Terry Pratchett has died

[MrsPurchase]

I'm gutted.

Just nipped to Waterstones and bought Turtle Recall.

Christ, what a day. I've a eulogy to give in 2 hours, and it refers to the adage "personal is not the same as important". Now I've two reasons to blub uncontrollably.

DisgraceToTheYChromasome what a way to honour both of your losses. I hope it goes well and you don't blub until afterwards at the reception, over a good stron 'cup of tea'.

Hope you can hold it together through your eulogy, Disgrace - I've never been able to consider doing anything like that because I know I can't.
Still have tears in my eyes every time I open this thread.
Good luck!

Terry Pratchett is the reason for many an embarrassment of mine, I used to read the Discworld books on buses and trains and every time get completely floored by one of his jokes or footnotes and be in uncontrollable laughter, and then when I eventually recovered I'd remember the joke and start all over again.

Another time while on a train to Brighton, me and a couple of friends were sat in a table seat with another man, reading, looking very serious and studious. Well, he did exactly the same thing, letting out the most ridiculous laugh. He happened to raise the book he was reading, and it was a Terry Pratchett.

He was a gifted man, his books have always been there on my shelf forever, and it'll be a long time until we see someone with that much heart and wit and talent again. RIP Terry, you've been brilliant.

30 years ago this month I sat on a packed Intercity train from Leeds to London and spent the entire journey laughing uncontrollably - real snorting, handkerchief-stuffed-in-mouth, tears-pouring-down-cheeks, deeply-embarassing-in-public hilarity. I don't often have such a clear reTerry Pratchett's 'The Colour of Magic' for the first time was an absolute joy, one doubtless shared by all those other fans who misspent their adolescence reading 'Dragonriders of Pern' instead of cracking on with that T.S Eliot essay.

I've only ever laughed like that at one other book - 'Good Omens', Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's re-imagining of 'The Book of Relevations' in which the Antichrist grows up as Just William, the Four Horseman of the Apolcalypse are a quartet of trivia-quiz-addicted bikers and "the very shape of the M25 forms the sigil odegra in the language of the Black Priesthood f Ancient Mu, and means 'Hail the Great Beast, Devourer of Worlds'."

Thanks for all the laughs Terry, and for your boundless faith in the ultimate goodness of humankind.

"In the Ramtop village, where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away - until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence."

C&P fail! I meant to say: 'a clear recollection of when and where I first made the acquaintance of many of my favourite authors, but reading Terry Pratchett's 'The Colour of Magic'....etc

I remember reading the Colour of Magic and not being that impressed, but someone had lent it to me so I persevered, and then also with The Light Fantastic. Started to get into it more but Equal Rites was the real turning point for me.

I adore Good Omens though. One of my top 5 of all time books.

I'm not a big fan of the "Wizard - unseen university" focused books, i think if I started there instead of Mort i would never have been a fan.

TBH if anyone has started from the beginning of the series and not persisted beyond the first few, they might like to try again with a later book (one of the witches books or maybe Guards, Guards? The first couple were much more parody fantasy before TP settled down into exploring the extent of the world he'd summoned up.

BTW, a week or two in the R4 'A Good Read', guest Katherine Whitehorn made the 'unexpected' choice of Colour of Magic - still available to listen to here. It might persuade some of the unconverted to try again.

DS bought Dragons at Crumbling Castle today at a school book fair.

I read the introduction and shed a tear at his description of himself '...that naive young lad on the motorbike and the grown -up me with my black hat and beard are the same person - and all we both ever wanted to do was write for people who are old enough to understand.

And to imagine...'

I am currently reading Dragons at Crumbling Castle to my children.

Which calls for a

Terrible news. My favourite author as well, for his wit, warmth and humanity.

I thought he was the only male writer who could really write women. As real, believable, independent people, I mean, not as ciphers or sex objects or something. You could believe Granny Weatherwax, Angua or Polly Perks exist.

I wish he aten't dead :(

for you MrP

A selection of quotes which remind me of just how sensible and humane TP was.

I'm sure a lot of my opinions have been shaped by his books. He was so committed in his writing to accepting others who are different, treating everyone equally, and supportive of diversity.

Ongoing stories like the Watch accepting increasingly diverse characters, with those who disapproved being firmly and sharply put in their place. Dwarves coming out as female and being accepted. Religious hard liners being sidelined for liberals. Trolls and dwarves reconciling and working alongside each other.

His books were so political and thought-provoking, yet are often dismissed as lightweight.

RIP Terry Pratchett. Thank you for inspiring my children to read and expanding their imagination through the worlds created in your books.

Here is a petition to DEATH asking HIM to give him back. It's a very Pratchett type idea, imo.

I love some of the reasons people are giving for signing the petition. As you say Jux, very Pratchett and I'm sure that Death would if he could.

I can't read the petition

Me too Rhiannon. Have wheezed my way through many a foot note when people around me want To know why I'm in histéricos.

And Good Omens never fails hit the spot, especialy having watched the Omen films all those years before. Jack Russel terrier as a Hell Hound

AllThePrettySeahorses - I totally agree with you about his female characters. My first Pratchett was Equal Rites, and that aspect had such a profound impact on me. I love sci-fi/fantasy but so often the women are entirely one-dimensional stereotypes. Yet another area in which Pterry really forged a new path, IMO.

Peace and Thumb: I got the eulogy out, just. One of the family said that X's conversation with pTerry as they crossed the desert together would be worth listening to.

Without giving too much away, the departed was also a man of great intelligence, love and anger, who fought a cruel and demeaning disease for years, two decades in his case.

A Stetson and a cricket hat, waggling furiously at each other as they exchange ideas, insults and the memories of their daughters.

YChromie I'll respect your privacy, and not ask more about the departed even though I want to. Sounds like he had a good send off, and you played your part well. What a lovely image of these two men sharing their journey across the desert.

Well done, Disgrace - sounds like they would have had a good discussion :)

Still tearing up every time I read the updates on this thread. I've never been so affected by a "sleb" death before, and am unlikely to be again, I think. :(

And I started re-reading the series last night too - it's been a long time since I went right back to Colour of Magic, and it's nice to re-visit.