Sir Terry Pratchett Succumbs To "the Embuggerance," Aged 66 299
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.
This sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot.
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
He wrote stories that were witty, entertaining - and full of knives.
The essence of Terry Pratchett can be summed up in one of his more frequent observations: that in the eyes of society, living in a vermin-infested slum practically makes you a criminal, but own a whole neighborhood of them and you're a pillar of the community.
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“And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions.”
Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
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Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Informative)
He appeared on a TV show in the UK basically arguing just that. When the time came, he wanted to be able to press a button or whatever and choose himself, and it was long after he started down the road to Alzheimer's that he appeared and argued that.
Actually he barely said a word. He was too far gone down the Alzheimer's route by then, and Tony Robinson (Baldrick) had to say the actual words he'd prepared for him, if I remember correctly.
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Informative)
For those interested, the show I'm talking about, with the man himself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Well, he talked quite a bit in Choosing to Die [wikipedia.org] in 2011, but that is quite a bit earlier.
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Interesting)
It does. But if he was interested in euthanasia tribunals he was probably considering it for himself. So maybe it's for the best.
True, but it does lead to a question: Why a "tribunal"? Unless you're too physically incapacitated to do it yourself, it's relatively easy to buy an oxygen mask and a bottle of compressed nitrogen... put it on, eat a couple of sleeping pills, fall asleep, never wake up. Relatively zero pain, and no mess... *shrug*
IMHO, and in spite of living somewhere where it's actually 100% legal to do it, Euthanasia as policy is at the top of a slippery slope... even though Oregon requires psychiatric approval before an individual does it, very few folks get one before offing themselves. Too many safeguards have been ignored or glossed over, because progress.
Maybe it's just easier to do what we've always done... leave it alone and if someone does it, they do it. Just make certain they didn't get any 'help' (as in, intentional homicide) to get it done.
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If you've suffered a rehabilitating stroke or suffered some other catastrophic illness or injury that renders you incapable of doing the deed, it strikes me as completely unfair to deprive you of the ability to end your life. That's not even counting people who are suffering terminal illnesses.
Creating regulations is the way you eliminate, or at least make far less dangerous the slippery slope.
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True, but it does lead to a question: Why a "tribunal"?
To provide oversight to prevent abuse, such as vulnerable people pressured by relatives for financial reasons.
Unless you're too physically incapacitated to do it yourself ...
By the time most people are ready to off themselves, they are usually incapacitated.
Euthanasia as policy is at the top of a slippery slope...
Forcing people to stay alive against their will is at the bottom of a slippery slope.
Just make certain they didn't get any 'help' (as in, intentional homicide) to get it done.
Except that most people need help. Someone in a coma or with advanced Alzheimer is often no longer capable of doing the deed themselves. That is why we need laws and a process to ensure that compassionate and consensual killing is
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The problem is, sometimes people that are mentally capable of making the decision need help to perform the physical act. Right now, anyone knowingly supplying said help in any way is on the hook for some significant jail time.
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Yes, but you forget just yesterday on Slashdot we had to read about how taking away everyone's gun rights would prevent suicide. When a few people suggested that if someone really want's to kill themselves who are we to get in the way; the "I know what's good for you" types jumped all over them.
They insisted depression is a terrible disease that societal must protect people from. I guess by removing all the sharp objects, and fire arms lest some un-diagnosed individual hurt themselves.
So first if we let p
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True, but it does lead to a question: Why a "tribunal"? Unless you're too physically incapacitated to do it yourself, it's relatively easy to buy an oxygen mask and a bottle of compressed nitrogen... put it on, eat a couple of sleeping pills, fall asleep, never wake up. Relatively zero pain, and no mess... *shrug*
Most suicide reports intentionally fail to mention how exactly they committed suicide, it's a near universally accepted ethics code. Assuming there are suicide attempts that should be stopped, teaching everyone what's effective and painless would be counterproductive, since they're just as likely to be used by the mentally unstable who just learned their girlfriend is breaking up with them as the pain-ridden terminally ill. Of course people figure out ways on their own, but the success rate is not stellar a
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Informative)
there is always some f'tard left wing ...
