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Terry Pratchett (1948 - 2015) was born in 1948 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. He had his first story published when he was just thirteen, and after leaving school at seventeen to become a journalist he continued writing, publishing his first novel, The Carpet People, in 1971 and going on to produce the phenomenally successful Discworld and his trilogy for young readers, The Bromeliad. His first Discworld novel for children, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was awarded the 2001 Carnegie Medal.
Terry Pratchett as well as numerous other books, winning many awards and becoming the UK’s bestselling author. He was appointed OBE in 1998.
He died in March 2015 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. You can find out more about his life and work at www.terrypratchettbooks.com
The completely and totally wonderful wiz(z)ard of words Terry Pratchett, has departed for what I'm sure will be a very interesting conversation, with cat and curry loving Death. Terry Pratchett has been one of my favourite authors since I was a teenager, and has left behind the gobsmackingly fabulous Discworld series. Having devoured and adored every single one, I felt rather hesitant about reading this, his 41st and last novel. I had contemplated leaving it for a while, setting it by, so it could wait, knowingly, raising its eyebrows at me. In the end, of course I couldn't resist and I just sank into the story and as I read, relived all the feelings this series has evoked in me. Tiffany Aching has to be on her mettle, a twisted powerful enemy is set for battle, Tiffany needs all the help she can get, including the Wee Free Men and of course she definitely needs Granny Weatherwax. Terry Pratchett has made me laugh (a lot), cry, and all the emotions inbetween, most importantly he has has made me consider, discover and think about our own world. I loved every second, every word of ‘The Shepherd’s Crown’, it has become one of my most loved and hugged books, and sits in pride of place on my bookshelf.
A Shivering Of Worlds. Deep in the Chalk, something is stirring. The owls and the foxes can sense it, and Tiffany Aching feels it in her boots. An old enemy is gathering strength. This is a time of endings and beginnings, old friends and new, a blurring of edges and a shifting of power. Now Tiffany stands between the light and the dark, the good and the bad. As the fairy horde prepares for invasion, Tiffany must summon all the witches to stand with her. To protect the land. Her land. There will be a reckoning...The Final DiscWorld Novel.
Authorised by Mr Lipwig of the Ankh-Morpork and Sto Plains Hygienic Railway himself, Mrs Georgina Bradshaw's invaluable guide to the destinations and diversions of the railway deserves a place in the luggage of any traveller, or indeed armchair traveller, upon the Disc. From the twine walk of Great Slack to the souks of Zemphis: edifying sights along the route; Ticketing, nostrums and transporting your swamp dragon: essential hints on the practicalities of travel; Elegant resorts and quaint inns: respectable and sanitary lodgings for all species and heights; and From worm-herding to Fustic Cake: diverting trivia on the crafts, foods and brassica traditions of the many industrious people for whom the railway is now a vital link to the Century of the Anchovy. Fully illustrated and replete with useful titbits, Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook offers a view of the Sto Plains like no other.
It's all change for Moist von Lipwig, swindler, conman, and (naturally) head of the Royal Bank and Post Office. A steaming, clanging new invention, driven by Dick Simnel, the man with t'flat cap and t'sliding rule, is drawing astonished crowds - including a few particularly keen young men armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear - and suddenly it's a matter of national importance that the trains run on time. Moist does not enjoy hard work. His ...vital input at the bank and post office consists mainly of words, which are not that heavy. Or greasy. And it certainly doesn't involve rickety bridges, runaway cheeses or a fat controller with knuckledusters. What he does enjoy is being alive, which may not be a perk of running the new railway. Because, of course, some people have Objections, and they'll go to extremes to stop locomotion in its tracks.
This title comes with a foreword by Neil Gaiman. Terry Pratchett has earned a place in the hearts of readers the world over with his bestselling Discworld series - but in recent years he has become equally well-known and respected as an outspoken campaigner for causes including Alzheimer's research and animal rights. A Slip of the Keyboard brings together for the first time the finest examples of Pratchett's non fiction writing, both serious and surreal: from musings on mushrooms to what it means to be a writer (and why banana daiquiris are so important); from memories of Granny Pratchett to speculation about Gandalf's love life, and passionate defences of the causes dear to him. With all the humour and humanity that have made his novels so enduringly popular, this collection brings Pratchett out from behind the scenes of the Discworld to speak for himself - man and boy, bibliophile and computer geek, champion of hats, orang-utans and Dignity in Dying.
To the consternation of the patrician, Lord Vetinari, a new invention has arrived in Ankh-Morpork - a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all of the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This being Ankh-Morpork, it's soon drawing astonished crowds, some of whom caught the zeitgeist early and arrive armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear. Moist von Lipwig is not a man who enjoys hard work - as master of the Post Office, the Mint and the Royal Bank his input is, of course, vital...but largely dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don't always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse...Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of grease, goblins, a fat controller with a history of throwing employees down the stairs and some very angry dwarfs if he's going to stop it all going off the rails...
