NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3 / NN_1993_3.iso / spool / alt / fan / pratchet / 4274 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-01-24 | 58.9 KB | 1,355 lines

Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!sun4nl!dutrun!dutrun2!leo From: leo@cp.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) Subject: The Annotated Pratchett File, v5.0 - part 3 of 3 Message-ID: <1993Jan24.231303.22750@dutrun2.tudelft.nl> Followup-To: alt.fan.pratchett Originator: leo@cygnus Sender: news@dutrun2.tudelft.nl (UseNet News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: cygnus.cp.tn.tudelft.nl Reply-To: leo@cp.tn.tudelft.nl Organization: Unseen University Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 23:13:03 GMT Lines: 1340 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the beginning of part 3 of 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LORDS AND LADIES + [p. 5] "[...] young Magrat, she of the [...] tendency to be soppy about raindrops and roses and whiskers on kittens" One of the best songs from "The Sound Of Music" is called 'My Favourite Things' (it's the song Maria sings for the Von Trapp children when they are all frightened of the thunderstorm) and goes: "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" [ Damn. How does the rest of this verse go? Something with 'mittens' I believe, but my brain won't let mem remember. ] + [p. 5] "[...] to face down the Godmother (who had made Destiny an offer it couldn't refuse)." Usually it is of course the God*father* who makes people an offer they can't refuse. + [p. 11] "But that was a long time ago, in the past [footnote: Which is another country]" The opening words of "The Go-between", a 1950 book by L. P. Hartley: "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there". + [p. 11] "And besides, the bitch is... ...older." This is another Christopher Marlowe quote, but I haven't traced the exact play yet (candidates mentioned so far are "The Jew Of Malta" and "The Duchess Of Malfi"). The original goes: "You have committed fornication, But that was many years ago, And in another country, And besides, the wench is dead." + [p. 16] "This was the octarine grass country." A reference to (Kentucky) bluegrass country. + [p. 16] "Then, [...] the young corn lay down. In a circle." An explanation of the Crop Circle phenomenon might be in order here. Crop Circles are circular patches of flattened crops which have appeared in fields of cerials in the South and West of England over the last few years. There is no firm evidence pointing to their cause: this has been taken by certain parties as a prima facie proof that they are of course caused by either alien spacecraft or by some supernatural intelligence, possibly in an attempt to communicate. In recent years, circle systems have become increasingly elaborate, most notably in the case of a notable circle in the shape of the Mandelbrot Set, and another system which is shown on the cover of the recent Led Zeppelin compilation album, which in general would indicate that whoever's up there they probably have long hair and say 'Wow!' and 'Yeah!' a lot. A number of staged circle-forging challenges in the summer of '92 have demonstrated both how easy it is to produce an impressive circle by mundane, not to say frivolous methods, and also the surprisingly poor ability of 'ceriologists' to distinguish what they describe as a "genuine" circle from one "merely made by hoaxers". Anyone with a burning desire to believe in paranormal explanations is invited to post to the newsgroup sci.skeptic an article asserting essentially "I believe that crop circles are produced by UFO's/Sun Spots/The Conservative Government/The Easter Bunny" and see how far they get.... + [p. 21] "Some people are born to kingship. Some achieve kingship, or at least Arch-Generalissimo-Father-of-His-Countryship. But Verence had kingship thrust upon him." I just *know* this paraphrases a well-known quote about leadership, but I can't place it. anybody? + [p. 22] "'I asked Boggi's in Ankh-Morpork to send up their best dress-maker [...]'" Boggi's = Gucci's. + [p. 29] "[...] it was always cheaper to build a new 33-MegaLith circle than upgrade an old slow one [...]" Think CPU's and MegaHertz. + [p. 30] "I LIKE TO THINK I AM A PICKER-UP OF UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES. Death grinned hopefully." In Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" we find the character Autolycus ("a Rogue"), saying in Act IV, scene ii: "My father named me Autolycus; who being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." + [p. 50] "One of them was known as Herne the Hunted. He was the god of the chase and the hunt. More or less." Herne the Hun*ter* is a spectral hunter of medieval legend, said to originally have been a keeper in Windsor Forest. Herne appears in many stories, varying from Shakespeare (of course) to the fairly recent BBC TV Series "Robin of Sherwood" (starring Jason Connery). When alt.fan.pratchett readers mistakenly assumed that the reference *originated* from this series, Terry cautioned: "Be careful when reference spotting... Herne the Hunter certainly did turn up in the Robin of Sherwood series and on an album by 'Let's breathe romantically to music' group Clannad, but any passing pagan will tell you he goes back a lot, lot further than that." + [p. 57] The names of the would-be junior witches. Two of the names resonate with the names used in "Good Omens": Agnes Nitt is similar to Agnes Nutter, and Amanita DeVice is similar to Anathema Device. In fact, both names are based on the names of the so-called Lancashire Witches. The deeds of this group on and around Pendle Hill were the subject of probably England's most famous 17th century witchhunt and trials. The story is described in some fictional detail in a little-known book called, surprise, "The Lancashire Witches". + [p. 62] The names of the "new directions". 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon': a fairly well-known phrase used a.o. by Tolkien in a poem, by Theodore Roosevelt for a book on hunting, and by pop-group Aha as an album title. It originally is the title of an old Scandinavian fairy tale, and can be found in a book by Kay Nielsen [title, anybody?]. Terry has confirmed that this book was his source for the phrase. 'Behind the North Wind': from the title of a book by George MacDonald: "At The Back Of The North Wind", the term itself being a translation of "Hyperborea". 'At the Back Of Beyond': an idiom, perhaps originating from Sir Walter Scott's "The Antiquary": "Whirled them to the back o' beyont". 'There and Back Again': The sub-title for Tolkien's "The Hobbit". 