Six degrees of seperation: Terry Pratchett to Freddy the Pig
Terry Pratchett is the brilliant British satirist whose "Discworld" series examines the foibles and follies of our modern culture. His publisher's publicist describes him as "one of the most popular living authors in the world." This is quite possibly true since his combined novels have sold tens of millions of copies. He lives in England.
Freddy the Pig is the hero of a series of children's books written by Walter R. Brooks between 1927 and 1958. The books went out of print in the 1960s, except for a brief flutter of reprints in the 80s. The books began to be re-issued in 1998. Freddy lives on the Bean Farm in upstate New York, USA.
Here is how Terry and Freddy are connected. (We're going to do it in three.)
Degree the First: Terry Gilliam, movie director, and Salman Rushdie participated in a colloquy at the 29th Teleride Film Festival, in conjection with the debut of Lost in La Mancha, a documentary about Gilliam's ill-fated attempt to adapt Don Quixote to the screen. The conversation between Gilliam and Rushdie (who both live in England, as does Pratchett, but that's not the point) was recorded by Telluride Community TV and included in the DVD release of Lost in... During their conversaton, Terry (Gilliam) mentions that he would like to, someday, adapt the novel Good Omens by Terry (Pratchett) and Neil Gaiman.
I had seen Pratchett's books in the bookstores—how could I not, they tend to take up several shelves—but I had never read one. To be honest, the paperback editions have some of the ugliest covers ever created, and they put me right off buying the books. But if Terry Gilliam thinks Terry Pratchett is a fine writer, that's good enought for me, so, six or seven months later, I rushed out and bought my first Pratchett, and have not been the same since. So there's the first degree: Terry Gilliam recommends the books of Terry Pratchet in a conversation with Salman Rushdie, and they all live in England.
Degree the Second:Salman Rushdie published a novel, in 1988 (some sources say 1989), called The Satanic Verses. The book became notorious, and made Mr. Rushdie an inadvertent celebrity, because some Muslims considered it blasphemous. A fatwa was placed on the author by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran, ordering Rushdie's execution. Rushdie went into seclusion for several years, but he's fine now. The man who was head of Penguin Books in London during the late 1980s, and the publisher of The Satanic Verses was Peter Mayer.
(It is not known by this writer if Terry Pratchett and Salman Rushdie have every met, although it is certainly possible. Interestingly, a recent (August 2004) Google® search's first ten hits using "salman rushdie terry pratchett" produced 10,500 hits where, presumably (I didn't check them all), most of the pages contained references to both men. Of course, this means nothing.)
The second degree is Salman Rushdie's publisher, Peter Mayer.
Degree the Third: Mayer had founded a small publishing company, with his father, in Woodstock, New York, called Overlook Press. Mayer had long loved the Freddy books, but like most of us, thought he was the only one who still remembered them. When asked by friend and, as they discovered fellow fan, Wray Rominger, if Mayer would consider having Overlook re-issue the books, Mayer jumped at the chance. The complete story about how Freddy got back in print is at his website.
And there you have it in three degrees. Terry Pratchett is mentioned in a conversation with Salman Rushdie, who also lives in England, and whose publisher is also the publisher (albeit at a different publishing company in a different country) of the reissue of the Freddy books.
