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Terry Pratchett Live!
May. 9th, 2003 04:35 pmLast Tuesday, Terry Pratchett gave a talk at one of NYC's 435 Barnes and Noble outlets, and since it was attached to a booksigning, it was free. (They make their money on the book sales, you see.) As you might guess, it was a delight.
PTerry spoke for a half-hour, and answered questions for about as long. He talked about his life prior to Discworld, as a journalist and as a PR man for a nuclear power plant in England. He was very witty, as one might expect, and gave some insight into how his mind works. He talked a bit about how it's different to write for children than for adults, though he's not sure how, exactly. He also dealt with the questions amiably, and when asked about movie adpatations and about ever working with Gaiman again, he said, ah the movie question and ah, the collaboration question.
The most interesting thing he talked about was his favorite writers. Turns out that he is a tremendous fan of the second of my favorite contemporary writers (Stephen King being the third), Donald Westlake. He told about how he once agreed to attend a bok fair in Cleveland only because Westlake was a guest, and how utterly geeked he was at meeting the crime writer. He got more geeked still when Westlake told Pratchett that he liked the Discworld books he'd read.
I don't know about you, but I find it immensely cool when I learn that my favorite writers recomend each other's work.
We also got a preview of things to come. The next Discworld novel, Monstrous Regiment, will star almost all new characters - he said Death and one other familair face would pass through, but that's it - and that the story is inspired by the countless women who disguised themselves as men to fight in a war. More than that, he's not saying. This should be out in the fall.
His other announced work is a sequel to Wee Free Men, and PTerry said that he has some plans for the star of these books, a witch in training named Tiffany. (I suspect that the cameos in the first book by Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Og are going to lead somewhere in the main Discworld novels.)
In all, a fun way to spend the evening. To whet your Pratchett appetite further, here's an interview he did at the SciFi Channel's website:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/advance/05_interview.html
PTerry spoke for a half-hour, and answered questions for about as long. He talked about his life prior to Discworld, as a journalist and as a PR man for a nuclear power plant in England. He was very witty, as one might expect, and gave some insight into how his mind works. He talked a bit about how it's different to write for children than for adults, though he's not sure how, exactly. He also dealt with the questions amiably, and when asked about movie adpatations and about ever working with Gaiman again, he said, ah the movie question and ah, the collaboration question.
The most interesting thing he talked about was his favorite writers. Turns out that he is a tremendous fan of the second of my favorite contemporary writers (Stephen King being the third), Donald Westlake. He told about how he once agreed to attend a bok fair in Cleveland only because Westlake was a guest, and how utterly geeked he was at meeting the crime writer. He got more geeked still when Westlake told Pratchett that he liked the Discworld books he'd read.
I don't know about you, but I find it immensely cool when I learn that my favorite writers recomend each other's work.
We also got a preview of things to come. The next Discworld novel, Monstrous Regiment, will star almost all new characters - he said Death and one other familair face would pass through, but that's it - and that the story is inspired by the countless women who disguised themselves as men to fight in a war. More than that, he's not saying. This should be out in the fall.
His other announced work is a sequel to Wee Free Men, and PTerry said that he has some plans for the star of these books, a witch in training named Tiffany. (I suspect that the cameos in the first book by Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Og are going to lead somewhere in the main Discworld novels.)
In all, a fun way to spend the evening. To whet your Pratchett appetite further, here's an interview he did at the SciFi Channel's website:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/advance/05_interview.html
