The world lost one of its greatest writers the other day. After a decade-long struggle against early-onset Alzheimer’s, the comic fantasist Sir Terry Pratchett passed away at the age of 66. In his lifetime, he wrote over forty Discworld novels that combined fantasy with the many branches of comedy; he wrote a good number stand-alone or non-series novels. Aside from his knighthood and OBE, his output earned him a number of awards, including a British Books Awards, a Locus Award, a Carnegie Medal, a Hugo nomination (though he recused himself to enjoy Worldcon without stressing over the award), a World Fantasy Award, and a good number more.
I have yet to review a Pratchett novel on this blog—indeed, they may seem far from my usually fare but I used to read a lot of comic fantasy, especially in high school and college. Even after I burnt out on “serious” contemporary fantasy, I kept buying and reading fantasies of the comic sort. I’d pick one up every year as my annual lazy-summer comic fantasy read, and remember every one I bought, remember picking up those bright covers in the now-defunct Borders bookstores. There’s about a half-dozen of them resting on the shelf behind me. To me, they are all those summer afternoons and evenings I spent reading on the back patio or porch of whatever relative I was visiting. Like summer, Pratchett’s books are joyous, and bright, and sometimes absurd, much like the above photograph of the great author.
The first Terry Pratchett novel I ever read was a Science Fiction Book Club edition of Good Omens, chosen because it was co-authored with Neil Gaiman. I was well acquainted with Gaiman, but was pleased to discover Pratchett. It’s a wonderful book, smart, and wise, and most of all funny in the unique British style, with both authors so in tune with each other that it’s impossible for me to tell where one author stopped and the other picked up. Wanting more, I snatched up several compilations of Pratchett’s first Discworld novels from ye olde book Club, and found them not bad but less refined and not as punchy—their humor not as strong or sure, their pacing slow and less elaborate. Discworld was established in bits and pieces, elements added in each successive book, and the early years lack many of the series’ stalwarts. But I tried again a few years later and was rewarded by Pratchett’s later accomplishments.
Many of those are top-shelf material, showing much insight into the human condition as they take jabs at society from the topsy-turvy lens of the Discworld. Monstrous Regiment deals with feminism, classism, patriotism, and war-mongering, and as you may expect it was released in the months after the Iraq War started. Unseen Academicals combines humanity’s love of sports with its irrational hatred of minorities, the fear and mistrust of those who are different. Going Postal and Making Money are satires of bureaucracies and governmental functions we take for granted. The city watch books, from Guards, Guards to Thud!, show the development of one Sam Vimes from disillusioned drunkard to doting father and respected aristocrat. Individually, the books often stumble or falter and not every joke is a success—the fate of comedy, a subjective and personal element. But taken as a collective, Pratchett’s bibliography has no equal.
He was a humorist who wrote without malice or spite, even as he satirized the deep, dark truths of everyday society and savaged human foibles. His comedies are a reflection of our own world—both causing us to think and causing us to laugh. (Well, at the least, to chuckle or smile.) Battling through the dementia, Pratchett continued to write, and write, and write, leaving in his wake a wealth of material. He was writing up to the bitter end, with several collections, re-releases, and one more new Discworld novel slated to come out later this year. In fact, he wrote a good number of books in the past few years. Reviews were not kind to the latest of them, and in the wake of his passing it seems both petty of the reviewers and so damnably cruel of Alzheimer’s.
His Twitter account’s final tweets are a sad yet fitting capstone to his life:
A few articles in remembrance:
- NPR: Author Terry Pratchett Was No Stranger To Death
- Tor.com: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Might Be The Highest Form of Literature on the Planet
- The Guardian: Neil Gaiman: ‘Terry Pratchett isn’t jolly. He’s angry’
- The Guardian (again): Terry Pratchett in quotes: 15 of the best
- Huffpo: Sir Terry Pratchett Dead: Words Of Wisdom From Great Author On Living With Alzheimer’s Disease
- Buzzfeed: 26 Discworld Quotes About Life, The Universe, And Everything
Rabindranauth said:
Making Money was actually the very first contemporary adult fantasy I’ve read. I crashed and burned on it so badly I threw away my copy.
