I’m going to a book signing tonight. I’m trying to think of some sparklingly witty and/or warmly appreciative thing to say to The Great Man during my 15 seconds in his august presence.
Suggestions?
Maybe something like “Mr Pratchett, I’d like you to know how much I’ve enjoyed your work…” People like the articulate approach.
Don’t list your favorite books or situations (“ya remember when Rincewind was…” is not the way to endear yourself to Terry Pratchett…).
Maybe throw something witty in like “I’d like to thank you for being a bad influence on my for several years now” or something. Be natural. Compliment the man on his novels. Don’t try to drag a conversation out of a book signing. Don’t forget to get your book signed.
Woo! I just read Thief of Time last weekend and this week I’ve read The Lost Continent, Mort, Sourcery, and I am now (and I do mean NOW) reading Soul Magic.
Terry Pratchett will be in Evanston, IL next Monday at 1:00 P.M. at Stars Our Destination on Main Street. I will be having him sign my 1st ed. Colour of Magic hardcover and my Thief of Time hardcover…his first and latest…seems like a nice touch 
I will be monitoring this thread closely for cool quips…but I will most likely let him know that I love his work and am reading it to my kids.
Thanks, I like the “bad influence” suggestion.
I’ll be taking along my 4-year-old daughter and I was thinking of letting him know that I read from one of his books every night of my pregnancy–and then presenting the result. Come to think of it, I probably won’t get a chance to say anything. My daughter is a world-class motormouth.
I once got Tanith Lee’s autograph and I said “Ms Lee, thank you for existing.” and she was very chuffed.
Terry Pratchett might projectile vomit over you, of course.
Ask him to sign your breast, and assure him you’ll never wash it off.
Oh, this is a public place, isn’t it? Darn :(.
Seriously, though I expect he might get a laugh out of it, just tell him you’ve really enjoyed his books and that if your daughter has to go to therapy you’ll be sending him the bill.
Well you could say, “And would you sign this one for my friend, aseymayo?”
I recently introduced my sister to Pratchett by thrusting my tattered copy of Guards! Guards! at her and saying, “Read this!” I told her if she got as far as Tom Bombadil and still didn’t like it, she didn’t have to finish it. And I would try not to think any less of her.
The guaranteed way to make Terry Pratchett love you:
“Mr. pratchett, in appreciation of all you’ve written, I’d like to buy you a banana daquiri.” 
Damn! I was gonna say that! On the author bio for Good Omens he actually said that he wanted people to buy him banana daiquiris as tokens of their appreciation.
I just finished Thief of Time.
Oooh. I’m jealous.
Tell him that he needs to put out a Discworld anthology, to collect all those Discworld short stories in one place. I only found “The Sea and Little Fishes” by luck.
You might also tell him that you’ve introduced {x} number of people to his writings. In my case x = 12 or so. I’m sure that he’d appreciate THAT.
And yeah, mention a bannannanna daiquiri, too.
Well it was great fun. He nattered on amiably about writing and life and took questions for about an hour (it was only supposed to be 20 minutes.)
Unfortunately, the bookstore policy was to issue numbers to the first 30 people to arrive, giving them first chance to line up for the signing. The rest of us had to go outside and wait. It would have been at least another hour. I might have stayed if we hadn’t had the chilluns with us, but it was getting late.
I did buy the latest book and left it with a friend who was going to stay for the signing. So at least I’ll get an autograph, even though I didn’t get to blush and stammer at him in person.
Oh and, Lynn, thanks for mentioning “The Sea and Little Fishes.” What a great story! The only short story I’d seen was “Theatre of Cruelty.” It’s really very nice of him to allow them to be published on the internet. He clearly takes the stories just as seriously as the novels.
Okay, I have to ask – where can I read “The Sea and Little Fishes”?
I found the story on this site: