prose designed to suggest that the author is really a very interesting person so look, okay, he wrote these other books, all right. Most were also about the Discworld, and actually quite a lot of people liked them." - From the "About the Author" section of the earlier Discworld books. Terry Pratchett is, on average, a sort of youngish middle-aged. He was born on the 28th of April in 1948 in the village of Forty Green (now a part of Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire) and is still not dead. He lives in the west country with his wife Lyn and daughter Rhianna where he writes books in between answering the mail. He lives in constant dread that someone will find out how enjoyable he finds writing, and stop him doing it. He chose journalism as a career because it was indoor work with no heavy lifting. He's managed to avoid all the really interesting jobs authors take in order to look good in this sort of biography. He started work as a journalist one day in 1965 and saw his first corpse three hours later, work experience meaning something in those days. After doing just about every job it's possible to do in provincial journalism, except of course covering Saturday afternoon football, he joined the Central Electricity Generating Board and became press officer for four nuclear power stations just before Three Mile Island, which shows his unerring sense of timing. He'd write a book about his experiences if he thought anyone would believe it. All this came to an end in 1987 when it became obvious that the Discworld series was much more enjoyable than real work. Occasionally he gets accused of literature. He says writing is the most fun anyone can have by themselves. He grows carnivorous (which, he argues, are really insectivorious) plants as a hobby (which are doing quite well by the way) and tells us that they are a lot less interesting than people believe. He likes people to buy him banana daiquiris (he knows people don't read author biographies, but feels this might be worth a try). He tries to make computers do things they were never intended to do. He also feels that the world could use more orang-utans. He has a two speed Hedge Cutter and there is no truth to the rumor that he likes being presented with Dried Frog Pills. --- HOW DID HE COME TO WRITE? --- The first story he ever wrote was for a school assignment and was called "The Hades Business". He managed to get 10 out of 10 for it. It was the first time he had gotten 10 out of 10 for anything except for a painting which his teacher *thought* was two dinosaurs fighting. This story was then published in his school magazine. There it would have ended, except for his school headmaster who addressed an assembly shortly afterward and announced that he didn't approve of the "moral tone" of the story. The magazine, which would have struggled to break even, sold out within 15 minutes. He learned an important lesson, right then -- by writing it is possible to infuriate your enemies as well as please your friends. He then had the story typed up by his Aunt and sold it to the magazine Science Fantasy (#60, vol 20, 1963), and with the profits bought a typewriter. This his first act as an income earner was to fire his Aunt. His mother rewarded this Thatcherite attitude and paid for his typing lessons and he was on his way. --- THE DISCWORLD BOOK LIST --- Here is a list of Terry's Discworld Book Titles. A more complete listing including the Nome, Pre-Discworld, Collaborations and Young Adult books (including ISBN etc) is in the PRATCHETT BIBLIOGRAPHY. The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Eric Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, Small Gods Lords and Ladies, Men At Arms, Soul Music, Interesting Times, Maskerade, The Streets of Ankh Morpork (with Stephen Briggs), The Discworld Companion (with Stephen Briggs), Mappe of the Discworld (with Stephen Briggs),Maskerade, Feet of Clay, The Pratchett Portfolio (with Paul Kidby) and Hogfather. NEIL GAIMAN ----------- Co-wrote the fan favorite "Good Omens" with Pterry. Neil Gaiman used to be a journalist, but gave it all up to write comics, which he claims are a totally valid late twentieth century art-form, and he's even won awards for them, so that's all right. He's 5'10'' tall, owns a number of black T-shirts, and, although he's not overly keen of banana daiquiris, is always very flattered when appreciative fans send him money. from "Good Omens" written with Terry Pratchett. There