Its been years, but the outpouring of grief makes it clear I need to take another crack at Discworld. I organized a group read of Guards! Guards! for April 1st. It will be interesting to see how it goes.
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admiral.ironbombs said:
Making Money is an odd one to start the series with… it’s not bad but one of his weaker novels from the 2000s, starring a character from the superior Going Postal. I can see that one not being a good introduction. And the series’ humor in general is very quirky British.
Guards! Guards! is one of the better books in the series—early enough that it doesn’t reference a ton of Discworld characters and history, but late enough that the series had established its own style and identity.
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Rabindranauth said:
Guards! Guards! has a landslide of recommendations as the best starting place behind it. Going Postal also, but I went for Guards! Guards! over it because it’s earlier; like you say, much less was established, so you’re not so late to the party you’re left awkward, hah.
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realthog said:
A nice memorial — thanks.
In his lifetime, he wrote over forty novels that combined fantasy with the many branches of comedy; a good number were set in the Discworld he created, a comedic take on the fantasy genre.
He wrote 41 Discworld novels, plus others. I think the total came to about 70.
I like the early Discworld novels too. Among the later novels, I found myself annoyed by the few in which, as he admitted, he was merely producing something to please the fans (like The Last Continent, because everyone wanted another Rincewind novel).
I love the pic of Terry with the magnum. The first time I met him was at one of the Microcon gatherings organized by the SF group at Exeter University. He was the first GoH the students had had who’d asked for a fee, and the students had quailed. It turned out the fee he wanted was a bottle of gin to drink over the weekend.
A few years later, my then wife and I were walking down the street in Exeter when who should we see walking toward us but Terry. He was in town for a bookshop signing session, had arrived early, and had discovered the bookshop wasn’t planning to give him lunch . . . and that he’d left his credit card at home. Amid laughter, off to the nearest pub we went for, golly, pints and cheese rolls all round . . .
It’s been a pretty sad couple of days since I learned the news. I’d thought the Alzheimers would give him a few years longer.
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admiral.ironbombs said:
Thanks for commenting John — it’s memories like those you have to cherish.
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fromcouchtomoon said:
Good Omens, via Neil Gaiman, was my most recent venture into the Pratchett world, with a couple of ventures into Discworld as a kid. Not a huge fan like so many other readers, but it’s a sad loss, nonetheless.
I’ve got some Pratchett spambot in my Twitter feed that always spits out his clever quotables and reminds me I should have paid his Discworld more attention.
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admiral.ironbombs said:
Good Omens is a good gateway drug for the Gaiman fan… I think you may enjoy Monstrous Regiment if you were to try Pratchett again. As a funnybook some of the jokes are kind of predictable, but it was a very timely satire of contemporary issues.
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Cavershamragu said:
A fine tribute – and a great reminder of why books, ideas and jokes matter to people.
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Jesse said:
A nice tribute to one of fantasies greatest authors, ever. But I can’t help think you’re selling him short, Chris!! 🙂 He was more than humor. Certainly puns, slapstick, situational comedy etc. were the mode, but beneath the funny exterior was real insight into the bright and dark spots of life. While I agree Going Postal is a better place to start, Making Money is brilliant satire of the current state of capitalist economy. The symbolic usage of the clown just doesn’t get any better, for example. I understand why you enjoy the Guards! Guards! side of Pratchett’s work (it is, after all, fully engaged with epic fantasy of olde), but there are so many political angles to all of Pratchett’s work its tough to define as wholly comedy. Don’t be fooled by the jokes! 🙂
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admiral.ironbombs said:
I very much agree Jesse, which is why I think his bibliography is stronger as a whole—reading through his work, you start to see the pure genre satire replaced with more insightful commentary on real-world society. I’ve seen many of the books I mentioned in my post, particularly Monstrous Regiment and Making Money, called out for not being funny enough. As pure funnybooks, I think the jokes aren’t up there with Pratchett’s best. But that’s undervaluing some very timely and pointed satires—Monstrous Regiment is a wicked-sharp riposte of the Iraq War, and Making Money chose to tackle the inanities of the banking and financial system right around the time it collapsed. The man’s keen insight meant that even weak comedies could be smart philosophies.
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