Report for 2017 North American Discworld Convention program book

Since my last report, the world has changed, with the death of Sir Terry Pratchett, Knight Bachelor, OBE, on March 12th 2015 after battling Posterior Cortical Atrophy since before it was diagnosed in December 2007, and finally its development into classic Alzheimer’s disease. In the end it was a merciful release. Our sincerest condolences went out to Lyn and Rhianna.

I miss his phone calls, his company, his humour, and his erudition, but we will always have his books, the deep moral sense that pervades and imbues them, their supreme craftsmanship, his skill in writing works to which we return again and again, his characters, his puns.[1] I miss the challenges he set me, and the pleasure involved in their achievement, sometimes to his considerable surprise. There will never be another like him, but his values will influence and inspire his readers for as long as his books are read. Children become adults; teenagers become professors and heads of industry. And as Terry influenced them, they influence the world.

The present survey covers events since the third North American Discworld Convention took place in Baltimore MD on July 5th-8th (with those arriving a day early able to celebrate Independence Day there). Terry was not able to attend, but he linked up by Skype. In spite of his absence, the Convention’s 800 plus members had a very enjoyable experience. Certainly I enjoyed myself. My only sadness was seeing Richard John Artley, auction catalogue organiser and generous buyer, uberfan, Discworld play-producer, and scientific genius, looking so unwell, but I was still shaken to receive an email less than six weeks later, on August 16th, from the CEO of the company in Zurich that he worked for, telling me he had died in his apartment the previous night, aged just 49. It was a great loss to family, friends and Discworld fandom.

At the end of August 2013, Youth Music Theatre UK put on Part 1 of their musical adaptation of Soul Music at the South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell, Berkshire, with the complete production taking place the following year at the Rose Theatre, Kingston-on-Thames.

On Sunday September 29th, Terry, Rob and Rod Brown formed a panel held in the Brighton Dome, as the culmination of the Brighton & Hove Festival’s 2013 City Reads which had involved weekly group readings of Guards! Guards! at three libraries in the city during the summer, and a read-through of part of Stephen Briggs’s stage adaptation.

Just before the 2012 Convention, Terry was in Dublin, not only to give a sneak preview reading (by Rob) of part of Dodger in Trinity College Library’s magnificent Long Room, but also to participate in a session about the Science of Discworld with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen in the Science Gallery’s Paccar Theatre. In November the same year, Terry was back in Trinity to see how The Duel, a short cartoon film set in Terry’s favourite Library, was getting on.[2] It was a collaboration between Trinity’s Animation Hub, the staff and students of Ballyfermot College, TCD, and animation studio Giant Creative. Nearly a year later, on October 16th 2013, Terry, Rob and I flew to Dublin to see its premiere. It can suitably be described as ‘smashing’![3]

The Irish Discworld Convention took place in Limerick from October 31st to November 3rd 2013, but Terry was unable to attend as it clashed with the World Fantasy Con in Brighton where he was appearing.

On November 5th Clarion Books (a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) published the ultimate version of The Carpet People, releasing a trailer on YouTube.[4] This is the first time it has been published in the US, and it has numerous illustrations Terry produced for the original book launch in 1971 and for an interview published in his old paper, the Bucks Free Press, as well as some original pictures I had and those that appeared in the 2009 Doubleday edition. It also includes the original untitled Carpet People story as it appeared in the Press in 1965.

In Britain, two days later, Doubleday published the fortieth Discworld novel, Raising Steam. Instead of a conventional launch party, the publishers booked a steam train on the Watercress Line in Hampshire, on which we were served appropriately bubbly alcohol and Devon cream teas while travelling from Alton to Alresford and back. It was an altogether original and enjoyable event. The bound proofs are very rare, by the way: as is stated on the back cover, ‘100 copies only’ had been printed. The published book was issued in a standard edition, a Collector’s Edition for independent bookshops, with orange stained edges, a special edition for W.H.Smith with ‘Humphrey Newt’s Thunderbolt Carriage’, a short story Terry had written for The Bucks Free Press in June 1967, and two versions for Waterstones, a special slip-cased, numbered edition of 1,000 copies, and the other with a bookmark and special jacket (the design being the same as that used for the slip-case).