is a Neil Gaiman FAQ at: gopher://info.tamu.edu:70/00/.data/comic/sandman/ http://haven.uniserve.com/~puck/sandman/ STEPHEN BRIGGS. --------------- Stephen Briggs, with the assistance of Terry Pratchett, helped with the creation of the 'Streets of Ankh-Morpork', 'The Discworld Companion' and the 'Map of the Discworld'. He was born in 1951 and lives in Oxfordshire with his wife Ginny and their sons, Philip and Christopher. He has been involved for many years in the sinister world of amateur dramatics, which is how he came to discover the Discworld. Oxford's Studio Theatre Club went on to stage Stephen's adaptations of Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Guards! Guards! and Maskerade. Stephen is currently working with Pterry on publishing some of the plays. There is a photo of him on the lspace web. He would like the publishers to pay for a junket ^H^H^H^H^H trip to Australia so he can lie on the beach and drink beer ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H I mean sign books. JOSH KIRBY ---------- Josh Kirby is an artist who has been drawing covers for many years now. He has done the covers for (among others) Terry Pratchett, Craig Shaw Gardner, Esther Friesner, Dan McGirt and the new editions of Tom Holt's novels. He also illustrated the Discworld (sort-of picture) book "Eric". He has at least two poster books out, one with large versions of the first seven Discworld covers. One is "In the Garden of Unearthly Delights", published by Paper Tiger in 1991. Its ISBN is 1-85028-154-8. It costs #9.95 (pounds sterling) and runs to 143 pages of artwork. The other is "The Josh Kirby Poster Book" published by Corgi in 1991, ISBN 0 552 99382 4. -------------------------- WHERE CAN I GET THE BOOKS? -------------------------- Bookshops as opposed to 7-11, or the Pub, are usually a good start. Terry's books are available to varying degrees in the different countries around the world. Enclosed here is some information on which books were released where, as well as some addresses for stores that are reliable. --- Why is the USA so far behind in publishing Terry's Books? --- My email informs me that the dedicated American fan should be able to get their hands on most of the books. Some of the recommended ones are listed below. Terry has recently changed publishers so this should be rectified. He is quite concerned about it. --- USA --- University Bookstore 4326 University Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98105 Dark Carnival 3086 Claremont Avenue Oakland, CA 94705 Future Fantasy 3705 El Camino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306 Waterstone's 26 Exeter St. (at Newbury St.) Boston, MA The University Bookstore was able to get Interesting Times within three weeks. Dark Carnival apparently imports the paperbacks. Future Fantasy has a WWW page (http://futfan.com/home.html ) and could get IT in. Waterstone's apparently achieved this as well. Or you could contact ppint who even gets a mention in Hogfather so you should bow deeply in her presence (see address below). --- Ppint --- AFP'ers might also want to consider mailing the incredibly reliable ppint, who can also arrange things via email. The address is: ppint@lspace.org I also highly recommend the internet bookstore ( http://www.bookstore.co.uk ). Safe, reliable and bloody quick at getting new books to eager Australian FAQ writers. --- Translations --- TP's work has been translated into several different languages. See the Bibliographic FAQ for more information. ----------------------------------------- TERRY PRATCHETT and the INTERNET. ----------------------------------------- --- His E-Mail address --- "When I first went on line I left myself open to about a thousand mailings on the lines of "Are you Terry Pratchett or what?" It didn't matter what I replied. If I played it straight and said "yes" some of them would reply, "oh, go on, you're not, are you?" and I was damned if I was going to say "no"." Terry Pratchett - Discworld Companion. His e-mail address is tpratchett@unseen.demon.co.uk. He tends to be a little brief with the 'Are you TP' type and other questions that are regularly raised on AFP. Apart from that he promptly replies with polite and informative email to intellegent and comprehensible questions. Try to avoid asking him to write another Rincewind novel - he will get around to it in his own sweet time! --- His Setup --- Terry's house is probably similar to the computer version of an Elephant's