Today, on 12 March 2016, Sir Terry Pratchett died to Alzheimer's disease. This is, of course, a tragedy to his family and fans of his novels, but we should remember, that Terry himself would not wish for us to be in grief. He would wish for us to be happy that he lived an incredible life, create plenty of masterpieces and brought laughter, joy and happiness to many people's lifes. Rather than mourn his death, let's talk about what this incredible writer brought to us and show support and appreciation to his works and his family.
Discworld. His famous series of novels, that includes 41 books. His greatest creation, the Discworld started as a way to express Terry's opinion on stereotypes and cliches of the fantasy genre. First Discworld novels were purely sarcastic and humoristic, laughing about all silly things we find in popular fantasy stories. Take, for example, the setting: a flat earth, that stands on top of four gargantuan elephants, which rest on the shell of a cosmic turtle. You can see where this is going. The main character of the first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, written in 1983, is Rincewind. He is a wizard who can't even cast a spell. But hey, he is great at running away, at least. However, there are 41 novels. It can't be that 41 novels are just a way to show how silly and outright stupid some common fantasy tropes are. As novels went by, Terry Pratchett started writing more and more seriously, still with lots of humor and satire, but less and less about fantasy, more and more about human nature, society, morale, politics, poverty and wealth, religion and philosophy. Discworld started developing, changing many of it's aspects as Terry kept writing. In a book Guards! Guards!, for example, the protagonist is a captain of city watch. He is a depressed alcoholic with no family who just lost one of his three guards. Yes, there are now only two men who he commands. This book, and the subseries that it started, show some of the best character development in literature. The only way appreciate his art, though, is to read the books. Go, do it now, read them. At least one.
Just some pequilar accomplishments of Sir Terry Pratchet.
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2007, Terry still kept writing despite his brain starting to function worse and worse. With the help of his assistant, Rob Wilkins, Sir Pratchett created many books even in such dire circumstances.
In a book shop called Blackwell's, Terry's books were by far the most shoplifted due to camera placements. So the man started and won a debate with a shop to move his books from the fantasy shelf to the popular shelf, where the camera could very clearly observe a hypothecial thief.
Terry Pratchett received a knighthood in 2009 for services to literature.
Terry Pratchett learnt the art of blacksmithing in order to forge a sword after he received his knighthood.
It is hard to overstate how much effort Terry put into making other's lifes better. Fighting for easier access to medicine for Alzheimer's, especially for those who can't afford to buy them due to an extremely high daily price, for the right to die, funding plenty of research into Alzheimer's and dementia. He even managed to bring changes to NHS rules abut drugs.
Just some quoutes from our beloved Sir and his intricate characters. Enjoy.
The pen is mightier than the sword if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp.
Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
It is said that your life flashes before your eyes jsut before you die. That is true, it's called Life.
If cats looked like frogs we'd realize what nasty, cruel little vastards they are. Style. That's what people remember.
Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you.
Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness always got there first and is waiting for it.
Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.
Humans need fantasy to be human, to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.
This book was written using 100% recycled words.
The opposite of funny isn't serious; the opposite of funny is unfunny.
This is first and foremost what Sir Terry Pratchett himself would want you to do. See what he had to say, dive into the mjestic imagination of this man. There are, of course, 41 books, so it might be difficult to see where to start, but be not afraid, I am here to help you. The sturcture of Discwolrd is divided into several subseries, each of them with a main character(s), a major developing plot(usually), many reoccuring characters and additions to the cast with every book. The first subseries starts with Color of Magic, and is probably the most lighthearted. Rincewind is the main character, and the topics covered usually involve ridiculing lazy fantasy tropes and fantasy stereotypes. Another subseries tells the story of the Night Watch. It starts with the book Guards! Guards! and is a way more serious and sophisticated read. Then there is a series about Witches, which starts with Equal Rites. It's tone is like the previous two combined. Then, a subseries about Death himself. Yes, Death is a character in Discworld. Imagine reading about the Grim Reaper, his life(ha-ha), his thoughts, his character development. You guessed right, it is absolutely fantastic. There are, of course, more, but you should look into them yourself. A particular standout to me is Small Gods, the best book about religion I've ever read. Definitely recommended to start with it, as it isn't a part of any subseries, just a great introduction to Discworld.