Met him at an SF convention years ago. He was already big and, in his own words, had realised from his success that “If I played my cards right, I would never have to lift a finger again”.
Talking to people from various SF appreciation groups I learned that despite his enormous success he was willing to attend even very small gatherings for merely expenses. People noted that he seemed to have a genuine joy in people’s company and a steel-trap memory for observations of people’s behaviour, anecdotes etc.
Seems to me that maybe he has a deep love and respect for PEOPLE, and I always feel that a fundamental appreciation, love, respect, and empathy for people doing the best they can in a confounding universe is central to his writings.
One of my fave quotes, 'cept I can’t remember it exactly (I think it’s from Equal Rites) is about a newborn baby, when the midwife slaps him/her to encourage their first breath “and give it a general idea of what to expect from life”.
Terry Pratchett is my favorite philosopher.
I don’t read much fantasy, and didn’t know anyone who had read him at the time, so I missed the chance to start reading him about two years sooner than I did. Then I saw him on some show on SCIFI. Made me laugh and think at the same time, always a good thing. I rushed out and bought Feet Of Clay, the first one of his books I could find. I’ve read about half of the Discworld books and have four more waiting right now. I love the City Watch and the Rincewind stories like Interesting Times. Hogfather and Good Omens were great too.
PratchettPratchettPratchettPratchettPratchettPratchett!
All his books are good, but I really, really love A Thief of Time.
I also want to be a Yen Buddhist.
Pratchett rocks. I love Good Omens (candidate for funniest book ever), and most fo the Discworld series. I have read all of them at least twice. For some reason though, his books with the witches in the lead role appeal to me far less than the others.
Favourites: Death, Susan, Vimes (and the rest of the watch), The Librarian, Gaspode, Ridcully, Rincewind.
Just wanna jump in to say that he’s one of my absolute favorites.
Well, sure. One’s a book and one’s a movie. Books are almost always more profound than movies. However, relative to their medium, they are co-equal in their profundity. Plus, considering how difficult it is to make a movie with a brain (very, very difficult) compared to writing a book with a brain (only very hard to difficult), I think Life of Brian is the greater accomplishment. Plus, it has the one thing you could never get into a Pratchett book: George Harrison. (Unless it was a very big book, or unless they cremated George.)
Hmmmm… I prefered ‘The Color of Magic’ and ‘The Light Fantastic’ to ‘Small Gods’. Maybe because I read TCOM and TLF first. Maybe because I got attached to Rincewind. I dunno… but Small Gods didn’t recapture the magic that I got from TCOM and TLF. I was thinking that maybe the jokes had grown cold, since this was the 3rd book I was reading from him. Maybe I’ll give Pratchett another go and see if the book I read brings back the original laughter (not saying Small Gods wasn’t amusing… just not as much).
I remember Pratchett talking about how trolls have over 10,000 words for rocks but only one word for vegetation. Everything with green leaves looked alike to them. So when a troll is sent out by his friend to pick flowers for his girlfriend, the troll brings back a redwood tree.
I also remember a part where Ridcully, chief wizard, picked one of the chancellors at random and started yelling at him. Pratchett’s footnote explained that Ridcully was using the technique of “when something’s wrong, find an underling and yell at him until it looks right again,” practiced by upper management types the world over. That is so true.
I’ve been reading Pratchett since I discovered “The Color of Magic,” which was good, but not nearly as good as most of the later books (the only disappointment was “Moving Pictures”). I’ve read everything of his so far except “The Last Hero” (Yes, I have read “Strata”).
I love the fact that the novels about the witches are all takeoffs on Shakespeare. What’s also great is that Pratchett doesn’t always feature the same characters. One book it’ll be the Watch (and different characters in the Watch); another will be the witches, another it’ll be DEATH. I think that’s why he can remain fresh – when he gets tired of one group, he can switch to another, or write a book about some people that were peripheral characters previously.
Books: My fave so far has been Small Gods. Followed closely by Thief of Time.
