[NacMacFeegle]

Awful news indeed

But as the great man himself pointed out "I'm not dead yet" He has two more books in the works so we have something to look forward to.
As to where to start in the series...My buddy (to whom I am eternally grateful) got me going with 'Guards! Guards!' Of course I was instantly hooked and went back to the first book as soon as I could find it ( It is 'The Colour of Magic' by the way)
And as for my favorite character(s) just check out my avatar

The Wee Blue Men or NacMacFeegle's.

 

[GlendaleViper]

Sad news indeed. It's always worse when you lose a person with a real talent for making people - lots of people, smile.

Hopefully he's got a few more in him.

 

[ken36]

Sad. This happens all too often,

 

[billybob_jcv]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hope this isn't a threadjack, but where is a good place to start with the Discworld series? I've heard great things about it over the years but never got around to figuring out where to start. And that is terrible news; same thing happened to a dear friend of the family.

You should start at the beginning and read them in order: Book #1 is The Colour of Magic
Discworld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Hoppergrass]

what a shame. easily my favorite author. what a terrible thing for he, his family, and his friends to have to endure.

my favorite character is nobby, though i have little crush on the angua that i see in my head.

and as to which book to begin with, throw a dart. even the bad ones are decent. my favorite mini-series though is the watch series. so my advice is to start with "guards! guards!"

 

[Quaddy]

 

[Rav]

Where to start is a hard one, the early books (Colour of Magic, Light Fantastic, Equal Rites and a few others) have a distinctly different writing style to the later books. Guards Guards would be a pretty good place to start, although it's probably my least favourite watch book. It's hard to recommed some of the later books, as they can include a few spoilers for the earlier ones, even the ones that are more standalone.

You might try Mort, or perhaps Soul Music (although you'll get to know about the ending of Mort if you read SM first). Wyrd Sisters would be another decent starting point, as the writing style is mostly the same as the later books, but doesn't really spoil anything written before.

 

[Progenitor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hope this isn't a threadjack, but where is a good place to start with the Discworld series? I've heard great things about it over the years but never got around to figuring out where to start.

I think that depends on individuals. The Discworld stories can intersect several different styles.

1. Colour of Magic - If you like simple fantasy
2. Mort - If you prefer dark humour
3. Wynd Sister - if you like twists to fairy tales
4. Guards! Guards! If you like detective stories

The common point of those threads besides existing in the same fictional universe is that while those threads starts out as relatively simple yet funny tales, Terry takes advantage of the deep mythos built in both discworld and the story thread itself to produce very touching and intense tales. For example, from the Rincewind stories which started out in 'Colour Of Magic', produced 'Interesting Times' which is in my mind a funny story with a deep undertone.

I actually started out reading the Discworld books from Hogfather and I enjoyed the novel a lot without understanding the existing settings and characters. Re-reading Hogfather again after finishing the rest of the Death stories has been an rewarding experience.

 

[sisenor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rav /img/forum/go_quote.gif Where to start is a hard one, the early books (Colour of Magic, Light Fantastic, Equal Rites and a few others) have a distinctly different writing style to the later books. Guards Guards would be a pretty good place to start, although it's probably my least favourite watch book. It's hard to recommed some of the later books, as they can include a few spoilers for the earlier ones, even the ones that are more standalone. You might try Mort, or perhaps Soul Music (although you'll get to know about the ending of Mort if you read SM first). Wyrd Sisters would be another decent starting point, as the writing style is mostly the same as the later books, but doesn't really spoil anything written before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Progenitor /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think that depends on individuals. The Discworld stories can intersect several different styles. Colour of Magic - If you like simple fantasy Mort - If you prefer dark humour Wynd Sister - if you like twists to fairy tales Guards! Guards! If you like detective stories The common point of those threads besides existing in the same fictional universe is that while those threads starts out as relatively simple yet funny tales, Terry takes advantage of the deep mythos built in both discworld and the story thread itself to produce very touching and intense tales. For example, from the Rincewind stories which started out in 'Colour Of Magic', produced 'Interesting Times' which is in my mind a funny story with a deep undertone. I actually started out reading the Discworld books from Hogfather and I enjoyed the novel a lot without understanding the existing settings and characters. Re-reading Hogfather again after finishing the rest of the Death stories has been an rewarding experience.

 

[jonathanjong]

 

[skudmunky]

Man, this is sad.

Loved the book "Pyramids" - really well done. Hope he's able to turn a few more of his special brand of book out.

 

[mercbuggy]

The Luggage

 

[pdennis]

I'd like to promote my favorite Terry Pratchett work -- his collaboration with Neil Gaiman on the novel "Good Omens". I'm a Discworld fan too, but this book has been special to me for a long time. If you haven't read it, read it! Otherwise, read it again.

 

[NacMacFeegle]

That is SIR Terry Pratchett now...Just knighted in the new years honours list

 

[dura]

I knew this for 2 months now (was on his website), and I'm still sad.
TP is my all-time favourite author, and Alzheimer is a terrible disease; saw too much of it when I worked at a mental hospital long ago, and it killed my father, Christmas last year.