#bromeliad trilogy

[thekinglemingle]

Oh wow! It's a proto version of the Angel Speech from Going Postal. I knew Pratchett had first used the idea as early as Johnny and the Bomb, but I had no idea he'd already previously used it in Wings. Surely this has to be the earliest published version, right? Or is it going to turn up in one of his pre-fame children's short stories that I'm slowly reading to my daughter?

[s-punk-e]

“Nice girl, bright head on her, but she kept thinking that everyone else was as passionate about things as she was. All people really wanted [...] was to be left alone. The world was quite difficult enough as it was without people going around trying to make it better all the time.”

• Terry Pratchett (Diggers, Page 57)

TERRY PRATCHETT RANT INCOMING

Context: TP’s describing the character Grimma—a hotheaded, idealistic girl who gets launched into a leadership position in the second book of the trilogy. She’s taking care of a population of previously opulent gnomes who now has to prepare to survive the winter with little skills and resources to do so.

She’s demanding and short tempered with everyone around her, and while her morals and judgement of situations are in the right place she is not cut out for being a leader.

Hearing Pratchett both admire the character and redirect her with his gentle, paternal voice left a deep impact on me. It felt like he was directly addressing me, an intentionally difficult person concerned with being right first, and reaching people second.

When I first began reading this section, I found it off-putting the way he framed Grimma. She was right! Terry Pratchett is a master of satire; shouldn’t he be mocking all these foolish, stuck-in-their-way characters who are obviously short sighted and wrong?

But by the end, I appreciated his restraint. His lack of interest in mocking and punching down on some fictional, contrived masses of ignorance challenged the way I previously felt about people. It encouraged me to be gentler, to be better in a way I hadn’t previously thought I needed to be. And that gentleness will always be the most important part of Pratchett’s voice to me. I may sometimes be too stupid to get half the puns, too stiff to enjoy the comedy, too cynical to find catharsis in the satire, too pretentious to wonder at the fantasy. But I’m always human enough to feel his love for people.

[alda-rana]

Having got into the habit of reading a few pages of a Pratchett book every night before bed, I finally reread the Nomes trilogy, which was one of the very first Pratchett stories I read, when I was 14 or so, long before discovering the Discworld, and I LOVED it so much. I remember ranting about it to my (very fantasy-adverse) mother in her car once. The bromeliad thing blew my mind back then!

Curiously, though, I'd never drawn these characters before. That is now fixed! Have a little gallery of nomes:

(1 - Masklin and Grimma, 2 - Dorcas and the Abbot, 3 - Gurder and Angalo, 4 - Granny Morkie and Old Torrit, 4 - Shrub and Pion)

And the whole group together:

Enjoy!

[poorlydescribedpterrybooks]

Hello! I just started wondering about one thing... Never, in any context (except wikipedia lists of his works, which don't really count), since mum read them to me, have I heard of The Nome Trilogy. Kinda shame, honestly. Really good and funny children's books. They were the first Pratchett books I ever knew or heard about, mum read them to me when I was like... maybe 9? Is it just that they're Non-Discworld and children's books, or why aren't they more known?

Ah, the Bromeliad (or Nome) Trilogy! You are absolutely right, it’s a shame they don’t get more recognition. Someone should help me out with more info here if they can, but I know that part of the reason was that Pterry’s older works were chronically under-marketed in the US for many years.

[tamlins-stories-and-poems]

Honor Sir Pratchet

This was written years ago, shortly after I first learned of Sir Terry’s passing. I’m reposting it because it only ever was seen by myself and the tags were wrong and there was a word I needed to change that I couldn’t figure out how to change.

— An old man lay in his bed, dreaming of what he would write for his beloved fans the next day.


The door didn’t open, but a large white horse with a black robed rider came in.


IT’S A SHAME WE HAVE TO DO THIS. The rider said, in a voice that went straight to any listener’s mind, not bothering to stop by their ears.


SQUEAK. Agreed a similarly dressed figure. It was maybe six inches tall, and rode a white Scottish Terrier.

A clear spirit sat up, out of the man. “Hmm?” He asked, drowsily. “Is anyone there?”


YES. The horse rider said. I’M AFRAID YOUR TIME HAS COME.


“What do you mean?” The old man asked, his white hair and beard shone bright in the moonlight. “Wait, I know you….” The man stared in intrigued surprise at the blue novas in the hollow eyes of the rider. “Death.”


QUITE SO, SIR TERRY. Death nodded. I AM HONORED TO MEET YOU, HOWEVER, I’M SURE WE BOTH WISH IT WERE AT A BETTER TIME.


“Yes. Indeed.” The man, now know by any silent watchers as ‘Sir Terry,’ agreed, looking rather shocked. “I must say, when I wrote about you, I didn’t think that I’d actually get to meet you.”


AS YOU TOLD MANY, ALL THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE OF THE DISC GET TO MEET ME. YOU, Death said, ARE THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT. SHALL WE, THEN?


“Yes, yes, I suppose we must.” Sir Terry sighed, and stood up. 


WOULD YOU PREFER THE SWORD, SCYTHE, OR BOTH? Death asked. MASKLIN OF THE NOMES IS OUTSIDE WITH HIS SHIP, WAITING FOR YOU. HE PLANS TO FLY YOUR SPIRIT TO THE DISC, SO THAT YOU MIGHT BE REBORN THERE.


Sir Terry chose both.


Days later he was reborn as a quiet, collected infant. He remembered everything. 


The new boy’s name?


Havloc.

[dzelonis]

Terry Pratchett - Bromeliad Trilogy #1-3

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[mendedrum]

the bromeliad trilogy is one of the best stories that i've ever read T.T

[catmint1]

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

Terry Pratchett, Diggers [Bromeliad Trilogy #2]