Terry Pratchett’s unfinished works have been destroyed, as per his wishes.
And they have been destroyed in the way he specifically asked for: By crushing the hard disk containing all of his unfinished materials with a steamroller.
You can read about it here, in an article from The Independent.
Yay! It’s what he wanted.
I just read this on the BBC News, I’m glad his wishes were followed to the letter.
I saw the thread title, and thought “Well, there are pros and cons to this. I guess what decides whether it’s good or not would be his wishes”.
Well, OK then.
Given that the Tolkein estate is still cranking out questionable books in JRR’s name, I can respect this decision.
And having read most of the Long Earth series (which was more by **Stephen Baxter **and Terry Pratchett) I wish they’d thrown that under the steamroller too. After the first book there was virtually nothing left of Pratchett in them.
While it might have been nice to see where Pterry was planning on going with some characters, it’s better for us to cherish what he gave us rather than mourn some might-have-beens.
To be brutally honest, the last few Discworld books - which I assume were written after his illness kicked in - were almost unreadable. It’s probably for the best.
This. I couldn’t finish Raising Steam, trying to read it was a painful experience.
Agreed. I love Pratchett and really like Baxter, but I couldn’t even make it through the second book.
It’s kind of a shame that the world will never see any more Pratchett books, but I’m glad his wishes were honored. Like Waterston’s Calvin and Hobbes, it’s best to end in the manner the author wanted, not when all the money’s been milked out of it.
I couldn’t make it through Snuff. 
I like Snuff and Raising Steam, insofar as they wrap up various Discworld developments and personal storylines (although I think the whole goblin thing would have worked better had we not gone through the same thing with orcs in Unseen Academicals). And Shepherd’s Crown manages to close off the Witches stories despite being very thin in terms of plot. Really, it was nice that we got what closure we did.
I liked Snuff and Raising Steam, Shepard’s Crown was a bit so-so, which makes me glad that his creation isn’t going to be milked to death like OZ, Middle Earth and probably JK Rowlings world.
The Long Earth was boring, trite and boring. I finished just to see if there was a point to it…there wasn’t.
Dunno … in my opinion “The Shepherd’s Crown” was good, and “I shall wear midnight” I consider it to be an excellent book, and it was written well after he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer.
Did his illness affect his works? I am sure it did. But I am glad that at least he worked towards closure for several of the characters in his works.
And I agree with DZedNConfused - Better to put a definite end to his works than having others stretch them thin to beyond the breaking point.
Nice to see that they used a literal steamroller for the job. Not some crappy diesel-powered imitation.
And it seems right that the steamroller has a name, “Lord Jericho”.
The only bit of closure I’d like to have is “Who will the Patrician pick for his eventual replacement?” It seems like the Patrician was grooming both Vimes and Moist and, if so, who he’d pick. Everything else had a pretty solid resolution.
I am firmly in the Moist von Lipwig camp as replacement for Venitari, for several reasons:
(1) He is much younger than Vimes, and Moist as Patrician might mean a longer time without the upheaval that accompanies a change of leader.
(2) Vimes in my opinion does not have the temperament or the inclination to be patrician.
(3) I think that Vimes would, however, be an excellent asset for A Patrician Moist, as well as a moral anchor and someone who would be keeping a close watch on Moist to prevent him from getting involved in any shenanigans.
I know that Moist is described as being prone to boredom, and when he gets bored he goes and does something stupid, illegal or both, in search of excitement… But I think that being the patrician of Ankh-Morpork would be anything but boring!!
I agree with the above. Also, Vimes will need to watch out for Moist’s safety. Moist didn’t go to the School for Assassins, the way Vetinari did. Vimes had a knack for dealing with assassins.
I think it’s pretty clear that Vetinari was grooming von Lipwig as his replacement. Vimes, meanwhile, he kept on as a necessary moral counterweight, not only for Lipwig, but for himself.
Of the later books, I think that Raising Steam and Unseen Academicals were probably the weakest of the entire series, followed not too far behind by Snuff. But I Shall Wear Midnight and the first two Lipwig books were excellent, and The Shepherd’s Crown was, while not in the top tier, certainly good enough.
A bit morbidly, what I most wanted to see was a montage of death scenes for several of the major characters. How will Carrot meet the Reaper Man, or Vetinari, or Rincewind? Though we did at least see Granny Weatherwax.
Vimes has to be Watch. That’s what he is, with Carrot following him some day. For sure. Moist as patrician? Maybe. But definitely not Vimes.
Anyway, I’m having mixed feelings. I’m really sad that there won’t be notes or short stories or excerpts, but I’m glad his wishes were followed.
I’ve been reading and rereading him almost daily for several years now so I feel more connected to him than other authors, even people whose work I’ve read more of. He’s just a part of my day now and I cried for 2 days when he died. I still get a little weepy from time to time. GNU, Pterry.