Since I have done a good job so far of enumerating my Do Not Likes I thought perhaps I should stop with the negative and add a bit of positive, and start my Do Likes.

First up I will introduce you (if you need it) to my very favourite author.

Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry

Well, what can I say? If you don’t read Sir Terence David John Pratchett, why on earth not? And if you do read Pterry you already know how brilliant he is. Pratchett’s work is usually lumped into the fantasy genre but it is so much more than that – a pastiche of satire, popular culture, fantasy writing, historical writing, fairytale and humour with some deep philosophical ideas thrown in. If (for some crazy reason) you don’t want to think about any of that his books can simply be taken as brilliantly fun reads.

His most popular books are the amazing Discworld series – 36 books, including 4 marketed as Young Adult fiction, and with (hopefully) 2 more to come (this is not including the maps, the quiz books, the diaries, the Science of the Discworld books and various other Discworld accompaniments). I say hopefully because very sadly Terry announced in 2007 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Since then he has fundraised vigorously for Alzheimer’s research.

Last year Nation (a non-Discworld tale) was published and to my mind it marked quite a departure from his Discworld books. It had an edge of serious sadness not seen in Discworld, as well as a definite feeling of railing against the unfairness of life. The story arc contains this emotion and also brings it to a happier conclusion, but when reading it you can’t help thinking that this is a writer trying (and for his sake hopefully succeeding) to make some sort of peace with his future.

If I could convince any of my dear readers to try one author it would be Terry. His writing and his presence in our world are truly a gift from Life.

Reaper Man cover

Or maybe Death. It’s the kind of thing He would do.

(BTW I thought it would be really cool to put that last sentence in Small Caps [Death fans will understand] but I’m not technofologically afvanced enough to know how to do it. Sad face.)