'Beyond the Fields We Know': my source mentions Lord Dunsay. Rings no bells to me, frankly. + [p. 63] "'You know, ooh-jar boards and cards [...] and paddlin' with the occult.'" An Ouija board is a well-known means of communicating with the dead. It's a board with letters and symbols on it, and the spirits supposedly move a glass over it and spell out messages. + [p. 76] "'Kings are a bit magical, mind. They can cure dandruff and that.'" Ok, kings of course cure dandruff by permanently removing people's heads from their shoulders, but the reason I'm including this annotation here is not because I want to explain the joke but because I have the vague idea that I heard the implied dandruff-quip somewhere before in explicit form. Has anybody else? + [p. 78] "'And why's there got to be a lion in it?' said Baker the weaver." The Morris Men's discussions on plays and lions reminded one of my sources of the play written by Moominpapa in "Moominsummer Madness" by Tove Jansson. When asked about it, Terry said that although he has read the Moomin books, the lion was an original idea of his. [ I would like some more info on what this Moominthingy is all about, and why Terry's play would remind one of it, since I haven't the faintest idea myself. ] + [p. 78] "'Hah, I can just see a real playsmith putting *donkeys* in a play!'" "A Midsummer Night's Dream", by that mediocre hack-writer William S., is an example of a play that *has* a donkey in it. Or to be absolutely precise, a character magically cursed with a donkey's head. + [p. 86] "[...] universes swoop and spiral around one another like [...] a squadron of Yossarians with middle-ear trouble." Terry writes: "Can it be that this is forgotten? Yossarian -- the 'hero' of "Catch-22" -- was the bomber pilot who flew to the target twisting and jinking in an effort to avoid the flak -- as opposed to the Ivy League types who just flew nice and straight..." + [p. 97] "[...] five flavours, known as 'up', 'down', 'sideways', 'sex appeal', and 'peppermint'." The flavours of resons are a satire of the somewhat odd naming scheme modern physicists have chosen for the flavours of quarks, namely: up, down, strange, charm, top [or truth], and bottom [or beauty]. + [p. 125] "'Good morrow, brothers, and wherehap do we whist this merry day?' said Carter the baker." It is undoable to list all the ways in which the sections about the Lancre Morris Men and the play they are performing parodies the play-within-a-play that occurs in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The only way to get full enjoyment here is to just go out and read Shakespeare. While you're at it, pay particular attention to the names and occupations of both Terry's and William's 'Rude Mechanicals'. + [p. 126] "'Yeah, everyone knows 'tis your delight on a shining night', said Thatcher the carter." It is relevant that Thatcher is making this remark to Carpenter the poacher, because it is a line from the chorus of an English folk song called 'The Lincolnshire Poacher': "When I was bound apprentice in famous Lincolnshire Full well I served my master for more than seven year' 'Til I took up to poaching, as you shall quickly hear Oh 'tis my delight On a shining night In the season of the year!" + [p. 126] The three paths leading from the crossroads in the woods are variously described as being "all thorns and briars", "all winding", and the last (which the Lancre Morris Men decide to take) as "Ferns grew thickly alongside it". This echoes the poem and folk song 'Thomas the Rhymer', about a man who was kidnapped by the Queen of the Elves. The following quote is from folk group Steeleye Span's lyrics which may vary from the actual poem: "Don't you see yon narrow narrow road, so thick beset with thorns and briars... Don't you see yon broad broad road... Don't you see yon bonny bonny road, that lies across the ferny brae? That is the road to fair Elfland..." + [p. 128] "'But it ain't April!', neighbours told themselves [...]" Inconsistency time! On p. 135 of "Witches Abroad", Granny refers to Nanny Ogg's intention of taking a bath with the words 'My word, doesn't autumn roll around quickly'. In subsequent discussions on the net it was postulated that Nanny's bath habits could well be explained by taking into account the fact that the Discworld has eight seasons (see first footnote in "The Colour Of Magic"), which might result in e.g. two autumns a year. Personally, I tend to agree with Terry, who has once said: "There are *no* inconsistencies in the Discworld books; ocassionally, however, there are alternate pasts". + [p. 138] "It probably looked beautiful on the Lady of Shallot, [...]" Alfred, Lord Tennyon wrote a well-known poem called "The Lady Of Shalott" (see also e.g. Agatha Christie's "The Mirror Crack'd"). A 'shallot' however, is a small green onion. + [p. 138] "[...] fed up with books of etiquette and lineage and "Twurp's Peerage" [...]" "Burke's Peerage" is a book that lists the hereditary titled nobility of the British Realm (the Peers of the Realm, hence the title of the book). It contains biographical facts such as when they were born, what title(s) they hold, who they're married to, children, relationships to other peers, etcetera. For example, under 'Westminster, Duke of' it will give details of when the title was created, who has held it and who holds it now. Also, 'twerp' and 'berk' (also spelt as 'burk') are both mild terms of abuse, similar to calling someone a fool or idiot. - [p. 178] "Quite a lot of trouble had once been caused in Unseen University by a former Archchancellor's hat, [...]" Refers back to certain events described more fully in "Sourcery". - [p. 180] "Jane's All The World Siege Weapons" 'Jane's' is a well known series of books/catalogues for military equipment of all sorts and types. There is a Jane's for airplanes, for boats, etc. + [p. 199] "[...] in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious." This is a reference to the well-known 'Schrodinger's cat' quantum theory thought-experiment in which a cat in a box is probabilistically killed, leaving it in a superposition of being alive and being dead until the box is opened and the waveform collapsed. + [p. 205] "'This girl had her fiance stolen by the Queen of Elves and she didn't hang around whining, [...]'" Another reference to the 'Thomas the Rhymer' folk song. See the note for p. 126. + [p. 205] "'I'll be back.'" Catchphrase used by Arnold Schwarzenegger in (almost) all his movies. + [p. 207] "Ancient fragments chimed together now in Magrat's head." These six lines make up three different poems, two of which we've been able to trace. From 'The Fairies', by Irish poet William Allingham (1850): "Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen We dare not go a-hunting for fear of little men" From a traditional Cornish prayer: "From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night Good Lord deliver us" Which leaves us with: "My mother said I never should Play with the fairies in the wood" Anybody? + [p. 210] "'Have you seen Weaver?' 