Rhys Parton

The acerbically creative rage he could bring to this time - and how deeply our souls need a Vimes or Weatherwax to help us bear it

Granny and Sam are my moral yardstick. If they would approve, it is ok. If they would disapprove, it isn't ok. If they would argue, I need to think about it. Terry Pratchett made me a better person and continues to do so.

I love Pratchett’s words.

I love Pratchett’s world view.

I love Pratchett.

Terry, you made the sort of contribution to this world, had such a command of language, that for a decade millions of us have wondered what you’d make of… all of this.

All this to say: GNU Terry Pratchett.

His love of language and his use of it.

Sometimes even if words don’t traditionally do a specific he wanted, he just made them do it.

That just matched my brain chemistry.

And his world view aligns with mine. Increasingly so, the more I see of the world, and the more extreme those in power get.

And I learned more about Terry.

And his philosophy.

And his righteous anger at injustice.

And his lovely sense of humour that never punched down.

And all of those wonderful characters in his books.

Sam Vines. Tiffany Aching. Esmerelda Weatherwax. The Luggage. Death.

And that was it.

I need more Discworld!

I borrowed the book version, no recording, of The Colour of Magic. Rincewind is in both that and Eric so I had Stephen’s voice for him in my mind when I read his words.

Then, over the years, I read and listened to hours and hours of the Disc.

But being a Doctor Who who caught the odd Tom Baker episode here and there, I didn’t mind not having the full picture, it was fun.

And the characters were fantastic.

And it had 14 different styles of humour all at once.

And Stephen’s reading voice is excellent, the characters voices a lot of fun.

It was a recording of Eric, performed by Stephen Briggs, released on cassette tape.

I was mesmerised by the cover.

I thanked her, borrowed it, and began listening to it as soon as we got home.

It turns out it was one of the few Discworlds that carries on slightly from a previous adventure.

She celebrated that I was an avid story consumer and that I found a way that worked for me to get there.

She knew that I love Star Wars and fantasy and all of that, and recommended a new series for me.

She guided me to the audiobook self, went to the ‘P’ section, and pulled one out.

Being a small town, it didn’t take long before she noticed 1. How frequently we came in, 2. The sorts of genres I like the most, and 3. The double copies of what I borrowed.

One day she asked me about it.

I told her about my long and slow journey with reading and how this helped me love it.

As odd as it may seem, it helped me go from being able to do something passably, to being able to do it with finesse.

Professional performers reading them showed me the rhythm punctuation marks give us, and joyful character voices.

Then we moved.

That meant a new Library.

And a new Librarian.

Once I could also get the words through my eyes, into my brain, and then out my mouth, I didn’t stop listening to the audiobooks.

I decided to join in.

I borrowed both the recordings, and the book of the same story.

And then I read along.

I listened to those books on heavy rotation.

My mother and I went to the Library constantly, and every time I’d walk out with a recording of Dunbar’s readings under my arm.

There were other series, some on cassette tape, others on CD.

And audiobooks have fantastic performances.

Thank goodness for audiobooks and those who read them!

I loved the Artemis Fowl series, and my introduction was the wonderful Adrian Dunbar’s readings of the unabridged versions.

Film, TV, plays, my funny uncle who was born in Aotearoa New Zealand like dad, and who spent years living on the other side of the world in Scotland, and can do a fantastic Scots accent.

And audiobooks.

They were both fun and helpful, when my brain couldn’t get the physical words.

But now I felt I could catch up - again, like a bike, no longer on my two little feet, but peddling along at greater speed - so I went to work to do that!

I took a funny route to do so.

Before this, despite not reading, I’d always loved stories.

I felt exactly like I did when I got equilibrium sorted on a bike, finally balancing unassisted by parents or training wheels.

The confidence boost.

The sense of freedom.

At that point I was behind on reading, both curriculum based books, and those we read for pleasure.

On that day I was practicing as I always did - this lack of reading wasn’t happening for a lack of trying, but for so long I just could not do it - then I started being able to recite one word after another.

Then sentences.

Then the small readers I was using in my practicing, all in one go!

I couldn’t read for a very long time.

Longer than most children.

It just couldn’t happen.

It impacted my education, and caused my parents the sort of stress that parents feel when something isn’t right and we end up blaming ourselves.

Then one day, at roughly 10 years old, if clicked.

Thread:

Terry Pratchett in a blue jacket and Akubra hat holding a young owl for release.

Eleven years since you crossed the black sands. I wish I could say that the world is better than you left it (although it will always be better for having had you in it) but at least there is a new Young Sam to help carry on the Pratchett name and ethos. Love you always ❤️

GNU Terry Pratchett.

That was my first thought too.

A cute cake, but still a cake.

Complaining about & blaming Keir Starmer for a long-scheduled, still uncertain, six month distant increase in fuel prices literally *hours* after calling for more war in the Middle East is quite the flex. These are not serious people.

Alysa Liu on Eileen Gu, via The New York Times "I think people are hypocritical for shaming her for representing China ... Y'all would have told her to go back to China. Now that they're back in China, you're mad."

Absolutely. Fucking. Perfect.

I don’t even completely mean that, I just wanted to use that clip 😂

Anybody checked in on Chip Le Grand and Chris Minns?

Actually nevermind, nobody cares what those creeps think.

Prediction: Mark Carney leads a (slimmest of slim) majority government after the 13th of April.