The synopsis for "Wintersmith" has been put up on amazon. For those of you who didn't yet stumble across it: [quote:b6761cb64f] Tiffany Aching is a trainee witch - now working for the seriously scary Miss Treason. But when Tiffany witnesses the Dark Dance - the crossover from summer to winter - she does what none has ever done before and leaps into the dance, into the oldest story there ever is, and draws the attention of the wintersmith himself... As Tiffany-shaped snowflakes hammer down on the land, can Tiffany deal with the consequences of her actions? Even with the help of Granny Weatherwax and the Nac Mac Feegle - the fightin', thievin' pictsies who are prepared to lay down their lives for their 'big wee hag'...[/quote:b6761cb64f]
Terry alludes to it ever so slightly about halfway down this interview too: http://www.terrypratchettbooks.org/article150.html Saying that Tiffany is growing up.
4 maybe 5 books great :cooler: and Witersmith sounds good. i wonder what will hapen with Tiffany and Roland.
Here's the Kidby cover for it: [img:c63515f078]http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0385609841.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img:c63515f078]
I have really got to start reading the Tiffany and nac mcfeegal books, they sound pretty good, that one looks pretty cool (bad pun) too.
Here's the teaser from HarperCollins Publishers — Home of Collins, William Morrow, Avon, Harper Perennial, Rayo, Amistad, Caedmon Audio
They put a sample chapter of Wintersmith at then end of the H/C paperback of Thud. It looks pretty exciting to me. I am going to have trouble waiting.
[quote:53e915d4a2="TamyraMcG"]They put a sample chapter of Wintersmith at then end of the H/C paperback of Thud. It looks pretty exciting to me. I am going to have trouble waiting.[/quote:53e915d4a2]Are you sure? It wasn't in mine...
[quote:da96500b9c="Ba"]Drunky just wasn't special enough.[/quote:da96500b9c]Har! I am special! In a mentally insane kinda way...
Just got a mail from the HC Authortracker. Exerpt from Wintersmith on the Harper Collins site Also a nice interview with Terry: [quote:42c34f036f] [b:42c34f036f] Talking with Terry Pratchett[/b:42c34f036f] [b:42c34f036f]Tiffany Aching has decided she wants to be a witch when she grows up. What did you want to be when you were Tiffany’s age?[/b:42c34f036f] When I was Tiffany’s age, I wanted to be an astronomer. I never succeeded in my ambition, because astronomers have to be good at math, and I’ve never been very good at math. I thought astronomy was a really cool job, because you got to stay up late at night. But I have to say I’m very pleased that now, because of the success of my writing, I’ve built my own observatory. [b:42c34f036f]Tiffany read the dictionary straight through because no one had told her she wasn’t supposed to. Did you ever read the dictionary straight through? [/b:42c34f036f] Ha! Yes, I did it when I was a kid. I read dictionaries all the way through: dictionaries, thesauruses, dictionaries of slang, all that sort of thing, for the sheer fun of doing it. I think I was a rather weird kid, to be frank. [b:42c34f036f]Tiffany is also an expert cheesemaker. Have you ever made cheese?[/b:42c34f036f] Yep. Goat’s cheese. We used to keep goats, which are really just like sheep, but a lot more intelligent and much, much more bad-tempered. I was pretty good at goat cheese, I have to say. I could make goat cheese again if someone wanted me to. [b:42c34f036f]The landscape Tiffany grew up in is clearly based on the English chalk country—you’ve said there is amazingly little you had to make up about her home. What can you tell us about this part of England? [/b:42c34f036f] A large area of southern England is on the chalk; in fact, the White Cliffs of Dover are chalk. I live on the chalk, about twelve miles from Stonehenge. I even own about forty acres of the chalk. You always to see sheep on the chalk, it tends to be very high country, and you don’t see too many trees. It’s really the center of all our mythologies in England. There’s Stonehenge there, and strange ancient carvings, and the burial mounds of dead chieftains. Back in the days when the valleys were just all flooded and swampy, the chalk uplands were how people moved around, and, in the heart of it all, was Stonehenge. [b:42c34f036f]Is Tiffany’s family in any way based on your own?