# Rhianna Pratchett Remembers Her Father Terry **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704 "2015-12-30T04:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/1 "2015-12-30T04:44:34Z")
[The Guardian ran a Rhianna Pratchett remembrance of her father Terry recently.](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/27/terry-pratchett-remembered-by-rhianna-pratchett-daughter-obituary-2015) he sounds a wonderful father as well as a great writer: > [@](#): > > Dad was someone who committed to the narrative of a situation rather more than the practicality. So he would wrap me up and take me out of bed in the middle of the night to show me the glow-worms in the hedge or Halley’s Comet blazing across a star-filled sky. For him, his daughter seeing these marvels of nature was much more important than sleeping, which I could do any time. He didn’t teach me magic, he showed me it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/2 "2016-01-02T00:11:27Z")
Very moving. And don’t fail to click on the link to AS Byatt’s review of The Shepard’s Crown. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/3 "2016-01-02T01:35:52Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Very moving. And don’t fail to click on the link to AS Byatt’s review of The Shepard’s Crown. Oh, I missed that. Pretty huge spoilers, though, if you haven’t read it. Antonia Byatt always was perceptive about Pratchett. From very early on when she was a heavy-hitting creator of Literature and he was seen as just an amusing but slight fantasy parodist, she always championed him. She’s also right about _Soul Music_ and _Moving Pictures_, which don’t need to be reread. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/4 "2016-01-02T03:24:02Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Oh, I missed that. Pretty huge spoilers, though, if you haven’t read it. Antonia Byatt always was perceptive about Pratchett. From very early on when she was a heavy-hitting creator of Literature and he was seen as just an amusing but slight fantasy parodist, she always championed him. She’s also right about _Soul Music_ and _Moving Pictures_, which don’t need to be reread. I’m glad it’s not just me, because I worried that I disliked their parody of rock music and movies (two things I love) because it was **my** ox being gored. But the parody elements in those two books were ham-fisted and obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/5 "2016-01-02T09:27:52Z")
What’s more amazing is that the Pratchetts ever saw Halley’s Comet “blazing” across a star-filled sky. I waited about twenty years of my life for that thing to show up and it was the biggest anti-climax ever. I actually had to look up Rhianna’s age to make sure she wasn’t confusing it with Hale-Bopp or Hyakutake, both of which were worth the bother. ---
**Author:** ![Didactylos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Didactylos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didactylos)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/6 "2016-01-04T18:44:26Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > What’s more amazing is that the Pratchetts ever saw Halley’s Comet “blazing” across a star-filled sky. I waited about twenty years of my life for that thing to show up and it was the biggest anti-climax ever. I actually had to look up Rhianna’s age to make sure she wasn’t confusing it with Hale-Bopp or Hyakutake, both of which were worth the bother. Heh, yeah I noticed that too. I remember Berke Breatheds apt description back in '86: It’s a speck! It’s a spot! It’s just barely a dot! A comet spectacular It most certainly is not! But its a beautiful story. I suspect the narrativium made the comet blaze for Pterry and Rhianna. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/7 "2016-01-04T20:08:21Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I’m glad it’s not just me, because I worried that I disliked their parody of rock music and movies (two things I love) because it was **my** ox being gored. But the parody elements in those two books were ham-fisted and obvious. I’m currently reading all of the Discworld books, in order, for the first time. I’m just finishing \*Soul Music \*now, and I have to agree with the “ham-fisted and obvious” sentiment. I do get a bit put off by the ones where everything is just a setting from the modern world (or even the ancient world–I had the same issue with _Pyramids_) with just a slight twist on the names. However, I’m enjoying \*Soul Music \*more than I did \*Moving Pictures \* partly \*because \*it’s my ox being gored. And of course, they’re all so wonderfully written that it’s easy to forgive the fairly lame parodic premise. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/8 "2016-01-05T16:17:02Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > She’s also right about _Soul Music_ and _Moving Pictures_, which don’t need to be reread. I beg to differ. I’ve reread all of Pratchett’s books and still guffaw at them, no matter what meat the fist is made of. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhianna-pratchett-remembers-her-father-terry/741704/9 "2016-01-05T20:11:23Z")
> [@Didactylos](#): > > Heh, yeah I noticed that too. I remember Berke Breatheds apt description back in '86: > It’s a speck! It’s a spot! > It’s just barely a dot! > A comet spectacular > It most certainly is not! > > But its a beautiful story. I suspect the narrativium made the comet blaze for Pterry and Rhianna. She’s allowed to remember it that way 🙂 We took the boy out when he was 6 to see McNaught in 2007, which was actually a pretty good comet, and we still have a picture he drew of it.