Has anybody else seen the DVDs? I’ve got both of them and have mixed feelings. Although I enjoyed seeing how some of the characters were done (Christopher Lee is a great Death in Soul Music), others were just wrong (the Librarian, Nobby, Ridcully).
Pratchett fan here,
I am a Vimes and Rincewind fan myself. And I have to agree with the poster who said that he is actually getting BETTER. rather than a world that is slowly getting boring, his world get deeping and more entertaining. Not only that, but Terry’s wit and insight get sharper. I look forward to every book!
I personally loved that Last Hero, becuase you also got pictures to go with so many characters!
I’ve been a Pratchett fan for a number of years and eagerly await each new book.
I haven’t noticed any mention of the non-discworld books apart from Good Omens. The books about the Nomes are IMHO for a younger audience than the discworld novels but they are funny and well worth reading. The three books are Truckers,* Diggers*, and Wings.
Another non-discworld book is The Carpet People which begins,
“In the beginning, there was nothing but endless flatness. Then came the Carpet…”
Well worth reading.
But my favorite Terry Pratchett book is Guards!Guards!. The first couple of meetings of the Brethren are so very funny.
I have an autographed copy of the map of Ankh-Morpork, signed by the master himself at a book signing in the U.K.
The DVD of Wyrd Sisters is worth a look as well. I noticed that there is also a movie of Soul Music. Has anyone out there seen it yet ?
++???++ Out of Cheese Error. Redo From Start :D:D
Why A Duck, you said you have seen both movies. I thought Wyrd Sisters was OK. You say that some of the characters in Small Gods were not very good or plain wrong. Is it worth buying ?
I did buy one of the audio cassettes when they were first released. It was Equal Rites. I didn’t think it was possible to remove all the humour from a Pratchett book but somehow they succeeded.
YAPF (Yet Another pTerry Fan) checking in!
I can’t even begin to rate his books; I love 'em all, even the “juvenile” stuff (Johnny Maxwell, the Gnomes). About the only thing with his name on it that I won’t buy are the desk accessories, like the appointment calendars, because I don’t think the text-to-price ratio is worth it (though I hear Granny Ogg’s cookbook is a good read).
My latest acquisition is The Last Hero (UK version, not the American import), but I know there’s more in the queue. Curse me for being cheap enough to wait for the paperbacks…
And am I the only one who spends every December wandering the bookstores looking for Discworld calendars? 
The other DVD was Soul Music, not Small Gods, but you knew that.
It was good, probably better than Wyrd Sisters. But over the years I’ve developed definite ideas of what recurring characters look and sound like, and to see something so different is a little upsetting. Like I said, they did a great job with Death. But some of the others were just wrong. Hell, for all I know they’re exactly like Pterry has always imagined them and I’m the one who got it wrong.
The other cool thing about this DVD is that it has a fairly lengthy interview with Terry on it talking about the making of the animated series. Definitely worth it.
I’m with you, ISiddiqui. Small Gods is the only Discworld book that I haven’t read at least three times.
Favorite TP books in no particular order:
Guards! Guards!
Wyrd Sisters
Feet of Clay
Whichever one has Death made temporarily human
Favorite Discworld characters (again in NPO):
Death
Granny Weatherwax
Carrot
Nobby
RR
DVDs?? DVDS?!?!?!?!
Would someone be so kind as to direct me to where I could purchase said DVD’s? I’ve been reading TP since I borrowed my friends’ copy of * Small Gods * and I am a huge fan. I finish his books approx. 24 hours after purchase
Koldanar, most of the online stores have the DVDs. Here are the URLs at ABC DVD for
and
Ah, Pratchett. Easily the best fantasy writer in existence, in my opinion. Who else could invent L-Space, Deep Thought, Carrot, Gaspode… the list goes on.
Some of the stories he’s written are so good that I get choked up- not because it’s a sad situation, but just because it’s so well written.
Plus, he’s a sushi fanatic- how bad can THAT be?