[/b:42c34f036f] Well, I grew up on the chalk. I was born in the Chiltern Hills, which is another chalk outcrop. And a lot of the things that Tiffany thinks and sees, in fact, I thought and saw when I was her age; a lot of the way Tiffany comprehends the landscape is based on my own experiences. I don’t come from a farming family, but I spent a lot of time among farmers and their families when I was a kid. I’m the actual archetypal example of an only child, so I had plenty of time to myself. My paternal grandmother has a very special place in my heart, just as Tiffany’s grandmother, does, because when I was a kid I was allowed to read from her bookshelf. It was a very short bookshelf, but it contained every book you really ought to read, like the complete short stories of H. G. Wells, and the complete short stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I just worked my way along my granny’s bookshelf and didn’t realize that I was getting an education. [b:42c34f036f]In Tiffany’s world, being a witch means, in part, to have certain duties and responsibilities. How did you decide to include these obligations as part of your definition of witchcraft?[/b:42c34f036f] Certainly witchcraft for Tiffany has very little to do with magic as people generally understand it. It has an awful lot to do with taking responsibility for yourself and taking responsibility also for the less able people and, up to a certain point, guarding your society. This is based on how witchcraft really was, I suspect. The witch was the village herbalist, the midwife, the person who knew things. She would sit up with the dying, lay out the corpses, deliver the newborn. Witches tended to be needed when human beings were meeting the dangerous edges of their lives, the places where there is no map. They don’t mess around with tinkly spells; they get their hands dirty. [b:42c34f036f]And then there are the Nac Mac Feegle. They’re the most feared of all the fairy races, and yet they’re also loyal, strong, and very funny. How did you come up with the Nac Mac Feegle?[/b:42c34f036f] I thought it very strange, and very sad that the fairy kingdom largely appears to be English. I thought it was time for some regional representation. And the Nac Mac Feegle are, well, they’re like tiny little Scottish Smurfs who have seen Braveheart altogether too many times. They speak a mixture of Gaelic, Old Scots, Glaswegian and gibberish. And they’re extremely brave, and they’re extremely small, and extremely strong, and there’s hundreds and hundreds of them, and they just are automatically funny. You can’t help but love them, at a distance. [b:42c34f036f]What happens to get you to sit down your desk and write the opening words of a new novel?[/b:42c34f036f] I’m not sure. I start with a handful of semiformed ideas and play around with them until they seem to make some sense. Actually typing is important to me—it kind of tricks my brain into gear. I’ve got a pack-rat mind, like most writers, and once I starting thinking hard about a new project all kinds of odd facts and recollections shuffle forward to get a place on the bus. [b:42c34f036f]Do you know where a story is going when you start writing, or do you let the story take control and see where it takes you?[/b:42c34f036f] This answer deserves one sentence or an essay! I’ll try to summarize it like this: writing, for me, is a little like wood carving. You find the lump of tree (the big central theme that gets you started) and you start cutting the shape that you think you want it to be. But you find, if you do it right, that the wood has a grain of its own (characters develop and present new insights, concentrated thinking about the story opens new avenues). If you’re sensible, you work with the grain and, if you come across a knot hole, you incorporate that into the design. This is not the same as “making it up as you go along”; it’s a very careful process of control. [b:42c34f036f]The fantasy genre is often thought of as escapism, but is it escapism with a firm root in reality?[/b:42c34f036f] Fantasy IS escapism, but wait...why is this wrong? What are you escaping from, and where are you escaping to? Is the story opening windows or slamming doors? The British author G. K. Chesterton summarized the role of fantasy very well. He said its purpose was to take the everyday, commonplace world and lift it up and turn it around and show it to us from a different perspective, so that once again we see it for the first time and realize how marvelous it is. Fantasy—the ability to envisage this world in many different ways—is one of the skills that makes us human. [b:42c34f036f]Your Discworld novels are fantastically successful. Now you’re writing Discworld novels specifically for younger readers. Why?[/b:42c34f036f] I think my heart has always been in writing for children. My first book was written for children, and a few years ago I realized that if I wrote a few books for younger readers I could approach Discworld in a different way. There’s a lot of difference between writing for children and writing for adults, and it’s almost impossible to tell you what it is, but I know it when I’m doing it. You have more fun, and I have to say, it’s a little bit harder, especially if you do it right. [/quote:42c34f036f]
