Terry Pratchett - 10 years.

[LadyFlumpalot]

I can't remember where I found this post - but I wanted to share it today, ten years after his death.

"I would like my pudding now nurse. And then I think I'd like to... write... something... I don't remember what."

Standing in the corner, he waits. The sand slowly flows, but it nears it's end. The old man still glows, as thousands of threads spread away from him.

SQUEAK.

I AGREE. IT IS A SHAME TO SEE HIM THIS WAY.

SQUEAK.

NO. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN.... BUT I CANNOT WAIT TO ASK HIM HOW IT ALL ENDS.

The old man looks up, through them at first... and then he sees them. For once, the smile on the hooded figure's skull is genuine.

"I... I remember you. The anth... ant..."

ANTHROPOMORPHICPERSONIFICATION.

"Yes, that. We knew each other?"

ONCE. AND WILL AGAIN, SIR.

He so rarely said it, and these feelings... remembering his young aprentice, and beloved daughter. The beautiful child they have.

"There... is a girl, yes?"

SHE IS SPEAKING TO THE AUDITORS, SIR. THEY ARE UNWILLING TO LISTEN.

"Well then. You know what they say, two things you cannot avoid. Taxes and..." He looks into the firey blue eyes, and becomes aware.

SQUEAK.

"Quite right. Is it time already? I have so much left to do."

YOU HAVE GIVEN ALL YOU CAN SIR.

"No, not cancer. Alzheimers."

I AM AWARE.

"So, where is the boy? I remember a boy."

CARRIAGE ACCIDENT.

"Ahh. Never much trusted cars. Or horses."

THEY GET YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.

"Must I?"

SOON. BUT WE MAY SIT HERE AWHILE.

SQUEAK

DO YOU HAVE ANY BISCUITS?

"No. Shame really."

YES.

"Is it truely turtles?"

ALL THE WAY DOWN. I HAVE SEEN THEM.

"Ahh. I would love to see it. Perhaps a small trip before?"

IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE.

"The light is slower there... and there's a monkey...."

ORANGUTAN. SAME PRINCIPLE.

"Yes... will they remember me?"

SQUEAK.

"What was that? I could not hear you."

HE SAYS WE WILL, SIR.

"I never much liked the trouble people had with you. You seem like a nice fellow."

I HAVE MY DAYS.

"Don't we all?"

SOME LESS THAN OTHERS.

"Is it quick?"

YES. AND I BROUGHT THE SWORD. CEREMONY DICTATES IT.

"Ahh. How about a cup of tea?"

I WOULD ENJOY IT. DO YOU PLAY CHESS?

"No. how about checkers?"

And so they sat, two old friends regaling each other, though the old man could not remember all of the details, the cloaked man and his rat filled him in, when it was needed."

GNU, PTerry.

GNU Sir Terry. I still haven’t read the last book. If I ever get a dog I’m naming him Gaspode.
My absolute favourite book is Mort. It’s the one I started with. I have every disco world book and some signed. When I met the great man himself. He always stayed to sign every book. Always staying over him time.

My mum is a great Pratchett fan, she got me into him. Every time he had a new book out, she'd be there for the signing. Got a few for me too.

Has anyone read the biography?

The first is very hard work, I read it when I want to start the series from the beginning, but not really for the sake of itself IYSWIM.
The first ones I ever read and felt worked fine as an intro were Mort, the Wyrd sister, witches abroad and men at arms.
The 3 truckers books are non discworld and maybe a simple intro to his writing style

Oh yes.

I changed my name to one from the Bromeliad Trilogy at the time when Sir Terry's diagnosis was made public, quite a few others changed as a tribute then. It was what I'd been reading to my DD. But I decided I wanted a Discworld name a few years later.

GNU, Pterry.

The first two books are very different in tone from the others, and are really just straight parodies of ‘sword and sorcery’ type fantasy. The series really took off with Equal Rites and Mort. You can probably skip the first two without losing much (although they do introduce Rincewind and the Luggage, who subsequently appear in several other books).

Gosh 10 years. What a huge part of my life he has been.
GNU Sir Terry.

Goodness, 10 years. This thread has prompted me to resurrect one of several Discworld names I've had. Maybe we could ask MNHQ for the lilac back for May this year.

GNU Sir PTerry

Can't believe it has been 10 years. GNU STP.

GNU, Pterry. His writing was hugely formative for me. I'll be forever grateful to him for that.

Can anyone explain why?

What is it about his humour or ability to parody other genres ( clumsy to me) mixed with basic philosophy , chunks of text in great big capitals, that makes him so special?

