In July last year we wrote about new Discworld movie made by Sky1 network: Going Postal. The production is well under way as the movie is scheduled to air during the Easter 2010, in the meantime though Sky1 posted few of the stills from the movie set. You can take a look at them below, or on Sky1 website.

Sky has posted this short synopsis of the movie:
Going Postal is a story of sweet romance and dark revenge set against an ongoing dispute between a traditional postal system and Discworld's equivalent of the internet. Richard Coyle (Coupling) and David Suchet (Agatha Christie's Poirot) headline an all-star cast.

Discworld books have been evolving since 1983, when first novel was published. At first they were light and funny stories, a satire on so called "high fantasy". With time though they started to be more serious, characters gained depth, received human characteristics and flaws. Discworld became closer and closer to the world we see every day. Fantastic monsters dwelling on the Disc became respectable members of the community and new kind of horrors emerged: war, greed, prejudice and many others.

37th Discworld novel continues the trend set by The Truth, Going Postal and Making Money. After introducing printing press, postal service and paper money, Ankh-Morpork is going through another change, another phenomenon is finding its way from our world to the Disc. A new sport is born, the sport of "foot-the-ball".

From time to time Terry Pratchett posts on Paul Kidby's website (www.paulkidby.com) something of an open letters to his fans and readers. I've been going through those letters recently and found some interesting information. For example, new Discworld novel is going to be called "I Shall Wear Midnight". Terry writes:

On the up side, the progress on I Shall Wear Midnight is rapid, thanks to Dragon Dictate and rather more to the guys at TalkingPoint - the front end that makes it much easier to use - who made contact with me through this very page. I'm so impressed by it, that if my typing ability came back overnight, I would continue to use it. I have no hesitation in praising the product as I have already paid for two licenses and a year's maintenance. Anyway, we have to do this stuff otherwise what was the point of Star Trek?

So there you have it! Terry is still writing (or dictating), having fun and exploring strange new worlds. He also has a mess in his study. :-)

Even if I didn't have it marked in my calendar I wouldn't have missed it. Before I made it to work I saw a girl on a bus stop already one third into the book. Unseen Academicals, 37th Discworld Novel, went officially on sale today. Needless to say I got my hands on it and expect to read and deliver the review before the end of the week.

Unseen Academicals satirizes football (Foot-the-Ball or Poor Boys' Fun) as the UU wizards are forced by unfortunate circumstances (and will of relentless Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully) to form University's sports team.

After reading first 50 pages I can safely say that the book doesn't stand out from the rest of the series and will provide excellent fun for any Discworld lover. I'll have more to say when I finish the book. :-)

New Scientist is going to interview Terry Pratchett next week and they are asking fans to provide questions! If you have something you'd like to ask the creator of Discworld, head to their website: www.NewScientist.com.

Just keep in mind, that New Scientist is a science and technology dedicated website, keep your questions scientific!

To celebrate the completion of his latest Discworld novel Terry Pratchett held an eBay auction for one signed and dedicated copy of the Unseen Academicals. The auction completed already (I was away traveling or I would post about this earlier!) on August 29th. Lucky winner paid ?810 for for this rare book and has probably already read it. Lucky bastard! :-)

I can't wait for Unseen Academicals to come out. It's scheduled to be released on October 6, 2009. Also, I'm wondering, Terry, what's with the bushy beard? :-)

Unseen Academicals blurb:
Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork - not the old fashioned, grubby pushing and shoving, but the new, fast football with pointy hats for goalposts and balls that go going when you drop them. 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. The prospect of the Big Match draws in a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beautiful young woman, who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been, and the mysterious Mr Nutt (and no one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt, which worries him, too. As the match approaches, four lives are entangled and changed for ever. Because the thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football.

Harper Collins posted a video of Terry Pratchett talking about his next Discworld novel: Unseen Academicals. There is nothing very specific in the video, but if you're looking forward to Unseen Academicals you will definitely want to watch it. Here is the link to the video.

Unseen Academicals novel is scheduled to be released on October 6, 2009.

A bit earlier we wrote about the new Discworld movie: Going Postal. Today, thanks to the good people in Sky1 we're able to present you with the photo of the main character of the movie: Moist Von Lipwig played by Richard Coyle. It's hard to pass judgement on the character based on just one photo, but so far I'm liking the casting choice.


Going Postal movie, just like it's predecessors (Hogfather and The Light Fantastic) is going to be a two-parter, each 120 minutes long and it's going to air on Sky1 and Sky1 HD Easter 2010.

Following the success of the first two Discworld productions (Hogfather and The Light Fantastic) Sky1 announced today the start of production on another movie based on Discworld novel: Going Postal. The movie, just like it's predecessors is going to be a two-parter, each 120 minutes long and it's going to air on Sky1 and Sky1 HD Easter 2010.

An adventure story filled with romance and revenge, GOING POSTAL features an all star British cast that includes Richard Coyle (Coupling) as Moist Von Lipwig (see the photo), David Suchet (Agatha Christies Poirot) as Reacher Gilt, Charles Dance (Gosford Park, Bleak House) as Lord Vetinari, and Claire Foy (Little Dorrit) as Adora Belle Dearheart (see the photo). Adding to the cast with their comedic talents are Steve Pemberton (The League of Gentlemen, Psychoville) as Drumknott, Andrew Sachs (Fawlty Towers) as Groat and Tamsin Greig (Green Wing, Black Books) as Miss Cripslock.

The Turtle Moves!, First North American Discworld Convention is going to happen in September this year (September 4-7, 2009) in Tempe, Arizona. Terry Pratchett already announced that he's going to visit the convention, so if you're dreaming of meeting the author of Discworld series and you live in US, this is your chance!