graveyard. Many relics stored around the place. The house has a network. He is currently using a Pentium with Word Perfect for Windows. Although, in a concession to tradition, he has Word Perfect set up to run like Word Perfect 4.2 for DOS :-) He also used to own an Amstrad, and is a fan of the classic isometric perspective games, Batman and Head Over Heels, as well as being a ZX-81 maniac. He is a declared fan of the Wing Commander series and also is quite fond of the game Doom. Future historians of computer science will probably look upon his extensive collection with awe. I don't know what he is playing at the moment but it probably involves lots of explosions. ----------------------------------------- COMPUTER GAMES. ----------------------------------------- --- "The Colour of Magic" Game --- There was a game called "The Colour of Magic" released by Delta 4, which contained passages straight from the book. It was available for 8-bit machines, the Spectrum and C64. It should be available at the Pratchett Archives. --- "Terry Pratchett's Discworld" Game --- Released by Psygnosis the new Discworld game has been released for the PC on both CD-ROM and Floppy. The difference between the two being that the CD-ROM contains full speech by Eric Idle, Tony Robinson, Jon Pertwee and Kate Robbins. The basic plot is Guards! Guards! with Rincewind thrown in. An FAQ for the game is regulalry posted by Christopher McMullen mailto:sccmcmul@ucsalf.ac.uk This FAQ is also available at the Pratchett Archives. A demo of this game is also available from the pratchett archives. --- Discworld II --- Chris McMullen is "da man" when it comes to walkthrus and FAQ's for this new game. (Bright Orange Box - you can't miss it!). These are available at lspace web. http://www.lspace.org --- Writing MUDs, MUSEs and MUSHs --- Terry wants you to seek his OK before you write Discworld MUDs. His e-mail address is above. ----------------------------------------- MERCHANDISING AND FANDOM ----------------------------------------- There is a Merchandise FAQ posted regularly to AFP. There are two main sources of merchandise. Stephen CMOT Briggs and ClareCraft. CMOT can be contacted at mailto:sbriggs@cix.compulink.co.uk and ClareCraft has a WWW page at http://vangogh.cs.tcd.ie/cbuckley/clarecraft The merchandise FAQ can be found at the pratchett archives. It is also posted by Leo "Oh Wow He Is Cute" Breebart on afpa quite regularly. --- ClareCraft --- Further information about Clarecrafts Discworld range of products, can be requested from Isobel@behemoth.demon.co.uk. Including your postal address means that they can send you a free brochure, etc .. --- Octarine --- Terry has this to say: The officially unofficial Not-the-Terry-Pratchett-Fan-Club. The guy to write to is Chris Tregenza 22 The City Beeston Nottingham NG9 2ED "It's like this: a couple of years ago they approached me, and I said I thought it would be an amazingly bad idea (I mean, what do you do after issue three of the magazine: `Um. He's done another book. It's great/okay/not as good as the last one IMHO. Um. Is he losing more hair, or what?' So I suggested they broaden the base to include humorous sf/fantasy generally." --- Fan Club --- ``The Guild of Fans and Disciples'' is the unofficial fan club of Terry Pratchett and Josh Kirby. It is run on a non profit-making basis by a group of fans who produce a bi-monthly newsletter to keep other fans up to date with events. Terry has no direct involvement in the club, other than supplying news and consenting to their existence as long as they avoid commercialism. For more information you can e-mail mailto:philip@yrsk.demon.co.uk --- THE WIZARD'S KNOB --- The Wizard's Knob (TWK) is a fan magazine dedicated to the works of Terry Pratchett. It features a wealth of news, reviews, opinion and artwork and is sometimes even funny. For information on how to subscibe look at the merchandise FAQ. --- CLARECRAFT COLLECTOR'S GUILD --- According to ClareCraft has about 1500 members and its newsletter is practically becoming a fanzine in its own right. Information from ClareCraft. --- Discworld Conventions. --- These turn up every now and then ... the point of which seems to be for female afparians to oggle Leo. Oh and to celebrate all stuff pratchettian. ----------------------------------------- PTERRY ON THE PTELLY ----------------------------------------- --- Truckers Video --- There is a video of "Truckers" available. The details are: Thames Television International, video Collection International VHS TV 8159, 110 minutes, VHS-PAL, price: approx. 