I loved the way he described the Feegle's [quote:3ff6a2470e] I thought it very strange, and very sad that the fairy kingdom largely appears to be English. I thought it was time for some regional representation. And the Nac Mac Feegle are, well, they’re like tiny little Scottish Smurfs who have seen Braveheart altogether too many times. [/quote:3ff6a2470e] :lol: I was wondering if anyone is planning on attending the US signing in Boulder for this. [i:3ff6a2470e]14th - between 3pm and 5pm: Presentation/Signing/Q & A at Boulder Bookstore, 1107 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302[/i:3ff6a2470e] The Mr. and I had a great time at the THUD signing in Denver last year and were hoping to make it this year if funds prove steady.
Anyone read this yet? I have... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I liked it but it didn't rock my world. I was dissappointed by the absence of Granny Aching. Who, I felt, always gave a bit of heart to the other books. The Aching stories, espeically in first book, added a sense of nostalliger (can't spell- sad-look-backness) to the novels, you miss granny even though you never met her. Also she shapes tiffany. you understand why Tiffany acts becuase we know how Granny Aching acts. I felt that Wintersmith, like Hat Full of Sky, suffered from having the 'threat of a threat' rather than an actuall one. The book was about how the winstersmith was [i:1eef44b111]going[/i:1eef44b111] to challenge her, rather than her actually overcoming challenges.
***************spoilers*************************************88 I don’t really disagree with any of your points. I understand why Tiffany is less inclined to think of her Granny as she grows up. But I don't think it makes for a better book. The 'Granny Aching' sections gave the books heart and warmth. The stories were embued with love and a saddness for something that was gone. I felt the absence of that in this book. Again, I understand that the book was about how the wintersmith was going to challenage her, but again, I think the lack of challenages for her to overcome didn't make for a great read. Also, it build up the ending too much as well. In the end Wintersmith *didn't* really challenge her that much. The winstersmith was too vulerable a villain to do that. I aslo felt this was true of the hiver. Both of these people didn't really want to harm Tiffany, so we never really felt she was in danger. The Queen was a much your interesting villian in that respect.
Just a question, do we ahve to spoiler everything? I mean this is a thread discussing a [i:4dc508f0d4]new[/i:4dc508f0d4] book. We should be able to talk about it without having to code everything. Or should I start a 'spoiler' discussion thread where people can talk about the book freely? It seems to me if you open a thread called wintersmith you shouldn't be surprised if what happens in wintersmith is discussed... really we should just me coding meantions of other books? What does everyone think?
In regards to the above post: i'd say know. It's just a common name. Pterry said he doesn't read much fiction, after all.
I spoilered it because 1) Kat said she was hoping it would arrive soon, so I thought I'd protect her. 2) My post contained spoilers from Harry Potter too.
Awww thanks KK... but seeing as I don't remember a lot of bits from the books I have read, even the ones I've read tens of times, unless it's a major spoiler (like the death of .... at the end of ..... and the ... of ....) I don't mind, as the monkey said, it's a topic on Wintersmith, I'd be surprised if there weren't a few...
Ah hah. So that's how you do it. Thanks Kapten. Will go back and sort the other one out. Pedant alert. Skip this unless you have an interest in philosophy, analogous sociology, and character development in writing. And. What. Happens. To. Horace?