Terry was a long-time fan of one of the best known acts of the British folk revival, Steeleye Span, which was founded in 1969 – his daughter Rhianna even booked them to play at his 60th birthday party. They now have a further close connection, an album based on Wintersmith. It was released by Park Records on October 28th 2013 and was followed by a 30 venue tour, ending with a performance in Salisbury on 19 December. In the next years there were further performances as it proved extremely popular – not surprising, as the album was described as ‘nothing less than a triumph: a marriage between the written word and music that is devastatingly superb’ (Liverpool Sound and Vision).

Victor Gollancz’s Discworld Calendars for 2013 and 2014 contained pictures by Marc Simonetti, the French artist whose Discworld work was first seen on covers of the French Pocket editions of Terry’s books. Since November 2013 Gollancz had been issuing a 21-volume Discworld Collectors’ Library, with two titles being published each month (and in one month three), the final pair being published at the time of this Convention. They do not have dust jackets, but the covers of all are blocked with wood engravings by Joe McLaren, and this series is being continued by Doubleday. Good Omens has also been published in a similar style. This was the first time a Gollancz edition contained the same text as the American and Corgi editions.

On March 13th 2014, Transworld issued a new Corgi edition of The Folklore of Discworld, which had been updated to cover the forty Discworld novels published up to that time, while on the 18th Terry’s new US publishers, Random House, released their edition of Raising Steam under their Doubleday imprint, which went to no. 2 in the New York Times’ bestseller list, and then on the 25th The Folklore of Discworld appeared under their Anchor imprint.  Anchor published the first volume of the Science of Discworld series on June 3rd and brought out the second, The Globe, on January 20th 2015. On October 28th 2014, Doubleday US had issued the Compleat Ankh-Morpork.

HarperCollins US published the third volume of the Pratchett-Baxter Long Earth series, The Long Mars, on June 17th 2014, while Ebury Press brought it out in Britain on the 19th (usual reason – Harper habitually publish new books on a Tuesday and Doubleday UK on Thursdays).

Terry’s non-fiction collection, A Slip of the Keyboard, with a Foreword by Neil Gaiman, was published on both sides of the Atlantic in September (23rd in the US, 25th in the UK), while Random House Children’s Books published a collection of fourteen of Terry’s Bucks Free Press stories, beautifully illustrated by Mark Beech, called Dragons at Crumbling Castle and Other Stories. There was also a special edition with additional material published in November.

The Corgi edition of Raising Steam was published on October 9th 2014, as was Doubleday’s Mrs Bradshaw’s Handbook, a companion guide to the railway of the novel.

On May 27th the University of South Australia announced their conferral of an honorary doctorate on Terry. As he was not able to travel to the Antipodes to accept it, the actual ceremony took place that day when Vice-Chancellor/President Professor David Lloyd made the pilgrimage to Terry’s home to confer the degree, hand over the certificate, and enrobe him with gown and cap (with hanging corks).

Stephen Briggs, Roundworld’s own Lord Vetinari, having found life as a senior government civil servant, a thespian and the author/updater of Turtle Recall, somewhat too busy, gave up licensing his stage adaptations of Terry’s novels, and I now deal with the amateur dramatic productions of Stephen’s adaptations of Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms (published by Corgi), and the Oxford University Press editions of The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents, Johnny and the Dead, and Dodger which they published in February 2014. Licensing instructions of all Stephen’s adaptations can be found at https://colinsmythe.co.uk/terry-pratchett/visual/dramatic-adaptations/. Professional productions are of course in the hands of Narrativia.

Stephen continued to record the Discworld novels for ISIS, HarperAudio, and Random House US Audio, and he also joined forces with Michael Fenton Stevens recording the four Science of Discworld books in which he read the Discworld parts and Michael the scientific sections. Michael has also read The Long Earth and The Folklore of Discworld (to which has been added Terry’s and Jacqueline’s discussion, recorded just before the start of the 2010 Convention). Helen Atkinson Wood (Mrs Miggins in Blackadder 2) has recorded The World of Poo, and the childrens’ collections, Dragons at Crumbling Castle and The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner are read by Julian Rhind-Tutt.

As to board games, Martin Wallace’s Treefrog Games released Discworld Ankh-Morpork and The Witches (both illustrated by Peter Dennis and put together by the Discworld Emporium), while Leonard Boyd’s and David Brashaw’s Backspindle Games brought out Guards! Guards! A Discworld Board Game (illustrated by Stephen Player) and have since released another project, Clacks.

