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Free copy of Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals up for grabs!

*** COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED ***

Congratulations to Georgina Ball of Cambridgeshire who will receive a free copy of Unseen Academicals

I have been very fortunate and have ended up with two copies of Terry Pratchett’s latest publication, Unseen Academicals, in which the author turns his wit and wisdom to our (allegedly) beautiful game. We loved it and you can read our review here. 

So, that means we have a lovely, brand spanking new copy available to give away. All you need is to have a UK mailing address and to be able to answer both of the two following questions correctly.

1. What are Terry Pratchett’s two middle names?

1. Daniel Joshua
2. David John
3. Derrick Jameson
4. David James

2. Unseen Academicals forms part of the Discworld series, what number book is it?

1. 35
2. 36
3. 37
4. 36

Email your two answers to unseenacademicalscomp@fantasybookreview.co.uk, with your full UK mailing address and we will draw the winner at random from all the correct entries on the 5th of July. Good luck!

About Unseen Academicals
The game of foot the ball has come to the ancient, mercantile city of Ankh-Morpork. It’s a dangerous game: wearing the wrong colours in the wrong part of the city is asking for a permanent stay in the Lady Sybil Free Hospital. Originally banned by the patrician of the city; Lord Vetinari, the game is evolving, now there are pointy hats for goalposts, balls that go gloing and rules, living, breathing and changing rules…

Drawn into the pushing crowds of the shove is Mr Nutt, an expert candle dripper and polymath with a mysterious past. Trev Likely, our Dave Likely’s lad who’s promised his old mum that he won’t play football. Juliet, potentially the disc’s first supermodel who looks good in a beard and Glenda, head of the night kitchen who holds the secrets to the ploughman’s pie. And now the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match without using magic, so they’re in the mood for trying everything else.

In a game that’s just a game four lives are entangled and changed forever. The thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.

About the author
Terry Pratchett is the acclaimed creator of the Discworld series, started in 1983 with The Colour of Magic, and which has now reached 37 novels with Unseen Academicals. Worldwide sales of his books are 60 million, and they have been translated into 37 languages. Going Postal has just been aired on Sky Television.

Sir Terry Pratchett was knighted for services to literature in 2009.

Posted: June 27th, 2010
Author: Floresiensis
Categories: Competitions, Terry Pratchett

The Terry Pratchett Anywhere but Here, Anywhen but Now First Novel Prize!

Sir Terry Pratchett and Transworld Publishers are proud to launch a new award for aspiring debut novelists, The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize. Transworld will offer the winning author a publishing contract with a £20,000 advance.

The award will be judged by the esteemed Sir Terry Pratchett, the wise Tony Robinson, the savvy Mike Rowley from Waterstone’s and two members of the editorial team at Transworld Publishers.

Sir Terry Pratchett had this to say:

“Anywhere but here, anywhen but now. Which means we are after stories set on Earth, although it may be an Earth that might have been, or might yet be, one that has gone down a different leg of the famous trousers of time (see the illustration in almost every book about quantum theory).

We will be looking for books set at any time, perhaps today, perhaps in the Rome of today but in a world where 2000 years ago the crowd shouted for Jesus Christ to be spared, or where in 1962, John F Kennedy’s game of chicken with the Russians went horribly wrong. It might be one day in the life of an ordinary person. It could be a love story, an old story, a war story, a story set in a world where Leonardo da Vinci turned out to be a lot better at Aeronautics. But it won’t be a story about being in an alternate Earth because the people in an alternate Earth don’t know that they are; after all, you don’t.

But this might just be the start. The wonderful Peter Dickinson once wrote a book that could convince you that flying dragons might have existed on Earth. Perhaps in the seething mass of alternate worlds humanity didn’t survive, or never evolved — but other things did, and they would have seen the world in a different way. The possibilities are literally endless, but remember, it’s all on Earth. Maybe the continents will be different and the climate unfamiliar, but the physics will be the same as ours. What goes up must come down, ants are ant-sized because if they were any bigger their legs wouldn’t carry them. In short, the story must be theoretically possible on some version of the past, present or future of a planet Earth.”

The deadline for submissions will be 31 December 2010 and a shortlist of six entries will be announced on the 31 March 2011. The winner will be announced by the end May 2011.

Entrants must be over 18, have no previous published full-length works of fiction

and live in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. Submissions should be emailed to: pratchettprize@transworld-publishers.co.uk

For full terms and conditions visit www.terrypratchett.co.uk

Posted: June 17th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett’s I Shall Wear Midnight Coming September

Sir Terry Pratchett’s ‘I Shall Wear Midnight’, the fourth Tiffany Aching book is set for release in September of this year. My brother made sure that I knew about this and once again made it super easy to work out what to get my father for his birthday.

