#gnu sir terry pratchett

[vysogotaofcorvo]

IN A DISTANT and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part . . .

See . . .

"GNU Sir Terry Pratchett" - L-Space Wiki / Ursula K. LeGuin / "Terry Pratchett" - Wikipedia / "GNU" - Urban Dictionary / Going Postal by Terry Pratchett / Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett / Brandon Sanderson / Paul Kidby / The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

[britcision]

All of the early Watch books can be scaled thusly:

Carrot has Plot Armour and doesn’t know it, so genuinely believes the world works the same way for him as it does for everyone and all he has to do is remind them to be good people

Colon and Nobby can see and acknowledge Carrot’s Plot Armour (after a few experiences during which they are certain he’s about to die) and are completely certain that they don’t have Plot Armour and will face consequences

Colon and Nobby ABSOLUTELY also have Plot Armour but they’ve seen what happens to people without it enough to avoid testing it at all costs

[tyrograph]

Happy birthday, sir.

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

HERE I'VE BEEN MEANING TO SHARE THIS, for those of you have not read the Good Omens book (you should) or skipped the authors' notes on each other (go back and read them!!), I want you to read Sir Terry Pratchett's words on @neil-gaiman's writing.

"Well, he's no genius. He's better than that. He's not a wizard, in other words, but a conjurer.

Wizards don't have to work. They have their hands, and the magic happens. But conjurers, now... conjurers work very hard. They spend a lot of time in their youth watching, very carefully, the best conjurers of their day. They seek out old books of trickery and, being natural conjurers, read everything else as well, because history itself is just a magic show. They observe the way people think, and the many ways in which they don't. They learn the subtle use of springs, and how to open mighty temple doors at a touch, and how to make the trumpets sound.

And they take centre stage and amaze you with flags of all nations and smoke and mirrors, and you cry: 'Amazing! How does he do it? What happened? (...)'

And in the back row we, the other conjurers, say quietly: 'Well done. Isn't that a variant of the Prague Levitating Sock? Wasn't that Pasqual's Spirit Mirror, where the girl isn't really there? But where the hell did that flaming sword come from?'

And we wonder if there may be such a thing as wizardry, after all...

(...) I remember on one US Good Omens tour walking round a comics shop. (...) I wandered around the shelves looking at the opposition. That's when I realised he was good. There's a delicacy of touch, a subtle scapel, which is the hallmark of his work.

And when I heard the premise of American Gods I wanted to read it so much that I could taste it... When I read Coraline, I saw it as an exquisitely drawn animation; if I close my eyes I can see how the house looks, or the special dolls' picnic. No wonder he writes scripts now.

Have fun. We did. We never thought about the money until it went for auction and the big numbers started to get phoned in. Guess which one of us was amazingly cool about that. Hint: It wasn't me."

(I apologise for any typos that might have crept in at this point I don't know what I'm doing BUT GO READ THE GOOD OMENS BOOK IF YOU LOVED THE SHOW YOU'LL LOVE THE BOOK TOO HEHE)

[twasjane]

It's so strange to reread old articles and descriptions of Discworld and seeing it described as "weird" or "whacky" or "strange" because... It's really not? It's one of the most down to earth fantasy series ever created. The world may contain fantasy creatures and settings but they're so well thought of, so grounded in experiences and a world either directly experienced by the author or one he read about that... It's not in the LEAST bit whacky?

I've been a fan since 1998 when I was a teenager and it ALWAYS struck me as a really ridiculous label stuck to this series. Clearly by people who'd never really engaged with fantasy as a genre.

And yeah, for years literary critics dismissed Pratchett's work because he owned the fantasy label and didn't shy away from his genre. He was a thoughtful, funny writer on par with Dickens- but he wasn't truly appreciated until the last few years of his life.

[waxscentedcandles]

"Did you bring a weapon, Tonk — Magda?"

"No, Polly."

"No item of any sort with a certain weaponlike quality?"

"No, Polly."

"Anything, perhaps, with an edge?"

"Oh, you mean this?"

"Yes, Magda."

"Well, a woman can carry a knife, can't she?"

"It's a sabre, Magda. You're trying to hide it, but it's a sabre."

"But I'm only using it like a knife, Polly."

"It's three feet long, Magda."

"Size isn't important, Polly."

"Nobody believes that."

[bloodinkandashes]

My fatal flaw is that I genuinely don't think you can like the Discworld books and be a bad person.

[cheerfulomelette]

"...And that's what your holy men discuss, is it?" [asked Granny Weatherwax.]

"Not usually. There is a very interesting debate raging at the moment on the nature of sin. for example," [answered Mightily Oats.]

"And what do they think? Against it, are they?"

"It's not as simple as that. It's not a black and white issue. There are so many shades of gray."

"Nope."

"Pardon?"

"There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."

"It's a lot more complicated than that--"

"No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts."

"Oh, I'm sure there are worse crimes--"

"But they starts with thinking about people as things..."

-- Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett.

[fromthedeskofcripslock]

It would appear that Huckleberry understands that Discworld Death has a soft spot for cats.

[bestwizzard]

[britcision]

GUYS I GOT THE NEW PRATCHETT AUDIOBOOKS AND THEY MADE DEATH’S VOICE SUPREMELY FUCKABLE I DO NOT THINK I WILL SURVIVE

[sarkywoman]

"Putting up a statue to someone who tried to stop a war is not very, um, statuesque. Of course, if you had butchered five-hundred of your own men out of arrogant carelessness, we'd be melting the bronze already."

- ‘Jingo’, Terry Pratchett

[iamthespineofmybook]

Thinking This book contains some. Whether you try it at home is up to you.

--Sir Terry Pratchett, Nation afterword

[detectivehoodie]

Happy Ineffable May 10th !! 🥂🌍🪽

I don't have fan content to post as of now, but I may have fanart later!! This show (and book) has legitimately changed my life for the better and I'll never truly be able to describe how much it means to me. Time to binge watch it for the 6th time, wahoo!!

[chekhovs-tantrum]

There's a parallel moment in both Thud! and Nona the Ninth that brings me to tears just talking about it (vague spoilers for both)

The setup is that our main character has been possessed by a horror they don't quite understand. They're falling apart in mind and body. It would be much, much easier - and maybe even better for everyone - to lay down and give up and die. The pain and madness are blurring everything.

And then someone reminds them about a small being they love very much. Bad things will happen to this small bean if they don't survive this moment.

And that realization launches them into turbo survival mode.

What I'm saying is that my favorite trope is "uncomplicated love that carries the sense of duty that gives you the will to drag yourself through hell." Tearing up just writing about it