8 pounds. --- Johnny and the Dead --- I assume this will become available as well seeing it has made it to the small screen recently. (Someone emailed me with details but my #ucúin% computer crashed so I lost it) --- The Mort Film --- Terry wrote a couple of script drafts which wet down well and everything was looking fine and then the US backers said "Hey, we've been doing market research in Power Cable, Nebraska, and other centres of culture, and the Death/skeleton bit doesn't work for us, it's a bit of a downer, we have a problem with it, so lose the skeleton". The rest of the consortium said, did you read the script? The Americans said: sure, we LOVE it, it's GREAT, it's HIGH CONCEPT. Just lose the Death angle, guys. Whereupon, Terry is happy to say, they were told to keep on with the medication and come back in a hundred years. Power Cable Nebraska doesn't appear to exist BTW. (at least my Encarta 96 Atlas didn't have it!) Maybe someone wants to go to Nebraska and plant a sign declaring Des Moines to actually be Power Cable. --- Discworld Movie. --- Apparently there is some talk of putting together a sort of 'Hill Street Blues' mixed with the Guards books. More news as it eventuates. --- Soul Music/Wyrd Sisters --- I get the impression from the NG that these two have appeared in Cartoon format. Can someone send me details - they haven't appeared over here in XXXX. --- Terry Pratchett's Borneo Adventure --- He also helped out with a wildlife documentary in Borneo on Orang-Utans. This was recently (May 1995) shown in the United Kingdom and no one really knows if it is going to be released on video. I heard from the production company and if there is enough interest it will be. --- Theatrical Plays --- Oxford's Studio Theatre Club went on to stage Stephen's adaptations of Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Guards! Guards!,Maskerade and Jingo If you are interested in more information, please E-mail: mailto:sbriggs@cix.compulink.co.uk Some of these plays are available in book form as well. (see Bib) --- From the Discworld CD --- A mainly instrumental collection written by Dave Greenslade, a friend of Terrys probably best known for the Pentateuch double album. A Discworld Theme album. ----------------------------------------- COMMON THREADS. ----------------------------------------- Some threads, like the perennial bad penny, just keep turning up. At least read this section of the FAQ before indulging yourself in posting about any of the following subjects. Remember your [I]'s and [R]'s please! --- What is UNCLEAR PHYSICS and Where can I get a copy? --- Unclear Physics was the WORKING TITLE of the book INTERESTING TIMES. This particular FAQ writer gets at least three letters a month asking for the ISBN of this book (which I am sure ammuses everyone else on the newsgroup :-). This happens so often that I got my copy of IT signed as THIS IS NOT UNCLEAR PHYSICS. --- Posting an Annotation --- An annotation (usually marked [A]) of a Terry Pratchett book is a reflection of a small "inside joke" used in the text. An example of which is the "Soul Food Cafe" scene in "Soul Music". Something written or filmed after the publication of a TP book obviously does not constitute an annotation. The television show "Due South" might have been influenced in some way by "Guards! Guards!" but it is impossible for it to have happened the other way around. You might also want to consider how you phrase a prospective annotation. Some annotations sound more like allegations of plagurism rather than a helpful attempt to point out an inside joke. Such allegations might even be considered libelous. When posting an annotation it would be helpful if you included: 1) The original text you are annotating (TP's) (include page number) 2) The year of the source of the annotation. (Blues Brothers (1981)) 3) As close an approximation as you can get of the text of the source. (i.e. writing out the conversation in the Soul Food Cafe) --- Critisising Terry Pratchett on Alt.Fan.Pratchett --- The following is some quotes that Terry Posted after a mini flame war errupted through one group of people suggesting that book X was much worse than book Y and another group of people suggesting "get out of your tree ... this is AFP ... we don't critisise *him* here". These are Terry's exact words: "Oh dear..." " Let me drop a few things into this quite