Farewell, sweet Sir Terry.
Any fantasy reader worth her salt has heard of Terry Pratchett. I was introduced to his work through "Good Omens," the novel he co-authored with Neil Gaiman, which a friend lent to me in college. That friend was an avid Pratchett fan, and from there I read the first book of Pratchett's famous "Discworld" series. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't blown away to the same extent as my friend, and since I was in college and actually wanted to read my textbooks I failed to read more.
But the name Terry Pratchett was never far from my experience, because so, soooo many of the authors I love are self-proclaimed Pratchett fans. I go to their websites or read snippets of interviews, and where they list their inspirations, "Terry Pratchett" came up again and again. I learned of the good man's passing while listening to NPR on my drive home from work yesterday, and they played snippets of past interviews. Oddly enough, I was struck by his voice. You know how you hear radio announcers or musicians, and picture their face in your head, and then you actually see a photo and you're like, "That looks NOTHING like who I imagined!" Well, I'd never seen a photo or heard Terry Pratchett's voice before, I'd only read a couple of his books. But the sound of his voice...it was precisely what I would have imagined: fun and grandfatherly, wise and goofy all at once. I wanted to make this man a cup of tea and serve him my best afternoon pastry and just chat with him about ANYTHING...just so I could keep hearing that voice.
Obviously, I will be reading some of his books this year.
Despite a comparatively early diagnosis of a heart-breaking disease, he handled his decline with grace, power, and artistic perseverance. He reportedly passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by loved-ones, with his cat sleeping on his bed beside him. May we all be so blessed at our final hour.
In utterly un-related news (which, ironically, I would guess Terry Pratchett would be tickled pink to see included in a post about his death), tomorrow is Pi day. For you less geeky folk, that was NOT a typo--tomorrow's date spells out the mathematical linchpin "pi:" 3.1415...etc. So if you eat a bite of pie at 9:27am (we're rounding up) you can celebrate pi to the seventh decimal: 3.1415927. I will be. And I will blog about it, with corresponding recipes. Here's one I'll be making for dinner.
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