Terry Pratchett

The Terry Pratchett First Novel Award Shortlist Annoucement

Lynsey Ogg — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:41:10 +0000

Congratulations to the six short-listed entrants in the Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now First Novel Award.

The last three months have seen a frenzy of reading activity, with a select team of professionals whittling down the entries to find the magic six to be discussed by the judging panel. The winning entry will recieve a £20,000 prize as an advance on a publishing contract.

In surname order the lucky six are:

The Unspoken Death of the Amazing Flying Boy by Jean Burdett
Bloodline by Sophie Constable
The Hive by Alexander Maskill
The Way Through the Woods by Robin Pearson
A Kill in the Morning by Graeme Shimmin
The Shadows of Annwn by Catherine Whittle

These six books will be discussed by the judging panel which includes Sir Terry Pratchett, Rob Wilkins, Editorial Director Simon Taylor, Publicist Lynsey Dalladay and Alex Veasey from The Forbidden Planet. A winner will be announced on the 31st May. Thank you to everyone who took part and sent in your novels, the standard was remarkably high and we had over 500 entries. Apologies for keeping you on tenterhooks, the sixth spot was hotly contested as the standard was so high.

Good luck to the sensational six!

Discworld: The Ankh-Morpork Map review – The Telegraph

Magrat Garlick — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:15:20 +0000

This interactive map of the most famous city in Discworld is great fun for fans of Terry Pratchett’s fantasy series, writes Shane Richmond.

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series celebrates its 30th birthday this year. Since the first book, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, the series has expanded to 39 books, as well as a host of short stories, companion books and video games. Discworld: The Ankh-Morpork map is the first official app for the series.

Based on the book The Compleat Ankh-Morpork, the app is an interactive map of the city-state that hosts much of the action in the series. There are two maps in the app: the ‘living map’ which, when zoomed in reveals more than a thousand residents of the city going about their business, and a top-down street map.

While this is very much a fans-only kind of app, the developers haven’t taken that for granted. There are a few features that demonstrate the kind of thought that has been put into transferring The Compleat Ankh-Morpork to the iPad.

Read the full review on the Telegraph website.

BBC Radio 4′s and Radio 4 Extra’s dramatisation of Eric and Guards! Guards!

Magrat Garlick — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:58:34 +0000

For those who are able to listen to the BBC, Radio 4′s production of Eric, starring Mark Heap as Rincewind, is being broadcast in four episodes, weekly, starting on Wednesday 6 March at 23.00 (then 13th, 20th and 27th March)

Radio 4 Extra is broadcasting a production of Guards! Guards! at 18.30 nightly from 4th to 11 March, and it will be on BBC iPlayer for seven days.

BBC Radio 4: Eric

Episode 1/4: Mark Heap arrives in Discworld, as Rincewind: Wizard and Running Away Expert…

For more details go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r0zb9

BBC Radio 4 Extra: Guards! Guards!

Episode 1/6 Can a stolen library book lead to the reinvention of dragons? Comic fantasy with Martin Jarvis, John Wood and Melvyn Hayes…

For more details go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jmk0

RoCo Dramatic Society presents Maskerade in Roundhay

Magrat Garlick — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:12:33 +0000

RoCo Dramatic Society will be performing Terry Pratchett’s Maskerade on Thursday 21, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 March 2013 at 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, St Andrew’s Roundhay United Reformed Church, Shaftesbury Avenue, Leeds LS8 1DS, West Yorkshire.

Tickets £5 adult, £3 child

Box office: 0113 268 3402

Visit the RoCo Dramatic Society website.

GOOD OMENS to be perfomed by the Cult Classic Theatre in Glasgow

Magrat Garlick — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:57:55 +0000

The Cult Classic Theatre will be performing GOOD OMENS onstage in the final two weeks of March 2013, taking place at Cottiers Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland.

You can purchase tickets online NOW at the Cottiers Theatre website or from Ticketsoup.com

Find out more on the Cult Classic website and the Facebook page.

Discworld: The Ankh-Morpork Map for iPad – review

Magrat Garlick — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:56:11 +0000

Right from the very first Terry Pratchett novels that I read – The Colour of Magic and Mort received as Christmas gifts – it was the world he’d created that gripped me.

That was partly my young mind turning cartwheels at the thought of a disc-shaped planet balancing on giant elephants (which in turn balanced on a giant turtle), but it was just as much about the bustling Ankh-Morpork city that formed the backdrop for the Discworld books.

The more books I read, the clearer a picture I had in my head about what Ankh-Morpork was like through Pratchett’s descriptions and the cover artwork by Josh Kirby. The city felt real and living to me in a way that Tolkien’s Middle-earth never did.

Now in 2013 there’s an iPad app trying to map it out. Discworld: The Ankh-Morpork Map is the work of publisher Transworld and app developer Agant, and it faces quite a challenge…

Read the full review here.

Dodger by Terry Pratchett – review

Magrat Garlick — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:52:55 +0000

Satirical puns leap from the pages of this story about a young hero on the streets of Dickensian London. The writing brings the filthy streets and the characters, desperate and devious, to life.

Dodger is a tosher who scavenges in the sewers and earns a living selling what he finds. All the poverty stricken people on the streets know him as a friend in times of need. But when he rescues a girl from a beating his life changes dramatically forever… Soon he becomes accidentally famous, discovers a dark plot against him, enters the world of the rich and learns the truth about the girl he rescued.

One thing that stands out for me in this book is the characters. They are well conceived, original and amusing. From Dodger, who is at home in the sewers but doesn’t fit into the world of the gentry to the rich heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts, a real historical figure, as are quite a few of the characters, who gives away money to the poor and knows everyone who is anyone, there is a wide range of different characters. Even the minor characters who only appear once are well described.

To read the full review visit the Guardian website.

‘I taught myself more in the library than the school taught me’, says Terry Pratchett

Magrat Garlick — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:35:03 +0000

Terry Pratchett shares his love of libraries on the eve of National Libraries Day and describes how, as a child, he would leave the library every day with ‘two very big bags of books’.

To watch the video visit the Guardian website.

Watch Terry Pratchett on BBC’s Newsnight

Magrat Garlick — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:05:22 +0000

Visit BBC iPlayer to watch Terry’s appearance on Newsnight last Monday, examining the end of life care and how hospitals treat the terminally ill.

Terry Pratchett wins Emmy!

Magrat Garlick — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:10:05 +0000

Last Tuesday night in Los Angeles, Sir Terry Pratchett won the Best Documentary Emmy at the International Emmy Awards for his programme ‘Choosing to Die’ which aired last year. Rob Wilkins and Craig Hunter the Producer were on hand to collect the award.

In a message to fans on twitter Terry posted; ‘”I will accept any award that isn’t posthumous” Brilliant!’

For more details on the documentary and the other winners head over to the BBC News Website.