RIP to the literary master. My favorite author and a really great guy. I met him a few years ago when he came down to a book signing in his pajamas and asked him how he wrote his books. He said he starts with a character and then sees where they take him. I hope Death has taken him somewhere as amazing as in his stories.
"It's not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing it" --Terry Pratchett. Wordsmith, philosopher and all-around awesomeness.
+1 Fond memories. I love his books - all my discworld books are still boxed up in the loft. I've been meaning to work my way through them all again. They read as though he had a blueprint of my sense of humour and wrote to suit. He will be sorely missed.
Me too, his humour has been with me since I started reading Discworld books at Uni. The 2 great philosophical TP quotes that are embedded in my life are; "I took the job because it was indoor work with no heavy lifting" "Million to one chances happen 9 times out of 10" RIP Terry, and may your generosity help others with Alzheimers in future
Over 25 years since I first read a Discworld novel by chance rather than design. Only a few weeks since I finished reading The Long Mars. RIP Terry, hope Death takes good care of you and that Binky lets you ride...
Similarly to GMC my wife brought me my first Discworld novel without me knowing what I was getting myself into. She has brought me one every year since so I now have 23 in total which all mean something ( and I have brought plenty of others in the interim). Genuinely shed a tear when I read the last Twitter posts from his account earlier today (see Chairboys post). Nothing could have been more simple or poignant to any one who enjoyed his books. A genius and inspiration.
Just finished reading The Long Mars today I've still got a couple of his latest books to read. I've been putting them off... as if not reading them would make his work last a few years longer for me. I went to a talk of his back in the 90s and sat next to his wife. I really hope he had the end he wanted. He was a top bloke that spoke an awful lot of sense. Words were his thing, so to lose control of them just wasn't fair. I will leave you with some quotes.
I've not read all of his books, but he was one of my favourite authors. I also intend to read his books to my daughters - they're very interested in fantasy. His humour, the vivid pictures and images he could make. The characters have such intricate, interesting personalities. I wonder if he'll do a michael jackson or robin williams and his publisher will released one of his unreleased books. It'd certainly be a treat. Although i'm just dreaming.
His last novel (The Shepherd's Crown - part of the Tiffany Aching series) was finished last summer, and has yet to be pushed into the sunlight. The Discworld Wiki says it was scheduled to surface in September, but I bet it'll be out a LOT sooner now!
In all honesty, other than Jonny and the Bomb I haven't actually read of his works [something i keep meaning to rectify and never get round to it...]... I think I'm probably more familiar with his daughter's work than with his...
This hit me hard when i heard last night. And the announcement on Twitter could not have been any more real. The world has lost one of it's truly great minds.
