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Sir Terry Pratchett Succumbs To "the Embuggerance," Aged 66
New submitter sp1nl0ck writes Sir Terry Pratchett, the creator of Discworld, has died aged 66, following a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Sir Terry announced that he was suffering from The Embuggerance in an open letter to fans over seven years ago, and recently had to cancel a planned appearance at the International Discworld Convention last summer, and donated over £500K of his own money to research into the condition. He also spoke in favour of a euthanasia tribunal, the members of which would consider the case of each '...applicant...to ensure they are of sound and informed mind, firm in their purpose, suffering from a life-threatening and incurable disease and not under the influence of a third party'. Sadly, he didn't survive long enough to see such a tribunal — or indeed any kind of assistance for those suffering from an incurable condition who wish to end their own life — come into being. More at the BBC.
A lot.
Funny, thought-provoking, and above all, a great story teller. If you like that sort of thing... side note, my username is a pratchett reference...
Oh, wait. Apparently I just suck at reading comprehension.
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
At least Death should be kind to him.
He made Death more human - and humane - than almost any author before him.
Terry, Sir, just make sure you don't end up cleaning Albert's boots.
“And he goes around killing people?” said Mort. He shook his head. "There’s no justice.”
Death sighed. No, he said,...THERE IS JUST ME.
One of my favorite books, and he co-authored it with Neil Gaiman. Going to be rereading it this weekend.
Terry Pratchett, absolutely fantastic author. You will be missed.
Ook. :(
"Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)
Sir Terry Pratchett was the greatest humanist I knew in my life. ...
He managed to touch the souls of great number of people through his uniquely clear worldview and managed to infuse great human values in the best possible way.
Needless to say, reading and living with his books was one of the most enlightening experiences I have ever had with the written letters.
His wisdom and approach to life will be dearly missed. Him being of the most famoust atheists, I can only say he left this earth forever, to finally settle in our hearts and the souls of those to come after us, growing up to be better human beings, through his books and ideas.
Because ideas never die
RIP Sir Terry Pratchett
Long Live Sir Terry Pratchett
Now, Make Your WISE Move...
To be fair, assuming the decent book had to be read with a mirror, then the entire tattoo would have to be written backwards which is very error prone and curves and saggy skin will make it likely that sentences will be unreadable so identifying a decent book under those circumstances is really hard.
These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
"I would like my pudding now nurse. And then I think I'd like to... write... something... I don't remember what."
Standing in the corner, he waits. The sand slowly flows, but it nears it's end. The old man still glows, as thousands of threads spread away from him.
SQUEAK.
I AGREE. IT IS A SHAME TO SEE HIM THIS WAY.
SQUEAK.
NO. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN.... BUT I CANNOT WAIT TO ASK HIM HOW IT ALL ENDS.
The old man looks up, through them at first... and then he sees them. For once, the smile on the hooded figure's skull is genuine.
"I... I remember you. The anth... ant..."
ANTHROPOMORPHIC PERSONIFICATION.
"Yes, that. We knew each other?"
ONCE. AND WILL AGAIN, SIR.
He so rarely said it, and these feelings... remembering his young aprentice, and beloved daughter. The beautiful child they have.
"There... is a girl, yes?"
SHE IS SPEAKING TO THE AUDITORS, SIR. THEY ARE UNWILLING TO LISTEN.
"Well then. You know what they say, two things you cannot avoid. Taxes and..." He looks into the firey blue eyes, and becomes aware.
SQUEAK.
"Quite right. Is it time already? I have so much left to do."
YOU HAVE GIVEN ALL YOU CAN SIR.
"No, not cancer. Alzheimers."
I AM AWARE.
"So, where is the boy? I remember a boy."
CARRIAGE ACCIDENT.
"Ahh. Never much trusted cars. Or horses."
THEY GET YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.
"Must I?"
SOON. BUT WE MAY SIT HERE AWHILE.
SQUEAK
DO YOU HAVE ANY BISCUITS?
"No. Shame really."
YES.
"Is it truely turtles?"
ALL THE WAY DOWN. I HAVE SEEN THEM.
"Ahh. I would love to see it. Perhaps a small trip before?"
IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE.
"The light is slower there... and there's a monkey...."
ORANGUTAN. SAME PRINCIPLE.
"Yes... will they remember me?"
SQUEAK.
"What was that? I could not hear you."
HE SAYS WE WILL, SIR.
"I never much liked the trouble people had with you. You seem like a nice fellow."
I HAVE MY DAYS.
"Don't we all?"
SOME LESS THAN OTHERS.
"Is it quick?"
YES. AND I BROUGHT THE SWORD. CEREMONY DICTATES IT.
"Ahh. How about a cup of tea?"
I WOULD ENJOY IT. DO YOU PLAY CHESS?
"No. how about checkers?"
And so they sat, two old friends regaling each other, though the old man could not remember all of the details, the cloaked man and his rat filled him in, when it was needed.
I feel like I've lost a member of the family.
I started reading the Discworld novels to my daughter when she was seven years old. She decided that Hogfather was her most favorite novel and brought it to school for book appreciation day in second grade. (Around 2001.) This caused a hasty parent/teacher conference where I was asked pointedly why I was reading books to my grade school daughter where the main character was Death.
A few years later I wrote about this incident to Terry and passed along a question from my daughter -- what's on the other side of the discworld? Is there a bottom discworld, or just a big brass sign that says "content on other side"? [1]
On the incident, Terry responded "Ah, teachers. We used to have ones that were educated. Once you could respect them." and went on to say that The Amazing Maurice which also has Death as a character, won the Carnegie Medal from children's librarians. About the bottom of the discworld, he said there would only be wet rocks and perhaps some specialized form of life.
God, I'm going to miss him.
[1] I was a Laserdisc enthusiast, and daughter knew that this was the message you got when you played the wrong side of a one-sided disc.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
“And he goes around killing people?” said Mort. He shook his head. "There’s no justice.”
Death sighed. No, he said,...THERE IS JUST ME.
WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?
The Reaper Man- Terry Pratchett
Got to get past the silly filter.
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
Pratchett's death is the most depressing news for me since I read of Banks' demise.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
He was a satirist, a master of a fine and under-appreciated art.
Satire in the hands of a master isn't mere travesty. Great satirists traffic in insight, in what is familiar yet goes unnoticed. Travesty makes you laugh at other people, but great satire makes us laugh at ourselves.
And nobody laughs at a joke they don't understand.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.