The Many Ripples of Terry Pratchett

I'm scared of Terry Pratchett's books.  So many people I know have recommended his work to me over the years - people I respect and like - that I've found it impossible to pick up one of his Discworld novels without feeling a weight of expectation upon it.  Consequently, it feels too heavy, I drop it and then scamper off to find something less intimidating.  In the end, I decided to ease myself in with 'A Slip of the Keyboard', a collection of his non-fiction.

'A Slip of the Keyboard'
by Terry Pratchett
(Corgi Books, 2015)

'A Slip of the Keyboard' by Terry Pratchett is a collection of articles, introductions and speeches reflecting various aspects of Pratchett's life and career.  We hear from the writer, the technology lover, the science fiction fan, the schoolboy, the worldwide phenomenon, the industry PR, the Posterior Cortical Atrophy sufferer and the assisted dying campaigner.  Some pieces are short, some are long, but all provide insight into an author as pragmatic as his worlds seem fanciful.

I found this both a very satisfying and heartbreaking read.  It made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me think, which is pretty much all you can ask for from any book really.  Pratchett had his favourite anecdotes and phrases, which does make the book a bit repetitive at times, but, for me, this didn't take away from the overall effect of the writing.  The only thing I would've liked added was a press release from his days with the Central Electricity Generating Board, but that's more from my nerdy curiosity as a former Press Officer than a feeling that it would complete the book.

As 'A Slip of the Keyboard' progresses, it feels like layers of the writer's character are being peeled back, until by the end of the book, (which brings us up to the last few year's of Pratchett's life when he finds himself an unexpected figurehead for Alzheimer's disease and the assisted dying campaign) we see his outrage and raw determination to change a system he sees as archaic, wrong and cruel.  I'm sure that many people feel he died far too soon and it's a shame that this cause lost such a powerful and eloquent spokesperson, leaving the debate with no one else able to bring the issue of assisted death to the fore with such force and knowledge.

Although I can't comment for fans of Discworld, I do feel this is a book for writers and people interested in people.  It lifts the veil a bit on this particular writer's life in a way that doesn't seem to happen very often, talking more about the practicalities of book signings and conventions rather than going over the old cliches of technique and style.

So, am I still frightened of Terry Pratchett's books?  Certainly not as much as I was before.  What I really feel now is bereft that I didn't take the plunge before Pratchett's death.  And if I feel like that, I dread to think what Pratchett's long term fans must have felt like when he passed away.  On the other hand, I have literally a lifetime of books to look forward to.  So there is hope yet.

Postscript

Around the time I finished 'A Slip of the Keyboard', the BBC broadcast 'Back in Black', a charmingly idiosyncratic documentary about the life and death of Terry Pratchett, which worked really well as a companion piece to this book.  I'm so glad I watched it but I'm also glad I waited until I'd finished the book to do so.  It's hilarious and heartrending and I thoroughly recommend it.  At time of writing, it's also still available on the BBCiPlayer.  You lucky people!

'Back to Black' Terry Pratchett Documentary

Post-Postscript

By a weird twist of fate, I've just discovered that I'm writing this on the second anniversary of Terry Pratchett's death.  I'm not sure what it means, or even if it means anything.  Just another ripple I suppose...