Re: Turtles all the way down
I'm almost finished with it but it's still a sharp as ever, though it felt melancholic reading it. Now I know why... Call it a bad omen.
Sir Terry Pratchett, author of more than 70 books including the hugely popular Discworld series, has died at his home in the company of his family and cat. He was 66. Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night. — Rhianna Pratchett (@rhipratchett) March 12, 2015 …
> I haven't read Raising Steam because I was afraid it wouldn't be as good as the earlier books, so there is that to look forward to.
It was as good as you could hope for. The ones to watch out for are the evangelical books of lists some jackjean evolutionists he wrote with foist on his faithful flock.
Raising Steam is pretty good, Humour is there, The writing style is slightly different. Not surprising, he was using speech recognition.
Better to go before all marbles have gone.
I am pleased that he avoided the worst bits and died peacefully at home with his family, and not with assistance.
i quite enjoyed his science of the Discworld book, and I remember him turning up on a game show in a red dwarf t shirt. He was more than sufficiently geeky enough to be liked by Tech types his humour certainly seemed to work, know plenty of engineers and science types who have all of his books. Mine are the ones with Josh Kirby on the cover.
That's how I first started reading his books - I was convinced by someone to give Discworld a try a long, long time ago; after initially saying they didn't sound like my cup of tea, she was adamant that I would enjoy them, and I eventually caved and read the first one. I was wrong, she was right.
I therefore came to the Discworld party quite late, but I soon caught up, and read every one of them to catch up (in the right order) then bought new ones as they were published - and all were thoroughly enjoyable.
I have yet to read The Long Earth etc, but they're in my ridiculously large pile of unread books (or on order - The Long Utopia). I think I should shift them to the top of the pile.
Used to read Terry in my formative years and he was my first brush with celebrity (replying to an email I sent while at uni).
A truly great writer and the world is a poorer place for losing him. I'll continue to revisit the Discworld from now on, but it will seem a slightly less rich place I fear.
This has been on the cards for some time now but now it's happend I'm very, very sad.
Sadder still is the fact that I will never be able to look forwards to a new Terry Pratchett book and my special shelves at home set aside for his writings will now never get any fuller.
It's a black, black day for me :(
RIP Terry, you'll be missed more than I think you could have ever imagined.
I am a bit concerned about that new Tiffany Aching book. The last time I saw Sir Terry was about two years ago when he once again gave a talk in the Beaconsfield library. On that occasion he said there would be no more Tiffany books because he found he was falling in love with her. A good and sufficient reason, I think. Clearly he changed his mind later.
Altogether that last talk was a sad occasion. Having attended a number of his previous talks in the library (including one in which the chief librarian got presented with a bunch of bananas to mark a library's anniversary), it was painful to see him struggling to find words. But the world is still a greyer place without him. I'll have to cheer myself up by re-reading the canon.
Bugrit - Millennium hand and shrimp!
Will miss his particular brand of humanitarian whimsy and humour. I met him twice and he was genuinely funny and friendly. First time was at a writer's convention/workshop in the late 80s where he was very encouraging to me personally - he'd actually read some of my work on the old CiX message board and was very complimentary. Met him for a second time about 10 years later and although he was much more famous by then he remembered me and appeared actually interested in what I'd been doing.
First time I met him he was wearing this (http://www.zazzle.co.uk/and_god_said_integral_form_of_maxwells_equations_tshirt-235196737374054138) t-shirt and I almost wet myself...
The following has been circulating on the intertubes...
"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 its 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..."
ANTHROPOMORPHIC PERSONIFICATION.
"Yes, that. We knew each other?"
ONCE. AND WILL AGAIN, SIR.
He so rarely said it, and these feelings... remembering his young apprentice, 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 fiery 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 truly 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.
- by Nick Mogavero
@ Uncle Slacky; For some reason that made me even sadder but I can imagine it having gone something like that.
The World is a truly better place for Terry Pratchett having lived and a much sadder place for his having passed but he will not be forgotten as long as there are books.
RIP Terry and condolences to your family.
One of the truly great writers of our time.
Everyone could see something of themselves in his characters
Loved every single one of his books,most caused me to shed a tear or 2 either in laughter or just in the shear enjoyment of life.
A little bit of the joy has left our Universe, hopefully for a better one.
It was a mere page or two preview of The Light Fantastic in a issue of White Dwarf that made me (a university student) go and buy it. And enjoy it immensely despite it following directly after the cliffhanger (almost literally) of the first Discworld book.
Then I fell into getting the hardback books every Christmas and generally reading them that self same day. And between Christmases re-reading them.
Memories of connecting to CiX for my email and interest groups and reading comments from the man himself.
I had the privilege of playing The Librarian on the amateur stage in Guards! Guards! - the lines were easier but the costume was heavy, (and Death in the same play). And -though the memory is hazy - some parts in Wyrd Sisters.
And just the other night I passed a rather crumpled paperback of Mort to my son for his first Pratchett read.
He had a wonderful grasp of the human condition and the human mind, and I think the appropriate reaction for me is to go and read one of his books again.
I know one shouldn't be, but I'm in total shock over the news. I always said I didn't cry when someone famous who I didn't know personally dies but my wife arrived home this afternoon with me in tears. I thought I was being daft, she commented on just how deeply his writing must have spoken to me.
So long sir Terry, I only managed to meet you once but you come across as a wonderful person and made the queue of fans feel like you were there for each individual.
You will be sorely missed by all whose lives you touched :(
I don't really do emotional, but I've been fighting back tears here too. His writing really did affect me: it made me laugh out loud, it made me sweaty about the eyes, it made me ecstatic, it made me rage... You can't go through that emotional wringer and not feel a connection and utter admiration for the genius that put the words together.
RIP Terry. The thing that's making me smile is, as others have pointed out, you took on Alzheimer's and arguably won.
"He had a wonderful grasp of the human condition and the human mind, and I think the appropriate reaction for me is to go and read one of his books again."
THIS is what I was thinking around, but couldn't quite find the words for.
Also, his books are a way you can laugh at yourself without being embarrassed by your own failings.