I do think Wintersmith is slightly weaker than Hat Full of Sky but then I actually preferred Hat Full of Sky to Wee Free Men. As the third book in the series I think Wintersmith offers more in the way of side characters (Miss Treason for example is a fabulously eccentric addition) but less in the way of the action of Wee Free Men. It also misses the "Tiffany analysis"/character delving of Hat Full of Sky. I suppose at the end of the day Wintersmith is as different from Hat Full of Sky as that was from Wee Free Men. They all offer something slightly different.
Finished it. Liked it. Horace Rocks ! So does You... It is different from other novels, as are all of the Tiffany Aching series, and I can understand that some people won't like them because of that difference, it's all a matter of taste I guess. But I for one had tremendous fun reading it, it was nice, light, funny reading, just what I needed right now. Meep ! And now... back to Werk... :cooler:
Really liked Wintersmith - its very funny and also very sad - the Wintersmith falls in love and does what he (it?) can do to get the girl. So far this is my fave of the Tiffany Aching books. Always wondered whether this series might make a film - it would appeal to both children and adults. The Nac Mac Feegle are hilarious and the stories are very accessible.
Spoilers I definitly prefered Wee Free Men to both Wintersmith and Hat Full of Sky mainly because Wee Free Men focused more on the Pictsies than either of the others. There is Wee Free Men at a library witin walking distance of my house. I read it when I was nine and i was really freaked out by all the nightmares in it. I think the idea of dromes was a stroke of genius. Hat Full of Sky was good but the actual threat wasn't much. the bit in the black desert was very interesting. But as Rincewind said it was more a threat of a threat instead of in WFM were the threat was extremely real. Also has anyone noticed that there is no Tiffany entry in the discworld companion yet there is quite a long one for Miss Tick.
The Nac Mac Feegle and Tiffany Aching are easily my absolute favourites among the Discworld characters I liked Wintersmith very much, Rob Anybody reading at the end of the book (and especially his choice of books!!) was hilarious, as were the Feegles (and Horace) singing 'Row, row, merrily, boat, stream...BOAT!', and them buying the Romance book for Tiffany (and her thoughts on it!) and You and the chicken*) !!! I really had an especially good time reading this book and 'A Good Smoke in Any Weather!' *) Werk...
Note: with all the discussion of spoilers, I'll be kind and tell people that they shouldn't read this post if they haven't read the book. So I've finally read Wintersmith... after disliking AHFOS, I was preparing myself for the worst this time round, but I did enjoy Wintersmith. Not a Terry tour de force by any means, but an enjoyable read. There were bits that weren't so good, but were made up by other things. Things I disliked: Anagramma's transformation into Miss Treason: It seemed a bit contrived and conveyed that a witch could just get by with Boffo. Sure, Boffo helped Miss Treason but she had a lot of substance underneath that. It looked like Anagramma's substance just appeared with the Boffo. You. Added nothing for me. When I first read it, Chapter 1 engrossed me into the book. But after finishing the whole book I was confused about where it fitted in until I re-read it and the other appropriate chapters. Things I particularly liked: The 'love' quadrangle between Tiffany, Roland, Wintersmith and Summerlady and how the story was resolved with the kisses between the respective parties that didn't want to end up with each other - I think that sentence makes sense The Feegles, back to full WFM glory, not relegated to comedy bit-part but had something really meaningful to get stuck into, that wasn't just fighting. Miss Treason was a glorious witch, in every facet of the profession/calling. Tiffany's interaction with all the other witches, in particular Nanny Ogg. Overall, I still prefer WFM to Wintersmith, but this isn't too far off. Much better than AHFOS.
Has anyone told them that Pterry is actually no longer exactly what is generally called a Young Adult ?
Heh. But wouldn't it be great if he was? I'm ashamed to say that I never even managed to finish Wintersmith. How awful is that? It just really wasn't working for me. I'll try it again when I return home from uni.
