I'm sure DEATH dreaded this appointment, or maybe not, maybe he's a fan too? Sadly, Terry Pratchett has gone over to the summer lands, though what a legacy he's left us. The first of Terry's books I read was Truckers, way back in 1990. I was at once a fan and over the following years I consumed his works when ever I could. He has a way of writing unlike any other, it's warm and funny, clever and in places poignant, he created a world which, although floating through space carried by elephants standing on a turtle, is wholly believable. It was a world populated by magical, mythical and outlandish characters, all of which you recognized from your everyday life. That is part of his magic. Good Omens, a book he wrote with Neil Gaiman, is a favourite of mine and a book I've read many times and have had to buy several copies of after loaning out and losing; not that I'm moaning, mind, I've several books on my shelves whose origins I'm unsure of, or am sure of. I met him once at a book signing, his hand resting on a bag of frozen peas; even at such a draining and, what must be, tedious events for writers, he remained a joy. We chatted briefly, I extolled his works in fan boy style, whilst he smiled politely. Then he looking us up and down, I was carrying one of my children in a papoose at the time, he signed the book above. Nice touch. Pratchett once wrote “Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?” Though his books he'll continue to bring us joy and in that he'll indeed live on.
