Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #13 April 2015 | Page 7

ly.
I wasn’t what you’d call a massive fan, and yet I have
one whole bookshelf filled with his books, going back
some thirty years. Not a single other author has that
much shelf space in our house. That’s one thing. “It’s a
million to one chance” in our household means something quite different to when non-Pratchet fans use
it – “Scientists have calculated that the chances of
something so patently absurd actually existing are
millions to one.But
magicians have calculated that millionto-one chances crop
up nine times out of
ten.” And Pratchett
stands next to Douglas
Adams (another taken
from us too soon) in
our hall of ‘comedic
literature that makes
you think’ fame (admittedly there aren’t
many others who can
stand with them).
Before writing this
piece I took down our
copy (well actually
my SO’s copy) of
Colour of Magic and
re-read it. This simple, small, book has
travelled with her (and
us since we started
cohabiting) across
at least eight house
moves. Its yellowing
pages actually chewed
upon by an honestto-God bookwork
(earning the book a stint in the freezer for a few days
(apparently the best way to treat bookworms) its spine
much creased, its pages well thumbed, it is, in short, a
well-loved and well-read book.
I was surprised, after not reading it for at least fifteen
years, on how well it holds up. On how good, even

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with the first of the Discworld books, Pratchett’s writing is. He could certainly turn a phrase:
If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he’d
be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm
wearing wet copper armour and shouting “All gods
are bastards!”
Some pirates achieved immortality by great deeds
of cruelty or derring-do. Some achieved immortality by amassing great
wealth. But the captain had long ago decided that he would,
on the whole, prefer
to achieve immortality by not dying.
Rincewind tried to
force the memory
out of his mind, but
it was rather enjoying itself there, terrorizing the other
occupants and kicking over the furniture.
In fact it’s pretty
hard to spot any duff
phrases at all.
Over the years I got
to meet (well be in
the same room as
really) Pterry on a
couple of occasions,
the last being when
he was at World Fantasy Con in 2013. I
couldn’t bring myself to go and see him speak at that one, even though
I knew it’d be the last possible chance to. My friend
Joanne Hall (who has a story in this very issue, check
it out it’s great) said in her tribute (which you can read
here: http://bit.ly/1I8uRC3 )