interesting thread. "1 I always listen to advice. It's polite. "2 If I *heeded* all the advice I've had over the years, I've have written 18 books about Rincewind. Absolutely true. The most common plea in my mail right now is 'when are we going to read about Rincewind in XXXX?' " I'm being instructed that I have a duty to my readers -- if I was innocent, I'd be attaching corks to that battered pointy hat even now. But perhaps this is an issue on which I have thought long and hard. After all, it's my living and ten years of my life. " If Discworld continues, then old characters will continue -- Rincewind will get red dust in his sandals, the Watch will be back, Gaspode will probably limp into stories. And new characters will arise. Why not? It's not as if there are *rules*. What will probably *end* Discworld is simple crowding -- the Watch already make Ankh-Morpork based stories a little problematical, and I won't get into the comic book convention of having Captain Courage out of town so that Commander Socko can take centre stage. "3 I wish people wouldn't feel obliged to put in the 'no offence meant, pterry' rubric. I'm a big boy. I don't take offence easily at criticism above the 'Moving Pictures is crap' level and can tell if offence is meant, on the whole. If something *is* offensive, to me or anyone else, 'NOM,P' is superfluous. As they say elsewhere, you own your words - in all senses of 'own'. Anyway, as I've harped before, afp isn't mine. If I log on and read something I don't like, I have the same options as anyone else (actually, I probably don't, come to think of it -- but that's my problem) " I do get embarrassed when people give me a lecture on my duties, approach to writing, tell me book X isn't a patch on book Y, and then send me a private email hastening to assure me that 'no offence is meant'. But I do grin when, after all of this, they tag on that "it's about time we saw Gaspode again" or they're waiting for Rincewind's adventures on XXXX..." - Terry Pratchett Terry's views are here for all to see. It would be advisable for all sides to take note. AFP *is* about discussing the books, characters excetra - how that discussion goes is up to you. Remember though ... politeness is a virtue. --- WHY PTERRY? --- Pterry is an affectionate nickname in the tradition of his book Pyramids. Pteppic, Ptracy and therefore Pterry. --- CASTING MOVIES --- Leo went through 13 Mb of a.f.p. logfiles, extracted 450 Kb of "Let's cast a Discworld movie" articles, and put together a complete list of all the suggestions ever made, leaving out the less serious possibilities. This can be found at the Pratchett Archives. This thread seems to be fairly virulent at the moment so I hope all potential posters have had a look at the casting page at www.lspace.org What has been amusing me even more of late is the thread of casting an AFP movie. In traditional AFP style everyone is arguing which actor would best represent them while completely ignoring the question of the proposed film's plot. Then again this is AFP ... there would not be a plot! --- How should I pronounce Rincewind's Name? --- Terry himself pronounces it to rhyme with "Mince pinned" and in Eric, Rincewind meets his ancestor whose translated name means "Washer [Rinser?] of Winds". Evidence would then tend to point to this pronunciation (like the pronunciations in the Discworld Game) --- How should I pronounce Gaspode's Name? --- According to the game the wonder dog's name is pronounced to rhyme with Gas-Mode. Not Gas-Po-Dee. --- What are the words to the The Hedgehog Song? --- The words to the Hedgehog song (many different versions) can be found at the Pratchett Archives. Download, Print, Visit the pub, consume alcohol and sing. (It probably sounds better)(Well .. to you at least) There is no line about a two speed hedge trimmer in this song. --- What/Where is the Missing Chapter? --- There is *NO* Missing Chapter! One of the more recalcitrant threads that pops up, much like the legend of the Yeti, Yowie or Bigfoot, is the legend of the Missing Chapter. The story goes that, late one night whilst working on a particularly hilarious section of the Discworld Chronicles Terry accidently transmitted a section of his work to alt.fan.pratchett and then had his computer suffer something akin to a complete hard disk failure. Fun is had by all as alt.fan.pratchett regularly mounts search parties around the internet looking for this particular untamed ornithoid. (this