Author Topic: Terry Pratchett News  (Read 26462 times)

gelee

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on: December 12, 2007, 06:10:22 PM
Does anyone know if this is legit? http://www.paulkidby.com/news/index.html
The website has an apparent message from Mr. Pratchett, stating that he has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers.
It looks like it's the real deal, but nothing on the "Official" Terry Pratchett website, or from his publishers.
Damn shame if true.
« Last Edit: December 12, 2007, 09:30:45 PM by gelee »



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Reply #1 on: December 12, 2007, 06:52:52 PM
S'truth - here's a Guardian article confirming.


Well, this sucks.

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gelee

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Reply #2 on: December 12, 2007, 06:59:00 PM
Well, this sucks.
My sentiments exactly. 



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Reply #3 on: December 12, 2007, 07:10:57 PM
Is it just me or do the prolific tend to go young? It seems like he's confident he'll be able to finish another two, or write enough that they can be finished by others, but it'll be hard to let that world in his head go.

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Reply #4 on: December 12, 2007, 07:52:32 PM
I have this incredible tendancy to pick up authors or musicians who have had or are about to have their careers cut short. 

The most extreme case of this was Kirsty MacColl who was run over by a motor boat just about six months after I started listening to her.  I found out what happened about a year later.



Talia

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Reply #5 on: December 12, 2007, 08:01:07 PM
Really terrible news. I was just shocked :/ On the other hand, the fact that he is a writer and undoubtedly has a very active and sharp mind should help him fight off the ravages better than your average person, I would think. So I'm trying to be optimistic.



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Reply #6 on: December 12, 2007, 09:15:20 PM
There are stories on the online front pages of the Guardian (previously linked) and the Times (of London).

Gelee — maybe a title change would be in order.

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gelee

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Reply #7 on: December 12, 2007, 09:36:56 PM

Gelee — maybe a title change would be in order.
Good point.  I knocked the "?" out of it.  Let me know if you think it should be ammended further.
Really terrible news. I was just shocked :/ On the other hand, the fact that he is a writer and undoubtedly has a very active and sharp mind should help him fight off the ravages better than your average person, I would think. So I'm trying to be optimistic.
That's exactly why I was so shocked to hear the news.  I just hope he has plenty of time left with his family. 



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Reply #8 on: December 12, 2007, 09:54:23 PM
I normally don't read fantasy, but ever since my little sister insisted I read the Discworld series, I have come to greatly admire the man and his work. It's always when someone who is creative and spreads joy to millions like he did if afflicted with a serious illness.

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Reply #9 on: December 12, 2007, 10:51:37 PM
First one I read was The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. I don't think I'd ever laughed as much at a book before or since, with a possible tie to HHGTTG. Granted, I was in middle school, so I got a lot of "he's gone mad and reverted to elementary school" looks when I tried to get other kids to read it, due to the title.

I don't think I'd be as funny as I am (sometimes) now if I hadn't read it and the others.

Gelee — Maybe just put something like "Terry Pratchett — Not dead, but has Alheimer's"?

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Reply #10 on: December 12, 2007, 11:22:08 PM
The first Terry Pratchett book I read was "Reaper Man", which I picked up on a whim in an airport. I was 15, and flying for the first time without my parents, to visit my grandparents in Sydney. Over the next two weeks, I bought and read each of the books he had released at the time (I was a really fast reader as a teenager. I can't do it anymore).

I hope he has many more years ahead of him - not necessarily writing, that's less important, just years of being alive and aware and able to enjoy himself.



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Reply #11 on: December 12, 2007, 11:25:29 PM
God, this is sad news.  I've read a limited number of Terry Pratchett books, but enjoyed what I read.  My daughter loves his "Is That My Cow?" Discworld picture book.


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Reply #12 on: December 17, 2007, 07:45:03 PM
I'm obeying PTerry's injunction not to write him off just yet. I've been a fan since about 1990 and managed to get my Mum, who normally wouldn't touch fantasy or sci-fi with a fifty foot pole, into this. We working on converting my Dad at the moment but he doesn't read too much and is busy with Alexander Kent's canon at the moment.



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Reply #13 on: December 18, 2007, 03:07:57 PM
The first Terry Pratchett book I read was "Reaper Man", which I picked up on a whim in an airport. I was 15, and flying for the first time without my parents, to visit my grandparents in Sydney. Over the next two weeks, I bought and read each of the books he had released at the time (I was a really fast reader as a teenager. I can't do it anymore).

I hope he has many more years ahead of him - not necessarily writing, that's less important, just years of being alive and aware and able to enjoy himself.

My first one was Moving Pictures, and I read it so many times that the cover's gone tatty and the pages are yellowed and the spine is bowed (even though I don't bend back books -- I find that a travesty).  I will continue to enjoy every Pratchett book that comes out in the next few years, and keep reading them over and over again after he's gone.

God, this is sad news.  I've read a limited number of Terry Pratchett books, but enjoyed what I read.  My daughter loves his "Is That My Cow?" Discworld picture book.

I read it to my daughter, but she's not quite old enough to get it just yet.

The "Where's My Cow" moment in "Thud", though, is mega-awesome.  (The part at the climax.)

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Reply #14 on: December 18, 2007, 04:40:17 PM
God, this is sad news.  I've read a limited number of Terry Pratchett books, but enjoyed what I read.  My daughter loves his "Is That My Cow?" Discworld picture book.

