Sir Terry Pratchett died at the age of 66 in March 2015, but prior to his death, he asked his personal assistant to destroy any work that was incomplete at the time of his passing using a steam roller. An event was recently held to carry out Pratchett’s wishes and the resulting crushed hard drive will now go on display as part of an exhibition relating to the fantasy author.

Terry Pratchett wrote more than 70 novels but unfinished work remained

Pratchett, the world-renowned fantasy author, penned more than 70 novels in his 44 years of writing, including the 41-book Discworld series.

The final book in that series, “The Shepherd’s Crown,” was published in 2015 after he passed away.

However, according to his personal assistant, Rob Wilkins, besides the proliferation of his published books, Pratchett also had many Unfinished Works. Wilkins had said in the past that there were around 10 novels and many fragmented stories stored on Pratchett’s hard drive which formed part of his unfinished work.

Neil Gaiman, a fellow author and close friend of Pratchett’s for 30 years, revealed in August 2015 to the Times that the late author had requested whatever he was working on at the time of his death should be destroyed. Pratchett did not wish another author to take his incomplete work and publish it as their own.

Pratchett went on to give strict instructions that the hard drive should be placed in the middle of a road and steamrollered flat.

Wilkins, who had been Pratchett’s personal assistant for many years, sent a tweet to say he was about to fulfill his obligation to the author and following the event went on to post images on social media.

The event was held at the Great Dorset Steam Fair in the U.K., where a six-and-a-half ton vintage steam roller by the name of Lord Jericho was used to perform the task.

The curator of the Salisbury Museum, Richard Henry, told the BBC that surprisingly, the hard drive survived better than the stone blocks on which it was placed, so they finally had to finish it off in a stone crusher to make sure everything was destroyed. Henry also said it had been quite difficult to find someone to do the job for them.

Following the event, the flattened remains of the author’s hard drive, with all unfinished work destroyed, will be placed on display from September 16 at the Salisbury Museum along with other related items in an exhibition dubbed “Terry Pratchett: His World.”

Fantasy author’s battle with Alzheimer’s

As reported by the Evening Standard, it was in December 2007 that the fantasy author was diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer’s, leading Pratchett to donate 500,000 UKP ($646,000) to a charity in an effort to find a possible cure for the debilitating disease.

As a patron of the group Alzheimer’s Research UK, Pratchett also campaigned on behalf of the right-to-die movement. In several documentaries and lectures, Pratchett, describing the disease as “An Embuggerance,” gave emotional insight into the results of Alzheimer’s as it affected both himself and others.

In the video below, Pratchett talks about when he first received the Alzheimer's diagnosis and how he revealed it to the world.
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