| Folks, There has been a long time between updates, mostly because since early November life has been extremely hectic. A large part of that month being mostly spent clearing snow. And then, for some reason, Christmas seemed twice as long as any other Christmas, but enjoyable nevertheless. And now, since our schedule is always pretty full, the world in general believing that the time of an author is expandable, we have run into a kind of gridlock with far too many obligations and not enough days in the year. However, Snuff, with Commander Vimes of the City Watch as the main character, is now with the copy editor and I have finished our next documentary with the BBC, which has also required our major involvement since October. We have answered as much mail as we can and as I sit here I see a huge pile of stuff that we will have to work through over the next few weeks, while desperately trying to make progress on my part of the Long Earth. |
There has been one hell of a lot of rumours regarding a Good Omens adaptation over the past few weeks, mostly started by me at the SFX Weekender. So, ladies and gentleman, I can hereby exclusively reveal that – YES – Neil and myself have shaken hands and received groats from Rod Brown sealing a TV deal. An official announcement from Prime Focus will follow in a couple of weeks time. However, I can reveal right now that Terry Jones (yes, the Python) and Gavin Scott (not a Python, but he gets it) are already on the job. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s looking good.
A word about conventions; unless something reasonably disastrous happens, Rob and I will be attending the Australian convention in April and I will be doing other engagements in Oz and New Zealand. I believe that an event advertised in Melbourne has already sold out, in fact, even before we knew the details and I am still unsure of the dates of the one in Sydney, although I do know that it will be at the Opera House. PLEASE do not ask us for tickets! We do not have any! We do not know what they look like! And we wait, with bated breath, whether they will actually let us in.
Again, the second North American convention looks likely, but again, health considerations, acts of god (okay, random fluctuations in the space/time continuum) and Icelandic dust clouds permitting. We intend to get around that by driving to the convention – don’t ask, but it’s going to be fun.
I know there are going to be smaller conventions in Germany, Holland, Ireland and I’ve even heard a rumour of one in Spain. Fortuitously, I will be able (health blah blah blah permitting) to attend the second Irish convention because it is just after a professorial engagement at Trinity College Dublin. I know this will mean an overdose of Guinness, but one has to suffer for his art.
I cannot guarantee attendance at any of the other smaller conventions, simply because no matter what size a convention is, it still pretty much takes up the same amount of my time and there are so many calls on it, least of which involves writing books, that I can’t go everywhere. Sorry! But I am not the first person to say that I think it a good idea if people put their heads together and organised a pan-European convention, which would probably be a lot more fun and attract a lot more fans. As it is, we’ve just returned from a whistle-stop visit to Prague to see the final performance of Maškaráda at the Dlouhé theatre. It was absolutely superb and I am hoping that it really wasn’t the last one.
I have heard that Professor Roy Jones, Director of the RICE Centre for the past twenty five years and also my Alzheimer’s specialist, is celebrating by running the Bath half marathon. RICE has been the recipient of the goodwill of many fannish occasions and they can always do with more. God help him, but Roy’s job is to work out if I am normal or not! Please follow us and take a look at his JustGiving page HERE.
More from me very soon.