Terry Pratchett
From RationalWiki
Sir Terry Pratchett[1] is a British fantasy writer and humorist/satirist. His best known books revolve around Discworld©, a world controlled by numerous gods where magic is real. Discworld is supported in space on the backs of four elephants, which in turn stand on the back of the Great A'Tuin, a gigantic turtle swimming through the vastness of space. Starting with The Colour of Magic, the series features such characters as a scythe-carrying Death and a deadly piece of luggage with legs. Unseen University is where wizards receive their training (a takeoff on the name for university courses operated by correspondence, local tutorials and broadcasts on the BBC in Britain and available world wide).
His earlier works, such as The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic were parodies of the fantasy genre. However, as his writing matured he began to parody other genres, within a fantasy setting, these included; Mysteries, Crime Fiction, Political Fiction (The City Watch series), Horror (Reaper Man), Sports Fiction (The upcoming Unseen Academicals), Action/Adventure Novels (The Last Continent, Reaper Man), Westerns and a little bit of Hacker Fiction. More importantly, his novels changed from being largely parodies to being satires as well, taking on a wide variety of subjects with incisive wit and humour.
It is not impossible that the Discworld series was one of the influences absorbed by the author of the popular Harry Potter series.
Among his other notable works is the series of popular science Science of Discworld books (written in collaboration with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen), based on explaining common scientific principles by contrasting the real world with Discworld©.
He is also a figurehead of a campaign to save the Orang Outan. The librarian of the Unseen University is a wizard who was changed into an orangutan in one of the accidents that frequently take place among the careless and somewhat incompetent university wizards.
News was released on 12 Dec 2007 that he is suffering from Early Onset Alzheimers. Since his diagnosis, he has made notable monetary donations and worked to aid Alzheimers research.
Mr. Pratchett also wrote, along with Neil Gaiman, the only nice and accurate description of the coming Apocalypse under the title Good Omens. To date, Mr. Pratchett is the only author to speak directly with Death, and on further examination has deemed him to be a sensible fellow, if not with a dark sense of humor.
On one of his Usenet postings, Terry Pratchett mused that not before the computer video game Doom did anyone ever think of the shotgun as an appropriate way to stop a demon.
He received an Order of the British Empire (Commander) on New Year's Day, 2009.
Sir Terrence is a confirmed atheist. And a self-described "bad humanist" [2].
Pratchett is incredible. I mean, seriously, the man is amazing. Easily one of the great authors of his age.
[edit] See Also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Knighted New Year 2009
- ↑ BBC Interview with Mike Lawson
