RIP Sir Terry Pratchett

Goodnight Sir Terry, you'll be missed

It's taken me a couple of days to sit down and write this post, in fact I almost didn't post anything at all because I'm sure many other bloggers will have already said everything there is to say and probably done it far better than I ever could. I'm not the kind of person who usually gets that upset about the death of a celebrity but I was absolutely heartbroken on Thursday when I found out that Sir Terry Pratchett had died.

I have been a fan of Terry's since I was about 16 and an ex-boyfriend introduced my Dad & I to the Discworld series. That's nearly 20 years of entertainment and countless hours spent reading and rereading his books. So many laughs had and discussions shared with my Dad about the characters we love and our favourite books.

Terry signing my copy of I Shall Wear Midnight

I was lucky enough to meet Terry back in 2010, something that would never have happened if it hadn't been for this blog, and it was an experience my Dad and I will never forget. It is still one of my favourite author events all these years later and it was absolutely amazing listening to him speak. I feel privileged to have seen him in person and I'm glad I have that memory. You can read my write up of the event here and I also posted video footage of the event here and here if you'd like to watch Terry in conversation with Tony Robinson.

Terry was an inspiration, not only because of his wonderful sense of humour and the way he managed to make such astute observations about humanity but also because of the dignity he showed when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and the way he tirelessly campaigned for more money to be spent on research. I was also incredibly moved by his documentaries about living with Alzheimer's and assisted suicide. I don't want to remember Terry for his illness though, I'm going to remember him by his stories and his characters.

The way his passing was announced on Twitter, as if he was sharing one last conversation with Death (who happens to be one of my favourite Discworld characters) made me laugh and cry at the same time and I don't think it could have been more appropriate.

The final chapter

This is how I choose to think of Terry now, sharing a drink and a game with Death before he moves on to whatever comes next. I'm sorry but I'm not sure who created the picture (a friend sent it to me) but if anyone knows please let me know in the comments so I can credit them.

Terry Pratchett with one of his most popular characters

The world lost a legend on Thursday and the world is a darker place because of that. But Terry's humour will live on in his books and that is something that can never be taken away from us.

I haven't felt much like blogging (or reading for that matter!) for the last couple of days so I'm going to take a bit of a break but I'll be back sometime in the next week hopefully raring to go again. In the meantime I'm going to pick up my copy of Mort and spend some quality time on Discworld remembering this wonderful author and reminding myself why I fell in love with this series in the first place.