Terry Pratchett fans might want to look away now. The late fantasy author’s hard drive, containing what is thought to be a mix of 10 unfinished and unpublished novels, has been destroyed in line with Pratchett’s wishes.
The hard drive was crushed by a six-and-a-half ton vintage steamroller named Lord Jericho at the UK’s Great Dorset Steam Fair. After being pulverized by the machine, the remains of the drive were put into a stone crusher.
Pratchett wrote more than 70 books over the course of his lifetime, including those in the popular Discworld series. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007 and died in 2015 aged 66. His last novel was published in 2014.
Rob Wilkins, a close friend of Pratchett’s, posted photos of the hard drive and the steamroller on the Twitter account he ran with the writer.
“About to fulfill my obligation to Terry,” Wilkins wrote.
The remnants of the hard drive will be displayed at an exhibition dedicated to Pratchett’s life, which will run from September 16 to January 13, 2018.
“It was one of his requests that his unfinished work was destroyed by a steamroller,” Richard Henry, curator of the Salisbury Museum, told CNN.
“It’s something that the estate has been looking into for a while.”
As the exhibition approached, organizers thought the hard drive would be a nice element to display.
“We got in touch with the Great Dorset Steam Fair and they very kindly let us use Lord Jericho for the task,” Henry said.
“As a fan of Pratchett it’s been interesting… some people want to know nothing at all about his unfinished works, others want to know everything.”
