Terry Pratchett had a fearless attitude about his own demise, and a scathing attitude towards leaving legacies. Also, Pratchett loved appropriating and playfully twisting cultural references, particularly, famous lines from poetry and plays. So reading his novels is a bit like playing literary Cluedo, with evidence hidden all over for the well-read reader to discover. If you want to know what Pratchett though about, Life, Death, the Universe and Everything (to borrow from Douglas Adams) then read his novels again and look deeper. Authors often work their philosophies and beliefs into their novels, speaking through characters or narrators. Some, like William Gibson, go one step further and take the guesswork out of it by explaining all in a collection of essays. But I must say, it’s much more fun to play spot-the-allusion with Pratchett’s novels. (Continue reading…)
The death of Terry Pratchett
After Terry Pratchett’s death, on 12 March 2015 (aged 66), his daughter Rhianna tweeted from her father’s Twitter account:
“AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER. Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night. The End.” I have been rereading all of the Discworld novels over the past few weeks to remind myself again why I like them, and in doing so, I found out where those words come from. And obvious, it ain’t. (Continue reading…)
SEVEN CIRCUMSTANCES 
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