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The Terry Pratchett Thread

JoeTheJuggler said:
He got the forms yesterday for assisted suicide.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/12/pratchett-starts-process-to-end-his-life
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I respect his choice but I really, really don't want to live in a world without Terry Pratchett. It seems so wrong that someone whose writing has stopped at least one planned - method, means, time and place picked out - serious suicide attempt that I know of (there are likely more such stories, but this is the one I know for sure was 100% real and serious) should be put in a position to have to consider that option. It makes me generally angry at life, universe and everything.

I know several people who have been carried through rough times by the promise of a new Pratchett release within the next few months. If he had been equally good but less prolific, someone I know would have been dead today.

This blows. **** Alzheimer's.
 
whatthebutlersaw said:
I respect his choice but I really, really don't want to live in a world without Terry Pratchett. It seems so wrong that someone whose writing has stopped at least one planned - method, means, time and place picked out - serious suicide attempt that I know of (there are likely more such stories, but this is the one I know for sure was 100% real and serious) should be put in a position to have to consider that option. It makes me generally angry at life, universe and everything.

I know several people who have been carried through rough times by the promise of a new Pratchett release within the next few months. If he had been equally good but less prolific, someone I know would have been dead today.

This blows. **** Alzheimer's.
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I couldn't agree any more strongly.

As much as I really really really dislike physical pain, I'm far more frightened of Alzheimer's.

And the prospect of no more new Discworld novels is truly depressing.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
Yes, it's very similar to Douglas Adams in writing style. I suspect that's the matter of taste you don't care for: the wry (dry) British humor.
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Yes, it's a particular style. One can see a bit of it in Tom Brown's Schooldays, but the master of the style was P.G. Wodehouse. I happen to love that style. A lot of people don't. De gustibus non disputandum est.
 
Pixel42 said:
The forthcoming novel by Pratchett and Stephen Baxter looks intriguing.
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Indeed and parallel worlds are an obsession interest of mine.


I wonder if the differences between the publicity blurbs are accidental or deliberate?

http://www.amazon.co.uk said:
1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud, blood and blasted landcape of No Man's Land gone?
2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of Willis Linsay, a reclusive - some said mad, others dangerous - scientist. It appears to be arson but the firemen to have caused more damage than the fire itself. There's no sign of any human remains in the wrecked house, but on a mantlepiece Monica finds a curious gadget - a box containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that Linsay called a 'stepper'; an invention he put up on the web for all the world to see - and use - an invention that would change the way Mankind viewed his world for ever. And that's an understatement if ever there was one...
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amazon.com said:
2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Junior cop Sally Jansson is called out to the house of Willis Lynsey, a reclusive scientist, for an animal-cruelty complaint: the man was seen forcing a horse in through the door of his home. Inside there is no horse. But Sally finds a kind of home-made utility belt. She straps this on -- and 'steps' sideways into an America covered with virgin forest. Willis came here with equipment and animals, meaning to explore and colonise. And when Sally gets back, she finds Willis has put the secret of the belt on the internet. The great migration has begun...
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I finished Snuff the other day. Very enjoyable.

However, did certain parts feel a bit "off" to anyone else? I though the Wilikins bits especially didn't match the tone of the rest of the book, or the more recent Terry Pratchett books in general.
 
Giraffe107 said:
I finished Snuff the other day. Very enjoyable.

However, did certain parts feel a bit "off" to anyone else? I though the Wilikins bits especially didn't match the tone of the rest of the book, or the more recent Terry Pratchett books in general.
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I was jarred by the use of the phrase "he hated that ****", it wasn't a word I expected to find in a Pratchett book. One or two other things seemed a bit out of keeping; on the other hand, I'm aware that there is a temptation to look for signs of any possible effects of Pterry's illness.
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/30/pg-wodehouse-award-terry-pratchett

PG Wodehouse prize awarded to Terry Pratchett

One wrote comedies of upper-class English manners, the other writes about a fantastical world set on the back of a giant turtle, but Terry Pratchett has nonetheless been deemed the author who this year best captured the spirit of PG Wodehouse.

The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse award is given to the book that summons up the "comic spirit" of Wodehouse. Pratchett was named winner on Tuesday for his 39th Discworld novel, Snuff, beating authors including Sue Townsend and John Lanchester to take home the literary prize, which comes in the shape of a Gloucestershire Old Spot pig named after the winning title.
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Bumped as the new Pratchett/Baxter book The Long Earth is out. Anyone else reading it?
 
Just finished Snuff.

One of his best IMHO.

Agree Wilikins is a little over emphasised but really liked what was there and didn't mind the repeats.

I don't recall "◊◊◊◊" being in other books - I could be wrong. No big deal but not needed and could deter parents from buying it for younger readers.

One major un-PTerry oddity I found was that DEATH never visited anyone personally - Not even Stratford.

 
H3LL said:
Just finished Snuff.

One of his best IMHO.



I don't recall "◊◊◊◊" being in other books - I could be wrong. No big deal but not needed and could deter parents from buying it for younger readers.


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Yes, that jarred slightly for me, too; it just seemed out of place.
 
catsmate1 said:
Bumped as the new Pratchett/Baxter book The Long Earth is out. Anyone else reading it?
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Undecided whether to buy the book (I tend to with Pratchett books) or to get the Kindle version this time.

I understand it's a collaboration but from an early PTerry story. This sort of messes my system.

Decisions - Decisions.....


.
 
zooterkin said:
Yes, that jarred slightly for me, too; it just seemed out of place.
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Yes - Exactly that - "out of place".

I'm not concerned with so-called offensive words myself but as a keen Pratchett reader it did jump out a little.
 
H3LL said:
Yes - Exactly that - "out of place".

I'm not concerned with so-called offensive words myself but as a keen Pratchett reader it did jump out a little.
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I think I've seen that particular word in other books. I don't think anything (other than the Tiffany Aching books) from Night Watch is all that kid-friendly; I'm not sure someone with a child's understanding of the world would really understand or appreciate them, language aside.
 
I was just going to search for this thread! Anyway, I have a couple of questions:

1. I heard something on Radio 4 this week about Tery Pratchett and someone else would be on a programme and I think it was this coming week, but I havn't heard it mentioned since. Anybod know what and when it is?

2. I have just finished reading 'The Colour of Magic' and 'The Light Fantastic' - the first time I've read them since first doing so in the early 1980s! Can anyone tell me if Galder Weatherwax ever got back to the Unseen University, because when he changes places with the luggage, he isn't mentioned again in the book.

I had forgotten so much about the stories and have relished every minute of both books

I also re-read 'Omens', 'Small Gods' and 'Lords and Ladies'. , and was reminded yet again what a brilliant man he is.
 
SusanB-M1 said:
1. I heard something on Radio 4 this week about Tery Pratchett and someone else would be on a programme and I think it was this coming week, but I haven't heard it mentioned since. Anybod know what and when it is?
.
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There may be some confusion there with his new book which came out three days ago
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Long-Earth-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0857520091

SusanB-M1 said:
2. I have just finished reading 'The Colour of Magic' and 'The Light Fantastic' - the first time I've read them since first doing so in the early 1980s! Can anyone tell me if Galder Weatherwax ever got back to the Unseen University, because when he changes places with the luggage, he isn't mentioned again in the book.
.
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He is apparently, eaten by said luggage in "the light fantastic" and hasn't returned yet
:boggled:
 
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