So this is the first instalment of my
favourite Authors; of how I first encountered their works, and what I enjoy so
much about their writings. My first featured author is the Legendary Sir Terry
Pratchett.
I wanted to write the little blurb at the
front of each book as a first introduction to Terry, only I realised over the
years, it has changed, some with little information and some with more. So I
have come up with an amalgam to try and capture the essence of all. Forgive me
if it doesn’t quite do him justice.
“Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 and he
started work as a journalist one day in 1965. Three hours later, he saw his
first corpse, work experience meaning
something in those days. After doing just about every job it’s possible to do
in provincial journalism, except of course covering Saturday afternoon
football, he joined the Central Electricity Generating Board and became press
officer for four nuclear power stations. He’d write a book about his
experiences if he thought anyone would believe it.
All this came to an end in 1987 when it
became obvious that the Discworld series was much more enjoyable than real
work. Since then the books have reached double figures and have a regular place
in the bestseller lists. He also wrote books for younger readers. Occasionally
he got accused of literature.
Terry was one of the most popular authors
today. He was the acclaimed creator of the Discworld series, the first title of
which, The Colour of Magic, was
published in 1983: the last, number 41, is The
Shepherd’s Crown (2015). Worldwide sales of his books are now over 65
million, and they have been published in 37 languages, widely adapted for stage
and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie
Medal, as well as being awarded a knighthood for services to literature.
Terry was Britain’s bestselling “living”
novelist. He lived behind a keyboard, until they had a falling out and then
talked to it. Occasionally, it answered back. He lived in Wiltshire with his
wife Lyn and daughter Rhianna and said he ‘didn’t need to get a life, because
it felt as though he was trying to lead three already’, and that ‘writing is
the most fun any one can have by themselves’.
He died in March 2015.”
I was first introduced to Terry Pratchett’s
work by my sister about 20 years ago, and my first book, Mort. It was such an
eye opener from all the previous literature I was exposed to, you could say it
was the first more mature book i read. It was the first time I came across
Death as a fully realised character and the first time i read the term
Anthropomorphic Personification. The character of Death appealed to me as
someone with human attributes and yet couldn’t quite grasp the full extent of
humanity. I can guess that at the time, i was still young and trying to
discover my own place within the world and it hit a resonance with me. From
there I read the rest of the Death Trilogy from my sister’s collection and
started to buy my own copies with my allowance. I was bitten by the bug and it
has stayed with me ever since.
From Death to the Wizards, the Witches, the
Guards, the sciences and then Moist, every new story was an adventure filled
with double entendres, sarcasm, very English humour and the occasional long
word. Not all books where enjoyed equally but each was appreciated for the
skill of writing, fun and addition to the backstory and universe. I can
remember reading the Fifth Elephant for the first time and not fully getting it
and not being overly enthralled with the character of Sam Vimes. It was only
later I realised it was the fifth book in the Guards series and upon buying Guards! Guards! and going back to the
start did i realise i hadn’t given this character enough credit.
His Grace, the
Duke of Ankh-Morpork, Commander, Sir Samuel Vime, Blackboard Monitor is now one
of my favourite characters along with Death, Rincewind, the wizards under
Mustrum Ridcully, Granny Weatherwax, Susan StoHelit, and Lu-Tze (Sweeper).
Vimes has a moral sense of right and wrong but also
that fact that he at times has to contain the Beast which just shows how human
and relatable his character really is. It's also great to see his character
progression through the series from a drunk who doesn't really give a damn, to
one of the most respected and feared characters upon the disc second only to
Vetinari himself.
Of all of Pratchett’s living
characters, only a couple are present from the very start to the very end of
the Discworld series, Havelock Vetinari, Rincewind (presumably), and Esmerelda (Granny,
Mistress, Esme) Weatherwax who very sadly passes in the last book. Looking at
this I can’t help but see a connection between Terry and Esme, they both
believed that the world runs on stories and both passed during the writing of
his final book.
My love of this author
has led me to obtaining all the audiobooks for the Discworld series and every
night i listen to his word as i drift off to sleep. The TV adaptations of Going
Postal, The Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic are in my DVD collection along
with The Hogfather which I watch every Christmas Eve. 
I even once had the
great honour of meeting Sir Terry himself at a book signing and as we were the
last ones in the line, we got to spend a little longer with him to chat and
talk about our upcoming performance of Wyrd Sisters we were putting on with our
theatre group. He was warm, and friendly and after correctly guess our roles
bade us good luck and farewell.
In 2007 Terry announced
to the world that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer’s
Posterior Cortical Atrophy, a most terrible condition and especially so for
someone who’s life’s work came from what he could create with his mind. Over
the years between diagnosis and his death, Terry campaigned to raise awareness,
donated a million dollars, presented lectures, an award winning documentary and
continued to write many more books before his final goodbye. His death was
first announced to the world, before all other media outlets, on Twitter by his
friend Rob with the following 3 Tweets,
AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
Terry took Death’s arm and followed him
through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
The End.
I definitely think Terry would have
approved.
I think i love his works because of the
fantasy locations, the magic, the fun and humour and mostly because his
characters are “human”, with all the baggage that goes with it.
I think I’ll finish here, with just a few
of my favourite quotes.
“Don’t let me detain you.”
“Build a man a fire and he’ll be warm for a
day. Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.”
"Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH,' the paint wouldn't even have time to dry."”
"Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had
the urge to pass it on.”
"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
"Real stupidity beats artificial intellegence every time."
"Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken."
And last but not least,
“Discworld is a world and a mirror of
worlds.
This is not a book about Australia. No, it’s about
somewhere entirely different which just
happens
to be, here and there a bit . . . Australian.
Still . . . no worries, right?”