was Leo's Fault! (and TP went along with it!)) --- What is a "Merkin"? --- Merkin is an affectionate name used by some of the denizens of alt.fan.pratchett for citizens of the United States. If you want to know what the word really means I suggest that you consult a good dictionary. Apparently on one of the larger US networks AFP's newsgroup description says "Book signings and the sale of Merkins". One unfortunate actually posted asking where could he order a merkin. Apparently he needed one due to an embarrasing personal problem. No one on AFP sells Merkins. (although it could signal a strange new diversification of the CMOT Briggs enterprise :-). CMOT replied that he didn't really want to explain all this to the British Postal Service. --- Does Terry Pratchett post here or what? --- YES! He does! He even reads most of the articles posted to the group (when the posting isn't excessive). For some people in this group posting this question is like a red rag to a wossname. The more [R] the discussions ... the more likely he is to post. Ultimately it comes down to a matter of time. I think, like most of us, he goes through phases where afp is interesting and afp isn't. When you have been around the group for a few years you will understand this better. --- Due South/Frazier/Carrot/Hey aren't they ... --- Recently a television series has come along which depicts a wide eyed Canadian Mountie working as a cop in deep dark Chicago. Many have noted that similarities exist between the character Frazier and the beloved Discworld "Dwarf" Carrot. Well Terry's books were written first so no, he didn't copy the idea. I have no information suggesting that the creators of Due South are even aware of the adventures of Carrot. So it is likely that they didn't copy either. If they did, I missed the episode where Frazier fought the Dragon, or the one where a crazy man with a Gonne tried to make Frazier mayor of Chicago ... and I am sure that the woman at the police station who likes Frazier is *not* a werewolf. --- What is [G], [C], [G], [O], [O], [K] --- Several other "starred capitals" have cropped up on alt.fan.pratchett These are not "official" and sometimes I wonder if people make up new ones just to keep life interesting. [I], [R], and the occasional [A] are simple ... anything more is bordering on the anal-retentive. You shouldn't constantly need to refer to a manual to read Usenet! Ppint posts an FAQ explaining all of this. --- Your Purity Test Score --- I have a hard time reconciling this topic with anything in the TP books, as, as mentioned in the DW Companion, there is no real sex in the DW or other TP books. (No actual sex, just some before bits and some after bits - as in Good Omens and Men at Arms). So unless you have something to post about Carrot's purity score, maybe these admissions are best left to the alt.sex groups :-) ----------------------------------------- MISCELLANY ----------------------------------------- Here's some stuff that didn't fit into any other category. --- Similar Authors --- P.G. Wodehouse, Douglas Adams, Jerome K. Jerome, Robert Rankin, Tom Sharpe, Tom Holt, Calvin Trillin, P.J O'Rourke and Dave Barry are some people whose styles are similar. He reminds me a bit of Joseph Heller (Catch 22) as well ... although not so cynical. Terry occasionally also posts information about books that interest him or have impressed him recently. Keep a look out on alt.fan.pratchett --- The Future --- Discworld Calendar. There has been some discussion about producing a Calendar where many of the top SF/Fantasy artists each do a picture representing some aspect of the Discworld Chronicles. Apparently the publishers have the rights to this one. [Source: Stephen Briggs] Whether this will turn up for 1998 is presently unknown. JINGO (Working Title) A Watch Book, includes a War in Klatch. Discworld Gurps Roleplaying. A book for the Gurps roleplaying system will be released in 1997. DISCWORLD POST PTERRY. Terry is a fairly young bloke (well my dad would say so as they were born only 2 months apart) so is only old enough to be Uncle Pterry instead of Grandpa Pterry so there is at least 40 years left in him yet. However, in recent times, other author's work has been "resurected" after their death. This brings up the possibility, of course, of Discworld (or Johnny Maxwell and Truckers) Novels being written by "someone else". Terry had obviously given this some thought and has put in place the legal framework so that