In a rare moment of sanity in the literary world, the manager of the late Sir Terry Pratchett's estate has followed the beloved author's wishes and destroyed the hard drive of the computer containing his unfinished works by crushing it with a steamroller. As many as ten unfinished works were on the drive, which, after being unsuccessfully steamrolled several times, was finally securely destroyed by being put through a rock crusher.
The pieces will be displayed at the Salisbury Museum as part of a Pratchett exhibition.
While I do, personally and professionally, mourn the loss of Sir Terry's remaining work; as a librarian navigating a publishing world increasingly dominated by the likes of James Patterson's literary mill, I applaud the Pratchett estate's willingness to defend him from a legacy of eternal "new releases" based on random back-of-a-napkin jottings and used-bubble-gum-wrapper sketches, as seems to be the industry norm these days.
Now, all they have to do is resist the no-doubt-considerable monetary lure of officially-licensed Terry Pratchett's Discworld (TM) novels.
That being said, what posthumous releases or ghostwritten literary sequels have you read and enjoyed? Also, do you consider any of those be considered worthy sequels or additions to the originals?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Friday September 08 2017, @09:52PM (12 children)
I believe Tolkien never wanted LotR to be filmed. He thought the medium could never do the creatures and scenery of middle earth justice. While there are aspects of Peter Jackson's interpretation that I disagree with, on the whole I think it's excellent, and I really do think that Tolkien might have reconsidered had he seen the end result. He died well before anyone even imagined what modern technology has now made possible.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday September 08 2017, @11:59PM
He probably would have insisted on the Tom Bombadil scenes...
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 09 2017, @01:47AM
Jeter Packson is a Tajor League Mwat.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Saturday September 09 2017, @02:22AM (4 children)
I think there's a few changes that Jackson made that would have really pissed off Tolkien. Farimir (sp?) for example.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday September 09 2017, @02:32AM (2 children)
What did he change about Faramir? I read LotR, but it was a *very* long time ago.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dry on Saturday September 09 2017, @04:04AM (1 child)
He totally changed his personality. In the book, he was basically the opposite of Boromir (sp?), helped Frodo after figuring out that he carried the ring, let Gollum go after catching him, the disappointing son to Denother, partially due to hanging out with Gandalf. In the movie, he captured Frodo and tried to take him to his father.
It has been a while since I read it so might not be remembering clearly, but the change really stood out.
Quickly duckduckgoing, I found this quote,
http://www.istad.org/tolkien/faramir.html [istad.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Saturday September 09 2017, @11:22AM
Boromir had a lot of noble qualities but though you can't quite call him weaker he was more suceptible to the unseen forces, especially the malevolent forces, and less his own man than Faramir.
That was shown a little they departed Rivendal, but there it could be debated either way. He obviously had struggles over the ring even early on, but won after some effort. However, once the group got to the the west door of Moria, he chucked that rock into the water inadvertently signalling the watcher. The good forces balanced that one out because the watcher hppened to be far away at that moment, giving the group enough time to work through the riddle. After I'd read the series through all the way, that action stood out a lot more than it did at first glance.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday September 09 2017, @02:31PM
The trip through the "death cave". In the book, he went in alone, came out with white hair and little was said about what happened inside.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday September 09 2017, @04:01AM
Still by dying he did set the stage for a book written in DEATH-form.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 09 2017, @04:58AM (2 children)
LoR is one of those rare cases where the movie is better than the book.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 09 2017, @01:07PM (1 child)
Do you not like to read? Do you love sitting on your butt in front of a screen?
The LotR films were indeed incredible and beautiful, but by sheer necessity, they are mere summaries of the books. The movies are enhanced by one's knowledge of the books, and the movies alone are quite lacking on their own.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 09 2017, @04:13PM
All my reading is done on a laptop (different AC).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @03:30PM
I found the LotR book slow going. I enjoyed most of the Peter Jackson LotR movies. And the first two of the Hobbit movies. The last Hobbit movie "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" wasn't good though.
In an alternative universe where Tolkien and wiki tech was alive, I might be tempted to pay for access to a LotR universe wiki written and edited by Tolkien and his assistants :).