'No, but I saw Carter and Thatcher.'" Think about it for a minute. - [p. 216] "[...] the only other one ever flying around here is Mr Ixolite the banshee, and he's very good about slipping us a note under the door when he's going to be about." If you haven't read "Reaper Man" yet, you may not realize that the reason why Mr Ixolite slips notes under the door is that he is the only banshee in the world with a speech impediment. + [p. 221] "'Hiho, hiho --'" See the note for p. 73 of "Moving Pictures". + [p. 222] "'It's some old king and his warriors [...] supposed to wake up for some final battle when a wolf eats the sun.'" Another one of Terry's famous Mixed Legends along the lines of the princess and the pea fairy tale in "Mort". The wolf bit is straight from Norse mythology. The wolf Fenris, one of Loki's monster children will break free from his chains and eat the sun. This is one of the signs that the Gotterdammerung or Ragnarok has begun, and at this point the frost giants (who presumably have *still* not returned the Gods' lawnmower) will cross the rainbow bridge and fight the final battle with the gods of Asgard and the heroes who have died and gone to Valhalla. See the last part of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle for details, amongst other things. The sleeping king is one of the oldest and deepest folk-myths of western culture, some versions of the popular legend even have King Arthur and his warriors sleeping on the island of Angelsea. For more information, see e.g. the section about the Fisher King in Frazer's "The Golden Bough", Weston's "From Ritual To Romance" and all the stuff that this leads into, such as Elliot's "Tee Wasteland" and David Lodge's "Small World". + [p. 227] "Queen Ynci wouldn't have obeyed..." The ancient warrior queen Ynci is modelled on Boudicca (who led a British rebellion against the Romans). Boudicca's husband was the ruler of a tribe called the Iceni, which is almost Ynci backwards. + [p. 236] "'I've got five years' worth of "Bows And Ammo", Mum,' said Shawn. In our world there is a magazine "Guns And Ammo"; this appears to be the Discworld equivalent. + [p. 236] Shawn's speech. The part in Shawn's speech about people hiding under the bed instead of gloriously fighting etc. *might* be drawn from Shakespeare's "King Henry V" (Act IV, Scene iii), where Henry V makes his 'St. Crispin's Day' speech, in which he also mentions beds in the context of stay-at-homes. Frankly, I'm a bit skeptical about this one... + [p. 245] "'Ain't that so, Fairy Peaseblossom?' One of the fairies in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is called Peasblossom. In itself this is not very interesting, but it is directly relevant when you consider the point Granny is trying to make to the Elf Queen. + [p. 252] "The King held out a hand, and said something. Only Magrat heard it. Something about meeting by moonlight, she said later." In "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Act II, scene ii), Oberon, King of the Fairies, says to Titania, Queen of the Fairies (with whom he has a kind of love/hate relationship): "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania". + [p. 261] "'Go ahead, [...] bake my quiche.'" Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" again, another satire of the line which also inspired "FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC" in "Guards! Guards!" (see annotation there). + [p. 264] "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, especially simian ones. They are not all that subtle." Definitely a Tolkien reference this time. See the note for p. 183 of "Mort". + [p. 274] "[...] he called it "The Taming Of The Vole" [...]" Shakespeare again, of course. A vole is a small animal, somewhat similar to a shrew. + [p. 275] "And from the empty hillside, only the silence of the elves." An allusion to (but not a direct quote from, as far as I can tell) "The Silence Of The Lambs". + A very big inconsistency in Discworld continuity occurs when Esme Weatherwax and Archchancellor Ridcully meet again, and there seems to be no notable age-discrepancy. Yet in "Wyrd Sisters" we are told that time was stopped for everyone in Lancre (including the witches) for twenty years, so Ridcully should therefore now be twenty years older than Esme... GOOD OMENS - [p. 3] "[...] he was currently wondering vaguely who Moey and Chandon were". The Queen song 'Killer Queen' contains the line: "She keeps the Moet et Chandon in a pretty cabinet". Freddie Mercury's pronunciation is indeed such that, if you don't already *know* what he's singing, this part can be extremely puzzling. + [p. 8] "...I will not let you go (let him go)..." This sentence, and the 'scaramouche' line a few paragraps before, are taken from Queen's legendary song 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. This line is misquoted though. The actual song goes: "*We* will not let you go (let him go)". + [p. 26] "And he had a complete set of the Infamous Bibles, individually named from errors in typesetting." The "Unrighteous Bible" (the one which says "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the Kingdom of God") really existed. The "Buggre Alle This Bible" obviously did not. I don't know about any of the others. - [p. 28] The three lost Shakespeare plays. "The Trapping Of The Mouse" refers to Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" (which has now been running for more than 30 years in London), who in turn named her play after the play-within-a-play that occurs in ... "Hamlet". "Golde Diggers Of 1589" refers to the series of movie musicals with similar names made in 1933, 1935 and 1937. [ Does anybody know if "The Comedie Of Robin Hoode, Or The Forest Of Sherwoode" also refers to something modern? ] - [p. 40] The nursery rhyme Nanny Astoreth sings to Warlock: "Oh, the grand old Duke of York He had ten thousand men He marched them up to the top of the hill And crushed all the nations of the world and brought them under the rule of Satan our master." is a parody of the English original: "The grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men. He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again. And when they were up they were up. And when they were down they were down. And when they were only half way up They were neither up nor down." Accompanied (in some versions) by fingers marching up the small child as appropriate and stopping to tickle for the last line. + [p. 46] "'I-should-be-so-lucky, -lucky-lucky-lucky-lucky,'" This is the chorus to Kylie Minogues break-through hit "I should be so lucky": "I should be so lucky Lucky lucky lucky I should be so lucky in love" Notice that this is yet another misquote: there are only *four* successive 'lucky's', not five. - [p. 46] The scenes of Adam growing up in Tadfield are an affectionate parody of the "Just William" books by Richmal Crompton. [ I'd like some more info on this. Any British folks remember these books?] - [p. 52] 'Another One Bites The Dust', 'We Are The Champions', 'I Want To Break Free' and 'Fat-Bottomed Girls' are all songs by Queen (see the note for p. 3]. Queen fans have pointed out that at the time "Good Omens" was released, there was no (or at least no easily available) Queen greatest hits album that actually contained all of these songs. A recently released double album has remedied this situation. - [p. 98] "Sable signed for it, his real name -- one word, seven letters. Sounds like examine." But 'famine' only has six letters. Terry says: "Oh, yeah. The famous seven-lettered six letter name. [...] It's like this. In the original MS, it was six letters, because we can both count. And it was six letters in the Gollancz hardcover. And six letters in the Workman US hardcover. And became seven in the Corgi edition. No-one knows why." - [p. 112] American readers should be aware that English tabloid papers traditionally show a photo of a topless girl on page three. Hence: "Newt [...] blushed crimson as he performed the obligatory nipple-count on page three". - [p. 126] "Newt's car was a Wasabi." 