I was very sad to read today about the death of author Terry Pratchett. He’d been suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s for some years, so it wasn’t particularly surprising, but that didn’t make it any less upsetting.
I’ve probably never mentioned it here, but his books are a regular part of my self-aftercare when playing and traveling. My vacations to various cities have a regular pattern. I meet and play with an interesting domme on an afternoon. I go for a beautiful meal in the evening. And, while enjoying a glass of wine and spacey on post scene endorphins, I read Terry Pratchett over diner. His gentle blend of humor, parody and witty references can make the end of a great day close to perfect.
His books have a great number of strong female characters (Esme Weatherwax, Gytha Ogg, Angua, Tiffany Aching, Susan Sto Helit, etc), but not a lot of kinky references. The most obvious one I could remember comes from The Light Fantastic. He’s just introduced a female warrior into the storyline…
“Now, there is a tendency at a point like this to look over one’s shoulder at the cover artist and start going on at length about leather, tightboots and naked blades.
Words like ‘full’, ‘round’ and even ‘pert’ creep into the narrative, until the writer has to go and have a cold shower and a lie down.
Which is all rather silly, because any woman setting out to make a living by the sword isn’t about to go around looking like something off the cover of the more advanced kind of lingerie catalogue for the specialized buyer.
Oh well, all right. The point that must be made is that although Herrena the Henna-Haired Harridan would look quite stunning after a good bath, a heavy-duty manicure, and the pick of the leather racks in Woo Hun Ling’s Oriental Exotica and Martial Aids on Heroes Street, she was currently quite sensibly dressed in light chain mail, soft boots, and a short sword.
All right, maybe the boots were leather. But not black.”
I’ll leave you an image of another of Sir Terry’s memorable female characters – Adora Belle Dearheart. She’s forceful, opinionated, sarcastic, dresses severely and has been known to put men in hospital with her spiked heels. Just the kind of woman I think my readers would appreciate.
This image is by the artist Rubendevela. Her character is a support and aid to Golems, which explains the large hand holding the ashtray behind her.
Hi Paltego:
Sorry to hear about his passing. I saw his obituary in the New York Times. After reading your favorable review of his work I am tempted to pick up one of his books. Cheers!
hmp
Hey hmp,
His books are definitely light reading. In no way are they high literature or dense academic posturing. But they’re clever and funny and hit just the right emotional notes. What Douglas Adams did for sci-fi I think Terry Prachett did for fantasy.
If you want suggestions to start with I’d do “Guards! Guards!”, “Mort” or “Wyrd Sisters”. They’re all relatively early in his timeline, but written after he fully hit his stride and each represent a starting point for ongoing storylines. If you like those then go back to the first book (The Color of Magic) and read forward from there.
Alternatively he wrote a book called ‘Good Omens” with Neil Gaiman which is brilliant and stands alone. If you just want an idea of his style and humor, that’s another great one to start with.
-paltego
Many thanks for the recommendations Paltego! As it happens I dropped by Barnes and Noble yesterday and found the Terry Pratchett section. I picked up a few of his early books because I didn’t know how important it was to read them in order. Apparently that doesn’t matter very much. I couldn’t find “The Color Of Magic” or “The Light Fantastic” so I started with “Wyrd Sisters” which I am very much enjoying. I also picked up “Mort”, “Equal Rites” and “Good Omens” as I like Neil Gaiman.
“Wyrd Sisters” is highly imaginative and extremely funny so far. If Terry Gilliam started ghostwriting for J.R.R. Tolkien we might end up with something like the Discworld series.
Thanks for introducing me to a great new author! Well new to me anyway. I think I am going to very much enjoy exploring Discworld.
What a lovely post. I’ve yet to read The Light Fantastic (most of the Discworld books I’ve consumed seem to be more recent-ish, with an emphasis on the witches, who I adore much more than the Ankh-Morpork storylines), but that passage is delightful.
The world’s a bit poorer for his passing, but I’m confident that his books will live on and delight for another century.
I’m a big fan of the witches sequence of stories that he did. Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad and Lords and Ladies are three of my favorite books of his. Esme Weatherwax and Gytha Ogg are two of the most interesting characters he developed. However, I’m also a sucker for the City Guards storylines, as well as the Rincewind character.
If you’ve not read the Tiffany Aching stories then I’d strongly recommend them. They’re part of the witches storyline, but sold as stories for young adults. I avoided them for a while because of that, but really enjoyed them when I finally tried them out. They didn’t seem to me to be particularly different (in terms of complexity) to the mainline Discworld stories.
The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic are clearly books where he’s finding his feet. I like them but they’re more a parody of other books than stories in their own right. They lack the complexity and layers of the later books. However, from those two onwards, I have a really hard time picking a favorite.
I’m very sad that he’s no longer around, but I’m happy he left his stories and the world he created open. Maybe I’m weird, but I like the fact he didn’t feel the need to close off storylines or kill off characters. I don’t want another author to carry the stories on. I just feel happy that the world he created is out there still, with the Great A’Tuin still swimming through space. As you say, his books can live on along with the characters and world he created.
-paltego
IIRC, there are several references to the interesting association of the Patrician and some of the Seamstress Guild members. Also, The Fifth Elephant had a funny bit about a shop that does rubber castings.
Hmmm. I don’t remember the Patrician references. The only one that sticks in my mind for him was something about the guild leaders expecting him to be inclined towards needles and whips and young ladies in dungeons. Which, in moderation, was perfectly fine and expected. Yet they were disappointed his only vice seemed to be a fondness for an aunt and his elderly dog wuffles. Of course in the latter stories he’s associated with the vampire Lady Margolotta.
I do remember the jokes about the rubber castings. Throughout the books there are some odd sly allusions like that, but none came readily to mind when writing the post :). Now I think about it there was also a boot fetishist that gets referenced in Witches Abroad when he’s doing the Wizard of Oz parody, with the dwarves that are after the Gytha Ogg’s boots.
-paltego