*F* DWCon: Sunday Times Report
Mark Lowes
From the Sunday Times
=====================
Weird but Wonderful
-------------------
Obsessed with every detail of his fantasy worlds, they can still tell
reality when they see it. MARK EDWARDS sizes up the fans of the
best-selling sci-fi writer Terry Pratchett.
The Conference and Banqueting brochure of the four star Britannia
Sachas Hotel in Manchester tells us that its recent clients include the
likes of British Telecom, Boots, Lloyds Bank, Cadbury and ICI. When the
hotel next updates this brochure, it can add another name, because last
week its conference facilities were taken over by the First
International Discworld Convention - a gathering of 800 fans of author
Terry Pratchett. The hotel's Lincoln Suite was renamed "Weatherwax": the
Madison Suite became "Magrat" and the Washington was rechristened "Ogg"
all names of characters in Pratchett's Discworld series of novels. The
Kennedy Suite hosted question-and-answer sessions where a lucky handful
of fans could chat with the great man himself.
Pratchett is one of the most successful authors in the world, with
close to 10m copies sold. Waterstone's bills him as its best-selling
living author and a first edition of the first Discworld novel, The
Colour of Magic, sells for f750. He writes fantasy novels, which also
happen to be very, very funny; and his most successful books have been
set on the Discworld - a pizza-shaped planet that roams through space
supported on the back of four giant elephants, who stand, in turn, on a
vast turtle called The Great A'Tuin.
Before Pratchett, the funny fantasy novel barely existed. At one of
the question-and-answer sessions, he explained to some fans where his
inspiration came from. "The thing about fantasy novels", he said, "was
that the hero always had to go on some quest that involved travelling
3,000 miles, with every man's hand against him, and at the end he had to
throw a ring into a volcano. You never got a quest that involved just
nipping next door. They seemed to forget the reality of the times they
were writing about, which was summed up in that Monty Python film, where
the peasant says, 'He must be the king: he hasn't got s*** all over
him.'
So Pratchett developed a new genre: fantasy that is constantly being
undercut by reality. In Discworld, Death is - as you might imagine - a
black-caped, skeletal figure with a scythe. But he rides a white horse
called Binky. At the convention, Pratchett wore a T-shirt bearing the
legend "Authentic Vulgarity" - a reference to the review of his latest
novel, Feet of Clay, in this paper's books section (June 23). It
referred to an anecdote concerning an author whose publisher asked him
to write something a bit more commercial, a bit more like Terry
Pratchett. The author tried, but gave up, claiming that you couldn't
fake Pratchett - he had an authentic vulgarity. It was a grudging
compliment, but Pratchett is used to those by now. For ages, his books
went un-reviewed. Finally, over the past couple of years, he has been
re-viewed, but most adopt a tone of "he's very good, but..." The "but"
is there because he writes genre novels, and genre novels real aren't
real novels. The true distinction was pointed out by a fan at the
convention, who said that he hoped Pratchett wouldn't start writing 11
character novels", because he hated character novels. Under this fan's
literary segmentation, what Pratchett writes are "plot novels".
This is unfair to Pratchett. Perhaps he is mainly concerned with
plot and with the jokes, but his characters are, at the very least,
two-and-a-half dimensional. Those critics prepared to write about him
have compared his work to Dickens, Wodehouse and Waugh; and, yes, he
stands the comparison well. He has the memorable characters and the
storytelling skill of Dickens; the witty dialogue of Wodehouse; and,
most notably. the satirical edge of Waugh. The books are translated into
18 languages and Pratchett has frequently been the guest of honour at
science-fiction fan conventions. The time was clearly ripe for the
first all-Pratchett convention. In Manchester his fans took over the
whole hotel. There were dealers' rooms selling all kinds of Pratchett
memorabilia, including a range of pottery figurines. The basic Death
figure cost 19.99, Death swinging his scythe cost 29.99, as did Death
in the kitchen (frying eggs). Death riding Binky cost f99.99 while the
well-heeled Discworld fan could splash out 199.99 on Death riding a
motorbike.