'Wasabi' is, in fact, a kind of horseradish used in sushi. - [p. 127] "[...] the world's only surviving Wasabi agent in Nigirizushi, Japan." And 'Nigirizushi' *is* a kind of sushi. - [p. 152] "The Kappamaki, a whaling research ship, [...]" 'Kappamaki' apparently is a Japanese cucumber roll. - [p. 158] "Hi. This is Anthony Crowley. Uh. I --" Up to this point in the novel, we have only been told that Crowley's first name begins with an 'A', leading to the false expectation that his name might be *Alastair* Crowley, as in the famous British mystic, theosophist, black-arts practicioner and "most evil man on Earth". - [p. 180] The name Citron Deux-Chevaux refers to the Citroen 2CV, or deux-chevaux as it is commonly called in Europe ("chevaux" means horses -- 'CV' has a (very loose) connection with horsepower). + [p. 184] "...All we need is, Radio Gaga... sang Freddie Mercury." Terry and Neil definitely seem to have trouble rendering songs correctly. According to my source (I can't *stand* the bloody song myself) the line that does appear in the song goes: "All we *hear* is Radio Gaga". - [p. 191] 'Sprechen Sie Deutsch' and 'Parlez-vous francais' are German resp. French for 'do you speak German/French', but 'Wo bu hui jiang zhongwen' is Chinese for 'I can't speak Chinese'. Terry says: "The bit of Chinese was Neil's. I said, "Are you sure it means 'Do you speak Chinese?'" He said yes. I should argue?" - [p. 203] "'Heigh ho,' said Anthony Crowley, and just drove anyway." This refers to an old British topical song about the Italian opera-singer Antonio Rolli, well-known in London during the Regency. The song was called "A Frog He Would-a Wooing Go", and the chorus has the lines: "With a rolypoly, gammon and spinach, Heigh ho, said Anthony Rowley." This was intended to be a highly amusing satire on the way Italian people speak. It has only survived to this day as a children's rhyme because of its references to talking animals, and despite a totally confusing chorus. - [p. 203] "What she really wanted to be was an internationally glamorous jet-setter, but she didn't have the O-levels." This has to do with the British education system. After the 8th grade you decide how many two-year O (Ordinary) level courses you are going to take (each with an exam at the end). Most non-minimum wage jobs ask for at least 5 O-levels, people in college usually have 7 or 8. After your O-levels you can either leave school or go on for A (Advanced) level courses, which take another 2--3 years. - [p. 248] Dick Turpin is the name of a famous British highwayman. Hence the joke about Newt's car being called 'Dick Turpin': "'Because everywhere I go, I hold up traffic,' he mumbled wretchedly." - [p. 262] The "Necrotelecomnicom" appears in the Discworld books as the "Book Of Talking To The Dead", i.e. the Phonebook of the Dead, as a parallel to the more accessible Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead. There is also the famous "Necronomicon" that appears in the "Chthulhu Mythos" of H. P. Lovecraft. (see also the p. 145 annotation for "Moving Pictures") - [p. 262] The "Malleus Maleficarum" is the name of an existing 15th century guidebook for witch-hunters, written by Heinrich Kramer and Joseph Sprenger (one a Dominican Inquisitor, the other the Major of Cologne), two high-ranking officials of the Catholic church. This book apparently became Europe's first bestseller after the invention of the printing press, and the (early 20th century) English translation of this book, "The Hammer Of Witches", is still in print today. - [p. 262] "Liber Fulvarum Paginarum" A dog latin title that translates to 'Book of Yellow Pages'... This book also appears in Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" comics, where it is used to summon Death (although the colorist didn't get the joke and simply colored the pages brown). Terry says: "Liber Paginarum Fulvarum is a kind of shared gag. It's in the dedication of "Equal Rites", too. Although I think we've got the shade of yellow wrong -- I think there's another Latin word for a kind of yellow which is closer to the Yellow Pages colour." The other Latin word for yellow Terry is thinking of may possibly be 'xanthos'. - [p. 267] "And if you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot... no, imagine a trainer, laces trailing, kicking a pebble; [...]" From George Orwell's "1984": "If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever". - [p. 268] "Slouching hopefully towards Tadfield." From W. B. Yeats' poem "The Second Coming": "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?" - According to Terry, the U.S. edition of "Good Omens" has about 700 extra words in it, because: "The Workman editor wanted... how can I put this... some things explained more carefully." - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman did have the title "668 -- The Neighbour Of The Beast" on hand for a "Good Omens" sequel, but since Neil Gaiman lives in the US now, Terry says: "I can't see it ever being written". There are many documented occurrences of this joke in other contexts, by the way (including a recently released actual novel with this name), some of them predating "Good Omens". Terry again points out that it's only to be expected since the joke is so obvious. - There is a British KitKat chocolate bar TV commercial that predates "Good Omens", and which involves an angel and a devil who are just starting their respective coffee breaks. Both exit from separate elevators, the angel accompanied by several pure-white animals, while the devil turns back into his elevator and screams, in a British accent, "Shut up!" to whatever demons are causing a ruckus behind him. If you are now thinking that this is an extremely unlikely, farfetched annotation -- well, so did I, until Terry Pratchett himself gave us the following piece of information (when some folks were having further discussions on how old this ad exactly was): "I'm pretty sure [this ad] started about the same time as "Good Omens", because: One night I was sitting there typing away when I looked up and there the angel and the devil were, having a teabreak (it's not really a particularly "Good Omens" idea, but I know why people like it...) And I thought, hey, great... And about half an hour later there was an ad (some UK viewers might remember it) for an insurance company which showed a businessman with wide angel wings walking down the street... And then, just when I was doing the bit where Crowley muses that people are much better than demons at thinking up horrible things to do to one another, I switched on the radio; there was a performance of "The Tempest", and someone said "Hell is empty and all the devils are here". It was a weird evening, really." + People have been wondering (a) where the back cover photograph of "Good Omens" was taken, and (b) which one of them is Terry Pratchett. Terry provides the answer to both questions: "In Kensal Green Cemetry, one frosty Janaury day. Since white clothes tend to be thinner than dark clothes, I had to be stood in front of a blowlamp between shots." [ Now all I need is some kind Englishperson to explain to us furriners just where this Kensal Green Cemetary is. Anybody? ] STRATA - The whole book is, in a very general way, modeled on Larry Niven's classic "Ringworld" novel: a group of differently-raced beings explore an improbable, artificial world and try to find its mysterious