The strongest opposition to euthanasia comes from right wing religious conservatives. Democrats are more likely to support euthanasia [procon.org] than Republicans. The only state where it is legal is Oregon, a blue state.
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I have no problem with people offing themselves. I reserve the right myself. I fully intend to leave this world before I go through a long miserable painful disease that leaves me unable to enjoy life. I do have a problem with euthanasia which is something else entirely. Suicide is killing yourself, not having someone else do it for you. He had an opportunity to kill himself but waited until he was unable to. Got to be proactive.
Re:This sucks. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Informative)
The problem is that it's so damn difficult to get an easy suicide
Nitrogen tank: $100
Nitrogen refill: $60
Trash bag: $2
I could convert to pounds if that would help. But seriously, death by inert gas* is cheaper than a cheap gun, which is $200.
* OK, nitrogen is not technically inert, but it is functionally so in your lungs.
We put animals down to save them suffering, because it's the kind thing to do.
Except we often use CO2 in a bag to kill them, which is inhumane because they die gasping for breath. That's why you have to use something the body doesn't notice. CO2 buildup is what causes you to feel the need to breathe.
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Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
Ironic, given the bible gives no direct statement against suicide.
The Bible also does not say anything about abortion or embryonic stem cell research. In fact, the story of Esau and Jacob implies that birth, not conception, is what is important. But most people don't read religious works for guidance, they read them to find justification for what they already believe.
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Insightful)
As you have, because you ignored Luke 1:41-44, Psalm 51, Psalm 139, Jeremiah 1:5, and Hosea 12. Those indicate humanity before birth. Interpret as you will, but don't claim the converse as "fact".
Embryonic stem cell research? REALLY? The bible doesn't mention stealing people's credit card information or hijacking airplanes, either, so those must be OK as well.
Are you one of those people who claim that the second amendment only protects muskets (and artillery, obviously)?
Re:This sucks. (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not religious, but curiosity got the best of me so looked up all your citations and I just don't see it:
Luke 1:41-44:
https://www.biblegateway.com/p... [biblegateway.com]
We all know Mary has a magic fetus, and the fact that it's nearness to another fetus, which jumps in the womb in response, seems a special case. Most fetuses aren't exposed to gods.
Psalm 51:
https://www.biblegateway.com/p... [biblegateway.com]
"Shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin" -- so sex is a sin that sets in motion a chain of events that leads to people. That seems pretty thin, especially when the writer near the end talks about how god doesn't care about burnt offerings, and then four lines later about all the burnt offerings he is going to give god. If sex is a sin, so are the products of it. Doing an abortion would be a corrective action and should have god's support.
Psalm 139:
https://www.biblegateway.com/p... [biblegateway.com]
This one seems basically at odds with 51 which decried conception as a dirty nasty sin. Now we're hearing how the writer was "knit together in my mother's womb" and how awesome god is at knitting. When does a ball of yarn become a sweater? That isn't answered here. Is a partially completed garment the same as the marvelous completed garment? That isn't answered here either. What is jarring though, is that right after explaining how god is the uber-knitter, he goes into talking about how much he wished god would help him kill and destroy all his enemies. Psychotic.
Jeremiah 1:5
https://www.biblegateway.com/p... [biblegateway.com]
Sounds like god is talking to a specific person who will be a prophet to all nations. I'm guessing Jeremiah was that dude? Is there any evidence that all people in all times and places were getting this special attention from god, to be prophets to each other? If they all know the same stuff -- why would they have to be prophets to all nations?
Hosea 12
https://www.biblegateway.com/p... [biblegateway.com]
So this sounds like a denunciation of some dude name Ephraim who became rich using scales calibrated in his favor, made a treaty with Assyria, trades with Egypt, and by the way, the people who live in Gilead really suck, they sacrifice bulls! About the only part I can see related to abortion is that Gilead grabbed his brother's heel while in the womb (I assume they are twins, else this gets really crazy), but it comes in this long stream of insults, kind of like calling him a motherfucker even if not literally true. I don't really some much on topic here -- it's just a big long insult and people say all kinds of shit when insulting people.
