Of course I could be talking out of my arse cos I don't know the bloke. But that's how it looks to me.
You raise a good point. It's the same with me. All we can do, as we don't know the guy personally, is give our best possible interpretation.
I didn't know there was a Masquerade movie - I know there was a Hogfather one, and some small production company is doing a Cohen one.
There's a fan movie Troll Bridge, I think. And there was talk earlier this year of doing a TV series based on the Watch.
Just wanted to address the above as one - you'll notice that his books are changing, a lot of that is down to HOW he works now - mostly through dictation, rather than physical writing, and telling a story vocally is different to writing.
Indeed. And I've been surprised how little I noticed the style difference. But I think he only started dictating around
Unseen Academicals. (Or that was the first book that was fully dictated, something like that. )I remember vaguely, in the documentary you referenced later in your post, that he was still typing at that point.
He's been an amazing role model. He did a fantasic documentary about his illness a couple of years ago for the BBC (i think) and it's worth checking out.
Living with Alzheimer, wasn't it? Very chilling, I thought. Definitely deserved the BAFTA it won.
Me neither. I am actually in love with Sam Vimes.
He's married, you know. And I wouldn't dare to cross Lady Sybill myself.
Nightwatch was an interesting book in that it's timing, whether intentional or not, came at a point where Pratchett's illness was manifesting itself. The themes of the novel - like not being entirely sure of even your own past, and basically living in your own memories, even if they aren't 'right' is incredibly symbolic of the way the illness leaves people - that sense of confusion at something that is so familiar.
But
Nightwatch predates both the stroke and the later Alzheimer diagnosis by at least a year or two if I go by the dates in Wikipedia. Could it have had such an effect already so soon? I'm sorta doubtful.
Something that I say about Pratchett quite a lot is the way he can make you laugh outloud, and then in the very next second he can twist the knife in such a seamless way that you feel ashamed of yourself for ever finding it funny. He makes people think, and that's a good thing.
Oh, yes! I have yet to find another author who possesses that skill to marry drama and comedy so seamlessly. One sentence you're giggling about a discussion of a sock full of sand; the next sentence, bam! the fate of the world hangs in the balance and you really do care.
And the way he manages to weave little weird bits of this world into Discworld. There are many times I have read something in a Discworld novel and afterwards notice it exists in our world as well! Awesome.
There are but few writers whose writer skills I want to have, but Pratchett tops the list big time.