builders. + [p. 107] "'Cape illud, fracturor', [...]" Dog-latin which roughly translates to "Take this, buster". THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN Just as "Strata" borrows from Larry Niven, so does "The Dark Side Of The Sun" pay homage to the famous SF-writer Isaac Asimov. - [p. 27] The robot Isaac is obviously modeled on Asimov's well-known positronic robots (and less obviously inspired by a similar robot that appears in Robert Sheckley's "Dimension Of Miracles"). Isaac [the robot] follows a more extended version of Asimov's equally famous 'Three Laws of Robotics' though: on p. 53: "'[...] Eleventh Law of Robotics, Clause C, As Amended,' said the robot firmly." + [p. 133] "It was a skit [...] written in early Greek style. [...] Chorus: 'Brekekekex, co-ax, co-axial'" The play being performed is an updated version of Old Attic Comedy, as written by the poet Aristophanes. This section specifically parodies Aristophanes' "The Frogs", in which a chorus of (logically enough) frogs sings an onomatopoeic song involving the lyric: "Brekekex, ko-ax, ko-ax". DIGGERS + In the Corgi paperback editions I have, "Diggers" and "Wings" are subtitled "The Second [resp. Third] Book Of The Nomes". Apparently, in the first edition(s), the trilogy was called "The Bromeliad" (and the last two books accordingly subtitled). This refers to the central theme of the frogs living in a bromeliad, but is also a pun on "The Belgariad", a well-known fantasy series by David Eddings. I have no idea why this subtitle was dropped from subsequent editions. + People have commented on the similarity between the Nome trilogy and other childrens stories involving "little people". In particular, the question has arisen a few times whether Terry was inspired by the "Borrowers" books. Terry answers: "I know about the "Borrowers", and read one of the books in my teens, but I disliked them; they seemed unreal, with no historical background, and it seemed odd that they lived this cosy family life more or less without any supporting 'civilisation'. The nomes are communal, and have to think in terms of nomekind. No. Any influence at all is from Swift, in this case." "I'll pass on whether Truckers is funnier than the Borrowers, but I'll defend them as being *more serious* than the Borrowers. It depends on how you define serious." - The American version of the Nome trilogy is not word-for-word the same as the original one. Terry says: "The Truckers trilogy has a fair amount of changes of a 'pavement = sidewalk' nature which is understandable in a book which should be accessible to kids. They also excised the word 'damn' so's not to get banned in Alabama, which is a shame because I've always wanted to be banned in Alabama, ever since I first heard of the place." - [p. 60] "iii. And the Mark of the Dragon was on it. iv. And the Mark was Jekub." 'Jekub' was the Nomes' attempted pronunciation of JCB, the name of a well-known manufacturer of tractors, diggers, and the like, whose logo of course appears on all its products. Jekub, incidentally, appears to be a thing called a 'back-hoe loader'. In the American version of the Nomes trilogy 'JCB' was changed to 'CAT', standing for 'Caterpillar'. - [p. 142] "'Jcb? Jekub? It's got no vowels in it. What sort of name is that?'" This is a play on 'YHWH', the classical Hebrew spelling of Yahweh, i.e. Jehovah. WINGS - [p. 135] "'The other humans around it are trying to explain to it what a planet is' 'Doesn't it know?' 'Many humans don't. Mistervicepresident is one of them.'" I don't think anybody in the Western world would not have gotten this reference to Dan Quayle, but let's face it: in twenty years people will still be reading Terry Pratchett, and hopefully this APF -- but who'll remember Misterexvicepresident? ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND In order to fully appreciate this novel it may not be necessary, but I think it will greatly add to your enjoyment and understanding, if you have seen at least one of the "Alien" movies, and have played at least one computer shoot-em-up arcade game. - [p. 13] "My dad brought me back 'Alabama Smith and the Jewels of Fate' from the States." Puns on the movie title "Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom". Alabama and Indiana are both U.S. states. - [p. 19] "Hey, I really need a computer because that way I can play 'Megasteroids'." 'Asteroids' is the name of an ancient, very famous computer game. - [p. 27] Johnny's nickname for his friend: 'MC Spanner', spoofs our world's pop-rap star 'MC Hammer'. + [p. 40] This is not really an annotation, because I think it is highly improbable that there is an actual link here, but the idea of Terry's 'Cereal Killers' immediately reminded me of the short science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. Not any particular one, but just the whole idea of something horrible masquerading as something ridiculously innocent appears again and again in Dick's slightly paranoid oeuvre. + [p. 42] "'I saw this film once, right, where there were these computer games and if you were really good the aliens came and got you and you had to fly a spaceship and fight a whole bad alien fleet,' said BigMac." BigMac is decribing the 1984 science fiction movie "The Last Starfighter" here (starring Lance Guest and Robert Preston). As a movie this was decidedly a so-so experience (you can take my word for it, I have seen it), but it deserves credit for one major achievement: after the boxoffice disaster of "Tron" it was the first Hollywood film to make extensive use of computer-generated animation. And since "The Last Starfighter" was not a commercial failure, it effectively opened the road again for further use of computer graphics in movies. - [p. 109] "What's your game name?' 'Sigourney -- *you're laughing!*'" Sigourney Weaver is the actress who plays the heroine in all three "Alien" movies. - [p. 118] "On Earth, No-one Can Hear You Say 'Um'" The now famous slogan used in the advertising campaigns for the first "Alien" movie was: "In Space, No-one Can Hear You Scream". - [p. 133] "'I saw a film where there was an alien crawling around inside a spaceship's air ducts and it could come out wherever it liked,' said Johnny reproachfully. 'Doubtless it had a map,' said the Captain." The movie Johnny refers to is, of course, "Alien". - [p. 158] "'You're thinking: He'll be in there somewhere, hiding.'" In "Alien", the alien creature eventually hid itself in the escape capsule Sigourney Weaver tried to get away in at the end. - [p. 162] "'If we find a cat I'm going to kick it!'" In "Alien", Sigourney goes *back* into the mother ship because she did not want to leave the cat behind. