#discworld conventions

[ankh-morpork-times]

I wasn't planning to post this morning but this anecdote is just too funny to leave in my drafts folder. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman speak about adapting Good Omens for the big screen at NADWCon in 2011.

There are no captions so there is a transcript with image descriptions below the cut. Video duration 3:18.

[ID: Terry and Neil are sitting in armchairs on a stage with microphones in front of them.]

Neil: The um... So we, we... The... Probably the single worst experience that we went through was... was, I think, the film. Um, the first [inaudible] when it was bought by very nice people, who convinced us they were very nice 'cause we were absolute innocents, and I just remember going up for the first meeting with them and we... we were going up for the meeting and, um, Terry says, "Here, come over here." I said, "Okay." He said, "Um, look, I'm not sure about these people, and you're not sure about these people. If-" -this is our first meeting- "-If they're just completely barking, we should have a code word-"

[Audience laughter]

Neil: "-and if one of us says the code word, we both get up in unison and we leave."

[Laughter]

Neil: I said, "Okay, so we need a code word that neither of us could conceivably say in normal conversation."

[Laughter]

Neil: And Terry says, "Yes." I said, "Okay, what about 'Biggles'?"

[Laughter]

Neil: Now, 'Biggles', for those of you who don't know, was a-"

Terry: A famous Cardinal!

[Laughter]

Neil: He was!

Terry: They're young!

Neil: Of course!

Terry: That's the only one they know!

Neil: In... Captain W. E. Johns wrote books about Biggles, who was a WW1 flying ace, who with his pals, Ginger and Algy used to go around shooting up the-

Terry: [inaudible speech overlapping with audience laughter]

Neil: -the evil Germans. So, if any Germans are here, you're not evil, it was just in this book. So-

[Laughter]

Neil: The, um... So, I said, "What about 'Biggles'?" And Terry goes, "Okay, 'Biggles' it is." So we head off to the meeting, and we were sitting there around the table talking to what seemed to be terribly nice, sensible people, and then the executive walks in. And the executive in this case was a woman, who looked like she had mugged somebody twenty years younger than her and stolen her hair.

[Laughter]

Neil: And she walked in and she sort of like... [in an exaggerated American accent] "Hi Neil, hi Terry, it's lovely to meet you both. Now, I'm sure that the guys have been talking to you both about your book, Good Omens, and what we're thinking about. Now, okay, lemme just run some stuff, uh, past you. We figure the, the dynamics of this are: the kid, um, Adam, whatever his name is, uh, Newt, the Witchfinder, we see him as being maybe, like, Tom Cruise- [audience laughter in background] -young, good-looking, hunky, but he's looking for witches. And the witch- Athanema [sic], I think her name was... Okay, so there's Newt and there's Athanema-" And I look at Terry, I need to actually mime this- [Neil pauses as he stands]

Terry: Well, I think we should do it together- [Terry stands as well]

Neil: We should do it together-

[Terry and Neil stand facing the audience and mime flying like planes as the audience laughs and applauds. They sit back down at the end of the video]

[dduane]

Is the next Young Wizards book still being worked on? Just reread the series after years and hungry for more. :)

YW #11 (still untitled) is outlined and in progress. I assume I’ll have a draft ready for an editor to look at it during the course of 2020.

That said: this year most of my attention remains on the Middle Kingdoms universe as I work on The Door Into Starlight and the interstitial works between it and The Door Into Sunset (right now the novel Tales of the Five #3: The Librarian is in its near-completion stages). And the two final volumes of the Tales of the Five group are scheduled for later in 2020… most likely autumn/winter, as the summer’s going to be busy with convention appearances (Finncon, the UK Discworld Convention, and HolmesCon 2020).

But Starlight is the main emphasis here at the moment. This series has been running (as of 2019) for forty years, and I really want to put a stop to the letters and emails that say either “Please finish this series before you die” (okay, I see your priorities there, guess I can’t really blame you…) or “Please finish this series before I die” (um, thanks very much, no pressure then). Getting this sorted will allow me to take a deep breath and say “RIGHT, back to the Young Wizards end of things…” with a clear conscience.

So stick around. I’ll announce any new developments here and on my Twitter and on the YW website. Also, don’t forget that there are interstitial Young Wizards works available from Ebooks Direct: the two “Interim Errantry” collections – Interim Errantry, which contains the shorter works “Not On My Patch” and “How Lovely Are Thy Branches” as well as the 110K-word novel Young Wizards: Lifeboats, and IE2:On Ordeal, which goes into the details of the Ordeals of Ronan, Roshaun, and Mamvish. (We’re about to redo the paperback version of IE1 at Amazon, btw, and bring out the first paperback version of IE2:OO.) …So if you haven’t seen those yet, they might give you something to occupy yourself with for a bit while I’m busy in the Kingdoms. :)

Anyway, thanks for asking! It’s always good to have left people wanting more. :)