What is your Pratchettian history

[Ocelano]

As I'm sure we all know by know Terry Pratchett has passed on. With the recent passing of the great man I have seen many quotes and tributes online but comparatively few people explaining how they became fans where they found that first paperback copy and what compelled them to pick it up and read it. This thread is for anyone from folks who want to share how the epic scribe has influenced and shaped their lives and outlooks or just tell us where they found their first book. I'll get the ball rolling with my story



I first encountered Pratchett(though I wouldn't know this for years after I started actually reading his books) through the television adaptation of truckers(was going to link to the youtube copy of it but they may of taken it down as I can't find it though if you can it's excellent viewing I'm certainly not going to tell you to dive around in any specific notorious BAYS but if you must it is out there) I loved the show and then several years later I encountered the soul music TV series, I admit to naivety here as I thought that the entire show was some huge advertisement for some manner of music shop called "discworld" as it had excellent music.
`In fact Sionni Bod Da ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfusJWrE0hg ) is one of my favourite musical pieces to this day. a couple of years after that my mother got me,purely to shut me up on a trip, The Hogfather and I was hooked. I was around 11 maybe 12 at this time and had tried to kill myself once already but after discovering the discworld novels I was determined no matter how angry or miserable I got not to check out until I had read every last one of them. It saddens me that now I have for even when I caught up with his work he was such a prolific scribe that I knew another was probably just around the corner.

I was going to part with the aformentioned Sionni Bod Da(which I now find I can't listen to wthout crying) however I feel this song may be more appropriate

 

[spartenX]

the first time I encountered any of pratchetts works was SF Debris's review of the Hogswatch TV adaptation. it looked like such a great series, and with the praise that chuck gave it I decided to check out the TV tropes page for Discworld. I really liked what I saw, especially the stuff about death. Naturally I then tracked down the Hogswatch special, and then the animated adaptation of Soul Music. I then decided to check my schools library for any copys of his books, specifficaly any of the ones based around Death. I found Mort and loved it (though unfortunately my school got a misprint that replaced one section of about 30-40 pages with a section from latter in the book).

After that I didn't really look into anymore of his works, partly because of schoolwork bogging me down, and partly because I wanted to finish the Death books before I moved onto any other discworld novels. I only finally got around to reading more of his work when I got Reaperman for christmas this year. I can safely say it's now my favorite book, and it inspired to check around a bit more on the discworld TV tropes page, which made me decided that I'd like to look into the other Discworld series (I'm planning to pick up Guards! Guards! when the symester ends).

I may not have had near as much experience with his work as others, but from what little I have seen he was one of the greatest writers, one of the greatest men around. He will be missed.

WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?

 

[Ocelano]

the first time I encountered any of pratchetts works was SF Debris's review of the Hogswatch TV adaptation. it looked like such a great series, and with the praise that chuck gave it I decided to check out the TV tropes page for Discworld. I really liked what I saw, especially the stuff about death. Naturally I then tracked down the Hogswatch special, and then the animated adaptation of Soul Music. I then decided to check my schools library for any copys of his books, specifficaly any of the ones based around Death. I found Mort and loved it (though unfortunately my school got a misprint that replaced one section of about 30-40 pages with a section from latter in the book).

After that I didn't really look into anymore of his works, partly because of schoolwork bogging me down, and partly because I wanted to finish the Death books before I moved onto any other discworld novels. I only finally got around to reading more of his work when I got Reaperman for christmas this year. I can safely say it's now my favorite book, and it inspired to check around a bit more on the discworld TV tropes page, which made me decided that I'd like to look into the other Discworld series (I'm planning to pick up Guards! Guards! when the symester ends).

I may not have had near as much experience with his work as others, but from what little I have seen he was one of the greatest writers, one of the greatest men around. He will be missed.

WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?

"In the Ramtop village where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away - until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence" REAPER MAN

In other words as long as new readers like yourself are still devouring his teachings the man will never truly be gone, or if that's a bit grim for you

"MARACAS? I DON'T NEED ... MARACAS"

 

[FalloutJack]