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** Miscellaneous Stuff --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE DISCWORLD IDEA Many people think the appearance of the Discworld as described in the novels was an invention of Terry Pratchett's. This is not really the case: in Hindu mythology, for instance, we find the idea of a lotus flower growing out of Vishnu's navel. Swimming in a pool in the lotus flower is the world turtle, on whose back stand four elephants facing in the four compass directions. On their backs is balanced the flat, disc-shaped world. See also Josh Kirby's magnificent drawing of the Discworld in the illustrated version of "Eric" (but please read the 'Frequently Asked Questions' list first if you are American and wondering where you can get that book). THE HEDGEHOG SONG Michael Green's book "Why Was He Born So Beautiful And Other Rugby Songs" (1967, Sphere UK) contains a song called 'The Sexual Life of the Camel', (possibly dating back to the 1920s/30s), which goes: The carnal desires of the camel Are stranger than anyone thinks, For this passionate but perverted mammal has designs on the hole of the Sphinx, But this deep and alluring depression Is oft clogged by the sands of the Nile, Which accounts for the camel's expression And the Sphinx's inscrutable smile. In the process of Syphilization From the anthropoid ape down to man It is generally held that the Navy Has buggered whatever it can. Yet recent extensive researches By Darwin and Huxley and Ball Conclusively prove that the hedgehog Has never been buggered at all. And further researches at Oxford Have incontrovertibly shown That comparative safety on shipboard Is enjoyed by the hedgehog alone. But, why haven't they done it at Spithead, As they've done it at Harvard and Yale And also at Oxford and Cambridge By shaving the spines off its tail! [ If anybody could help me get my hands on the lyrics that Heather Wood apparently has written for the Hedgehog song I can include them too, in the next version of the APF. ] MORRIS DANCING (this section written by Rich Holmes) [ Rich wrote this before "Lords And Ladies" was released, a novel that features Morris Dancing even more prominently than in previous novels. -- Leo ] "Strata", "Guards! Guards!" and "Reaper Man" All three of these books refer to morris dancing. (In "Strata", Kin remembers seeing robots do a morris dance and, later, hums an "old robot-Morris tune, 'Mrs. Widgery's Lodger'." In "Guards! Guards!" Nobby turns out to be a folk dancer in his spare time; morris isn't mentioned by name, but bells and hankies are cited. "Reaper Man" begins with a page or so about the universality of morris dancing -- 'Mrs. Widgery's Lodger' is mentioned again -- and late in the book the "other dance" is described.) All this may be lost on the typical American reader. Picture, then, six men in white shirts and trousers, decorated with ribbons, wearing bells on their legs, in a two-by-three formation -- the men, not the bells. To a tune played on fiddle or squeezebox, they dance up and down, back and forth, gesturing with big white handkerchiefs in their hands -- or, maybe, clashing yard-long willow sticks with one another. That's morris dancing, as it was done in the late 19th century in the Cotswolds region of England. It's also done these days, throughout the English-speaking world (though in America it's not exactly an everyday sight), these days by women's teams and mixed teams as well. As for where it came from, and when, and what it all means, no one really knows. Its roots seem to go back to the European continent sometime in or before the 15th century. Similar, possibly related dances were and are found in Europe and even as far away as India. For a while in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was commonly claimed by folklorists to be the remnant of a pre-Christian fertility rite performed by a male priesthood; there's really no hard evidence to support (or refute) such a theory, though. None of which stops people from doing it. It used to be the case -- maybe still is -- that morris dancing was taught in English schools as part of physical education, thus leaving most English people with about the same kind of impression as we Americans mostly have of square dancing, somewhere between amusement and nausea. Enough have not been soured on the whole thing, however, to staff (reportedly) several hundred morris teams in England as well as 170 or so in the U.S. and God knows how many in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and other odd places. Terry Pratchett tells us he's "never waved a hankie in anger" nor knows any morris dancers personally, but that he finds the morris dance kind of fascinating. For those interested, contact Tom Keays (libhtk@suvm.acs.syr.edu) or Rich Holmes (rsholmes@suhep.phy.syr.edu) about the Morris Dancing Discussion List. You knew there was an ulterior motive here, didn't you? WORDS FROM THE MASTER Here are a few excerpts from articles by Terry Pratchett that I think fall under the heading of 'annotations' but which are either not associated with one particular novel, or so long they would break the flow of the regular annotations. Quotation marks (" ") indicate the beginning and ending of quotes from different Usenet articles. - On the lack of chapters in the Discworld novels: "DW books don't have chapters because, well, I just never got into the habit of chapters. I'm not sure why they should exist (except maybe in children's books, to allow the parent to say 'I'll read to the end of the chapter and then you must go to sleep.') Films don't have chapters. Besides, I think they interfere with the shape of the story. Use a bookmark is my advice." - On Discworld language use: "A certain amount of DW slang comes from Palari or Polari, the fairground/ underworld/theatre 'secret language' (which seems to have a lot of roots in old Italian). UK readers with long memories might recall the pair of gay actors 'Julian and Sandy', in the old Round the Horne radio show in the Sixties and Seventies (innocent times, innocent times); they spoke almost pure Palari." + On why he doesn't use a Macintosh for his writing: "In fact I type so fluently that I can't deal with a mouse. My mother paid for me to have touch-typing lessons when I was 13, and they took. Hah! I can just see a DW book written with voice-recognition software! Especially in this cat-ridden house! 'That's Ankh-Morpork, you bloody stupid machine! GET OFF THE TURNTABLE!' As to goshwowness -- well, it seems now that a 50mhz 486 is what you need if you're not going to have silicon kicked in your face on the beach. But... Macs do interest me... it's just that I associate them with manipulation rather than input." - On people who get too enthousiastic about finding obscure references in his novels: "Sometimes I... well... I just write stuff which hasn't been pinched from ANYONE (shuffles feet, looks embarassed...)." + On his knowledge of physics and science, subjects that seem to crop up remarkably often in the Discworld novels: "How much physics do I know? How do I know that? I don't know about the stuff I don't know. I've no formal training but I've spent a lot of time around scientists of one sort of another, and I'm a great believer in osmotic knowledge." + After being asked the eternal question "How do you write?": "How do I write? God, this is embarrassing. Look, I just do it. It's pictures in the head and memories and thinking about things and it all comes together. It's something I do." "1) Watch everything, read everything, and especially read outside your subject -- you should be importing, not recycling. 2) Use a wordprocessor... why do I feel this is not unnecessary advice here? It makes everything mutable. It's better for the ego. And you can play games when all else fails. 