RIP Sir Terry Pratchett

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networkn

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#167431 13-Mar-2015 10:23

According to his Facebook Account:

It is with immeasurable sadness that we announce that author Sir Terry Pratchett has died.

The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds. Rest in peace Sir Terry Pratchett.

Another Great, Gone.

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#1257725 13-Mar-2015 10:31

He had a form of Alzheimer's disease and was only 66 years old. :(

notesgnome

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#1257726 13-Mar-2015 10:33

Indeed.

One has to wonder how many people will understand the capitalisation of his first posthumous tweet.

"AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER."

Spoken by one of my favourite characters to one of my favourite authors.

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#1257729 13-Mar-2015 10:40

“DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING,” said Death, “JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.”

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#1257740 13-Mar-2015 10:56

RIP. Sucks.

sleemanj

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#1257780 13-Mar-2015 11:38

I'm saddened that neither Stuff nor Herald have deemed the news of Terry's passing newsworthy enough to be anywhere even close to their front pages.

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#1257781 13-Mar-2015 11:40

Very, very sad indeed. One of my favourite authors. RIP.

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#1257789 13-Mar-2015 11:55

His wit was pure genius, and will be greatly missed.

sleemanj

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#1257791 13-Mar-2015 12:06

This (fanfic I think) has been doing the rounds, I think it's rather apt.

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7091605&cid=49242383

The first Discworld book I read, so very long ago now, was Mort.

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jfanning

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#1257803 13-Mar-2015 12:16

sleemanj: I'm saddened that neither Stuff nor Herald have deemed the news of Terry's passing newsworthy enough to be anywhere even close to their front pages.

It was on the front of Stuff when I looked around 7:30

networkn

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#1257807 13-Mar-2015 12:24

I have never read his stuff, if I was to read just one of his books, which would you recommend?

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#1257810 13-Mar-2015 12:28

If you like music, try "Soul Music"... there's lots of references to Earth music in it.
Similarly "Moving Pictures" for movies.

But my favourite is "The Colour of Magic"

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#1257811 13-Mar-2015 12:29

Let's just hope it was Death and not Mort that took him on the journey...

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#1257814 13-Mar-2015 12:30

networkn: I have never read his stuff, if I was to read just one of his books, which would you recommend?

Mort was one of my faves...

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#1257851 13-Mar-2015 13:18

networkn: I have never read his stuff, if I was to read just one of his books, which would you recommend?

I've answered this question for several people over the last couple of decades. For completists, starting at the beginning makes sense, with The Colour of Magic. It's an excellent book, but it might be a little hard to get into for a Discworld n00b. I generally recommend to people that they either start with Guards Guards! or Wyrd Sisters. "Guards" introduces the City Watch (~ police) and focusses on feature characters which recur throughout the series such as Captain Vimes and Corporal Carrot, while also including supporting/main characters such as the Patrician Lord Vetinari. It's early enough that the in-jokes aren't too many. Similarly, Wyrd Sisters is one of the first of the Witches' series (though Equal Rites is the first to introduce the main witch character Granny Weatherwax. I recommend starting with Wyrd Sisters though because like Guards Guards it forms the start of a sort of series or character arc which can help lead you into the Discworld. It's then a question of whether you are more likely to be entertained by psuedo-cops or witches?

An alternative approach is to dip your toe into one of the more standalone stories - try Soul Music (rock 'n' roll), Pyramids ("Egyptians"/assassins), Mort (Death), Small Gods (religion) or Moving Pictures (Hollywood). They will inevitably refer to side characters or aspects of the world which you may not get at first, but the stories are reasonably independent and don't need a lot of prior knowledge.

The best thing I found with reading Pratchett is that it withstands multiple readings. He is so knowledgeable and is so widely read that he includes a lot of in-jokes and references that you might not pick up at first. The number of times I've read one of his books, and then years later I've been reading something else and I've found that "he got there first!" It's almost like he would sneak around and leave clues for me all around the world!

I envy you - the opportunity to go back and read his novels for the first time is something I would love to have again. Maybe, one day, they'll invent selective brain wiping so I can read the Discworld series afresh. In the meantime, I'll have to go back and read (for the nth time) his back catalogue.

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#1257854 13-Mar-2015 13:23

Never read him as fantasy novels not really my thing.

But watch three docos on him living with Alzheimers, including his efforts to save the Borneo orangutan.

RIP Terry.

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