The meaning of "arms" (Score:3)
That's not what they meant by arms. They consistently wrote about weaponry of all varieties by saying "arms." You're thinking of "small arms" which is also a term in use at the time, but is not the terminology used in the US constitution. Further, at the time, citizens could, and did, own weapons up to and including frigates, cannon and so on. These individuals were *extremely* welcome in militia call-ups and were typically assigned officer rank immediately.
In 1791 (when the bill of rights were ratified)
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The second amendment has nothing to do with artillery
Yes it does. I have a friend that lives in rural Nevada. He owns a howitzer. It is perfectly legal. Why shouldn't it be?
In the rest of the world, we would say "why should it be?"
By this logic, you would allow ordinary people to own tanks, attack helicopters and nuclear weapons too. I cannot see that this is a good idea.
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By this logic, you would allow ordinary people to own tanks, attack helicopters and nuclear weapons too.
Tanks and helicopters are legal. You cannot drive a tank on a public road (the tracks tear up the road surface), but you can keep it on your private property.
I cannot see that this is a good idea.
Why not? How many people are killed every year by privately owned tanks? Why do we need to outlaw something that is causing zero problems for anyone?
Re:This sucks. (Score:5, Interesting)
It does. Suicide is a sin. That's why they would be against it.
Suicide is never directly named a sin in the Bible. In fact, King Saul committed suicide.
Theologically speaking, however, suicide is considered arrogating the right of God to determine when and how you will meet your end and putting oneself on a plane with God is considered at least one deadly sin (Pride).
Which is why we have good Christian people demonstrating for the right to forcibly hold vegetative people alive even when they would not be able to live without artificial assistance and are likely enduring at best a living Hell, because "life" and "living" are 2 different things.
Then again, many of these self-same good Christian people have absolutely no problem with a Death Penalty, even though it removes even the slimmest chance that the person so convicted might wake up one day 50 years hence and repent. Or for that matter, be exonerated.
Re:This sucks. (Score:4, Informative)
Ignorance is bliss.
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You assume that the original KJV translation used the correct translation of the original material, and that our later translations don't. Its not as if the Bibles we have today are an update done from the KJV, they are a fresh translation done from original materials, so yes our understanding of the language may have changed since the 16th century, but you can still go back and cross examine different bible versions - which is why serious bible studies are done with half a dozen bibles on your lap, and Chu
Re: This sucks. (Score:5, Informative)
The "original" KJV contains translation errors, and also translations that are very pointed interpretations of verses that are very vague.
Some examples:
"Lucifer" is a Latin word. The prophet Isaiah did not write in Latin, but in Hebrew. The only reason the word "Lucifer" ever entered Christian vocabulary was because of the more-original-than-KJV Latin formalization of the Bible. When translated to English, that word was left in its Latin form so it would sound more like a proper name (which it is not, as is made obvious by reading the 11 verses before the single verse in the Bible that contains this word).
The greek pneumos means "breath." That's what it means. But through the KJV, it is rendered as "spirit" or "ghost." Grammatical words surrounding the word which could correctly mean "it" are all rendered "he." This makes it very clear, to an English speaker, that the "Holy Spirit" is actually a person. In the Greek texts, it neither says nor implies personhood. The phrase seems to imply a vital animating force...one that all humans have and that can be made more divine. The translation robs us of the poetry in the language and gives us a pointed interpretation that is extremely dubious.
Also, "sozo" means "heal." But it is consistently rendered as "save." All verses that say things like "Jesus the Savior" can be correctly translated as "Jesus the Healer." "saved" implies a boolean state, "heal" implies a sliding scale.
Blah blah, I will stop now because nobody is going to read this or care anyway.
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Furthermore, most of it is suuuuuper boring!
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Where does the bible say suicide is a sin?
It doesn't. You could extrapolate it from "Thou shall not kill", but the Bible does not explicitly say that suicide is a sin. Several suicides are in the Bible, and while some of the victims are depicted as sinners, the act of suicide itself is not depicted as a sin. Some of the suicides are depicted as honorable, including the suicide of Samson.
Re:This sucks. (Score:4, Insightful)
Some of the suicides are depicted as honorable, including the suicide of Samson.
