Thursday, March 12, 2015

When I Met Sir Terry Pratchett

I was lucky enough to meet the Discworld author, one of my greatest heroes, towards the end of his life.



There are a few moments in your life that really change things. They're not always obvious at the time, but when you reassess them later on it's obvious: That's where my life went down this particular path. For me, quite a few of those moments have been the moment I picked up certain books.


One of those books was The Colour of Magic, the first book in Terry Pratchett's great Discworld series. A friend gave me his copy in 1991, in Miss Shepard's class. I was in year 6. I was a geeky kid; I'd read The Lord of the Rings and Michael Moorcock and all of those things. Terry Pratchett took all of those things, and made them funny.


It changed my life by showing me how to write. Pratchett himself said he'd learned irony and humour by reading Richmal Crompton, Jerome K. Jerome, P.G. Wodehouse, and all the great English humourists of the first half of the 20th century. I wouldn't pretend to be a 10th of the writer he was, but whatever there is that's good in my writing owes a lot to him. He distilled three great strands of British writing – fantasy, sharp satire, and gentle humour – and made his own, beautiful mash-up.


Funnily enough, I wouldn't put The Colour of Magic, now, among my favourite Pratchett novels. He did wonderful things in it, but he hadn't learned his craft, sharpened his tools. The best ones were in his glorious middle period: They were wise, they were savage, they were moving, they said important things. He was a novelist who had it all.


Pool New / Reuters



About 18 months ago, I was lucky enough to interview him for The Telegraph. I knew he had been ill, obviously, but I'd read interviews with him, and they seemed to say that while the posterior cortical atrophy he suffered from – a form of Alzheimer's disease – was affecting his visual ability and his coordination, his mind was as sharp as ever. That wasn't quite true, I was sad to discover, but he was still wise and funny and full of insight. He was also fun. The first thing he did when he rocked up in the hotel room I was waiting in was to order two large chilli mojitos. I was so nervous at meeting an idol that I spilled some in my sock.


The one thing he said then that I think we ought to remember now is this: He wanted to die at a time of his own choosing, and he wanted to do so in his garden, drinking a glass of excellent brandy and listening to Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium.


Corgi



During that interview he mentioned a documentary he'd taken part in about the right to die. It followed a man, Peter Smedley, who went to Switzerland for assisted suicide. “Frankly, Mr Smedley would probably be with us now, if he hadn’t had to go to Switzerland to do it," Pratchett said.


Maybe it feels too soon to say this; maybe it's ghoulish, I don't know. But I do know that it would feel dishonest, on the day of Pratchett's death, not to talk about what he wanted from his death. I hope he got it. But I know that he would want someone to point out that the laws in this country make it less likely that he did.


Anyway. Thank you, Sir Terry, for the last 24 years of my life. They would have been very different, and nowhere near as good, if it weren't for you.


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23 Of The Most Beautiful Terry Pratchett Quotes To Remember Him By

We shall all wear midnight.


1. "They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." — Equal Rites


2. "In ancient times cats were worshiped as gods; they have not forgotten this."


3. "It's useful to go out of this world and see it from the perspective of another one."



Men at Arms / ThinkStock


5. "It's not worth doing something unless you were doing something that someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing."


6. "You have to have really wide reading habits and pay attention to the news and just everything that's going on in the world: you need to. If you get this right, then the writing is a piece of cake."


7. "Freedom without limits is just a word."


8. "Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one."


9. "If you have enough book space, I don't want to talk to you."


10. "'And what would humans be without love?' RARE, said Death." — Sourcery



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It’s like a drinking game, but with pie and Pride and Prejudice. How else are you supposed to celebrate 3/14?!


There is only one truly respectable way to celebrate 3/14, also known as PI DAY...



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... And that is with the GLORIOUS CELEBRATION that is Pie and Prejudice!



Plus, Pi Day is on a Saturday this year, so no excuses!


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What is Pie and Prejudice, you ask? Well, it's like a drinking game, except with pie!


What is Pie and Prejudice, you ask? Well, it's like a drinking game, except with pie!


FYI: The BBC One Pride and Prejudice is currently streaming on Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime!


Kristin Chirico for BuzzFeed / Thinkstock / BBC


And DEFINITELY make sure it's the 1995 BBC miniseries version, because it contains Lord Of The Smoulder Colin Firth.


And DEFINITELY make sure it's the 1995 BBC miniseries version, because it contains Lord Of The Smoulder Colin Firth.


I mean, you could do this with the 2005 Pride and Prejudice but seriously what is even the point.


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This Is For Everyone Who Thinks Snape Is A Hero

Brave, yes. Hero, no.


As we all probably know by now, this is Severus Snape.


As we all probably know by now, this is Severus Snape.


Warner Bros.


There has been a lot of debate about whether Snape is actually a hero.


There has been a lot of debate about whether Snape is actually a hero.


Warner Bros.


Well, I'm here to educate you all. Severus Snape is merely a jackass who had a few redeeming moments.


Well, I'm here to educate you all. Severus Snape is merely a jackass who had a few redeeming moments.


Warner Bros.


First off, a bit of background info for those who aren't totally down with the storyline:


First off, a bit of background info for those who aren't totally down with the storyline:


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The Author Sir Terry Pratchett Has Died Aged 66

The author of the Discworld series has died.


Sir Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66.


Sir Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66.


The BBC reported that his publisher has confirmed the news in a statement.


Oli Scarff / Getty Images



I was deeply saddened to learn that Sir Terry Pratchett has died. The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds.


In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirize this world: he did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention.


Terry faced his Alzheimer's disease (an 'embuggerance', as he called it) publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come.


My sympathies go out to Terry's wife Lyn, their daughter Rhianna, to his close friend Rob Wilkins, and to all closest to him.


Terry passed away in his home, with his cat sleeping on his bed surrounded by his family on 12th March 2015. Diagnosed with PCA1 in 2007, he battled the progressive disease with his trademark determination and creativity, and continued to write. He completed his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014, before succumbing to the final stages of the disease.


We ask that the family are left undisturbed at this distressing time.





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Poll: How Weird Are Your Reading Habits?

Are you a book nerd or just absurd?



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20 Things People From R'lyeh Know To Be True

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh bae R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.


You grew up with good values and know that only darkness and chaos will make this world better.


You grew up with good values and know that only darkness and chaos will make this world better.


Comedy Central


You understand the beauty of flying across the inky firmament.


You understand the beauty of flying across the inky firmament.


Best pastime ever, tbh.


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You have the best role models! Like Cthulhu...


You have the best role models! Like Cthulhu...


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...And Nyarlathotep!


...And Nyarlathotep!


What a guy!


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38 Beautifully Heartbreaking Quotes From Literature

“Always.” —J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


Via Flickr: jcarlosn


1. "For Beatrice, when we first met, I was lonely, and you were pretty. Now I am pretty lonely."

—Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Slippery Slope


Via jharissac


2. "So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

—Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower


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3. "Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold."

—S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders


Via lissettg




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