I Miss Terry Pratchett

xosc

I'm sure terry pratchett, were he alive, would not appreciate the ai gif on this otherwise interesting article

simonw

Like many Pratchett fans I have not read the last published Discworld book, The Shepherd's Crown , because then I will have read them all. The author of this piece hasn't read the Witches books! I'm jealous, they still have so much great Pratchett to get through.

redfloatplane

I really wish we had gotten Prachett on LLMs. I often wonder what he would have written about today's world. A side note, if the author reads this: I really like your site and its design, but I find the font really difficult to read. (Edit: switching off `-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;` makes it significantly more legible for me (Safari on a 110dpi panel)

vintagedave

What a beautifully written article. > What I miss, selfishly, is the next book. There were always going to be more. > What I miss, less selfishly, is whatever Pratchett-shaped object is supposed to be reaching teenagers now, and isn’t. I feel the first keenly. I have put off a re-read of Pratchett for several years now: I want to forget as much as possible, to have the pleasure of discovery again. But I have read them all so many times I know it will all be familiar. I don't know what teenagers read today. I hope Pratchett is still there. Even as an adult, I found his writing encouraged a kind of kindness in me. He had a way of understanding human nature and, with zero preaching, making you consider how people different from you felt. I still remember when I encountered Cheery the first time and how beautifully Pratchett navigated the intricacies of gender. I was an adult who already believed in kindness, with friends who have their own experiences of gender and from whom I learned and who I tried to support, yet he still taught me something.

N_Lens

Just recently read 'Making Money' and it was a blast!

crawshaw

My eight year old found a Terry Pratchett book of mine on the shelf the other day. He is a little too young to read them today but I realized I get to enjoy Pratchett all over again through him.

preinheimer

I discovered Terry Pratchett's books my summer in New York. I was a university student, and I'd gotten a job at eDonkey doing technical support. I lived in a crappy apartment in Brooklyn (this was circa 2004 or so), and worked near Union Square. Quite a few days after work, or just on a weekend adventure I'd go to a bookstore a few blocks south of work and grab another Discworld book, and a slice of pizza from my favourite pizza shop labelled "Rays". I'd read some in a park, and explore. I didn't know a lot of people in the city, filling days with Terry Pratchett was a great joy.

yurishimo

What a wonderful article! Despite being a huge fantasy fan, Pratchett has not yet come across my nightstand. I think that changes soon! I’m going to stop in my local bookstore and see if they have anything. Regarding the authors point about current authors, I think Brandon Sanderson is really trying his best to live up to the mantle left behind by the great fantasy authors of the 20th century. Not all of his books that I’ve read have been bangers but considering he writes multiple novels a year across a wide variety of fantasy and sci-fi subgenres, that’s somewhat to be expected. I know reading isn’t as popular now that screens have become so engrained into our daily lives, but there are absolutely kids out there getting stuck into books and it’s never been a better time to be a writer given the access of the internet and the ability for an author to promote their work and showcase their storytelling creativity through the medium of social media.

Aaargh20318

I still haven’t read Raising Steam. One last time to experience a new Discworld novel, I’m saving it for a rainy day.

ipeev

That font is too annoying to read. Probably fine for AIs thou.

mistic92

I have read Discworld series 3 times and I'm thinking to read it all again. I wish there were movies based on Discworld but done right.

ohmahjong

Man, I really miss Terry Pratchett too. He has been my favourite author for as long as I can remember (maybe Roald Dahl before that?). It helped having such a volume of work to go through at the time in my life where I was reading the most. I swear he has the most re-readable books too; so many small details and jokes that would be missed on a first pass. GNU Terry Pratchett.

meander_water

Lovely sentiment in the article, which was unfortunately AI generated. Can we start tagging titles in HN with [AI-generated] or something? I know some people have no problem with it, but it might help others (like me) to steer clear

johndhi

Huge fan as a kid and enjoyed even the disc world computer game. But when I pick it up now I find the writing too ponderous to enjoy.

ChrisMarshallNY

I have everything he wrote (which includes a number of non-Discworld books, like Johnny and the Bomb , and The Bromeliad Trilogy ). I didn't especially like the Science of Discworld books that much, but he didn't really write them. One character that showed up in every one of his Discworld books -to a point- was Death. After Sir Terry got his diagnosis, I noticed that Death stopped showing up in the books.

shmoil

The font on this website is unreadable. I read the first 20 or so books in the Discworld series, but I cannot read this website.

eeeeeie

The really sad thing is that his later works reveal the decline in his mental faculties. They're not anywhere near as clever and incisive as his earlier books.

sbinnee

Granny might not be for teenagers but she is the wise for adults

noir_lord

In a very literal sense I wouldn’t have been the man I am if 9 year old me hadn’t stumbled onto a Discworld novel in the late 80’s. Pratchett’s essential humanism shone (and sometimes shouted) through every page and satirically he was biting but never bitter. He is without doubt and far away my favourite writer (apologies to Iain M Banks though I’m sure he’d have understood). I’ve re-read Hogfather every Christmas since it came out. I was an unsure 17 year old who was uncertain how life would turn out, Now I read it as someone with a family and clear sense of who I am, neither of which 17 year old me would have quite believed possible. GNU Sir Terry Pratchett.

Hfuffzehn

I miss him too. Even though I had the experiences he discribes with Douglas Adams first before discovering Terry Pratchett.