The book is available for preorder on both the British and American Amazon sites, and you can see the fantastic looking cover below.

The Tiffany Aching books have taken place at various stages in the lead characters life as she has grown. The title for this book is actually taken from a quote from the second book, ‘A Hat Full of Sky’;

"When I’m old I shall wear midnight, she’d decided. But for now she’d had enough of darkness."

I’ve been holding out hope that Terry would write this book as soon as possible, and now it’s finally in my sites. I can’t wait for this, as the Tiffany Aching books as a whole make up one of my favourite things to read.

On top of it all it is reported that Pratchett is already working on his next Discworld novel set for publication in autumn of 2011.

Posted: June 15th, 2010
Author: JoshSHill
Categories: Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter Team Up

Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, a prolific hard science fiction author, are teaming up with Transworld to create a series of books based on an idea first posed by Pratchett in 1986 after writing Equal Rites, the third novel in what would become the famous Discworld series.

“Sir Terry Pratchett first developed his vision of a chain of parallel worlds, The Long Earth, in an unfinished novel and two short stories in 1986 … Now, at last, this long-gestating concept is to see the light of day in two as-yet-untitled books written in collaboration with Stephen Baxter …”

The first Long Earth novel is set to be published by Doubleday in spring of 2012.

‘Our Earth is but one of a chain of parallel worlds, lying side by side in a higher space of possibilities, each differing from its neighbours by a little (or a lot): an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And you can just step from one world to the next…’

Posted: June 15th, 2010
Author: JoshSHill
Categories: Terry Pratchett

The Discworld Cup is On!

If you want to show your love for Terry Pratchett, or a specific book by the legendary knighted British author, then head along to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Cup Finals 2010.

Basically it’s a “vote for your favourite book” competition based on the Soccer World Cup currently taking place. 32 teams (books) are played off against each other in the same style as the World Cup is.

Head along to vote for the book you love the most!

Go Night Watch!

Posted: June 12th, 2010
Author: JoshSHill
Categories: Terry Pratchett

Fantasy news round-up 26/04/2010

Hubble Telescope: NASA release dramatic space image to mark 20th birthday
The new image, captured earlier this year by Hubble’s brand-new Wide Field Camera 3, shows a cosmic pillar of gas and dust piled high in the Carina Nebula. Located about 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina, it shows a craggy mountaintop that is enshrouded by wispy clouds which would not look out of place in JRR Tolkien’s epic fantasy or even a Dr Seuss book. It captures in amazing detail the chaotic activity atop a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars.

Eoin Colfer on writing fantasy novels for children
This film is the first in a series that features a wide range of arts figures including writers, musicians, directors, performers and artists giving advice about a specific aspect of their work. Author of the Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer talks about how to write fantasy novels for children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8635562.stm

Gaiman double on the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway shortlists
Children’s titles covering topics such as racism, war and global warming have been nominated in the CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist. While, Bloomsbury and Walker both have a duo of titles on the shortlist for this year’s CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. It is also the first time for 30 years that a title has appeared on both the CILIP Carnegie and CILIP Kate Greenaway shortlists, with Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, illustrated by Chris Riddell (Bloomsbury) appearing on both.

Carnegie Medal shortlist is as follows:

• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (Bloomsbury)
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury)
• The Vanishing of Katerina Linden by Helen Grant (Penguin)
• Rowan the Strange by Julie Hearn (OUP)
• The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Walker)
• Nation by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday)
• Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve (Scholastic)
• Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (Orion)

The Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist is as follows:

• Leon and the Place Between by Grahame Baker-Smith (Templar)
• Harry & Hopper Freya Blackwood (text by Margaret Wild) (Scholastic)
• The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins)
• Millie’s Marvellous Hat by Satoshi Kitamura (Andersen Press)
• Crazy Hair by Dave McKean (text by Neil Gaiman) (Bloomsbury)
• The Graveyard Book by Chris Riddell (text by Neil Gaiman) (Bloomsbury)
• The Dunderheads by David Roberts (text by Paul Fleischman) (Walker)
• There are cats in this book by Viviane Schwarz (Walker)

Ronan Keating’s Hobbit Ambition
The Boyzone singer auditioned for a role in upcoming fantasy movie ‘The Hobbit’ – based on the JRR Tolkien novel of the same name, a prequel to the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy – and is still waiting to hear back. He said: "I don’t think I’ll get the role of the hobbit. But I would like to take on roles which nobody would expect. I don’t want to be reduced to love stories. I’d like to try dark, edgy roles. I need a challenge." Ronan – who has three children, Jack, 11, Marie, nine, and four-year-old Ali, with his model wife Yvonne – is even considering leaving his native Ireland to live in Los Angeles to pursue his big screen dream.

