Terry Pratchett: Science Fiction or Fantasy? – Mark Lawson Talks ToTerry Pratchett – BBC
Terry Pratchett talks about his books in the Science Fiction issue eluisve sent bookshops. Big Clip form BBC show Mark Lawson Talks To: Terry Pratchett. See more high-quality video on the new BBC Worldwide YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com Video Rating: 05.04
my 6-minute tour through the history of Science Fiction, by Mary Shelley on HG Wells all the way into the 21st Century … I speak of George Melies, Hugo Gernsback, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, & everything in between in this 2002 interview. The science-fiction books I have written: theplottosavesocrates.com
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Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, Lawson, Mark, Pratchett, Science, Talks, Terry, ToTerry
August 18th, 2010 at 3:46 am
I just love this guy. Hope they make “movies” series of all of his work
August 18th, 2010 at 4:07 am
@thenouv – Neither do i! Perhaps it’s because those ‘celebrities’ lead lives more likened to fantasy than actual fantasy half the time!! They’re certainly away with the fairies most of it!
Jokes aside, fantasy will thankfully always have a following as it transcends fads or fashion etc…
August 18th, 2010 at 4:45 am
@Tbonetardis It’s a real shame that fantasy is dismissed like that, and kind of weird, considering that Lord of the Rings is one of the most popular works of fiction ever produced. And so is Harry Potter. And the Narnia books. And of course Terry Pratchett is the only author aside from Dickens to have 5 books in the top 100 most read books…
But somehow its more acceptable to read big-lettered celebrity autobiographies. I don’t get it.
August 18th, 2010 at 4:52 am
@thenouv – I wasn’t aware she had made that comment, but yes, how stupidly dismissive of the very thing that made her a huge success! Her books are rather whimsical and one-dimensional and she ought not take herself too seriously as a writer! It is strange though how fantasy writing is so dismissed by the literary establishment generally, to the point writers feel the need to disassociate themselves or make excuses. Same tends to go for fantasy art too, which is a great shame.
August 18th, 2010 at 5:51 am
@Tbonetardis I’d agree with the disparaging tone, but then again I would be pretty annoyed myself if journalists kept rocking up and asking if I had been inspired by JK Rowling. I think he was also fired up by the fact Rowling said she didn’t consider her work to be fantasy (for some strange reason), thus yet again giving the impression that fantasy isn’t worthy of attention.
Recently, Neil Gaiman was under fire in an almost identical situation, involving the Twilight books.
August 18th, 2010 at 6:46 am
@thenouv – Agreed, the media do tend to exaggerate! I think, without meaning to offend, perhaps you’re taking a slightly rose-tented-view of Terry’s voiced opinions, as the fact remains, his comments have taken a rather disparaging tone, which is what I was referring to – despite the fact that I agree with him in part, for both Rowling and Tolkien. If you’re going to stoke the fire, you’re inevitably going to encourage flames that follow. No one is really being unfair to him in this respect!
August 18th, 2010 at 6:59 am
@Tbonetardis The whole JK Rowling thing was completely blown out of proportion by the media. What Terry Pratchett once said in a speech was that the media seemed to say that JK Rowling had revived and broken the boundaries of the Fantasy genre. He simply pointed out that this was not the case and that fantasy had always been around and thriving, it’s just the media that are ignorant.
As for Tolkien: he does not deny that the man is a major inspiration, but he does not see his work as flawless.
August 18th, 2010 at 7:45 am
Terry Pratchet seems like a sincere enough guy and an inventive fantasy writer – I also deeply sympathise with his condition – very sad.
However, I really can’t understand his need to take a pop at Tolkein (which is well documented) and more recently, JK Rowling. No matter how justified you feel a comment is, professional jealousy shows arrogance and/or insecurities in one shape or form…
August 18th, 2010 at 7:55 am
They keep science fiction and fantasy books separate incase people catch imagination from them.
August 18th, 2010 at 8:01 am
What is it with the bloody bbc and splitting interviews up into randomly titled chunks, FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET NUMBER, TITLE OR JUST KEEP THEM FING TOGETHER araararariaiaiarara
August 18th, 2010 at 8:07 am
Science fiction is fantasy with rivets on the outside. HA! Very true.
August 18th, 2010 at 8:13 am
in the book shop i go to thay have a terry pratchet section. its alsome.
August 18th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Terry Pratchett is AWESOME!!!!
August 18th, 2010 at 9:05 am
@TotalNekro No? You would argue then that neither of these stories have any elements that may be called fantastical? They may be technologically fantastical but thats what makes SciFi a subset. Its often about how the fantasy elements are justified and integrated.
A fantasy is any book that has elements that do no or did not exist. Hence it includes 1984 with its telescreens and minis. Tolkien is not the definition of fantasy, it is a subset called high fantasy.
August 18th, 2010 at 9:59 am
LOVE ALL DISCWORLD NOVELS!!! Sam Vimes of the Ankh Morpork City Watch is awesome!
August 18th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Unfortunately, due to the cruelness of the world, he may not be with us much longer
God bless Terry Pratchett
August 18th, 2010 at 11:05 am
got all his books in paperback and hardback 3 of them signed by the great man himself he is the best there is in this genre of writing long may he be with us!!!!
August 18th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Read, and own all the Discworld books. Gotta say Rincewind an Detritus are the best characters EVER! Cant believe the poor bugger gtz alzhymers bless im. Pratchett 4 king!
August 18th, 2010 at 11:49 am
men at arms is (in my humble opinion) his very best
I liked his books before, after men at arms, I loved his books
Enjoy
August 18th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I have a lot of his books and all of his audio books too. I lay in bed at night listening to them.
August 18th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
…interessante! ♫
August 18th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Here you have a man that knows how it’s done. Very sad to hear of his diagnosis. I hope the condition does not progress for a few more years; I’d like some more Discworld, please, as most of us would.
August 18th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
I love his books so much i’m currently reading men at arms and i love it.
August 18th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
@chopin65
Please read peoples posts more carefully. I said “they both involve imaginary worlds with a heavy speculative element” not just that they were simply “imaginary”.
It is true that by definition all fiction is imagined, but they dont all take place on imaginary worlds with a heavy speculative element. This is really the preserve of SF and Fantasy, which many group together under the term speculative fiction.
August 18th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
@direweasal Imaginary? All fiction by its definition is imagined.
August 18th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
I love sci-fi, but I tend to admire more the early work of sci-fi. Unlike today, back then they had to rely on pure imagination and mix it with the social commentary of the time. I am not saying that today people dont have imagination, what I am referring is that today people have more influence or access to different fiction novel or movies. The earlier work has served as inspiration to todays sci-fi.
August 18th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Great stuff. Even though we still live in alarming political turmoil nowadays, I’m hopeful science will turn the tide of conflicts someday.
August 18th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Thanks for the comment – and best of luck with your writing!
August 18th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
I think scifi needs to start chronicling the induced bio/spirtual evolution. Right now humanity is reaching the status of a planet-wide, integrated civilization—this in Michio Kaku’s words is a TYPE I civ. Then again, I’m a jaded scifi-slacker who’s more into his own half-baked writing ideas of cybernetics and scifi in general. Great vid!
August 18th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Still in the bio-tech, anthropology direction … with maybe a little more time travel…
August 18th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Wow, very interesting. Where do you think Science Fiction is headed now?