A Nice Terry Pratchett Interview

[wayspooled]

Someone may have posted this before but since I didn't see it, and my apologies if so, thought I'd share it. This is Pratchett interviewed by Gaiman.

http://www.wbqonline.com/feature.do?featureid=1

[zelda_pinwheel]

thanks for that. i particularly enjoyed this bit :

'Not many men can say this,' Terry says, proudly, 'but as a result of The Wee Free Men I was made an honorary Brownie for writing a proper girl in a book. I've got a woggle and everything. No kidding.

'Anyway, the Brownies wanted to kidnap someone famous and they decided on me because they liked Tiffany Aching. But they didn't know how to go about it. And I thought, "All we need is a signing queue, two little girls and a yellow rubber chicken." (I don't know why it hasn't been established before, but a yellow rubber chicken is the secret of all humour.)'

'So, it's all set up and I tell the two little Brownies, "You stand on one side of me and you on the other and just look at the camera, all sweet and innocent. Then without looking at me, one of you must raise my hat and the other has to hit me over the head with the rubber chicken. Then the first Brownie should place my hat back on my head as I slump down in the chair."

'The only problem was that people saw me apparently doing a signing and a massive queue built up. So then we had to explain to everyone that I wasn't in fact doing a signing, but I would sign their books if they wouldn't mind waiting until these two little girls had knocked me out. It was one of those surreal moments that you just treasure.'

wonderful.

[catsittingstill]

I really like Terry Pratchett's books; it's nice to know that the author has the same sort of sense of humor in person. Oh, sorry, he's British, right? That should be "humour."

[poohbear_nc]

Thank you so much for this posting - it's good to see Pratchett is still Pratchett - dealing with disease and fame equally well.

Before I discovered Pratchett (in an A.S. Byatt review/slam of Harry Potter books no less), I used to read all the HGTG books once a year - to explain why life was as it is - and to learn to laught at it again. I've since added Pratchett - I find a combination of Rincewind's and Death's philosophy to be indespensible to dealing with life today.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Thank you so much for this posting - it's good to see Pratchett is still Pratchett - dealing with disease and fame equally well.

Before I discovered Pratchett (in an A.S. Byatt review/slam of Harry Potter books no less), I used to read all the HGTG books once a year - to explain why life was as it is - and to learn to laught at it again. I've since added Pratchett - I find a combination of Rincewind's and Death's philosophy to be indespensible to dealing with life today.

that seems like a very good philosophy. i think i'll start doing that as well ! it's been a while since i read the HGTG books, i think it's time to dust them off again (are they avaible in ebooks ? they must be... my old copies are so beat up it would be good to replace them...)

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

that seems like a very good philosophy. i think i'll start doing that as well ! it's been a while since i read the HGTG books, i think it's time to dust them off again (are they avaible in ebooks ? they must be... my old copies are so beat up it would be good to replace them...)

They are in Kindle editions - though the first volume has been pulled (for the second or third time) to be reformatted for quality issues.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

They are in Kindle editions - though the first volume has been pulled (for the second or third time) to be reformatted for quality issues.

okay, thanks ! i'll check fw for them.

[zelda_pinwheel]

hm, strange, fw only has 2 (the deeper meaning of liff, the salmon of doubt). but booksonboard seems to have all of them (and it looks like they've got them in epub !! yay !).

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

hm, strange, fw only has 2 (the deeper meaning of liff, the salmon of doubt). but booksonboard seems to have all of them (and it looks like they've got them in epub !! yay !).

One of the greatest lines in fiction (IMHO) still is: "the late Arthur Dent -- late for what exactly?"

[bertold]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

One of the greatest lines in fiction (IMHO) still is: "the late Arthur Dent -- late for what exactly?"

My favorite quote from Hitchhiker is:

ARTHUR
You know, it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die from asphyxiation in deep space, that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young.

FORD
Why, what did she tell you?

ARTHUR
I don't know, I wasn't listening.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by bertold

My favorite quote from Hitchhiker is:

Ever have the feeling you're on a spaceship filled with phone handset sanitizers and celebrity hairdressers?

[pdurrant]

That doesn't sound quite right. I remember it as:

"You must come with me, or you'll be late"

"Late for what?"

"What's your name, Earthman?"

"Dent. Arthur Dent."

"Well, late as in the late Dent Arthur Dent. It's a sort of threat, you see."

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

One of the greatest lines in fiction (IMHO) still is: "the late Arthur Dent -- late for what exactly?"

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That doesn't sound quite right. I remember it as:

"You must come with me, or you'll be late"

"Late for what?"

"What's your name, Earthman?"

"Dent. Arthur Dent."

"Well, late as in the late Dent Arthur Dent. It's a sort of threat, you see."

That sounds more right to me too - thanks for the correction!

[sirbruce]

"Sorry, did I say something wrong?" said Marvin, dragging himself on regardless. "Pardon me for breathing, which I never do anyway so I don't know why I bother to say it, oh God I'm so depressed. Here's another one of those self-satisfied doors. Life! Don't talk to me about life."

[khalleron]

"Man had always considered himself more intelligent than the dolphins because of all the things He had achieved - the wheel, New York, wars and things, while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. Whereas the dolphins had always considered themselves more intelligent than Man for precisely the same reasons."