Don't confuse suicide with self-sacrifice. Indeed, you could claim that Jesus committed suicide because he could have gotten out of the crucifixion several times, and chose to allow it - "the lamb" is sacrificed. Samson sacrificed himself in order to bring down the pagan temple of Dagon. He took many Philistine lords with him.
Calling this "suicide" is like saying James Brady tried to commit suicide by jumping in front of a bullet.
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If you are gonna extrapolate from one of the 10 commandments, perhaps you should just read it in the original Hebrew.
IIRC (and its been 30 years since I've read it and I know longer remember any of my Hebrew) the exact translation is more along the lines of "thall shal not murder". Killin' is ok when someone *needs* killin' but no outright murder
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Maybe they're ultimately afraid they might be tempted to take that route when life becomes too unbearable.
Re:This sucks. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:This sucks. (Score:4, Insightful)
There's nothing in our DNA that drives us to avoid killing each other. If anything, our evolution causes us to want to kill "them" (of us vs them) over any number of reasons that are nothing more than clever disguises covering up that we're only try to gain control of limited resources.
Hell, many cultures let the old out to die long before they die of natural causes. If anything, that's the natural path that many species follow and we as a species used to share that model in our culture. It's only when you apply religious conservatism to the discussion that it all goes out of whack. Somehow, people got it in their heads that life is some "precious gift" and everyone must be forced to hang on as long as possible despite the suffering that you have to endure simply because that's what some preacher pushed into your head when you were a kid. It's an artificial construct that goes against the natural order of life.
It's time to let go of primitive superstition. It's time to stop forcing religious beliefs on people who don't want them. It's time to give people the real freedom of choice. If you believe and want to go through the suffering because of your beliefs, fine. Go right ahead. But don't take the choice away from others. If they want to end their life before the suffering really kicks in, that should be their choice, not yours. (Disclaimer: the "you" and "yours" is not directed at a specific individual but at those who are fighting right-to-die laws.)
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I can just picture him finally meeting the Discworld's Death (and the Death of rats squeaking close by), and him choosing to live on the Discworld as his personal afterlife. That
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See his twitter feed : https://twitter.com/terryandro... [twitter.com]
Thanks Sir Terry (Score:5, Interesting)
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Death (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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CATS, CATS ARE NICE.
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The tweet announcing his passing:
— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob)
March 12, 2015
AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
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Meh. The Death of Diskworld was talking in BLOCK CAPITALS long before Morpheus' big sister showed up.
Which isn't to say that Gaiman didn't do a bang up job either. Just that Sir Terry's version came first.
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Neil Gaiman first wrote his version of Death in The Sandman in 1990. Pratchett wrote Mort, in which I believe we first really saw his version of Death, in 1987, so he came first; the OP said "almost any author before him", which I think also allows him to slide over old, obscure short stories.
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Ahem...
On a Pale Horse - Piers Anthony.
Came out same year as Colour of Magic, which does contain Death as a main character as full disclosure.
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Hmmm... not quite the same case, to my mind. Pratchett showed us an impersonal force of the universe that had come to resemble, and ultimately empathise with, the souls that he collected.
Anthony gave use a job description and let us follow the story of one successful applicant. Anthony's Death wasn't learning to be human, he was a human learning how to do the job of Death. It seems like a fine distinction, but it resulted in a completely different narrative.
That said,
Thank you, Terry.. it was an awesome ride with you (Score:5, Insightful)
“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.
Re:Thank you, Terry.. it was an awesome ride with (Score:5, Insightful)
“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.
I've read them all (Score:2)
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To be fair, his talent was recognised - in the UK at least - in the last 10 years or so and he helped cut down the pathetic intellectual snobbery against sci fi and fantasy books by the literary mafia who wouldn't know a decent book if it was tattooed onto their backsides.
Re:I've read them all (Score:5, Funny)
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.
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Yeah, or you could just tattoo the cover.
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Now, if it were tattooed to their backsides, how would they be able to read it? Most literary critics aren't quite that flexible.