I read it to my daughter, but she's not quite old enough to get it just yet.

The "Where's My Cow" moment in "Thud", though, is mega-awesome.  (The part at the climax.)

Oooooooooooooo.  I haven't yet read Thud.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks!


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Reply #15 on: December 18, 2007, 09:20:07 PM
God, this is sad news.  I've read a limited number of Terry Pratchett books, but enjoyed what I read.  My daughter loves his "Is That My Cow?" Discworld picture book.

I read it to my daughter, but she's not quite old enough to get it just yet.

The "Where's My Cow" moment in "Thud", though, is mega-awesome.  (The part at the climax.)

Oooooooooooooo.  I haven't yet read Thud.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks!

"Where's My Cow" was introduced in "Thud" as the book Sam Vimes reads to his son every night at 6pm.

No.  Matter.  What.

He sets the stage in the first section with a great cross-city "chase" so the payoff at the end is that much better.

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Reply #16 on: January 23, 2008, 05:04:01 AM
My first one was Moving Pictures, and I read it so many times that the cover's gone tatty and the pages are yellowed and the spine is bowed (even though I don't bend back books -- I find that a travesty).  I will continue to enjoy every Pratchett book that comes out in the next few years, and keep reading them over and over again after he's gone.
I did a "book report" presentation on Moving Pictures for English class in high school--we had to dress up as someone from our book and talk about the story from the point of view of that character. So, of course, into class I marched as Gaspode.

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Reply #17 on: January 25, 2008, 04:03:02 AM
My first one was Moving Pictures, and I read it so many times that the cover's gone tatty and the pages are yellowed and the spine is bowed (even though I don't bend back books -- I find that a travesty).  I will continue to enjoy every Pratchett book that comes out in the next few years, and keep reading them over and over again after he's gone.
I did a "book report" presentation on Moving Pictures for English class in high school--we had to dress up as someone from our book and talk about the story from the point of view of that character. So, of course, into class I marched as Gaspode.
How did you dress like a terrier??

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Reply #18 on: January 25, 2008, 06:21:22 AM
My first one was Moving Pictures, and I read it so many times that the cover's gone tatty and the pages are yellowed and the spine is bowed (even though I don't bend back books -- I find that a travesty).  I will continue to enjoy every Pratchett book that comes out in the next few years, and keep reading them over and over again after he's gone.
I did a "book report" presentation on Moving Pictures for English class in high school--we had to dress up as someone from our book and talk about the story from the point of view of that character. So, of course, into class I marched as Gaspode.
How did you dress like a terrier??

I think in this case impersonation would be more a matter of smell...

eww.

 :P



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Reply #19 on: January 25, 2008, 09:39:36 AM
My first one was Moving Pictures, and I read it so many times that the cover's gone tatty and the pages are yellowed and the spine is bowed (even though I don't bend back books -- I find that a travesty).  I will continue to enjoy every Pratchett book that comes out in the next few years, and keep reading them over and over again after he's gone.
I did a "book report" presentation on Moving Pictures for English class in high school--we had to dress up as someone from our book and talk about the story from the point of view of that character. So, of course, into class I marched as Gaspode.
How did you dress like a terrier??

I think in this case impersonation would be more a matter of smell...

eww.

 :P

I would have walked in and raised my leg to the teacher's desk.



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Reply #20 on: January 26, 2008, 01:11:58 AM
This is very, very sad news; but, as Talia says, I am holding out that his creativity and writing help him stave off the disease. There's a lot of progress being made in holding Alz. at bay, esp. if you catch it early; so, I think he's got many years and many books left in him.

My first book was "The Color of Magic," and I was pretty immediately in love with the world. I've read almost all of his work now, with the exception of a scant few I just haven't been able to get my hands on, and he's one of my all-time favorite authors. He's certainly my favorite humorist and my favorite political commentator in the SF genre, and he manages to get those two things to be complimentary instead of forced. That's talent.



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Reply #21 on: January 30, 2008, 01:24:17 AM
My first one was Moving Pictures, and I read it so many times that the cover's gone tatty and the pages are yellowed and the spine is bowed (even though I don't bend back books -- I find that a travesty).  I will continue to enjoy every Pratchett book that comes out in the next few years, and keep reading them over and over again after he's gone.
I did a "book report" presentation on Moving Pictures for English class in high school--we had to dress up as someone from our book and talk about the story from the point of view of that character. So, of course, into class I marched as Gaspode.
How did you dress like a terrier??
Nondescript gray sweatshirt and pants, and I made myself a pair of mongrel dog ears. Also sported an atrocious accent while crawling around on the floor trying to make Gaspodey speeches from note cards.

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Heradel

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Reply #22 on: January 31, 2008, 12:26:14 AM
A bit of life imitating his art — Going Postal come to life.

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Reply #23 on: May 10, 2008, 05:10:35 AM
I wrote this article about this whole thing. It contains a link to his speech on the matter, in case you haven't heard/read it yet.

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Reply #24 on: May 10, 2008, 06:52:13 AM
Thanks for bumping the thread.  As it happens, I just finished my first Pratchett book, Jingo - I picked it up at a used bookstore, figuring I may as well jump head-first into the middle of the Discworld series.

Pratchett's younger than my parents.  This isn't supposed to be happening to him, dammit.  I hope he has a couple of good years left in him.

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