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I never read any Discworld. I never read Strata or The Unadulterated Cat. The only book I ever read of his was Good Omens, with Neil Gaiman. Despite this, I’m very moved by his death.

Books make a difference. They make people happy, and his work brought so much joy to people. He died too soon, of a horrible disease that took his mind before his body. Yet he is now immortal, for his work will live on. Isn’t that all a writer wants–to live beyond death? I know that it is for me.

I wonder if he’d appreciate the irony around his death. He was a proponent of assisted suicide, and that caused great controversy. People championed him, and others damned him. It’s a subject that he had the courage to fight for. In the end, he died before he had a chance.

According to Gaiman, none of us really knew him. He was not the comic personality that we assume from his writing. He was angry, even before his disease. To quote “Some people have encountered an affable man with a beard and a hat. They believe they have met Sir Terry Pratchett. They have not.”

He had a splinter digging into his heart, and it fueled his books. His mastery came from fury. Can you blame him?

I found this collection of quotes by him. Can you see the anger? Anger made him strong. It made him real. It made him a master. May we all keep that splinter in our hearts.

“And Death said: ‘AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.’”

“Terry took Death’s arm, and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.”

I hope that you find peace, Sir Terry.

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