Terry’s UK and US publishers have now set up a wide-ranging website, to be found at www.terrypratchett.co.uk, or www.terrypratchettbooks.com, which brings together information on all Pratchett activities.

Snowgum Films’ Kickstart initiative to raise A$45,000 to complete the filming of Terry’s short story ‘Troll Bridge’ reached its target figure fifty-seven days ahead of the deadline – and by then the sum pledged had reached a staggering A$82,000. This has enabled them to be much more ambitious, filming scenery in New Zealand, using superior camera equipment, and so on. There’s been wonderful generosity on the part of the 1,240+ donors. The principal photography has been completed and it is now in the editing stage, though that is taking longer than expected. Perfection takes time.

The 2014 convention, held from 8-11 August at Manchester’s Palace Hotel,[5] provided us with an unexpected fire alarm at about 4.30am when all the residents had to leave the building until the fault – as it turned out – was discovered.[6] Fortunately it was dry outside but it had been caused by the previous day’s heavy rainstorm and water had seeped into the system, shorting the alarm. Otherwise the event was very successful, and all attendees were given a copy of an untitled Folio MMXIV (for want of a better title) by Terry, containing a dedication by him, a note ‘The Bifurcated Trousers of Storytelling’ and two scenes from another trouser-leg of the story-line of Raising Steam, ‘The Skeleton in the Cavern’ and ‘Counterblast’, together with his ‘Ode to Multiple Universes’ and some words from Rob Wilkins. Guests included the usual crowd, Rob, me, two Stephens, Ian, Jack, Jacqueline, Bernard, Ian and Reb, to whom was added fan Ben Aaronovitch, author of the Rivers of London series and episodes for Dr Who.

On August 21st Gollancz published its 2015 Calendar (illustrated by Stephen Player) and the Discworld Emporium’s WE R IGORS Diary. The following week Youth Music Theatre UK’s production of Soul Music was performed at the Rose Theatre, Kingston. This now contained Part 2 of the musical, with Part 1, first produced in 2013, having been considerably modified.

In September Doubleday published Dragons at Crumbling Castle and other stories, a selection of Terry’s Bucks Free Press stories for children, written under the pseudonym of ‘Uncle Jim’, and now delightfully illustrated for this edition by Mark Beech. It was unexpectedly successful, selling over 100,000 copies before the end of the year. (It was issued in the US by Clarion the following February.) A fortnight later A Slip of the Keyboard, a collection of Terry’s non-fiction writings appeared under the Doubleday imprint in the UK and the US.

On October 9th, Corgi published the paperback Raising Steam (which Anchor released three weeks later in the US) and Mrs Bradshaw’s Handbook, in which she describes the various places for tourists to visit along the route of the Ankh-Morpork and Sto Plains Hygienic Railway. On the 25th, Doubleday published a special, slip-cased edition of Dragons for Waterstones, with a different introduction, extra stories and a commentary about each by Doubleday’s Suzanne Bridson. On the 28th, Anchor issued the Emporium’s Compleat Ankh-Morpork City Guide, and in December Palgrave Macmillan published Philosophy and Terry Pratchett, edited by Jacob Held and James South. On the 29th Gollancz published another edition of Good Omens, on which Neil’s name takes prime authorial position. On the first issue, maybe the first printing, the cover lacks the Time Out quote which now appears on it. The 2014 edition with the cover designed by Joe McLaren is still available.

Meanwhile BBC Radio 4 had launched a six episode adaptation by Dirk Maggs of Terry’s and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens, the first episode being broadcast on October 18th to much acclaim, Terry and Neil having ‘walk-on’ parts as two road policemen. (The production was released by the BBC on CD on January 15th 2015, with 50 minutes of extra material not part of the broadcast version.) On 27 October, Park Records released a deluxe edition of Steeleye Span’s CD Wintersmith, with fourteen more tracks than had been on the original CD issued in 2013, eight of them being from live performances, and in November they released a DVD, The Wintersmith Tour, which had been recorded on December 19th 2013 in the Salisbury Playhouse, in which Terry took part.

