The Best of NPR Books for March 12, 2015

This week: Terry Pratchett, Star Wars, tasty veggie dishes, authors and audio, and Erik Larson.

This week, we bid a sad farewell to Terry Pratchett, the Star Wars universe gets its first official LGBT character, and why British codebreakers didn't try to save the Lusitania. Plus, giving vegetarian dishes a pop of umami, and why some authors are going straight to audiobooks. REMEMBRANCES Author Terry Pratchett Was No Stranger To Death The prolific author, who died today at 66, was known for his novels about the fantasy planet Discworld, populated by humans, witches, trolls and dwarves — and a very human, sympathetic Death. Read this story THE TWO-WAY Coming Out In A Galaxy Far Far Away: Star Wars Gets Its First LGBT Character Star Wars has had a complicated relationship with LGBT issues in the past. A new character, Moff Mors, might change that. Read this story THE SALT 'Test Kitchen': How To Make Vegetarian Dishes Pop With A Little Umami Cooking with plant foods naturally high in compounds called glutamates can stimulate the same taste receptors that meat does. America's Test Kitchen explains in The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. Read this story BOOK NEWS & FEATURES Straight To Audiobook: Authors Write Original Works Meant To Be Heard Writer Philip Pullman says it's all part of the oral tradition: "Long before writing, people were telling each other stories," he says. Audiobook technology has come a long way since the early days. Read this story AUTHOR INTERVIEWS The Lusitania Mystery: Why British Codebreakers Didn't Try To Save It The ocean liner's sinking by a German U-boat led to the U.S. entering World War I. Erik Larson, author of Dead Wake, says British intelligence knew the ship was in danger and didn't tell anyone. Read this story