I met Sir Terry once, for about 11 seconds. He was appearing at the Waterstones in Plymouth signing Thief of Time I think.. I had not read and did not own any of his books back then though I knew who he was. This was 1994, and there were usually a couple of his books in the WHSmith bestseller lists.
I felt a bit guilty but went along anyway. When I arrived, foolishly at the time advertised, I discovered the line trailing around the store, out onto the street and around the corner. And they wouldn’t let anyone else in the line. So I just hung out in the store, and he walked past me and I said hello and he said hello back, from under his hat. He must have been signing for hours, chatting and joking with everyone. So I swore I would give his books a try.
Embarrassingly it took me a long time to get to it. I read a few over the years but never really dived in.
And then he died.
After that I decided to start at the beginning and read them in order.
I lasted 5 books, then started jumping around. I still haven’t read Pyramids or Eric. Yet.
Back to Sourcery.
I was in a Hotel in Paris. We had chosen Paris for our summer holiday. 5 nights in the city of lights. Or as we discovered, 5 nights in the city of muggings, closed train stations, and general unpleasantness. Around the Eiffel tower the government were installing anti-terror screens, which meant that all the traders who try to sell you light up towers and other tat had moves out to the surrounding streets, making them impassable. There was also a significant homeless problem, far worse than I had ever seen in Paris before. Everywhere you went there were posters advertising the Paris bid for the Olympics. On television a Politician claimed the needed to win the Olympics to clean up the city. They won. I hope it helps.
We had chosen Paris because we had planned to go to New York, but the dollar to pound exchange rate was making it expensive. So instead we booked a hotel with a view of the original statue of Liberty, that sits on an island in the Seine. On the second day, as we were walking to the Louvre a group of youths tried to snatch our bags and wallets, which was not a great way to introduce the family to the streets of Paris. We had a great day in the Musee D’orsay (Highly recommended) then had a free day.
What did everyone want to do?
No-one wanted to leave the Hotel room. The affect of the attempted mugging had had an impact on my son, who has autism. He had a stack of Sudoku books and a pencil, and he wasn’t leaving.
So I went and bought snacks and read Sourcery.
I had finished The Light Fantastic on the flight out, and Mort in the first couple of evenings. Sourcery was for the return trip.
I read it in one sitting, in that hotel room in Paris.
The appearance of Death early on, and the classic line “Cats” he said eventually, “Cats are nice”. Poor Ipslore, I’m not sure thats what he was looking for.
I think Sourcery has a tough time, because it comes just after what is arguably the first masterpiece, Mort.
It has a strong plot, quite a lot of action, and a lot of the elements that are going to be expanded on over the next 30+ books.
It was also the last one I read in order. This was mainly because I had found the first 5, all original pocket sized paperbacks, in a charity shop. I wouldn’t read Wyrd Sisters for a couple of years.
And its Death’s fault.
I’d loved him so much in Sourcery and Mort that I then jumped to Reaper Man and read all the Death books, ending with Hogfather, which I put off for a long time because I didn’t want it to end.
And of course then I fell in love with the Death of Rats. A great idea and a wonderful relationship between the two deaths.
But I’ll come back to that later....
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