On January 20th 2015 Anchor published The Science of Discworld II: The Globe, a week later HarperCollins issued the paperback edition of The Long Mars, and in February Oberon published three of Stephen Briggs’ stage adaptations, Feet of Clay, Unseen Academicals and The Rince Cycle (an adaptation of the first two Discworld novels), which were also published as a single volume, All the Discworld’s a Stage.

During these months Terry’s health had been deteriorating, and his death on March 12th with Pongo, his beloved tabby cat on his bed and his family beside him, was a welcome release for him. The final messages on Twitter, posted at 3.00pm, read ‘At last, Sir Terry, we must walk together. Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night. The End.’ Terry’s Humanist funeral at the Salisbury Crematorium took place on 25th March, his remains arriving in a hearse drawn by black-plumed horses, according to his wishes.

The shock of his death took many forms among the fans. Two I’ll mention: the massive graffiti near Brick Lane in East London by Jim Vision and Dr Zadok painted in the style of Josh Kirby’s book covers, featuring a portrait of Terry, Death (as himself on Binky and as Bill Door), Albert, the Great A’Tuin, Rincewind, the Luggage, and various other Discworld characters. By its nature it was ephemeral, being over-painted by Star-Wars images, but so many pictures were taken that it will never been forgotten. Nor will ‘GNU Terry Pratchett’, inspired by Terry’s words in Going Postal ‘A man is not dead while his name is still spoken’. This will run through the internet as long as there are fans remembering him.[7]

The Pratchett publishing industry, however, rolled on like a juggernaut – predetermined publication dates could not be changed: Corgi’s new edition of Truckers, illustrated by Mark Beech, was released on March 12th, Doubleday New York published A Blink of the Screen on March 17th, and on April 9th Corgi published their paperback of The Long Mars. Rob and Stephen Briggs travelled to Australia for Nullus Anxietas V, which tool place April 9th-11th  in Parramatta, NSW. On 7 May Corgi published the paperback edition of A Slip of the Keyboard and on 9 June Anchor brought out Darwin’s Watch. On the 18th Doubleday issued The Long Utopia, which was published the following week by HarperCollins in the US.

Three further conventions took place in 2015 – the third Dutch ‘Cabbagecon’ on June 27th-28th in Berg en Dal; the fourth German Scheibenwelt Convention held at Burg Ludwigstein from September 10th-13th, and the fourth Irish Discworld Convention, at the Cork International Airport Hotel.[8] I cannot comment on the first two, as I only attended the Cork event, which was very successful, and I’m delighted that Siobhán Greaney and her Committee will also be running the 2017 event there.

On July 30th Corgi published Terry’s Richard Dimbleby Lecture Shaking Hands with Death, with an Introduction by Rob Wilkins, and this was followed on August 20th by Gollancz’s 2016 Discworld Calendar and the Emporium’s 2016 Diary: A Practical Manual for the Modern Witch (with additional illustrations by Peter Dennis). At midnight on August 26/27th   Doubleday launched Terry’s final novel The Shepherd’s Crown at Waterstones’ flagship Piccadilly shop, having successfully ensured that the news of Granny Weatherwax’s death did not leak beforehand. US publication by HarperCollins followed on 1 September.

On September 23rd Anchor published the US paperback edition of A Slip of the Keyboard, and on October 13th Doubleday US followed it with The World of Poo (which had appeared in the UK in 2012). It was a collaboration with the Discworld Emporium, whose Compleat Discworld Atlas was published in the UK on October 22nd. Like the Compleat Ankh-Morpork, this has a large double-sided sheet, with the map of the Discworld on one side and a beautiful star-eye view of it on the other, the book itself with descriptions of all the countries on the Disc, and illustrated by Peter Dennis. A truly superb production.

Since his death Terry has received two awards, one on each side of the Atlantic, both received on his and his family’s behalf by Rob Wilkins. On November 13th the Children’s Book Circle announced the 2015 Eleanor Farjeon Award to Terry, celebrating his huge contribution to the world of children’s literature, the ceremony for which took place on December 2nd 2015. Then on March 14th 2016 the  Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers America (SFWA) announced that Terry was to be that year’s recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. SFWA’s President Cat Rambo wrote “I deeply regret Sir Terry’s untimely passing, and my inability to give him the award in person. He’s shaped the genre in ways that will resonate for centuries.” Rob flew to Chicago to attend the SFWA Nebula Conference and to accept the award on behalf of Terry’s family, returning less than 24 hours before he and I flew to Paris to attend the launch party for La couronne du berger at La Dimension Fantastique.[9] This was only one of the events that Librairie L’Atalante had arranged throughout France to mark the publication of the French translation of The Shepherd’s Crown, and it was also attended by Patrick Couton, Terry’s French translator who has won awards for previous translations of Terry’s books.