3) Write. For more than three years I wrote more 400 words every day. I mean, every calendar day. If for some reason, in those pre-portable days, I couldn't get to a keyboard, I wrote hard the previous night and caught up the following day, and if it ever seemed that it was easy to do the average I upped the average. I also did a hell of a lot of editing afterwards but the point was there *was* something there to edit. I had a more than full-time job as well. I hate to say this, but most of the successful (well, okay... *rich*) authors I know seem to put 'application' around the top of the list of How-to-do-its. Tough but true." + On his use of dog Latin: "People in the UK, even in public (i.e., private) schools, don't assume that 'everyone knows Latin'. Latin is barely taught anywhere anymore -- it certainly wasn't taught to me. But dog Latin *isn't* Latin, except by accident. It's simply made-up, vaguely Latin-sounding phrases, as in Nil Illegitimo Carborundum. 'Fabricati Diem, Punc' is total nonsense in Latin [no doubt there are readers out there who could construct the correct phrase that might have fallen from the lips of Dirty Hadrian]." - On the writing of "Good Omens": "Neil and I had known each other since early 1985. Doing it was our idea, not a publisher's deal." "I think this is an honest account of the process of writing "Good Omens". It was fairly easy to keep track because of the way we sent discs to one another, and because I was Keeper of the Official Master Copy I can say that I wrote a bit over two thirds of "Good Omens". However, we were on the phone to each other every day, at least once. If you have an idea during a brainstorming session with another guy, whose idea is it? One guy goes and writes 2,000 words after thirty minutes on the phone, what exactly is the process that's happening? I did most of the physical writing because: 1) I had to. Neil had to keep Sandman going -- I could take time off from the DW; 2) One person has to be overall editor, and do all the stitching and filling and slicing and, as I've said before, it was me by agreement -- if it had been a graphic novel, it would have been Neil taking the chair for exactly the same reasons it was me for a novel; 3) I'm a selfish bastard and tried to write ahead to get to the good bits before Neil. Initially, I did most of Adam and the Them and Neil did most of the Four Horsemen, and everything else kind of got done by whoever -- by the end, large sections were being done by a composite creature called Terryandneil, whoever was actually hitting the keys. By agreement, I am allowed to say that Agnes Nutter, her life and death, was completely and utterly mine. And Neil proudly claims responsibility for the maggots. Neil's had a major influence on the opening scenes, me on the ending. In the end, it was this book done by two guys, who shared the money equally and did it for fun and wouldn't do it again for a big clock." "Yes, the maggot reversal was by me, with a gun to Neil's head (although he understood the reasons, it's just that he likes maggots). There couldn't be blood on Adam's hands, even blood spilled by third parties. No-one should die because he was alive." + On rumours that Neil Gaiman claims to have come up with some of the ideas in "Reaper Man", most notably the title and the Death storyline. "To the best of my recollection the Reaper Man title was suggested by Faith Brooker at Gollancz (although I can't swear to this). But I know, and have gone on record about this, that the central idea of Reaper Man actually came from reading a fan letter from a lady who wrote "Death is my favourite character -- he can be my knight on a white charger any day of the week". The lady concerned can be produced to the court, m'lud. Listening intelligently while a fellow author talks about an upcoming book isn't the same as 'suggesting the storyline and some other bits' and in fairness to Neil I doubt that he put it quite like that -- this sounds like something which has picked up a bit of spin in the telling. We've known each other for a long time, we share a similar conceptual universe -- we'd both agree happily that he has the darker end of it -- and we've often talked about what we're working on and tried out stuff on one another. And that's it, really." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** Editorial Comments --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S NEW IN THIS VERSION? The APF v5.0 has two major differences when compared to previous editions. To begin with, the APF has grown so large that I can no longer post it to alt.fan.pratchett as one single file -- there is a hard 64 Kb limit imposed by the newsposting software that I can do nothing about. The only solution is to split the APF up in smaller parts for posting. I have asked around on alt.fan.pratchett, and folks did not seem to mind very much, as long as I keep it all in ASCII and don't start mucking about with encoding or compressing it. Some people suggested permanently splitting up the APF on e.g. a book-by-book basis, but I am not going to that because I frankly don't *want* to give up the single file format, which has many advantages for me during the editing phase. So the APF in its true form will remain one physical unit, and I would advise everybody to try and get their hands on it through e-mail or ftp (see below) instead of through news: it saves you the bother of having to piece it together again from the parts, and you will always be sure you have a complete version. The second major difference is that I have decided to considerably expand this 'Editorial Comments' section. In the past, I simply wanted to keep my own blathering to a minimum, and concentrate on the annotations themselves. So if I had questions to the readers, or other meta-comments about the APF, or anything else I wanted to say (I *do* like to hear myself talk), I would post them in separate articles alongside the APF. Recently however, the distribution area of the APF has grown a bit wider than just Usenet and the alt.fan.pratchett readers. The list of people on my APF mailing list is growing -- some of these are folks who have no (longer) Usenet access. A copy of the APF can be found on the British Cix conference, and it may soon appear on some Fido bulletin boards systems as well. So I think it is time for me to move certain meta-information to the only place where I can be reasonably sure that *all* APF-readers will get a fair chance to see it: inside the file itself. If this makes the file even more bulky and unwieldy, so be it. "Sic Biscuitus Disintegrat", as they say. THE APF IN LATEX FORMAT The APF v5.0 also marks the appearance of the first result of a little side-project I've been working on: the LaTeX version of the APF, or L-APF for short. And not a minute too soon, I might add, because the APF is now so large that in my opinion the ASCII version is no longer pleasantly readable: definitely not on-line, and even making a print-out doesn't help much. Enter the L-APF, which uses Leslie Lamport's LaTeX extension on top of Donald Knuth's TeX typesetting system to transmogrify the APF into a nicely formatted document with a high goshwowness level, as Pterry would say. Since LaTeX documents are themselves transformed to PostScript code, you do not need to have LaTeX or TeX installed on your system. All you need is a PostScript