To learn more about the First North American Discworld Convention go to the website: http://www.nadwcon.org .

It took long enough, but the Discworld movie Colour of Magic finally will be released in US. The two part miniseries based on the first two books of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (The Color of Magic and Light Fantastic) is going to be available on July 14th.

Inside a magical realm known as Discworld, a naive tourist is on holiday until a terrible fire breaks out, forcing him to flee along with an incompetent wizard. As the clueless pair set out on a magical journey across the disc, neither realizes that they are merely pawns in an elaborate board game being played by the Gods. After encountering a pair of barbarians, they take a trip to an inverted mountain housing dragons that only exist in imagination, survive a fall off the edge of the disc and attempt to beat the wizard?s former classmate to a collection of spells that could save Discworld from total destruction.

You can order the movie now on Amazon.com .

Unseen Academicals are almost here! Terry reported on Twitter that he has reached the end of the book and now all we've got to do is go back and do all the back-filling. The book is scheduled to be released on October 6, 2009. It's a great news for all Discworld fans!

If you want to pre-order Unseen Academicals or find out more about the book, Amazon.com also has the synopsis of the book. You can read it below:

Guardian reports: Pratchett's Going Postal will be the third novel from his Discworld series to be adapted by Sky One and will air as a two-part special in 2009. It will again made by independent MOB Films with Rod Brown and Ian Sharples as producers.

The new series will seeks to build on the success of Pratchett's Bafta-award winning Hogfather, which drew 2.86 million viewers when it aired on Sky One during Christmas 2006.

Thanks for the tip Unda!

Sir Terry Pratchett turns 51 today! Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s, and as of December 2007 has sold more than 55 million books worldwide, with translations made into 36 languages. He is currently the second most-read writer in the UK, and seventh most-read non-US author in the US.

Happy birthday Terry!

Sir Terry Prattchett and his personal assistant, Rob Wilkins, created an account on the popular social networking website Twitter . In just two weeks Terry and Rob gathered over 2.5 thousand followers! If you have a Twitter account and you're a Pratchett fan you might want to join the crowd.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman has been voted the 2008 winner of the annual Audible.co.uk Audiobook Download of the Year awards. Both authors were given an award and the narrator also received an award for his contribution to the audiobook's success. Sir Terry's award was presented to him at a luncheon given in his honor at The Athenaeum, Pall Mall, London, following his investiture by Her Majesty.

Congratulations Sir Terry!

Terry Pratchet, fantasy writer best known for his hugely popular Discworld series of comic novels, has been knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace for services to literature. From now on Terry will be known as Sir Pratchett!

Sir Terence David John Pratchett, (born 28 April 1948) is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels. You will find his rich bibliography below.

I am sure that all Discworld fans want another book of the series to come out tomorrow an preferably to arrive at their doorstep in the morning so they can start reading right away. Unfortunately it's not going to happen. Terry's focus right now is on the AD treatment. Terry says: Frankly, and with the agreement of my publishers, I feel that this is something that I should give priority to.

The book does have a release date though. It's scheduled to come out in Hardback on October 8, 2009.

Terry Pratchett is working on a new novel, which should be a breath of fresh air after the serious business (Making Money). This time we're going to read about Ankh Morpork again, where the head of Unseen University gets a brilliant idea to set up University football team. Terry says this about the book: People will think [it] is ostensibly about football on Discworld but then will turn out to be about something else, which you could see all the time but didn't notice.

Good news for all Terry Pratchett fans! Terry is undergoing a test therapy using revolutionary light helmet. The award-winning author, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2007, is one of the first patients in the UK to try the anti-dementia helmet.

A custom-built helmet was made from a cast of Mr Pratchett's head. It was then attached to the back of an armchair at the writer's home in order that he could use it for the recommended six minutes each day. Mr Pratchett's progress was assessed by a computer, which showed a small, but measurable, improvement in his condition after three months. More importantly, said Dr Dougal, designer of the helmet, the computer could find no signs of further deterioration during this period.

Read a full story Terry's Helmet on Daily Mail website.

On Christmas day at 10am Terry Pratchett will be a guest of the Christmas Special Radio 4 production of 'With Great Pleasure'. PTerry will be talking about his "favourite reads". So remember to tune in, BBC Radio 4 on Christmas day at 10am!

I'm pretty convinced that Terry Pratchett decided on the book title just to hear people around him repeat "Terry Pratchett is Making Money!" I bet he was extremely amused by it. Making Money is 36th novel in the Discworld series. It follows the hero of Going Postal, ex-thief and con artist, currently Postmaster General, Moist Von Lipwig.

After turning Ankh-Morpork Post Office into blooming busness Moist receives an offer he can't possibly refuse. Vetinari appoints him the head of Royal Mint, another business which needs a strong hand and new direction.

Making Money is one of the finest Discworld books. The novel won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2008, and was nominated for the Nebula Award the same year. It's a must-read for every Discworld fan.

Casting its spell over audiences this Christmas is Terry Pratchett's fantasy masterpiece, The Colour of Magic, available on DVD and Blu-ray from the 3rd November. Released by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and starring David Jason and Sean Astin this mystical adventure film combines two of Pratchett's most-beloved novels, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic.

It's no secret that Terry Pratchett is one of the most successful writers of all time. However few of us truly know how great his success is. Terry has been revealed as the ?evergreen? king in The Bookseller?s first-ever list of titles that have never fallen out of the top 5,000 chart. Only 12 books, out of the more than 1.8 million titles that Nielsen BookScan has sales data on, are on the ?evergreen? chart, which dates back to 1995. Pratchett has three of his early Discworld novels in the selection: The Colour of Magic, Mort and The Light Fantastic.