Stephen Briggs’s The Shakespeare Codex, an adaptation of The Science of Discworld II: The Globe, with a good dash of Shakespeare’s work stirred into the pot, was performed the Unicorn Theatre Abingdon from April 5th-9th.

On April 14th the Barbican Theatre in London was the venue for an amazing Memorial event for Terry. The lucky ticket holders acquired their free tickets via a random ballot (there had been nine applicants for every seat), and they were treated to a three-plus hour (without interval) event, hosted by Rob, which included Rhianna talking about her father, the Epiphoni Consort singing Thomas Tallis’s ‘Spem in Alium’ and ending with ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ introduced from Bora Bora by Eric Idle, who had voiced the characters for the first two Discworld computer games. Steeleye Span performed tracks from their Wintersmith album; and Sir Tony Robinson, Neil Gaiman and Terry’s editors reminiscing over their time working with him; and Transworld’s MD Larry Finlay, Bernard Pearson and Dr Pat Harkin shared their memories.

The event ended with the awarding of the Venerable Order of the Honey Bee to a select number of Terry’s enablers, apart from his family.[10] This took the form of magnificent 18ct gold lapel pin badges made by fans Bethan Williams (who carved the wax bee) and master goldsmith Tom Lynall who engraved, assembled and polished them and made the honeycomb. Each took them about 60 hours to make, the bees alone having ten separate parts and all have the registered ‘DW’ Discworld and the Birmingham anchor Assay Marks. Each also has a pin-protector, with a gold forget-me-not. (I’ve so far not worn mine for fear I’d lose it.)

All those in the audience received a Discworld.Com goodie bag, which contained Speak His Name,[11] a book similar in format to Folio MMCIV, a sprig of lilac pin badge, a box of dried frog pills, a Bottle of CMOT Dibbler’s Ankh Water, some post cards and a packet of monogrammed tissues. This remarkable event had almost entirely been organised over the previous year by Rob Wilkins, Sandra Kidby and their helpers.

On April 21st, Doubleday published Seriously Funny: The Endlessly Quotable Terry Pratchett, though I thought it of dubious value Alas, the ‘endless’ quotes ended all too quickly with less than 120 of them, and costing more than a full length paperback novel.

In May the Folio Society published their edition of Mort, illustrated by Omar Rayyan (who painted the jacket picture for Once More, with footnotes), together with a very limited leather-bound edition that sold out in a matter of hours. They followed this on September 4th with an edition of Small Gods. I’m delighted to see that Omar’s one of the Guests of Honor at this Convention.

On June 2nd Corgi published the paperback edition of The Shepherd’s Crown, while on the 14th HarperCollins brought out the final volume in the Long Earth series, The Long Cosmos, under their Harper imprint, and Doubleday followed in the UK by publishing it on the 30th. Ray Friesen’s graphic novel of Small Gods was published by Doubleday on July 28th, while Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Colouring Book by Paul Kidby appeared on August 11th, as did the 2017 Discworld Calendar which features pictures painted by Josh Kirby for the earliest Discworld novels. On August 25th,  the day before the start of 2016 International Convention, Doubleday Children’s brought out The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner, the second volume of short stories taken from Terry’s writings in the Bucks Free Press, this time both the standard and the special edition, with Suzanne Bridson’s commentaries (for Waterstones), appearing together.  Gollancz published the undated Terry Pratchett Diary on October 13th, and on the 25th Doubleday published the next four titles with Joe McLaren covers.

On January 3rd 2017 Harper published the US edition of The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner, which appeared in the New York Times YA hardback and e-book bestseller list, and on the 17th The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) announced its 2016 inductees to the Science fiction and Fanasy Hall of Fame: Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. On February 11th, BBC2 transmitted Terry Pratchett: Back in Black, filmed, directed and produced by Charlie Russell, with Terry’s character superbly performed by Paul Kaye (Thoros of Myr in Game of Thrones among many other roles in various series).