*Drinks Counterwise Wine to return to the beginning*

As is often the case with me and books, if I have not discovered it myself, through many readings of science fiction and fantasy, my brother has availed me of its existence. Discworld was one such a case of the latter, a bizarre sort of world that lives on the back of a tortoise, magic like hell and often weirder than our strangest fantasies. (A friend of mine is, by the by, an official 'unofficial stalker' of Terry who is feeling very blue right now. She met him and even put a small stuffed duck on his head, which he kept there the whole time.) Terry Pratchett's world is something unique that I could get into. I've read most of his books, even Raising Steam (though I have no Kindle or Nook of my own).[footnote]There's a funny story behind this. I go out every now and then to play board games and/or roleplay, hanging out with friends. Well, one day someone left behind their kindle and I was essentially the only guy ready, willing, and able to take care of it. (Plus, it was in my box, anyway, to that's like dibsies.) The fee for making sure the thing wasn't stolen was free reign of the e-book. Raising Steam was read in a week and I liked it. Gotta love Moist.[/footnote]

Favorite characters would have to be all the main staples. Rincewind, Vetinari, Vimes, Dibbler, Detritus, Death, Moist, Carrot, The Librarian, and so on.[footnote]Hey, there's alot of characters in this series, which spans over alot of books. I'll be here all night, trying to list them.[/footnote] The areas of the Discworld books I enjoy the most have to do with Ankh-Morpork itself and the Watch, though Pyramids and Small Gods will always have a certain fondness. So, there I was, eating this all up, and then somebody told me that there were games. Good games, rife with comedy and Eric Idle. Good work, that, though it DID cause one mishap.[footnote]So, you have times where you have to get up and do something else in the middle of playing a game and maybe you don't think about pausing, say. Well, you see, I didn't know that the Discworld game had a screensaver, namely one of Rincewind appearing in the screen, tapping on the glass of the moniter and calling out to anyone who could hear that there was still a game going on here. My mother thought this was a real person and was confused for a good while. Very amusing for the rest of us, naturally.[/footnote] I love puzzles as well, so this was right up my alley and consumed much time.

The years have passed and I have found while I have not thought of Discworld as much, it has never fallen from my heart. Good stuff, all of it. But still, while the game is afoot[footnote]With a note.[footnote]Of course, I couldn't do this without a good Disworld footnote joke. I wonder, though... Are there any notes on foots or notes on your feet or feats of strength of note or-[footnote]Oh no, I've gone cross-eyed.[/footnote][/footnote][/footnote], I have to wonder what would happen if they actually went over the edge, done to Great A'Tuin, and examined the tortoise...

 

[Queen Michael]

It was fourteen years ago, when I was just a kid of twelve years. I found Only You Can Save Mankind in a shelf of my hometown's newly opened library. It was the first public library in that town for at least fifty years. I decided to give it a chance. Then I read the rest of the Johnny Maxwell books, and the Bromeliad troligy, and pretty much everything by Pratchett in Swedish I could get my hands on, apart from the Discworld series. I didn't care for the beginning of The Colour of Magic, because it didn't seem as funny as the rest of his stuff.

Nowadays, I'm glad about that, since it meant I put off reading the Discworld until the point where I'd be able to read them in English.

And that's a pretty funny story, too. A friend of mine and I had gone to the library when I was sixteen, and he'd left. I was still sitting there, looking around and occasionally grabbing a book to read in for a bit, and on a whim I decided to pick out a Terry Pratchett one. It was called Soul Music. Seemed pretty decent...

18 months later, I'd read every Discworld book in the series.

 

[Queen Michael]

I've read most of his books, even Raising Steam (though I have no Kindle or Nook of my own).

I don't get it. What does it matter if you've got one of those? The book's been printed and exists physically, after all.

 

[FalloutJack]

I've read most of his books, even Raising Steam (though I have no Kindle or Nook of my own).

I don't get it. What does it matter if you've got one of those? The book's been printed and exists physically, after all.

Has it? Didn't know. Here's the assumption I was running on: I asked for a particular Stephen King book on a prior occasion (Christmas) and it could not be found. Why? Because apparently it wasn't in print, only data. What can happen with one best-selling author can happen to any best-selling author. I made the erroneous assumption that this was a similar case. Even still, free read. I lucked out.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I think my first actual encounter (that I can remember) with a Terry Pratchett novel was a few years ago when I came across a copy of the novel Thud!. I read through it, and pretty much fell in love with the world Pratchett had created.

From there on, I started buying up novels and a few related books. Which reminds me, I really should start getting a few more...

 

[Thaluikhain]

Saw the cartoon version of...um...the book that's a not funny rehash of MacBeth, and Soul Music ages ago, got the original book of not funny Macbeth rehash, very meh.

Much later on, read some of his actual good stuff, like Nightwatch. Starting reading his other stuff, but they can be very preachy, very hit or miss, though the Vimes stuff was consistently good. His Science of Discworld stuff was a bit painful, he came across as desperately wanting people to think he's clever (the way Stephen Fry does), without bothering to make sure to be correct about things.

