The title of this post is one of the last three tweets posted by Terry Pratchett before his passing yesterday. While I had a regular ol' blog post in mind for today, I realized that it would be much better to spend a few minutes celebrating an incredible author and amazing human being. Author of over 70 books, with over 85 million copies in print, Terry Pratchett was one of my favorites. An incredible wordsmith who was funny as hell, Terry exposed our cultural inanities and made us laugh while he did. I can't tell you the number of times something from Terry's books gave me some insight (while making me shake my head and laugh) into something going on in the world today. Part of what makes me sad is all of the people - yes, people, not just characters. His characters have lived real lives in my mind - that he takes with him. It is as if they have all passed away with Terry. I wish that Granny Weatherwax had been there to send Death packing when he came for Terry, but I wish she had been there to send stupid Alzheimer's disease on its way before it got ahold of that great mind.
Enough of all of that though. Terry went on his terms, as his next to last tweet said, "Terry took Death's arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night. " Followed by his final tweet, "The End". His was the kind of story you hope you never came to the end of.
If you haven't read Terry's books, go buy some now. The Bromeliad Trilogy is amazing. His Discworld series (which is separate from The Bromeliad Trilogy) contains some of my favorite books, but some of the earliest books are not so great. Google around for which ones to start with. Guards! Guards! is a favorite and a great introduction to some of my favorite characters. (Death is a character in some of his books, and that is Death speaking to Terry in the tweet from which I took the title of this post).f you say to yourself that you're not into fantasy, just try one. It is the best of the genre and so much more.
When you come back, I'm sure I'll talk about photography and light and pictures and stuff!