What set this convention apart from other fan conventions was that
the majority of attendees had never been to any other convention (there
is an established circuit of fan conventions, attended by a recognisable
tribe of conventioneers). There was also, unusually, a large female
contingent among the fans.
The weird kind of obsessiveness that the rest of us might associate
with the world of science fiction were consipicuous by their absence.
Instead of I-know-more-than-you gathering, the Discworld convention
offered, as one female present described it: "A nice family occasion.
You don't mind letting the kids run around. Women can walk about without
too many clothes on without feeling threatened.
She was referring to those who were throwing themselves into the
entertainment, dressing up in fantastic costumes for the Maskerade fancy
dress contest and the amateur dramatics. The whole atmosphere was more
enthusiastic and better-tempered than many conventions, where an ugly
caste system often develops between those in the inner circle who have
attained contact with the celebrities, and those on the outside of
things who haven't. But then, it's hard to believe that there was
anybody at the convention who didn't meet the author, so generous was he
with his time.
"The chances of shaking hands with Captain Kirk are quite remote,"
Pratchett says. "I tend to be around the place. If you are at all
interested in seeing me, sooner or later I'll probably turn up in your
town"
Until recently, Pratchett devoted three months of every year to
promotional tours (he has now cut that down to two months), as well as
attending four or five conventions a year in America, Canada or
Australia. On top of that, he calculates that the time he devotes to
answering fan letters is equivalent to writing two more books a year.
Pratchett likes his fans. "They are obsessive. yes. but not in a
worrying way. They're the kind of people who can memorise detail," he
says, "but, to use the phrase. they understand the nature of the
suspension of disbelief. I've nothing against Star Trek, but some of its
fans do come close to thinking it is reality."
Pratchett's devotion to his fans is mirrored by their devotion to his
work. He joined in a trivia quiz staged as part of the convention. At
one point, his team was asked "Where do lost socks go?" He paused,
concentrating hard, then a look of surprise came to his face. "Hang on,'
he said, "I've just written that. The answer is that they're eaten by
the sock monster. but it hasn't been published yet. How could you know
that one?"
A voice came from the audience: "We know everything."
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
Nothing is so smiple that it can't get screwed up.
Tony Finch
In article <07111996...@lspace.org>,
Mark Lowes <Ham...@lspace.org> wrote:
>
> a first edition of the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic,
> sells for f750.
Is that your version of an ASCII curly L?
FTony.
--
Aaaargh! I am struck down by the curse of the inverted credit card!
Tony Finch
> sells for f750.
Is that your version of an ASCII curly L?
Oh, and thanks for typing in the article.
Richard Kettlewell
Tony Finch <fa...@thor.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>Mark Lowes <Ham...@lspace.org> wrote:
>>a first edition of the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic,
>>sells for f750.
>
>Is that your version of an ASCII curly L?
Actually when I spotted that I thought it was a remarkably good
solution to the problem...
>Oh, and thanks for typing in the article.
Likewise.
--
Richard Kettlewell ric...@greenend.org.uk ric...@elmail.co.uk
http://www.elmail.co.uk/staff/richard/
LI Endell
Murky B (ma...@monark.ftech.co.uk) wrote:
: Did any of the published articles have photographs? Anyone near a
: scanner?
Both articles have photos. I have photocopies of both articles. I do *not*
have a scanner. Hands up who wants a copy snailmailed so *they* can scan
them in?
Lindsay
Mark Lowes
On 13 Jul 1996 01:50:27 +0100, in <4s6rsj$o...@sfere.elmail.co.uk>
Richard Kettlewell <ric...@greenend.org.uk> wrote.....
>>>sells for f750.
>>
>
>Actually when I spotted that I thought it was a remarkably good
>solution to the problem...
Not bad considering it was the results of bad proofing after scanning and
ocr'ing :)
--
Mark <ham...@lspace.org> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1620/
The Flying Hamster Listserver : list...@flyhmstr.demon.co.uk
... Don't blame me! I just test the thing!
Robert Flach
England has a scanner, too. If not, you can email me and I'll email you
my snailmail adress.
Robert, B.F.