NO ONE BUT TERRY PRATCHETT WRITES DISCWORLD. Whether or not this means that a "50th Anniversary Tribute" to the Discworld could be written for Terry whilst he is still alive in 2033 similar to what Terry himself did for Tolkien in "After the King" (see the Bib for details) or Asmimov had this done in "Friends of the Foundation" is questionable. (You can email Terry in 2033 to ask if you want :-) --- Big NO NO's! --- The following things are advised not be done on alt.fan.pratchett. The reasons why they should not be done are detailed here. The internet is, of course, free and 'youcanpostwhateveryouwant' but I hope that you see the following as an intellegent and logical set of rules. Posting Fan Fiction to alt.fan.pratchett It is asked that you do not post your own discworld/pratchettesque Stories to the newsgroup. Someone might feel that an idea in a newly released TP novel was similar to one they posted on day X. They might even have the audacity to take TP to court on this. (this *HAS* happened to television people on other newsgroups). To avoid the possibility of this ever occuring Pterry politely asked that we not post our own stories to alt.fan.pratchett. See the 'Fan Fiction Mailing List' for where you can post your stories in safety. Posting 'Posting Stats' After several bad experiances it has been generally decided that putting forward lists showing the people who contribute the most articles to afp is a really bad idea. The reaction has been 'gosh I only posted X articles ... better post more to improve my ranking' This generally means alt.fan.pratchett is flooded with a higher than usual amount of rubbish. Comments on "Proposals". As a bit of fun it has become traditional to "propose" to any new (or old) female/male poster on alt.fan.pratchett. Whilst not wanting to mention long words like "Sexual Harassment" I do want to caution people that not everyone on the increasingly public internet has our sense of humour. For those who are new to this newsgroup and do recieve proposals of marriage, such proposals are not meant with any malice or threat and are usually done out of fun (and the expectation of rejection :-) Posting "Test Posts" There is a newsgroup which automatically responds to test posts via email telling you where your news post has landed around the world. Test posts on alt.fan.pratchett are likely to be followed up and become long winded threads in their own right. The newsgroup is alt.test. Although nothing is wrong with this, there is a more effective way of testing your news server :-) --- Inconsistencies --- Well, he is fallible. Known inconsistencies are documented in the Annotated Pratchett File. (available at the Pratchett Archives). The Author suggests, however, that there are few inconsistencies merely several alternative pasts. :-). These are getting rarer as time goes on and a discworld "lore" builds itself up. The publication of the DISCWORLD COMPANION should stop this. --- Appearances --- Book signings: He'll post when he's going walkabout, so just bide your time and see. The alt.fan.pratchett www page usually has some information in this area if you missed it. Generally he will sign three novels per person, and, if there is time, get on to the others. The Stamp which reads EX LIBRIS MORTIS - HIC EST VITA VESTER means FROM THE LIBRARY OF DEATH THIS IS YOUR LIFE (S Briggs Translation) There is a Web Page on the Lspace Web with tour details. --- The Orang-Utan Foundation --- Those who enjoyed the program where Terry went to Borneo and want to find out more about Orang-Utans can contact: The Orangutan Foundation 7 Kent Terrace, London NW1 4RP United Kingdom. --- Approximate Number of Books Published --- Terry's agent conservativly estimates that there are over 8 million Terry Pratchett books published worldwide at the moment. This will probably increase at a rate of 1/2 a million per year. (A LOT of books) ----------------------------------------- CREDITS ----------------------------------------- Many people have contributed to this FAQ (so much so that almost two whole pages of text were taken up with credits). In the interests of bandwith I removed them. If you want a list of those who have contributed to the FAQ (and Bibliography) email me and I will forward one to you. Thank you to all people who have helped out with this FAQ, it is very very very very very very very much appreciated. An incomplete list can be found at http://connexus.apana.org.au/~orin/pratchett/credits.txt