Intergalactic Roll of Honor

Terry Pratchett writes in the latest DiscWorld newsletter (Aug 2008):

I have no idea when Unseen Academicals will be finished, simply because of
the amount of media interest that continues to be generated by
recent developments in the treatment of AD. Frankly, and with the
agreement of my publishers, I feel that this is something that I
should give priority to.

I’d love to buy this!

Terry Pratchett Nation - Signed UK Proof - eBay item 200229088237 end time Jun-10-08 12:30:00 PDT
Nation

by Terry Pratchett

This auction is for an uncorrected, unread and brand new UK proof of Nation.
This is Terry Pratchetts latest, non Discworld, novel which is due for publication in September 2008.

Further more, Terry will sign and dedicate the book to the lucky winner

This is an absolutely unique opportunity to own a fantastic piece of Terry Pratchett memorabilia.

All proceeds from the sale of this proof will be donated to the RICE Centre in Bath.

“Finding himself alone on a desert island when everything and everyone he knows and loved has been washed away in a huge storm, Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. Hes also completely alone - or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird and gives him a stick which can make fire. Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. Shes certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ships parrot. As it happens, they are not alone for long.Other survivors start to arrive to take refuge on the island they all call the Nation and then raiders accompanied by murderous mutineers from the Sweet Judy. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things - including how to milk a pig and why spitting in beer is a good thing - and start to forge a new Nation.”

Payment must be made within 5 days.
We accept payment by PayPal or UK cheques only.

Thanks for looking and happy bidding

Robert Asprin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[Ann Arbor's own] Robert Asprin passed away [at 62] 22 May 2008, dying quietly in bed where he had been reading a Terry Pratchett novel.

Asprin was important to me because he was a very successful SF writer from my home town.  I enjoyed the first few books in the THIEVES WORLD and MYTH series. Too bad his life and career was cut short.

I am beginning a project of organizing my library and deciding what books to keep and what books I want to add.  I am working my way through things methodically, beginning with the science fiction section and authors beginning with “A”.  Here are my thoughts so far …

Adams, Douglas — there is a single-volume omnibus (is that redundant?) with his collected works.  that would be a nice readers’ copy to own.  Adams certainly had a huge influence on the history of SF … but not one of my personal favorites.  Does it need to be in my collection? I can always get it from the library.

Anderson, Poul — I have a volume of collected stories.  What I would like to have: a first of Tau Zero and (maybe) a complete run of the Flandry and van Rijn series.

Anthony, Piers — I’ll deal with his fantasy in a separate section.  In the meantime, there is an argument to be made for Macroscope.

Asimov, Isaac — the first unqualified “must” in this section.  I want the best possible editions of all the Foundation books.  The Robot books are a lower priority.  The End of Eternity might be higher than the Robot books.

Who else am I missing?   more tk …

Gary Gygax, ‘Father of D&D,’ Dies at 69 | The Underwire from Wired.com

Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, according to Stephen Chenault, CEO of Troll Lord Games.

First off, I have to say that having the person who reports your death be the CEO of Troll Lord Games is pretty cool.

Next, I have to say that Gary Gygax had a profound impact on popular culture. I doubt if he ever made very many Top 100 lists, but he should have.

Finally, I have to say that from my perspective as a book publisher, Gary Gygax should be remembered not just as the guy who invented D&D, but as a brilliant author and book publisher.

His Dungeons and Dragons books sold like hotcakes and (appropriately) spawned dozens of new editions and spinoff titles. He did what every publisher dreams of.

Tip of the hat to Murdoc Online for spotting this story.

This is one of the better days in the history of Nimble Books. Today we have reached a final agreement with Hugo and Nebula-award winning science fiction author, futurist, and commentator David Brin, and we will be publishing his THROUGH STRANGER EYES, a collection of “Reviews, Introductions, Tributes & Iconoclastic Essays” in the U.S. and U.K. We will be working in partnership with Robert Stephenson of the fine SF publisher Altair Australia who be publishing a simultaneous edition for his markets. THROUGH STRANGER EYES will include essays on figures as diverse as J.R.R. Tolkien, John Brunner, George Orwell, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Charles Sheffield, Richard Feynman, and Ayn Rand.

More to come …

This is horrible news.

Discworld News © PJSM Prints

AN EMBUGGERANCE
Folks,

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early
onset Alzheimer’s, which lay behind this year’s phantom “stroke”.

We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I
expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there’s time for at least a few more books yet :o)

Terry Pratchett

PS I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should
be interpreted as ‘I am not dead’. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as
will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it’s too soon to tell.
I know it’s a very human thing to say “Is there anything I can do”, but in this case I
would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.

Heinlein, Project Moonbase and Others (preorder): Subterranean Press

Subterranean Press is proud to announce a two volume set that will contain virtually the last unpublished material by Robert A. Heinlein.

Project Moonbase contains the screenplay for the now classic sf film, plus twelve finished teleplays and two story outlines for a projected television show, The World Beyond. In addition to original tales (”Ring Around the Moon” and the story outlines “Home Sweet Home” and “The Tourist”) Project Moonbase also contains teleplay adaptations of such RAH classics as “Delilah and the Space Rigger,” “And He Built a Crooked House” and much more.

Important news. I wonder exactly when Heinlein wrote these things and whether this work represents his “A” game.

Karl Schroeder’s Ventus now a free CC download - Boing Boing

Award-winning sf writer Karl Schroeder has just released his debut novel, Ventus under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs license, meaning that you can download it, share it and copy it as much as you like.

Excellent. What this book in particular needs, I think, is some annotation around the pages … collaborative world-building.

Earlier this year, Nimble Books author Pepe Escobar released his GLOBALISTAN with a CC license.

ALAN DEAN FOSTER

It’s been a long time since I’ve worked on two novels simultaneously. One is, of course, FLINX TRANSCENDENT. As promised, it will tie up as many loose ends in the history of Flinx’s life as possible. The eventual final manuscript looks like it will run 130,000-140,000 words….a little less than double a normal-length book. Should be enough to satisfy everyone….even those readers who have waited 35 years to see how certain things turn out.

Ha! Only 35 years after I read the first one… this is great news.

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