printer and you're all set. Please keep in mind that neither the LaTeX nor the PostScript version of the APF will be posted to alt.fan.pratchett. Information on how to obtain them appears a bit further on in this section. CREDITS People who write articles to alt.fan.pratchett or who e-mail me on the subject have by now learned to live with one thing: for the APF I will freely quote (i.e: steal) from everybody, without explicit permission or credit. It's not only that I think long lists of 'contributor names' would be a bother to maintain, make the APF even larger, and be completely uninteresting to anybody except the contributors themselves; but doing it my way also allows me to edit, change, and mutilate the texts as I see fit without worrying about folks going "but that's not what I said!". (The only exception to this rule, by the way, is the material I quote from Terry Pratchett himself: I *never* edit or change any of that, apart from choosing a selection in the first place, fixing typo's or obvious mistakes, and adapting punctuation to what I use in the rest of the APF. In other words: What You See Is What He Said.) Anyway, apart from all the folks who contributed annotations, there are a few people who have gone out of their way to help me get the APF into its current form, and a big thank-you to them has been long overdue. So here is the APF Hall Of Fame: Nathan Torkington, for maintaining the Terry Pratchett Bibliography and the Frequently Asked Questions list. The idea for the APF can be traced back directly to his FAQ. Sander Plomp, for making his logs of the alt.fan.pratchett newsgroup available to me, and for coming up with the idea of making a LaTeX version of the APF (as well as helping me out with some technical details). David Jones and Trent Fisher for making copies of the APF available through mail servers and anonymous ftp when I had no site of my own. And last, but not least: Terry Pratchett, for giving us something to annotate in the first place; for giving me permission to use quotes from his articles in the APF; and for having to put up with increasing numbers of fans who, because of the APF, have begun to think he is incapable of writing anything truly original. They should know better. STATISTICS Please allow me the indulgence of spending two short paragraphs on my favourite subject: trivial statistics. The APF v5.0 boasts a total of no less than 154, yes that's right, *154* new or non-trivially expanded annotations. *Now* do you understand why I missed my deadline by two months? With these results, we get the following APF Growth Chart data points: APF v1.4 had 14 entries, 160 lines and was 5 Kb large. APF v2.0 had 78 entries, 631 lines, and was 28 Kb large. APF v3.0 had 133 entries, 1071 lines, and was 49 Kb large. APF v4.0 had 198 entries, 1702 lines, and was 79 Kb large. APF v5.0 has 336 entries, 3340 lines, and is 148 Kb large. Keep it up folks, keep it up... HOW TO GET THIS FILE You have now finished reading this file. You understand that this file is updated fairly regularly, and you are wondering: was this the most recent version of the APF? And if not, where do I get the latest release? And where can I find this LaTeX version? This section lists the possibilities that are open to you, in no particular order. - Read the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett. The APF 'belongs' to this group, and I always post the latest version there whenever it is released. This applies *only* to the ASCII version of the file though, and it has the disadvantage of giving you a chunked up file. - Send me mail at leo@cp.tn.tudelft.nl and ask for the latest copy. Indicate which version you want me to send you: ASCII, LaTeX, or PostScript. If you want PostScript, let me know whether you want A4 format or US 8.5 x 11 format. You can also ask me to add you to the mailing list of people who will automatically receive new versions of the APF as they are released (this will not get you the APF more often or earlier than reading alt.fan.pratchett does, by the way). Again, indicate the type of file you are interested in. - I have now opened up a small archive site where you can get APF related stuff through anonymous ftp: ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl (192.31.126.16). Look in the directory pub/pratchett, and please consult the README files you'll find there first. Apart from the APF itself this ftp-site will also contain a few related Pratchett files: Nathan's FAQ and Bibliography, a list of rejected annotations and annotations I need help with, and info for people who want to help me 'port' the formatted APF to other platforms besides LaTeX. DISTRIBUTING THE APF It's really very simple: I have by now spent a considerable amount of time trying to make this file a useful resource for fans of Terry Pratchett's work, and I would just be delighted to see the APF reach as many of those fans as possible, period. So feel free to distribute the APF among your friends, to mail copies to your colleagues, or to put it up on bulletin boards, archive sites or whatever other advanced means of communication you have available to you. All I ask is that you (a) only distribute the APF in its entirety (for obvious reasons, I should hope), and (b) *let me know* if you put it up for permanent retrieval somewhere, e.g. a bulletin board or archive site, so that I can keep you personally informed of new versions as they get released. Don't you just hate those archive sites that store outdated versions of files? THE NEXT VERSION OF THE APF When I started with the APF it was my intention to update and post the darn thing regularly, at periodical intervals. But let's face it: it never really worked. First it was every three weeks; when I missed the deadlines I slowed it down to once a month, and since I have managed to nonetheless miss the last two posting deadlines as well, I have decided not to fight it anymore and give up any pretense to regularity. Besides, v5.0 took up quite a bit more of my time -- what with writing the LaTeX filter and setting up the ftp-site and all that -- than I am actually feeling comfortable with. Not that it wasn't fun, mind you, but sometimes I have to protect me against myself. So let's just say that I expect the next version to appear not sooner than oh, say: somewhere in May 1993. This should give you all *plenty* of time to send in many more annotations. For the next version, I would particularly like to request more entries for "Guards! Guards!" and "Witches Abroad", both of which are a bit underrepresented, I think. Also, I want to make the APF as reliable as possible. So if you see a misquote -- correct me. If you see a quote without attribution -- tell me where I can find it. If you see a factual error -- point it out to me, and don't hesitate to mention typo's or mistakes in my English as well. But above all, send in any new annotations I have missed so far. I'll see you all in May. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ;;; And now some information for my editor. Pay no attention... ;;; Local Variables: ;;; mode:indented-text ;;; fill-column:75 ;;; End: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the beginning of part 3 of 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Leo Breebaart (leo @ cp.tn.tudelft.nl)