Comments

1
That's an understandable point of view from a sense of outside appreciation of the art. But Mr Pratchett is undoubtedly viewing it as a behest toward improving the life of his beloved offspring. and surely since it is his creation he may attempt this.

But have no fear, we'll get our revenge for this perfidy! we'll just not buy any of his child's derivative efforts. That'll show him.
2
I don't know, Family Circus has seamlessly maintained it's spot as the world's most horrifying comic for its entire 50-year run.
3
Says the man who was a complete tool and douche on stage when Sir Terry visited us last.

If Terry feels his daughter can handle the reigns of the Disc, then by all means she should. I will be fist in line to buy her first book.
4
Personally I think Sir Terry can do what he pleases; he is a very sharp fellow. What's it to you? If you don't like her out-put, then don't read it !
5
So it's not just politics that sees you make sweeping generalities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_family

for one - and there are many
7
Taking a step back from whether Rhianna (who has also been a writer for some time) is able to continue Terry's fine work, I see this as merely part of writing his will.

Discworld is Terry's property, and staring down the barrel of Death's scythe as he is, why wouldn't he pass on this thing that he legally has ownership of, to his children?
8
Fuck you, I want more of the von Lipwig books.
9
If Death can have Susan sub in, there's no reason why Terry can't have Rhianna take the reins.

Besides, it can't be any more of a disappointment than _Making Money_ was.
10
I trust Wolfgang Van Halen to carry his family torch with dignity, why should I not trust Mz. Pratchett?
11
Christopher Tolkien should never have published The Silmarillion. I'm with the New York Review of Books, it was an empty and pompous bore.
12
I'm sorry Paul... BS. Like @8 said I wan't more. I don't care if the books are written by the family cat or something I will keep reading (future classics like "Cpt Carrot and the great tuna can mysteries" or "Rincewind punches a dog in the face").

13
It wasn't a family relationship, but one of the only times I felt this has been pulled off well is in Robert Heinlein's, "For Us, the Living" (finished by Spider Robinson, published in 2003, 15 years after Heinlein's death).
14
@11, it was the bulk of the work that Tolkien wrote during his life. LoTR was a very late project undertaken when he realized that his notes and stories could not be published in their current form.

It appeals to very few people. That doesn't mean it's not art worthy of distribution.
15
I'll look on this with optimism. Hopefully she won't do to her father's work what Jane Lindskold did to "Lord Demon" and "Donnerjack". CURSE YOU JANE LINDSKOLD!
16
Er, Paul, do the name "Joe Hill" ring a bell? (Frankly, I think he's as good as, and now approaching better than, Mr. King.)

Yes, Brian Herbert isn't the writer his father was. Nor is Christopher Tolkien. But I'm fairly certain that neither of them consulted with their parent (death being a problem in that regard) about continuing the work.

I'm perfectly willing to give Pratchett the Younger a fair shake; her father went from reasonably good/funny with the first Discworld books, to brilliant/fall-down-laughing with the later ones, to a brief trough of not-quite-as-good when the Alzheimer's kicked in, and has now clawed his way back up almost to the peak. (Not always with Discworld, either; Nation and Dodger are two of his best lately.)

And ultimately, though we're the audience, it's his universe and stories. I have no more problem with him passing the torch to his daughter than I do with Harlan Ellison's stated wish (publicly confirmed by his wife) that any unfinished pieces be taken out of his files and burned when he dies.
17
I have absolutely no problem with this. Either they will suck, in which case I won't have to buy them, or they will not suck, and that will make me happy.

Unless she's planning to re-release the original Pratchett works in some edited form (possibly with ridiculous CGI added), and also make it impossible to acquire them in their original form. That would make me very unhappy.
18
@9 It also struck me that this echoes Susan stepping in for Death.

It is likely that they have discussed her taking the reigns at length, and that should make for a better transition than if Discworld were taken over by a disinterested publishing concern and given to someone who had no relation or love for the works that have gone before.

As @17 said, if they're good then fine; if they're bad or worse she tries to control or modify the original works (Disney-fication) then it will be a much sadder situation.
19
I'm sure none of Ellis Marsalis, Jr.'s children ever played any of his tunes.
20
Hopefully she does better than Todd McCaffrey, who managed to finally scare me off of the Pern books after 20 years.
21
@ 3 & 18: For the love of small gods, people, it's take the REINS, the things that control a horse, not the reigns, or times of a monarch's rule.

Anyway, I agree--if Rhianna's books are good, yay, if not, then that's over.
22
@17 Exactly.

Either she will write books I enjoy, in which case, more power to her and it will be a joy to continue the series and watch it move in new directions, or they will suck, in which case, I don't have to buy new ones and can happily keep rereading the ones I already have.

23
Says the man who was a complete tool and douche on stage when Sir Terry visited us last.
? Care to elaborate on that?
24
@23 I found Paul's interview style to be rather heavy handed and full of himself. Nor did he take the time to realize that Sir Terry should have had a mic stand. Half the show we could not hear a thing he said before they got him a stand for the mic. Plus those atrocious red boots Paul was wearing were a distraction to the eyes and an affront to fashion.

@21, I blame Paul. His ass-hattery often makes me misspell words. Although in internet misspellings, 'Reign' is not as bad as 'here, here'
25
Christopher Tolkien doesn't claim to be a writer. He's publishing his father's Nachlass and trying to sort out which version of a given story is most likely to be the one that fits JRR's mythic world. This is rather different from Pratchett's daughter taking over the writing franchise and producing original works. Personally, I thought Pratchett became rather predictable after the first four or five books, likable chap though he seems to be. Maybe his daughter can take the Discworld to new and interesting places?

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