Hopes for Future Novels From Terry Pratchett Literally Crushed

Fans' hopes for future novels from the late Terry Pratchett were literally crushed last week as the fantasy author's old hard drive fell victim to a steamroller, the Guardian reports. Following Pratchett's death from Alzheimer's in 2015, friend and fellow author Neil Gaiman told the Times that Pratchett wanted “whatever he was working on at the time of his death to be taken out along with his computers, to be put in the middle of a road and for a steamroller to steamroll over them all.” That wish played out last Friday at the Great Dorset Steam Fair in Britain when a vintage steamroller named Lord Jericho flattened Pratchett's old hard drive.

"About to fulfill my obligation to Terry," tweeted Rob Wilkins, who is managing the Pratchett estate. He followed the tweet up with a photo of the destroyed hard drive and the message "There goes the browsing history." Following Pratchett's death, Wilkins had told the BBC there were at least 10 novels and "fragments from many other bits and pieces" on the hard drive. "But I'm sorry to say they will remain unpublished," he added. The remains of Pratchett's hard drive will be displayed at the Salisbury Museum in September for the exhibition "Terry Pratchett: HisWorld." Pratchett wrote more than 70 novels, including the wildly popular "Discworld" series. (More hard drives stories.)