#not discworld

Rob Wilkins will be in Bath talking about, and signing the book, Terry Pratchett: A Stroke of the Pen

Date: Wed 22nd November 2023 Doors Open 7pm

Location: Topping & Company Booksellers of Bath, York Street, Bath, Somerset BA1 1NG

Rob Wilkins, Pratchett’s former assistant, friend, head of the Pratchett literary estate & author of Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes joins the team at the shop to talk on A Stroke of the Pen: the recently rediscovered short stories by Terry Pratchett.

The book is a truly unmissable, beautifully illustrated collection of unearthed stories from the pen of Sir Terry Pratchett: award-winning and bestselling author, and creator of the phenomenally successful Discworld series. It contains twenty early and once-lost short stories by one of the world's best loved authors, each accompanied by exquisite original woodcut illustrations.

These are rediscovered tales that Pratchett wrote under a pseudonym for newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s. Whilst none are set in the Discworld, they hint towards the world he would go on to create, containing all of his trademark wit, satirical wisdom and fantastic imagination.

Tickets available from https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/bath/rob-wilkins-for-terry-pratchetts-a-stroke-of-the-pen-2023/

Johnny's friends are obviously the Them:

"Or she could be an Atlantean. From Atlantis. You know? The continent that sank under the sea thousands of years ago. The inhabitants were said to be very long-lived." "They could breathe underwater?" "Don't be silly. They sailed away just before it sank, and built Stonehenge and the pyramids and so on. They were scientifically very advanced, actually." -- Terry Pratchett, Johnny and the Bomb

And Mrs. Tachyon's rants are pure Foul Ole Ron:

"Indeed? That's what you think!" she said. "Call again tomorrow, baker, and we'll take a crusty one! Poor old biddy, is it? That's what you think! Millennium hand and shrimp? Free teeth and corsets? Maybe, for them as likes it, but not me, thank you so much. Wot, no bananas?" -- Terry Pratchett, Johnny and the Bomb

Mrs, Tachyon randomly mentions a Mister Shadwell at one point, and also says "Tickety Boo!" Her cat Guilty is very Greebo-esque:

Some sort of demon, all teeth and glowing eyes, erupted from it and clawed the skin off the back of his hand. "Blast! 'Ere, help me get hold of--" But the sergeant had backed away. "That's Guilty, that is," he said. "I should come away if I was you!" -- Terry Pratchett, Johnny and the Bomb

The Trousers of Time are referenced multiple times:

"Did you know that when you change time, you get two futures heading off side by side?" "Must have missed that in school, sir." "Like a pair of trousers." -- Terry Pratchett, Johnny and the Bomb

CW: transphobia

First of all obligatory I aten’t dead

Second! Terry Pratchett has been trending the past few days because, apparently, the Gender Critical movement has decided to posthumously “recruit” him by claiming that he would’ve supported their movement. If you’re unfamiliar, that movement is basically to remove social and legal protections for trans people.

This is gross, it’s cowardly, and it’s being thoroughly and viciously debunked by people who knew him personally, including his daughter.

(Rhianna Pratchett has probably been having a rough one the past few days, but her twitter has had a lot of people sharing affirming memories of her dad, which has been lovely to see).

Anyway. I’m not in the UK, and I’m not sure if this just a few people or an earnest effort from GCers to rebrand Sir Terry as Gender Critical and Discworld as some sort of terf zone, but I didn’t want to let this pass without a loud and belligerent TRANS RIGHTS from me. Trans Discworld fans, you are loved. I am but a humble quote poster (and, as the past two years have proved, very bad at it) but I and so, so many others support you, always.

I have now read my first - and last - review of that Watch knock off show's first episode. Was it by an enraged and disappointed Discworld fan? Yes. Am I a little based against it? Yes. Does that mean I should be more open minded/give it a chance? No. Because fact is, they took the story and twisted it into everything that made pterry write Discworld in the first place.

I can now truly say:

NO.

And in that moment, St Terry created the Trousers of Time

Dark Side of the Sun, 1976