Terry Pratchett, or Terryho Pratchetta as they say in the Czech Republic, needs no introduction. If you haven’t heard of him, then good God where’ve you been? Terry’s sold millions of books over the years and I won’t bore you to tears with the numbers here but the sales statistics at least for the UK market are staggering. He’s even made the best sellers list on Pluto so saying you’ve never heard of him because you’re an alien who’s just arrived on Earth won’t cut the mustard or the cheese any longer.
Pratchett was born in 1948 in the city of Beaconsfield in the Buckinghamshire, England. He is best known for his Discworld series and is considered one of the best satirists writing today and is often compared to the likes of Douglas Adams, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll and P.G. Wodehouse. His first published work, “The Hades Business” appeared in 1963 in Science Fantasy magazine. His second short story, “Night Dweller” appeared in 1965 in New Worlds magazine. His first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971.
Recently, he wrote the international bestselling Discworld opus Thud! He followed this novel up with the British release of Wintersmith. Some of his other recent releases include the soon to be children’s classic Where’s My Cow as well as The Johnny Maxwell Slipcase paperback box set from Corgi featuring Only You Can Save Mankind, Johnny and the Dead and Johnny and the Bomb. HarperCollins Publishers has also released Only You Can Save Mankind (Johnny Maxwell Trilogy) in hardcover format. In 2002, Pratchett’s novel The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents won the Carnegie Medal for best children’s novel.
And for diehard fans there is a fascinating collection of essays on Terry Pratchett and his work, edited by Andrew M. Butler, Edward James, and Farah Mendlesohn entitled Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature. It was published by the Science Fiction Foundation. If you’re a fan and you don’t already have a copy then it would be worth your effort to get one today, it’s a very enthralling read.
Michael Lohr: What inspired you to write Where’s My Cow? What I am getting at is, could there be an unconscious attempt by the bovine population to take over the world? The Seattle rock band Mudhoney released the record My Brother The Cow, mad cow disease has been running rampant for a few years now, The Tao of Cow: What Cows Teach Us by Dolly Mu was a recent bestseller. I even found myself writing a cow-based short story for a fiction anthology called, The Holy Church of Moo — A Call To Cud. What gives?
Terry Pratchett: Dunno. WMC? got produced because my editor fell in love with the idea. It’s a squib, a bit of fun, and a chance for Melvyn Grant to do some wonderful pictures. There’s something intrinsically funny about cows.
ML: With the modicum of success that Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy had at the box office, do you think a Discworld movie is closer to fruition; the Good Omens debacle and the Dreamworks project not withstanding?
TP: Even though there is in theory a DW production due to start shooting next year, I’m assuming that something will get in the way. Movies don’t get made.
ML: What would you say has been your most disappointing experience you’ve had, writing career wise?
TP: There’s never been a huge major downer, but I was disappointed that Good Omens did so badly in the World Fantasy Awards in 1991– probably because it was funny. And that’s about the level of things, really. Disappointments fade. Sales continue!
ML: Looking back over your career, what was the most disappointing novel that you wrote? Which one makes you grab your head and mumble, “Why did I ever write that.”
TP: Sourcery. I wrote it because the fans wanted another Rincewind novel. I didn’t. I put the work into it and it stayed in the bestseller list for three months. Somehow, that made me uneasy.
ML: Years ago I remember that you dabbled in beekeeping as a hobby. I have friends who own a rather lucrative honey farm in West Virginia. Is beekeeping something you still do? What attracted you to beekeeping?
TP: Dabble? You can’t *dabble* in beekeeping! I learned it from little old men, too, who gave me tips you don’t find in books.
The attraction? It grounds you. You have to understand a rhythm you don’t (mostly) control. You get lots of honey. And your neighbours positively *hope* your livestock grazes on their land!
I had to give it up because of Spring signing tours, in the middle of the busy season. I hope to go back to it in a couple of years.
ML: Did you ever have a problem with your bees such as a big swarm of them getting loose and raiding small villages, attacking Vicars and the like?
TP: No. Swarming bees are usually incredibly docile, at least for a few hours. The art of bee-keeping is not to have problems.
ML: I once interviewed Irish writer Robert Rankin and asked him if he would ever consider co-writing a book with you. He went on a bit of a tirade about how he doesn’t work with anybody and wouldn’t even entertain the idea. At this point in your career, is there anyone that you would really like to work with on a project?
TP: You mean would I actively seek someone to work with? No. Good Omens was a happy fluke: right guys, right project, right time. I doubt if something like that will happen again.
*Good Omens, for the uninitiated, Terry co-wrote with Neil Gaiman. Like you needed to be told.
ML: Your Discworld series began back in the 1980s and at the time was very much as a parody or send-up of sword & sorcery fantasy writings; a pseudo-medieval setting with wizards, barbarians, etc. But over the years, as your style developed and grew in sophistication, you started to satirize everything from religion to Hollywood to holidays to the military-industrial complex. How has your interpretation of Discworld changed and evolved over the years?
TP: Er…shouldn’t you ask a reader? I think I’m just writing them better.
ML: Actually, this question was submitted by one of your fans. The gentleman who submitted the question swears that he has read every book of yours twice, both upright and hanging up-side-down while suspended by glow-in-the-dark, anti-gravity boots.
For more information on Mr. Pratchett and Discworld please go to the following websites:
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Terry Pratchett Books
The L-Space Web – A Terry Pratchett/Discworld Web Site
The Free Monthly Newsletter, discworldmonthly.co.uk
The Bad Fads Museum (The Place Where Insipid Fads Are Immortalized)
In 1998 Terry Pratchett was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his service to British literature. He has been awarded honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Warwick in 1999 as well as by the University of Portsmouth and the University of Bristol in 2001 and 2004, respectively.
Together with Professor Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, Pratchett assisted in writing the scientific-based fiction/nonfiction combination The Science of Discworld, The Science of Discworld II: The Globe and The Science of Discworld III: Darwin’s Watch. In 1999, Both Stewart and Cohen where venerated in a special ceremony as “Honorary Wizards of the Unseen University.” The BBC has supported Pratchett’s work for many years now and recently aired a three-part adaptation of Johnny and the Bomb. Sky One has completed production on the TV adaptation of the novel Hogfather, starring David Janson and Ian Richardson.
For you rollplaying enthusiasts there is Discworld MUD, a free very sizable online game based upon the series. Pratchett also wrote the roleplaying guide The Discworld Roleplaying Game. There also exists a rather fun and odd, Ankh-Morpork based roleplaying game from Steve Jackson Games: Discworld Roleplaying Game.
According to the BBC, the movie rights to Pratchett’s children’s novel, Wee Free Men, has been purchased by Sam Raimi of the Spider Man movies and Xena Warrior Princess fame. Production is set to commence after Raimi completes work on Spider Man 3.
Terry also has a keen interest in orangutans and supports the charitable institution, the Orangutan Foundation. He even made a documentary for Channel 4 in Britain by taking a camera crew to Borneo to record orangutans in their natural habitat. For further information on the Orangutan Foundation and their many conservation programs, please visit their website.