 

[Starbird]

Sigh, such a loss. My favorite author of all time. Started reading him in early high school with The Light Fantastic. I own every book he has written and most of the audiobooks.

So much gold there. Reaper Man, the Watch series, Granny Weatherwax and more. There is now a Pratchett shaped hole in the universe that I don't think can be filled.

 

[M0rp43vs]

Due to location, I had to stay at my uncle's home while I was in College/Pre-Uni. I was staying in the room of my cousin after she moved out. I had forgotten to bring my own books so I took a quick glance through her small book collection.

There I saw a title that interested me; Thief of Time. It was a minimalist soft cover so I had NO idea what the book was about but I gave it a read. It was a bit of a difficult read, seeing as this kind of British humour was a rarity around here plus I didn't know this was a series until WAY later

But I stuck with it and even though I had no idea what was going on for a bit. I loved it.

My other cousin saw that I was reading it, told me it was a series, then brought me to her room and showed me her book case full of the books. Then I picked out one at random which turned out to be my second favourite book in the series; Mort.

Once I got to read the earlier novels, it all made sense. The brick jokes, continuity, the callbacks and call forwards. I was obsessed.

It wasn't a complete collection but I got an introduction to every protagonist.

I bemoaned this to a college friend when our mutual Advance Maths teacher overhead. He was a quintessential British snarker; cheerily deadpan, quick of tongue and free trigger on insults so when he invited us to his office, we were a bit concerned.

Then he gave me a book missing from my cousin's collection, Thud, which then became my favourite book in the series. He told me that anytime I finished a book, I can ask him and he can give me another from the series.

From then on, my fascination with Discworld burned

 

[Ocelano]

*Drinks Counterwise Wine to return to the beginning*

As is often the case with me and books, if I have not discovered it myself, through many readings of science fiction and fantasy, my brother has availed me of its existence. Discworld was one such a case of the latter, a bizarre sort of world that lives on the back of a tortoise, magic like hell and often weirder than our strangest fantasies. (A friend of mine is, by the by, an official 'unofficial stalker' of Terry who is feeling very blue right now. She met him and even put a small stuffed duck on his head, which he kept there the whole time.) Terry Pratchett's world is something unique that I could get into. I've read most of his books, even Raising Steam (though I have no Kindle or Nook of my own).[footnote]There's a funny story behind this. I go out every now and then to play board games and/or roleplay, hanging out with friends. Well, one day someone left behind their kindle and I was essentially the only guy ready, willing, and able to take care of it. (Plus, it was in my box, anyway, to that's like dibsies.) The fee for making sure the thing wasn't stolen was free reign of the e-book. Raising Steam was read in a week and I liked it. Gotta love Moist.[/footnote]

Favorite characters would have to be all the main staples. Rincewind, Vetinari, Vimes, Dibbler, Detritus, Death, Moist, Carrot, The Librarian, and so on.[footnote]Hey, there's alot of characters in this series, which spans over alot of books. I'll be here all night, trying to list them.[/footnote] The areas of the Discworld books I enjoy the most have to do with Ankh-Morpork itself and the Watch, though Pyramids and Small Gods will always have a certain fondness. So, there I was, eating this all up, and then somebody told me that there were games. Good games, rife with comedy and Eric Idle. Good work, that, though it DID cause one mishap.[footnote]So, you have times where you have to get up and do something else in the middle of playing a game and maybe you don't think about pausing, say. Well, you see, I didn't know that the Discworld game had a screensaver, namely one of Rincewind appearing in the screen, tapping on the glass of the moniter and calling out to anyone who could hear that there was still a game going on here. My mother thought this was a real person and was confused for a good while. Very amusing for the rest of us, naturally.[/footnote] I love puzzles as well, so this was right up my alley and consumed much time.

The years have passed and I have found while I have not thought of Discworld as much, it has never fallen from my heart. Good stuff, all of it. But still, while the game is afoot[footnote]With a note.[footnote]Of course, I couldn't do this without a good Disworld footnote joke. I wonder, though... Are there any notes on foots or notes on your feet or feats of strength of note or-[footnote]Oh no, I've gone cross-eyed.[/footnote][/footnote][/footnote], I have to wonder what would happen if they actually went over the edge, done to Great A'Tuin, and examined the tortoise...

