I read this at the end of eighth grade only a few months after the Invasion of Iraq, which to me felt like yet another war America was embroiling ourselves in, for reasons still unknown, despite the buzzwords I would see on TV and hear among the adults in my life. I think it’s because he’s especially stubborn about his values, a common theme among my female friends. Is it odd to say that I still relate to Commander Sam Vimes of the city police department in Ankh-Morpork? But then, I’ve met other strong-valued women who also feel a common connection to Sam Vimes. Truer than reality, in some ways: It was about the importance of learning and accepting who you really are, what humanity means, and saving the world, and that felt real to me. Even though Thief of Time was about time traveling monks and witches and Death’s granddaughter and the apocalypse, it felt true. Thief of Time was the first book I read of the Discworld series, a wry, self-aware land where I felt right at home. My clothes would be too scruffy, I would feel ill paying so much for designer, and I couldn’t comprehend the reasoning for a party where you weren’t discussing your feelings and thoughts with your friends. I would try doing these things, not understanding their purpose but hoping for some of their benefits, and do them incorrectly anyway.
Everyone operated on rules that felt false, even as they worked: wearing designer clothes, going to certain parties, following the right trends. I had already felt like a stranger in a strange land in my hometown, and the only problem with this new town was that I hadn’t been here long enough to learn all their secret codes.
The trouble was that he was the kind of person who, having decided to be an interesting person, would first of all try to find a book called How To Be An Interesting Person and then see whether there were any courses available. Jeremy tried to be an interesting person. In Thief of Time, there’s a character that is described thus: Sure, it was only 40 minutes away from my old town, but in New Jersey that felt like 40 light years. And they’ve stayed with me through the years, as I’ve reread for guidance or even just to return to Discworld.
Each one shaped me politically and personally in ways that I could only see in hindsight. I would say most of the Discworld novels switched on the lights in my head, but I made a list of five, in the order I read them. The Discworld novels weren’t just playful, satirical fantasies: they were about idealism and justice and inner strength - important texts for me when I was trying to determine and articulate my own values. I first found his Discworld books during that important time between middle school and high school, so they’ve greatly influenced my very neural circuitry.
The best-selling author of several fantasy books, the bulk of which consisted of the Discworld series, a fantasy satire series that explored everything from Shakespearean elves to the birth of media. He had Alzheimer’s, yes, but I expected him to live long in spite of it. I was devastated to hear about the death of Terry Pratchett a few weeks ago. Sign up for our newsletter to get submission announcements and stay on top of our best work.