Fans In The News

Discworld fans, being the smart people they are, seem to make the news a lot.  Check out some other authors, spelling-bee winners, actors, and even some regular Joes:

• Creative writing student Ifan Morgan Jones won the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize in 2008, and “cited his greatest influences as J. R. R. Tolkein, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and Hayao Miyzaki.”
• “Wordpress Queen” Lorelle says Terry Pratchett “taught me a lot about web writing, about how to mix in humor with characters and their environment to tell a story. I’m so draw to really good storytellers, ones who create believable worlds with words we can totally get lost in.”

While living overseas, I was introduced to Terry Pratchett, author of the incredible Discworld series. It couldn’t have come at a better time as we were facing economic and security problems in the Middle East with the war in Afghanistan and impending Bush War on Iraq, and things were incredibly tiresome and depressing everywhere as we waiting for war. I started reading Terry Pratchett and spent the next two or three years laughing harder than I could ever remember.

Pratchett is appreciated the world over for his delightful novels, but I don’t think he really gets the appreciation he deserves for being such an expert in satire. Other than L. Ron Hubbard’s Mission Earth series, I don’t think I have read any collection of books so consistently irreverent and beautiful abusive of human traits, habits, and nonsense that we all take so seriously. Each Discworld book tackles some human obsession or industry such as the movie industry, music industry, tourist industry, fairy tales, communication industry, and the list goes on and on. His use of language, dialog, and storytelling techniques continues to delight me. I thank him for helping me survive what could have been nearly the suicidal depression of living with war and terrorism.

• Jim C. Hines, the author of Goblin Quest, Goblin Hero, and Goblin War, responded to a question about the difference between parody and true humorous fiction by saying, “I think one of the key differences is the story. Bored of the Rings amused me, but it was all joke. There’s not an original story to carry the humor. Pratchett, on the other hand, writes great stories about people we actually care about. The humor adds another layer of enjoyment, but even when one of the jokes falls flat, you’ve still got the story to pull you along. If a parody’s humor doesn’t hit you just right, you’ve got nothing but a failed joke. “
• A. Lee Martinez, a self-described “pulp adventure writer with an offbeat approach,” talks about comedic writing, Terry Pratchett, and Douglas N. Adams in this interview.
• Read about a family’s tribute to one Terry Pratchett fan.
• Laura Oster appreciates books by Terry Pratchett.
• Seventh-grader Eric Cheng, winner of the 2007 Blade Northwest Ohio Champion Spelling Bee in March 2007, is a fan of the Discworld series.
• Dan Rogerson MP is a fan of Terry Pratchett’s fantasy novels.
• Jonathan Stephens, managing partner of Wilsons in Dorset, has read at least one Discworld novel.
• Catherine Webb, author of several books starting from the age of fourteen, calls Terry Pratchett an “all-time favorite author.”
• Simone Brightstein, author of Hosts of Ghosts, thinks Terry Pratchett would be an ideal dining partner, saying, “He is one of the writers I admire the most, I have a passion for comedy writers and he lives in Wiltshire so he wouldn’t have far to travel.”
• Kate Weir, winner of the New Zealand National Spelling Bee in 2007, says Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is her favorite.
• Paranormal writer Mike Carey loves werewolfs, and, as such, love Angua in Men At Arms, explaining, that “literature is full of sexy, self-possessed, charming vampires, but werewolves tend to be desperate and driven. It would be fun to set those cliches on their heads some time. Terry Pratchett, of course, has a very sexy werewolf named Angua - and she’s one of the reasons why I love the novel Men at Arms.”
• Mystery writer Rebecca Pawel calls Terry Pratchett her “gold standard for writing,” saying that he “has written several novels with convincing female leads. More impressively, he’s written about women of all ages, from nine year olds (Tiffany Aching in Wee Free Men) to old crones (Granny Weatherwax and her companion Nanny Ogg, in various wonderful novels). Of course, both the nine year old and the old women are witches, and his most attractive young women are a werewolf and a dwarf, but the principle still holds.” Pawel also esteems Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde, and Robert Barnard for having “the distinction of writing excellent funny books,” also saying that humor is undervalued in society.
• A schoolteacher in Montana wants people to use proper punctuation, period. He especially dislikes multiple exclamation marks at the end of sentences!!!! In his personal crusade against this incorrect usage, he has used a quote from one of Terry Pratchett’s novels: “Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of a diseased mind.”
• A senior marketing manager of the Oxford University Press, Phil Henderson, writes, “In my old age (Hm Hm) I confess I have discovered a secret delight - Terry Pratchett. The characters who people his Discworld are magnificently foible-filled and recognizable; their goings-on shed rather more light on our own lives than is comfortable. I read Making Money this summer and briefly had what felt like a real insight into our international money markets and the dark engines that drive them. Briefly. The credit crunch put an end to that - or perhaps I should say that Pratchett’s subject was extraordinarily timely.”
• Hannah Foster, who’s kidnapping and murder were highly publicized by the U.K. press, enjoyed reading Terry Pratchett books.
• Two Second Lifers, who are profiled in this iReport article, are Discworld fans. One, called Nijel in the game, helped build the Ankh-Morpork sim on Second Life.