But while that’s the list of books, the Memorial event at the Barbican treated the audience to a lot of information – Neil Gaiman is working on the script of a multi-part TV series of Good Omens, and filming starts this autumn, but there never is certainty in these forecasts, and I have so often been proved wrong with other plans such as those for Mort and the Dreamworks production of Truckers, that I am going to follow what Terry used to say: ‘Until I am sitting in a cinema and watching the credits roll, I won’t believe it’s going to happen!’ But Snowgum’s Troll Bridge progresses, and you can subscribe to their reports at info@trollbridge.film. The latest reports indicate that it will be finished at the end of the year

My own enlarged checklist of Terry’s writings, together with my contributions to previous convention programme books, is now online at www.colinsmythe.co.uk, though I do not doubt it requires some fine-tuning, and I’d be happy to receive suggestions on how to improve it.

(I have seen some independent memorial anthologies: in the UK, In Memory: A Tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett, edited by Sorin Suciu and Laura May, and in the US, two volumes of The Longest Night Watch… In Memory of Terry Pratchett, published by Writers Colony Press, the proceeds going to Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Association in their respective countries.  In 2016 a group of Spanish fans published Para el Maestro: Historias en honor de Terry Pratchett in support of GNU.

Jason and Rachel Anthony-Rowlands and Annie Mac and their colleagues continue to keep us informed and entertained with Discworld Monthly and Wossname: Discworld fandom owes them debts of gratitude as their devotion to their publications is a constant source of admiration.. (I’d like also to acknowledge the great debt owed by Pratchett fans to Leo Breebaart and everyone else who set up and maintained L-Space – http://www.lspace.org/. Although Real Life has made it impossible for him to keep it up-to-date, it is still an invaluable resource with the mass of information it holds. The Annotated Pratchett File alone has helped an incalculable number of readers over the years.)

And where to get your Pratchett books and memorabilia? Two sources stand out: www.discworld.com (the new incarnation of PJSM Prints), and www.discworldemporium.com

FOOTNOTES

[1] And his footnotes.

[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwxv7UBN8UM

[3] https://vimeo.com/77104562 which also has an uncut draft, which was more ambitious

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6XSAhx6yG4

[5] This is an iconic Gothic building faced with terracotta designed by Alfred Waterhouse and his son Paul, and built for the Refuge Insurance Company. With its 217 foot high tower, it is one of the city’s best known landmarks. Inside, everywhere one looks its original usage is self evident, great marble staircases, tiled passages, and elaborate offices now bedrooms. Sadly, not a wheel-chair-friendly edifice.

[6] At least one person, the Cunning Artificer, staunchly refused to leave his bed.

[7]  The ex-president of South Africa (2006-2009) Kgalema Motland the quoted Terry (‘the lauded English author’) in his memorial speech at the funeral of Herman Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo, one of those who had been in prison on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela. ‘No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away…’

[8] As a guest I also found the Hotel management extremely helpful and an added bonus is that it is within easy walking distance of Cork Airport.

[9] For French-speaking SF and Fantasy fans this shop, at 106 rue La Fayette, 75010 Paris, is definitely worth a visit.

[10] I was asked at the Convention who belongs to the Order, so here’s a list. With Rob Wilkins as Grand Master, its members comprise Lady Pratchett, Rhianna Pratchett, Sandra Kidby, and in alphabetical order, Mark Boomla, Stephen Briggs, Rod Brown, Philippa Dickinson, Malcolm Edwards, Larry Finlay, Pat Harkin, Paul Kidby, David Lloyd, Kevin O’Malley, Bernard Pearson, Colin Smythe, and Samir Thantrey.

[11] It contains an introduction by Rob Wilkins, some quotes from novels and five pieces by Terry, ‘The Hades Business’, ‘Thought Progress’, ‘Terry Pratchett’ by Neil Gaiman, ‘A Word about Hats’, ‘Terry Pratchett’ by Rhianna Pratchett, ‘A Voice in the Darkness’ (Chapter 2 of The Shepherd’s Crown) and ‘A Little Advice for Life’.

Background illustration © and by courtesy of Marc Simonetti