TERRY PRATCHETT

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

I was first introduced to Terry Pratchett in the 1980s, although I didn't meet him in person for more than a decade. My introduction came, as it did for so many people, when I opened the copy of The Colour of Magic, a book that I had been assured would do for fantasy what Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had done for science fiction.¹ I don't recall when I first picked up that book, but I do know that I followed it immediately with The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites. I was hooked and would read all of his subsequent Discworld novels, as well as his unrelated novels. Eventually, I had the chance to meet him when he came to Chicago and I interviewed him on a memorable rainy night, later transcribing the interview and trying to hear his accent over the sound of the rain hitting the windows and the ambient noises of the bar in which we sat.² Over the following years, I was occasionally in his presence or had reason to communicate with him via email.

For the last several years of his career, Pratchett came to rely on his personal assistant, Rob Wilkins. Following Pratchett's death in 2015, Wilkins has helped manage Pratchett's estate and its business concerns. He has also written Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes* Beginning with the letter Pratchett left for him to open following Pratchett's death, Wilkins provides an incredibly insightful biography of his employer and friend, aided by Pratchett's own notes towards and autobiography that was never written, discussions with Pratchett's friends and family, and Wilkins's own understanding of Pratchett's life and personality.

While most of the book is a chronological look at Pratchett's life and work, Wilkins does open most chapters with commentary which allows him to not only place the various stages of Pratchett's life in context, but also offer insight into the man Pratchett would become, often based on the biographical information that is about to follow. This process allows Wilkins to dive deeper into Pratchett's psyche and the way he worked.

The book spends a lot of time discussing Pratchett's early work in journalism and his subsequent career working for the Central Electricity Generating Board in great depth. For readers who want to dive into the familiar world of Ankh-Morpork and environs, it may feel as if Wilkins is simply putting off the "interesting" part of Pratchett's life. In fact, Wilkins is laying the groundwork for the Pratchett who was able to find success as an author. The training he received as a journalist, working on tight deadlines and being able to compose in his mind would serve him well throughout all of his careers. Without these chapters which explain who Pratchett was before he became Terry Pratchett, his subsequent experiences would not make much sense. Wilkins is also clear that Pratchett never let the journalist part of himself disappear.³

Wilkins worked with Pratchett for more than two decades typing up the Discworld novels Pratchett would dictate and helping Pratchett polish them. The humor that permeates Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes* clearly shows that either Pratchett's humor is contagious or, more likely, he had seen in Wilkins a kindred spirit. In fact, Wilkins makes the latter abundantly clear, discussing their shared interests in electronics and other areas and how it brought them closer together throughout his employment/their relationship. Their friendship also makes Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes* an extremely personal biography. Readers who felt they knew Pratchett through his novels will have that feeling reinforced by the way Wilkins writes about Pratchett.

It is the sense of familiarity with Pratchett that makes the final chapters of Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes* so difficult to read. The final chapters deal with Pratchett's diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease and the period when the disease progressed and robbed him of his abilities. The reader knows what is coming and can't avoid the train coming at them at 100 mph. By the end of the book, Pratchett will have succumbed to his disease, but not before he lost the life Wilkins showed him building for himself, Lyn, and Rhianna. Even more, seeing Pratchett aware of the same fate the reader was aware of is heartbreaking, even if Pratchett made up his mind to use his money and fame to support causes: Alzheimer's research, the death with dignity movement, and preservation of orangutans, that were important to him.

Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes* is an essential read for any Discworld fan who wants to get to know the man who was behind the characters, places, and situations which were revealed over the course of more than forty books. It is also a book that should be read by anyone who is in the unfortunate situation of having a loved one who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease as an example of the right way to handle the situation. The book also offers a view into the writing process of one of the most successful authors in recent British literature, although as Wilkins notes, Pratchett's methodology may not be transferable to anyone else. Wilkins does an excellent job providing insight into Pratchett as both an author and an individual, making him as real to the reader as any of those characters Pratchett created.

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¹A not entirely fair comparison, even in the 1980s when Discworld was starting out, but a comparison which would attract readers who were likely to appreciate Pratchett's work. And Pratchett was only one of many (British) authors who were promoted with that comparison at the time.
²The interview, published in April and May 2000, is still on-line in two parts at SF Site. In writing this footnote 23 years later, I realize that the second part is erroneously dated as March 2000, a month before part one.
*The Official Biography
³The book details Pratchett providing advice to interviewers, both professional and amateur. During my own interview with him, he requested that I not simply transcribe my questions and his answers as they occur, but rather build a narrative around his answers.

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