Posted: April 27th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Eoin Colfer, JRR Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett

Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy to open this month

This month will see the launch of the new Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy, a project which will explore the importance of fairy takes in literary and culture.

Professor Bill Gray, an English lecturer at the University of Chichester, is the brainchild behind the centre that will discuss and celebrate the folktales, fairy tales and fantastic imagination from across the world that has led to bestselling fantasy works by writers as diverse as JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, JK Rowling, Angela Carter, Philip Pullman and CS Lewis.

“The heart of this project is a focus on the importance of fairy tales as a creative force both in literature and culture. Literary fairy tales can be seen, in terms of genre, to mediate between, on the one hand, folktales, from which they often derive both form and content; and on the other, the more elaborate narratives of full-blown fantasy novels. The Centre will provide a forum where writers and scholars from various disciplines can discuss folk narratives, fairy tales and fantasy works, both as independent ‘genres’ (the literary fantastic, for example, may not always have obvious folk- or fairy-tale motifs), and also in terms of the resonances and dissonances between them, and other cultural forms.”

For more information, visit http://sussexfolktalecentre.org.

Posted: February 9th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: CS Lewis, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett

Fantasy news round-up – January/February 2010

Fantasy authors donate towards the Haiti appeal
Harry Potter author JK Rowling donated a full UK edition set of her books, as well as a handwritten card, to Helping Haiti Heal. These rare items join more than 100 special gifts, including a signed book by author Neil Gaiman, five dedicated books by Sir Terry Pratchett, and original conception art from the film Where the Wild Things Are.

And… The Daily Mail “newspaper” grudgingly apologises to JK Rowling
”On January 17 we reported the recent purchase of a property by author J. K. Rowling. We wrongly alleged that she offered an extra £300,000 for the seller to leave within two weeks so she could hold a Christmas party and that she viewed only two rooms before deciding to buy the property. We apologise to Ms Rowling for any embarrassment caused.” announced the sulky press release.

Graveyard Book movie is dead for now
Neil Gaiman’s young adult novel, The Graveyard Book, which won a Newbery Medal and a Hugo award looks set to remain solely in the written word for the foreseeable future. The film adaptation that was to be written and directed by Neil Jordan (The Brave One, The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire) has fallen apart on the financing front.

Harry Potter fans bid for Quidditch league
Students at the University of Nottingham want to establish a British Quidditch league based on the JK Rowling stories. The sport is already popular in universities in the United States but has yet to be taken seriously in this country. In the Harry Potter books the trainee wizards fly on broomsticks. In reality the Nottingham students hold a broom between their legs and throw a ball with their free arm.

Fantasy authors battle it out on live online role-playing game
Fantasy authors Peter V. Brett, Ari Marmell, and Diana Rowland go head-to-head in a live online role-playing game session. The two-hour session, hosted by Suvudu.com, features a real-time adventure illustrated with artwork, and featuring characters from the King of RPGs graphic novel series.

New Line Cinema push back Hobbit release date
New Line’s efforts to get “The Hobbit” on the big screen have been hobbled again. Studio officials confirm that the film, which had been slated to premiere in December 2011, won’t hit theatres until the end of 2012 at the earliest. The two-part prequel to New Line’s mega-successful “Lord of the Rings” franchise has Peter Jackson signed on to produce and Guillermo del Toro enlisted to direct. Production had previously been delayed by haggling between author J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate and New Line over “Lord of the Rings” profits. This latest delay, however, has to do with financing for “The Hobbit,” which unlike “LOTR,” will not be paid for via foreign pre-sales. Rather, for “The Hobbit,” New Line shares financing rights with MGM/UA, which purchased its rights back in 1969 and could sell them soon as part of a larger restructuring. In short, “The Hobbit’s” production financing situation probably won’t become clear until MGM’s situation is sorted out later this year.

Posted: February 5th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: JK Rowling, Latest News, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett

Fantasy Book Review: Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

There’s a werewolf with the pre-lunar tension in Ankh-Morpork. And a dwarf with attitude and a golem who’s begun to think for itself. But for Commander Vimes, Head of Ankh-Morpork City Watch, that’s only the start…There’s treason in the air. A crime has happened. He’s not only got to find out whodunit, but howdunit too. He’s not even sure what they dun. But soon as he knows what the questions are, he’s going to want some answers.