You mention the discworld computer games sadly I've only had a chance to play discworld noir but you also mention being a board gamer so I ask have you played the discworld boardgames I can highly recommend ankh Morpork [footnote] http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91312/discworld-ankh-morpork[/footnote] in which the patrician has vanished from the city and you play as one of several civic figures each pursuing control of the city by their own means. For example if you are Vimes your goal is to thwart everyone else by draining the deck and forcing a premature game over, if you are Dragon King of Arms then you want to create strife and trouble so that the people will welcome a nice easily controllable king you shall install Chrysophase is purely playing for profit and wins when he has $50 worth of cash and assets and so forth you are the only person who knows your end goal and half the game is figuring out what the other people are so you can thwart them.

Thanks for your response love your story

 

[Ocelano]

Due to location, I had to stay at my uncle's home while I was in College/Pre-Uni. I was staying in the room of my cousin after she moved out. I had forgotten to bring my own books so I took a quick glance through her small book collection.

There I saw a title that interested me; Thief of Time. It was a minimalist soft cover so I had NO idea what the book was about but I gave it a read. It was a bit of a difficult read, seeing as this kind of British humour was a rarity around here plus I didn't know this was a series until WAY later

But I stuck with it and even though I had no idea what was going on for a bit. I loved it.

My other cousin saw that I was reading it, told me it was a series, then brought me to her room and showed me her book case full of the books. Then I picked out one at random which turned out to be my second favourite book in the series; Mort.

Once I got to read the earlier novels, it all made sense. The brick jokes, continuity, the callbacks and call forwards. I was obsessed.

It wasn't a complete collection but I got an introduction to every protagonist.

I bemoaned this to a college friend when our mutual Advance Maths teacher overhead. He was a quintessential British snarker; cheerily deadpan, quick of tongue and free trigger on insults so when he invited us to his office, we were a bit concerned.

Then he gave me a book missing from my cousin's collection, Thud, which then became my favourite book in the series. He told me that anytime I finished a book, I can ask him and he can give me another from the series.

From then on, my fascination with Discworld burned

I feel your pain it took forever for me to find a copy of sourcery and it drove me nuts never knowing quite how rincewind had got to that desert Island in interesting times(I also missed eric

 

[Ocelano]

Sigh, such a loss. My favorite author of all time. Started reading him in early high school with The Light Fantastic. I own every book he has written and most of the audiobooks.

So much gold there. Reaper Man, the Watch series, Granny Weatherwax and more. There is now a Pratchett shaped hole in the universe that I don't think can be filled.

Have you got the Good Omens audio drama yet? think it came out late last year pretty good adaptation of the book.

 

[Ocelano]

Saw the cartoon version of...um...the book that's a not funny rehash of MacBeth, and Soul Music ages ago, got the original book of not funny Macbeth rehash, very meh.

Much later on, read some of his actual good stuff, like Nightwatch. Starting reading his other stuff, but they can be very preachy, very hit or miss, though the Vimes stuff was consistently good. His Science of Discworld stuff was a bit painful, he came across as desperately wanting people to think he's clever (the way Stephen Fry does), without bothering to make sure to be correct about things.

Each to their own I suppose but I will ask did you ever see the TV version of truckers? Not too much cut out that I can spot good voice acting choices and the animation style, at least in my opinion, holds up well today.

 

[Ocelano]

It was fourteen years ago, when I was just a kid of twelve years. I found Only You Can Save Mankind in a shelf of my hometown's newly opened library. It was the first public library in that town for at least fifty years. I decided to give it a chance. Then I read the rest of the Johnny Maxwell books, and the Bromeliad troligy, and pretty much everything by Pratchett in Swedish I could get my hands on, apart from the Discworld series. I didn't care for the beginning of The Colour of Magic, because it didn't seem as funny as the rest of his stuff.

Nowadays, I'm glad about that, since it meant I put off reading the Discworld until the point where I'd be able to read them in English.

And that's a pretty funny story, too. A friend of mine and I had gone to the library when I was sixteen, and he'd left. I was still sitting there, looking around and occasionally grabbing a book to read in for a bit, and on a whim I decided to pick out a Terry Pratchett one. It was called Soul Music. Seemed pretty decent...

18 months later, I'd read every Discworld book in the series.

His earlier books while still good are very different then his later ones. the Granny Weatherwax from Equal Rites is a very different person from the Witches Abroad one

 

[Twintix]

I knew of Discworld and Terry Pratchett for quite a while, but I didn't actually pick up any of his books until about 3-4 years ago. I'd read a little bit about Discworld, and it piqued my interest at last. So I went down to Stockholm, to my favorite "book and geek merchandise"-store to see what they had in the Fantasy section. They had pretty much an entire section there dedicated to Pratchett's books. I picked up the first book, The Colour Of Magic, because I'm a bit anal about reading things in the chronological order.

