Ace Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 The official facebook of Terry Pratchett just announced that he has passed away. I haven't been hit this hard by an author's death since Douglas Adams. Here's a requiem from his daughter, Rhianna 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I feel like any response I can come up with at this point would be ultimately selfish. I'm going to post this instead. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/24/terry-pratchett-angry-not-jolly-neil-gaiman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Well, shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red is Dead Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Go and get a klatchian hot with Death, Sir Terry. He'll know a good wee place off the beaten track. Now if you excuse me, I must go and be morose for a while. It's not goodbye, it's au revoir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 (edited) I am wondering if this was a natural death, or if this is when he chose to be euthanized. ETA: BBC by way of his publishers say he was not euthanized. Edited March 12, 2015 by Bald Bombshell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Awful, awful news. The guy was a comedic genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 FUCK. . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.H. Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I am saddened that no more shall the adventures of Sam Vimes and his motley crew be chronicled. Granny Weatherwax gets a good long rest. Things on the Disc will go on, we just will not be privy to them. Pratchett had me hooked when a friend handed me "Guards! Guards!". Even the worst Discworld book was at least highly readable. I don't know how I feel knowing that there shall be no more James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I only read a half dozen Discworld books, plus Good Omens. They still made a massive impression on me. Today would have been my mother's 60th birthday if lung cancer hadn't gotten the better of her, so death was already on my mind. I don't really have a lot else to say tonight, except that i'm fucking depressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 ... ...fuck death. Fuck life. Fuck Earth. Fuck GOD. ...that is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
username Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Just got into the guy's writings recently, still bummed by this. At the very least he no longer has to deal with the disease which surely must have been a mighty struggle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 Discworld might not, in fact, be dead. Sir Pterry was saying years ago after his initial Alzheimer's diagnosis that Rhianna might take it over for him. She's already running the BBC Night Watch series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Maskerade is still one of my favorite novels. An amazing parody of The Phantom of the Opera and the world of musicals in general . "Miserable Les!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 RIP to a brilliant and funny writer who could also make you stop and think when he was of a mind to be serious. Rumors are that the last several books were heavily ghosted, so I would not be at all surprised to see Discworld continue, likely under Rhianna's name. (No idea who will be doing most of the writing, but as I said, word is that someone has already had plenty of practice.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red is Dead Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Well, she wrote the 2013 tomb raider game so she's got a decent pedigree of writing... This one is going to take a long time to get over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 RIP to a brilliant and funny writer who could also make you stop and think when he was of a mind to be serious. Rumors are that the last several books were heavily ghosted, so I would not be at all surprised to see Discworld continue, likely under Rhianna's name. (No idea who will be doing most of the writing, but as I said, word is that someone has already had plenty of practice.) Honestly the books that came after "Going Postal" did not compare to his best work (like Night Watch, Monstrous Regiment, The Truth, Thief of Time or Small Gods). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 RIP to a brilliant and funny writer who could also make you stop and think when he was of a mind to be serious. Rumors are that the last several books were heavily ghosted, so I would not be at all surprised to see Discworld continue, likely under Rhianna's name. (No idea who will be doing most of the writing, but as I said, word is that someone has already had plenty of practice.) Honestly the books that came after "Going Postal" did not compare to his best work (like Night Watch, Monstrous Regiment, The Truth, Thief of Time or Small Gods). Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if the Moist Van Lipwig stuff was mainly hers. At least they got away from the damn chapter heading that gave away the entire plot. Hopefully Hollywood will get off its ass with a Good Omens movie sooner rather than later. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 RIP to a brilliant and funny writer who could also make you stop and think when he was of a mind to be serious. Rumors are that the last several books were heavily ghosted, so I would not be at all surprised to see Discworld continue, likely under Rhianna's name. (No idea who will be doing most of the writing, but as I said, word is that someone has already had plenty of practice.)Honestly the books that came after "Going Postal" did not compare to his best work (like Night Watch, Monstrous Regiment, The Truth, Thief of Time or Small Gods). Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if the Moist Van Lipwig stuff was mainly hers. At least they got away from the damn chapter heading that gave away the entire plot. Hopefully Hollywood will get off its ass with a Good Omens movie sooner rather than later. . . I wonder if Radio 4 will replay the Good Omens radio play soon in his memory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Wasn't it after Going Postal that he started needing a ghost writer/Rhiannon due to his health problems? That's when you start to notice the decline. IMO, I think the witches' books were his best work, followed by the watch novels, I always thought Rincewind was too one dimensional and didn't justify all the attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 He was using dictation software rather than writing himself. I'm pretty sure it was post-Nation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Thud! and most of the Tiffany Aching books were after Going Postal, and were still fuckin' tremendous. Making Money was the one where I noticed that something didn't quite feel right, and that feeling was sadly continued into Raising Steam, which otherwise kinda felt like a swan-song goodbye to Terry's original world. Also, check out a non-Discworld book he wrote rather recently called Dodger which was a lot of fun, sticking various Victorian-era English literary characters into a real-world mashup. And I haven't read the Long Earth trilogy he cowrote with some other guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Thud! and most of the Tiffany Aching books were after Going Postal, and were still fuckin' tremendous. Making Money was the one where I noticed that something didn't quite feel right, and that feeling was sadly continued into Raising Steam, which otherwise kinda felt like a swan-song goodbye to Terry's original world. Also, check out a non-Discworld book he wrote rather recently called Dodger which was a lot of fun, sticking various Victorian-era English literary characters into a real-world mashup. And I haven't read the Long Earth trilogy he cowrote with some other guy. Unseen academicals was pretty good too. Snuff was I think were the slippage really started, and Raising steam was good, but it was a shadow of the great ones. Night Watch was probably his peak though. . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Agreed, Night Watch is my favorite as well, followed by The Truth. After that it gets much harder to pick favorites because all the middle Watch books, Small Gods and Thief of Time are all great as well. The Rincewind books or more specifially the first two books are so obviously a fantasy Hitchhiker's Guide version and it was basically impossible to use Rincewind as a main character for the more serious style Pratchett went for later on. Witches books were hit and miss, I did for example like Wyrd Sisters really much while I think that Witches Abroad and Carpe Jugulum are among the worst Discworld books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 For those hoping for posthumous Pratchett work, you're out of luck. Per his final wishes, the hard drive containing up to 10 unfinished works was destroyed by steamroller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 6 hours ago, Ace said: For those hoping for posthumous Pratchett work, you're out of luck. Per his final wishes, the hard drive containing up to 10 unfinished works was destroyed by steamroller. Y'know as a professional writer myself, I have really mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I can see wanting to avoid the "posthumous collaboration" crap that tainted Lovecraft's legacy for a time (until we all found better things to taint his legacy), on the other hand, my family and fans will benefit and I'm dead, so what the fuck? I guess one factor is the uniqueness of the author and his experience with collaborations. In my case, I've enough collaborations to fill another collection, and all have been positive experiences. Further, I can think of no less than half a dozen friends and colleagues a bit younger that I'd have complete confidence in finishing my stuff. Things is, as an author I'm definitely mid-card (as an editor I have few peers and only a couple of superiors), Pratchett was definitely a main-event guy, still there's at least one author I can think of (who he collaborated with before), that I'd have the utmost confidence in finishing off what Sir Terry started. The problem with that arises as soon as said author is unavailable due to having their own wonderful career to work on and the publisher says "Hey, we need to crank out another Pratchett book, and --------- isn't going to have time; let's ring up Georgie Moneyhack and give him the gig, he'll be cheaper anyway... Now the above pertains strictly to unfinished works, regarding finished works, my best friend rescued the entirety of Howard Wandrei's manuscripts and artwork before his brother Don could torch it. Of course, Donald Wandrei was by all accounts crazier than a shithouse rat after WWII. I have in my possession an unpublished manuscript by Donald Dale (Mary Dale Buckner), the first lady of weird fiction in the first half of the twentieth century. Damn straight I'm going to publish it, she wrote it to be published and I have the letter of acceptance, but the magazine she wrote it for folded before using the piece and she got her Masters and had no need of the supplemental income that writing provided, so she never shopped it around. Bottom line is professional writers write things to be published, not stored in granmama's attic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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