Joshua S Hill says “I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, the earlier Discworld novels aren’t as refined as the latter. Which makes utter and complete sense, but is still a word of warning. When you hear people describe the genius and brilliance behind the Discworld books, those characteristics are set up in these early books and then flourish in latter books. These are books you want to read, as they are clever, smart, and fill in a lot of the blanks on characters you may have read or will read when you get to Night Watch and the like. But don’t expect 10/10 brilliance straight away.”

Read the full Feet of Clay review

Terry Pratchett was awarded the OBE (The Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire, Officer) in 1998 for his services to literature. He has sold over 40 million books worldwide and these have been translated into thirty-three different languages. He is second only to JK Rowling in terms of book sales in the United Kingdom.

It is believed that 1% of all the books sold in England are penned by Pratchett. His books have been translated into 36 different languages and have sold over 60 million copies.

Sir Terry Pratchett was made a knight in the New Year Honours list (2008). He received the honour for services to literature.

Posted: January 28th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Fantasy Book Review, Terry Pratchett

Round-up: JA Rowling, Bath-time for Pullman and Le Guin not finished yet

A round-up of fantasy news around the world.

A rare JK Rowling uncorrected proof sells for £1,600
An uncorrected proof edition of JK Rowling’s very first Harry Potter book has been sold for £1600 at auction.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, attributed to JA Rowling was bought by a collector at Edinburgh’s Lyon & Turnbull auction house. The copy was sent to critics and booksellers around the UK by Bloomsbury shortly after taking Rowling on.

The book, which also contains spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, was famously written on an old manual typewriter in coffee shops around Edinburgh.

Twilight seeps top spots in USA TODAYS’s best-selling books of 2009
For the second year in a row, Stephenie Meyer has swept the top four spots in USA TODAY’s lists of the best-selling books of 2009. Not even JK Rowling achieved this.

Books for children and teenagers accounted for 29% of sales recorded in 2009. Altogether, last year the Meyer books added up to £29.3m in sales – 10% of the total children’s book  sales, according to Nielson BookScan, which compiles the best-seller lists for several national newspapers.

Philip Pullman’s Bath-time
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, thriller writer Robert Goddard and celebrated cult writer Philip Pullman are just three of the internationally acclaimed writers who will be visiting Bath over the coming weeks.

Philip Pullman comes to Bath on April 1. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is his spellbinding retelling of the life of Jesus. Philip comes to Bath to discuss his new work, which is part novel, part history and part fairytale. He will discuss the tensions inherent in the dual nature of Jesus Christ and explore some of the myths and mysteries of the gospels that have helped shape human history in the last two millennia. The event is at the Guildhall at 8pm. Tickets £9 with £9 off the book. Tickets £7 when booked in person at the bookshop.

Random House to raise funds for new new television, toys, video games, and film projects
Random House Children’s Screen Entertainment will be looking to raise $100 million in order to create new television, toys, video games and film projects. The group was created when Random House Children’s Books struck a partnership with the UK production company, Komixx Entertainment.

A number of authors and illustrators could see more properties developed with Philip Pullman and Terry Pratchett having already been mentioned. Komixx intends to go out into the market for RHCSE in March. It may yet approach an existing film and television financier such as Aramid Capital to help it raise the money. The $100 million will be used to develop cartoons and live-action films and television series based on RHCB properties, as well as video games and toys.

Ursula Le Guin plans next move after resigning over Google Book Settlement
Ursula Le Guin says she wants to do more than simply resign in protest. On the Book View Cafe Blog, she says she’s heard from many writers who agree with her and wants to start marshalling that collective sentiment.

“How, where, can I ask writers who are unhappy with the Settlement to speak up – to stand up and be counted? We don’t have to agree on every detail, but I think there are a lot of us who see it as urgently important to let it be known that writers support the principle of copyright, and want the Copyright Office, the judges, the publishers, and the libraries to know that we intend to keep control of our work, in print or out, printed or electronic, believing that the people who do the work, rather than any corporation, should have the major voice in how it’s used and who profits from it.”

Oscar nominated Keisha Castle-Hughes to appear in Legend Of The Seeker
Keisha Castle-Hughes, the youngest woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award will be a guest star on an episode of Legend of the Seeker.

Castle-Hughes, who originally rose to prominence in 2002 for her role in the New Zealand film Whale Rider. The actress recently starred in projects such as Hey, Hey, It’s Esther Blueburger and Piece of My Heart. She also portrayed the Virgin Mary in The Nativity Story and had a small role in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

In Legend of the Seeker, Castle-Hughes will play a mysterious young woman who claims to be the Creator, the incarnation of God.

Posted: January 16th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: JK Rowling, Philip Pullman, Stephenie Meyer, Terry Goodkind, Terry Pratchett, Ursula Le Guin