And I was completely, thoroughly hooked. Seriously, no other book before or since has managed to so completely immerse me the way Pratchett's works have. I think I read about 5-6 Discworld books over the course of about 3 months. Hell, I even read all of Eric in the span of a few hours when I really should've been studying. (Yes, I guess it's not that big of an accomplishment since it's so short...)

Now, I have all of the books in the main series so far and a few extra material books; The Compleat Ankh-Morpork Guide, Nanny Ogg's Cookbook (With completely edible and absolutely delicious recipes, by the way), Death's Domain, The Folklore of Discworld, The Tourist's Guide to Lancre, the first The Science Of Discworld, The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents, a graphic novel of both The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic as well as the Ankh-Morpork board game. However, I've heard that there are Discworld tabletop RPGs as well and I will not rest until I've found them and bought them.

I just recently finished Unseen Academicals and is about to start on Snuff, but I decided to take a small Discworld break and read some of Pratchett's other stuff. So right now, I'm reading one of his earliest books, a science fiction novel called The Dark Side Of The Sun. I'm planning to buy all of his other books as well...

...and I'll never be able to read any new books of his ever again... *stares into a wall*

 

[BeeGeenie]

I remember having heard marketing about "Thud!" when I saw my first book by Sir Terry while just looking for something to read to pass the time on a flight. The book in question was "Going Postal." At the next bookstore I came to, I picked up "Monstrous Regiment," and "Guards! Guards!" and the next time I went to a bookstore, I grabbed all the Pratchett I could.

Then I read "Good Omens" which was my gateway drug into Neil Gaiman as well.

Personal favorites: "Small Gods," and the ones in which Death plays a large role, e.g. "Mort," Reaper Man," and "Soul Music."

 

[Ocelano]

I knew of Discworld and Terry Pratchett for quite a while, but I didn't actually pick up any of his books until about 3-4 years ago. I'd read a little bit about Discworld, and it piqued my interest at last. So I went down to Stockholm, to my favorite "book and geek merchandise"-store to see what they had in the Fantasy section. They had pretty much an entire section there dedicated to Pratchett's books. I picked up the first book, The Colour Of Magic, because I'm a bit anal about reading things in the chronological order.

And I was completely, thoroughly hooked. Seriously, no other book before or since has managed to so completely immerse me the way Pratchett's works have. I think I read about 5-6 Discworld books over the course of about 3 months. Hell, I even read all of Eric in the span of a few hours when I really should've been studying. (Yes, I guess it's not that big of an accomplishment since it's so short...)

Now, I have all of the books in the main series so far and a few extra material books; The Compleat Ankh-Morpork Guide, Nanny Ogg's Cookbook (With completely edible and absolutely delicious recipes, by the way), Death's Domain, The Folklore of Discworld, The Tourist's Guide to Lancre, the first The Science Of Discworld, The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents, a graphic novel of both The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic as well as the Ankh-Morpork board game. However, I've heard that there are Discworld tabletop RPGs as well and I will not rest until I've found them and bought them.

I just recently finished Unseen Academicals and is about to start on Snuff, but I decided to take a small Discworld break and read some of Pratchett's other stuff. So right now, I'm reading one of his earliest books, a science fiction novel called The Dark Side Of The Sun. I'm planning to buy all of his other books as well...

...and I'll never be able to read any new books of his ever again... *stares into a wall*

Tried making Nanny Oggs banananana soup surprise(the surprise is there's banana in it) that didn't work out so well though I personally blame my culinary incompetence more than the book itself. I have to find where I put that boook again now I'm living alone again I can afford to be a little more experimental in my cooking

 

[Ocelano]

I remember having heard marketing about "Thud!" when I saw my first book by Sir Terry while just looking for something to read to pass the time on a flight. The book in question was "Going Postal." At the next bookstore I came to, I picked up "Monstrous Regiment," and "Guards! Guards!" and the next time I went to a bookstore, I grabbed all the Pratchett I could.

Then I read "Good Omens" which was my gateway drug into Neil Gaiman as well.

Personal favorites: "Small Gods," and the ones in which Death plays a large role, e.g. "Mort," Reaper Man," and "Soul Music."

I know I stand in the vocal majority when I state my personal belief the Death was possibly his finest creation. In fact I love the character so much that I have my own reaper robe which I made with my grandmother for halloween several years back and if you don't believe me check my profile pic it is my most prized possession