The Terry Pratchett Thread

[Nick R]

The Guardian has an extract from Rob Wilkins's biography of Terry:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/17/i-think-i-was-good-though-i-could-have-been-better-terry-pratchett-and-the-writing-of-his-life

 

It includes this story:

 

Quote

“He once phoned me up in exasperation that he was being totally taken for granted by his publishers,” his friend Dave Busby told me. “He was fuming. He had had enough. He was going to take a sabbatical. No more writing for at least six months. I felt very pleased for him. He needed that break. I think he planned to do a lot of travelling. I did not hear from him for about six months and when we made contact again, I asked him what he had done in his sabbatical. He replied, irritably, ‘I wrote two books.’”

 

[MikeBeaver]

26 minutes ago, Nick R said:

The Guardian has an extract from Rob Wilkins's biography of Terry:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/17/i-think-i-was-good-though-i-could-have-been-better-terry-pratchett-and-the-writing-of-his-life

 

It includes this story:

 

 

But.. WHICH TWO ?!?! And I read that last part in the sound of Sir Pterry's voice

[cassidy]

And he bloody said nope £125k is too much.  

 

Buying Robs book. Probably gonna cry reading it tbh. 

 

My Big nan and Pterry died in the same week. She's probably the most important person in my childhood tbh.  Terry going hurts just as much.  

 

 

[Danster]

https://www.eurogamer.net/the-story-behind-the-oblivion-mod-terry-pratchett-worked-on

 

Nice story

[Ran]

Men at arms finished. It's hard to put into words how good this was, just one of those things that leaves you with the warmest, most satisfied feeling.

I've been reading them in order but I may ignore my OCD and jump to Interesting Times because I've read Soul Music before and it's not going to arrive for a week or so. 

[PK]

It's outrageously good isn't it?

 

God I'd do anything to be able to experience the Watch books for the first time again

[PK]

What's the best age to start getting into Discworld, dyou think? I can't remember when I started them, although I'm reasonably sure I read the bromiad trilogy first.

 

Reason I ask is my mate's 8 year old daughter absolutely loves reading / being read to. My friend's just about to finish reading the Harry Potter books to her and is planning to start Redwall next, and I was thinking of buying her a load of Pratchett books for Christmas but I really don't want to time it badly and make her bounce off them & never go back

[Anne Summers]

Think I was about 11 when I first read them, which was fine. 8 might be a little young. But I wouldn't worry about her bouncing off them, kids tend to be happy to go back to things they couldn't manage when they were younger and give them another go. I did the same myself with LOTR.

[davidcotton]

6 hours ago, PK said:

What's the best age to start getting into Discworld, dyou think? I can't remember when I started them, although I'm reasonably sure I read the bromiad trilogy first.

 

Reason I ask is my mate's 8 year old daughter absolutely loves reading / being read to. My friend's just about to finish reading the Harry Potter books to her and is planning to start Redwall next, and I was thinking of buying her a load of Pratchett books for Christmas but I really don't want to time it badly and make her bounce off them & never go back

Why not try some of the kids novels that Pratchett  did like Truckers?

[MrPogo]

Risky. I must have been about 8 when my mum got me Truckers from the library, and I found it so rubbish I didn’t touch Pratchett again until I was in my mid-twenties!

[jonathanhoey]

The purist in me wants to say RELEASE ORDER but the problem is I suspect, looking back, that The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are (relatively) not that good. I mean they're good but he hasn't quite found his feet yet. The series comes alive later on. Some people say to start with Equal Rites (book 3, Witches) or Mort (book 4, Death) for that reason. Either is probably a good shout. 

 

If she's fairly tech-savvy you could let her know about the Annotated Pratchett File (a crowdsourced, albeit pre-wiki, document that aims to provide context and explanation for the jokes and references in the books). It's great. It's deeply ugly by modern standards though - it's resolutely Web 1.0 so there are no concessions to mobile formatting etc. So it might not be the easiest to use unless she has her own computer, or access to one. 
 

Edited to add: I didn’t realise there’s a PDF version which plays nicely enough with (for example) the Kindle app for iPad:

 

[Delargey]

Tiffany Aching books could be a good place to start.

 

Though Pterry was always of the school that you should give kids books that are beyond their. recommended age level.

 

Mort would be a good start - it's a good stand alone book, The Witches and Watch books are great but they'ed probably get more from them if they are a bit other and get more of the references. 

[smac]

Johnny Maxwell trilogy. Maurice and his Amazing Educated Rodents. Any of the Tiffany Aching books. Mort is a good shout.  Equal Rites, for sure.

[cassidy]

The amazing Maurice movie is out today. 

 

Can't wait to watch it over the weekend. 

[Delargey]

How did you get on with the biography? @cassidy I had tears on the train as I finished it.

 

 

[cassidy]

1 hour ago, Delargey said:

How did you get on with the biography? @cassidy I had tears on the train as I finished it.

 

 

I still haven't had the courage to face it. 2022 has been a tough enough yr for me already. 

[PK]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/27/rediscovered-terry-pratchett-stories-to-be-published

 

Quote

A collection of newly rediscovered short stories by Terry Pratchett, originally written under a pseudonym, are to be published later this year.

The 20 tales in A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories were written by Pratchett in the 1970s and 1980s for a regional newspaper, mostly under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns.

 

5th October

 

[Danster]

On 16/12/2022 at 21:59, Delargey said:

How did you get on with the biography? @cassidy I had tears on the train as I finished it.

 

 

 

It was bloody brilliant I thought. An amazing insight into the man.

[AlexM]

I picked up 15 Pratchett books in a community bookstore last weekend, chuffed to bits - physical collection started!

 

I've just finished re-reading The Colour of Magic and enjoyed it just as much as the first time.

[AlexM]

Autobiography ordered after reading this thread, looking forward to it!

[Bushtopher]

The Terry Pratchett biography is 99p in today’s kindle daily deals:

 

https://amzn.eu/d/85YxscH

[little che]

Just finished his autobiography.  A beautiful and fond telling of his life that inevitably becomes quite sad towards the end but more than anything highlights the love his assistant (who wrote the book) has for Terry and the wonderful eccentricity that Pratchett had in spades.

Very much recommended