Some of the brightest minds I know loved him, but I just don't get it at all. I wish I did!

I know I am missing the point so please help.

Gnu

Agree, Night Watch is the best and my fav. I usually start there, read to the end of the Watch series, then start at the beginning of the Watch and read through again.

Still cannot read The Shepherd's Crown because then it will truly be the last and I'm not ready.

GNU Pterry

Night Watch for me also. How can you resist Nobby!

Also, Thief of Time. Amazing as a standalone book even if you don’t get on with fantasy/diskworld.

it’s always the peripheral characters for me - beautifully crafted. I can imagine them all. Everyone inhabiting Ankh Morpork’s grimy nooks and crannys, leading their intertwining lives.

Reaper Man and Night Watch are probably my favourites but there are so many. As I get older I feel I would like to morph into a kind of amalgam of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg.

I've read them all a few times at least and I'm now doing a spell of listening to them as audio books. I love Terry Pratchett so much and his discworld was always my favourite place to escape.

I was driving when I heard the news on the radio and I had to pull over and have a wee cry. It's only happened one other time that the death of a celebrity has really effected me.

GNU Pterry, I hope you know the incredible impact your writing has had on my life, my one true love of a series of books.

My beloved Grebo passed away last week, I hope he's up there with you now.

As soon as I read the opening lines to Wyrd Sisters I was hooked. I tried to read the Tiffani Aching books to my daughter recently and was outraged she didn't enjoy them.

I think of Sir Terry every year when the lilac blooms and will forever miss getting a copy of the latest hardback for Christmas.

GNU Pterry

I cried reading that.

I'm another who kept Shepherd's Crown for a couple of years before reading it. And cried and cried when I did read it, because there would be no more.

I like to imagine them all just carrying on somewhere, on a disc, slowly turning, swimming through space on a turtle.

I've got a lilac in the garden and it makes me happy and sad when it flowers.

I saw in the news they're releasing a Penguin Classic of Nights Watch with annotations. I'm not sure I'd want annotations! https://www.thebookseller.com/news/penguin-to-publish-definitive-annotated-edition-of-terry-pratchetts-night-watch

I read wee free men to DD recently (omg the different feegle voices nearly did me in!), it was the first time I've read any of his books since SC, but had to stop often as I got a bit weepy several times.

I still haven't read it.

DH tells me that I will know when I need it

😥

RIP Terry.

I started with the first two books and loved them. I actually laughed out loud. A lot. Imagine my delight when they got even better.

Maybe a reread is due. The Truth, or Men at Arms, or Mort...

Wow, 10 years. I had to leave work earlier than usual that day because I couldn't stop tears leaking out of my eyes, and I couldn't spend any more time in the bathroom trying to gather myself. My manager thought I was mad.

I haven't read the last book yet either. It's not the right time yet and I can't bear it being the last one.

I always read Terry Pratchett books on flights. I hate flying and they keep me calm and engrossed in another world.

I can hardly think of another writer who writes so accurately and fondly about people with all their horrible and sweet quirks and motivations. He writes characters that you've met and loved or hated before in this world. Years later you think of his stories again when you read the news or when you meet someone new and they remind you of one of his characters because his books are a reflection of society around us and what it means to be human. I find his stories get new layers of meaning the older I get and I've never found the philosophy behind what he's talking about basic as usually it's woven through the story and combined with his unique perspective on life and death and the world.

GNU Sir Pterry.
Another one who didn’t read The Shepherd’s Crown for quite some time and then sniffled a lot at the end.
I re read the entire series during the first lockdown (even The Colour of Magic) because the real world was so appalling I escaped to the Discworld.
I hope our ginger boy Greebo is keeping you company wherever you are.

GNU Sir Terry, I also couldn't bring myself to read The Shepherd's Crown for years. If it was on the shelf, unread, then it couldn't be the last book. My favourite is Monstrous Regiment, I really wish there'd been a sequel. I read Hogfather every Christmas/Hogswatch, and I just can't believe he's gone. Those 10 years have flown!

My first read of his was The Carpet People - it was extraordinary and l loved it - thanks for this reminder of the beautiful mind of Terry Pratchett

There's no need for help. If you don't like his writing, you don't like it! The world would be a dull place if we all liked the same things.

GNU Sir Pterry. I haven't managed to read The Shepherd's Crown either. My favourites are the Watch books, especially the Night Watch. My favourite characters are Vimes, Vetinari and Granny Weatherwax.