I suppose if it were tattooed to all of their backsides, perhaps a few pages per critic, an organized effort could have them read each others' backside-books out loud, so they all can get the whole story. However, that's a significant undertaking, especially considering works like Lord Of The Rings, which would involve several hundred backsides.
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Oh I don't know... many seem to have their head up their ass...
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He was and I have read all his Discworld novels. However I remain somewhat ambivalent since I noticed his abuse of copyright law to gain what I view as an illegal extension to his copyright terms.
What you ask, well some time ago and before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's he started making all his books "co-authored" with his wife. So instead of the 70 year clock starting to tick today, it could easily be another 20 years before Lyn dies.
Good Omens (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Yeah, I didn't particularly care for Discworld, but I liked Good Omens. My wife despised Good Omens but loves most Gaiman.
Sad News... Terry Pratchett, dead at 66 (Score:2)
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Fantasy writer Terry Pratchett was found dead in his home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an English icon.
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That's actually precisely why I stepped up to the plate this time.
Ook? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ook. :(
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Indeed. May I buy you a pint?
The greatest humanist in quite some time (Score:5, Informative)
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
Discworld (Score:3)
We'll be having a game of Ankh-Morpork in his honour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D... [wikipedia.org]
Forty Two (Score:2)
I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe.
A Reminder to grab and enjoy what you can... (Score:3)
It was only 9 years ago that I rad my first Prachett novel. His books came to me at a good time in my life, when things were tough and I needed a smile and to spent time with characters I loved. I am sorry to hear this, although it was announced a number of years ago so I knew it was coming. I hope he knew how much happiness he brought to the world with his stories.
LLAP
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Octarine is real (Score:2)
All the fans knew it was coming for a while now, but with this news the world suddenly seems a lot more grey. I guess octarine isn't quite as imaginary as we all thought.
Gods bless, Terry. You will be sorely missed.
sadness (Score:5)
"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.
Re:sadness (Score:5, Insightful)
Thank you for sharing that. It was like the old man wrote it himself. And I don't think there's any higher commendation.
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Beautiful -- thank you.
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A fitting tribute! Thank you for sharing it.
And thank you Sir Terry, for your wonderful stories.
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That brought a tear to my eye. Hit the style quite nicely.
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Sad Day (Score:2)
Bye Pterry (Score:2)
Thanks for the books & the afp posts.
The librarian says: (Score:3)
Oooooook!
Very emotional (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
So long and thanks for all the fish... (Score:2)
Fuck.
Just when things were starting to look up.
http://www.gizmag.com/alzheime... [gizmag.com]
Do I Have to Turn In My Geek Card? (Score:2)
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He considered 'Nation' to be his finest work.
You shouldn't regret reading anything of his though.
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Ok, since you asked.
His first three novels (in chronological order) are just average fantasy. (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites) I recommend instead the movie "The Colour of Magic" which includes the first two books, was quite well done, and is, frankly, better than the books.
I recommend that newcomers start with Mort, (the fourth book to be published) which is a classic "Death takes a holiday" story and gives you a glimmer of the amazing author Pratchett would become. Then read Reap
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Agree, Good Omens was an exceptional book.
I personally have not read the Nome trilogy yet.
For historical purposes, Strata, published 1981 could be considered a "pre-Discworld", although rooted in science fiction, not fantasy.
"Fantasy author" doesn't begin to cover it. (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:"Fantasy author" doesn't begin to cover it. (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree, and I would add "philosopher" to that list of titles. He could impart the most profound insights, and do it in such a succinct, gentle and entertaining way.
Re:What? (Score:5, Funny)
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It's possible that you have contracted The Embuggerance.
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The Embuggerance - something that leaves you feeling screwed?
Pratchett was one of the great masters of language and words, and with the courage to meet his fate face on, I think. One of the things I will always remember him for is saying - on BBC - that he would 'gnaw the arse of a dead mole' if he thought that might help. Brilliant. Defiant.
Another thing I think a lot of people will remember him for is 'Good Omens'. And The Carpet people. and all the other stories. And the two science fiction books he wrot
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"Nice robe."
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Re:Hazardous to health (Score:4, Informative)
Pratchett's death is the most depressing news for me since I read of Banks' demise.