In the four decades since his first book appeared in print, Terry Pratchett has become one of the world's best-selling and best-loved authors. Here for the first time are his short stories and other short form fiction collected into one volume. A Blink of the Screen charts the course of Pratchett's long writing career: from his schooldays through to his first writing job on the Bucks Free Press,; to the origins of his debut novel, The Carpet People ; and on again to the dizzy mastery of the phenomenally successful Discworld series. Here are characters both familiar and yet to be discovered; abandoned worlds and others still expanding; adventure, chickens, death, disco and, actually, some quite disturbing ideas about Christmas,all of it shot through with his inimitable brand of humour. With an introduction by Booker Prize-winning author A.S. Byatt, illustrations by the late Josh Kirby and drawings by the author himself, this is a book to treasure.
Dodger is a tosher - a sewer scavenger living in the squalor of Dickensian London. Everyone who is nobody knows Dodger. Anyone who is anybody doesn't. But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, suddenly everybody wants to know him. And Dodger's tale of skulduggery, dark plans and even darker deeds begins...
Winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2012. Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder. He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment. They say that in the end all sins are forgiven. But not quite all...
I’ve lost track of how many Discworld novels have flowed from the pen of the incomparable Terry Pratchett, thirty or so I believe. This is the latest madcap adventure from the world that so resembles ours yet is nothing like it. Having brought gnomes, newspapers and the post office to his creation, Pratchett now tackles football. It is a compelling mystery wrapped in exciting adventure wrapped in effortless parody wrapped in genius. As with all Pratchett’s work it is a joy to read and hard to put down but I would advise new readers to start a bit further back in the series in order to fully appreciate the cameo appearances of established characters here. Comparison: Christopher Fowler, Tom Holt, Jasper Fforde.
Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2010. Shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2009 Hugely entertaining, this is a fully envisaged fantasy adventure, which makes serious points about the importance of the past from the master storyteller and author of the hugely popular Discworld series. Survival! Mau’s world is bowled over and swept away by a towering Tsunami. His past life has vanished and he must build a new life with the scraps he has left. Luckily, someone else has survived too and soon Daphne, or Trouser-Man as Mau calls her, are creating a new Nation building on the bits of knowledge from the past which won’t die away. The novel has been adapted for the stage – Olivier Theatre at The National Theatre in London - by the controversial playwright Mark Ravenhill. Nation will be the National’s family show opening in November 2009, following the success of previous family-friendly productions, His Dark Materials, Coram Boy and War Horse. Described by National Theatre Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner as “a wonderful book and, I suspect, perfect for an Olivier adaptation”, Nation is set on a desert island following a tsunami which wiped out most of the population.
Well Sir Terry has reached his 37th Discworld novel with Unseen Academicals and all the wonderful weirdness and humour is still there, this time revolving around a team of wizards who have to win a game of football without using any magic. Terry Pratchett is still very much on form.
We thought it was essential to have at least one Terry Pratchett novel in our launch of our teenage and young adult category ‘NewGenâ. This one is Pratchett at his side-splitting best – itâs funny, itâs unputdownable and no one else writes quite like and has the imagination of this great man. Thereâs a risk that theyâll never be spring again when the spirit of winter falls in love with Tiffany Aching, a young witch who had acted out of place. With help from friends, Tiffany must sort everything out if she wants to make sure that flowers will bloom again. A beautiful fantasy from a prize-winning storyteller.
The latest from this master storyteller and humorist. Having successfully transformed the post office in Going Postal, Moist, Discworld’s most upright reformed criminal, is put in charge of the Mint, and the usual mayhem ensues. I defy anyone not to find Pratchett funny. Whether you are a newcomer or a hardened fan, the Discworld is one of literature’s most enjoyable places and this latest novel is true to form; delightful and funny.
Terry Pratchett is not only a great writer of comic fantasy but a brilliant satirist of our age. In this novel he explores race relations between the Trolls and Dwarfs of Ankh- Morpork, two groups that can never see eye to eye. The parallels to our present troubles are mistakable. It is a hugely entertaining read, like so much of his work, hilarious on the surface, but with a poignant and socially relevant underlying message. This one features Commander Vomes, once again solving impossible crimes, bringing the city to justice and getting home at exactly six o’clock to read Where’s my Cow?” to his new son. Interestingly the child’s picture book of Where’s my Cow? from the novel has also been written and published and it is stunning, in my mind, an essential purchase alongside this latest Discworld novel. Comparison: Jasper Fforde, Douglas Adams, Robert Rankin.Similar this month: None, but try Stephen Donaldson.
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 1 April 2010. A writer who had more titles on the BBC’s Big Read Top 100 than any other living author, only Charles Dickens matched him. At the start Pratchett was categorised comic fantasy for he sets his Discworld books in an alternative universe and peoples them with witches, wizards and the like. It is a stage upon which he places his players in situations that enables him to mirror our world and therefore pinpoint its faults, idiosyncratic traits, ludicrous bureaucracy or just plain prejudices, injustices, stupidity and the like, i.e. he has developed into one of the most important satirists writing today. This astute masterpiece tears into the postal service. Truth did the same for the newspaper industry. Monstrous Regiment is one of the best books on war and gender you are likely to come across. He is a man who needs reading. His next Discworld, Thud, comes into hardback at the same time.Comparison: Jasper Fforde, Douglas Adams, Robert Rankin.Similar this month: None but try Haruki Murakami or Stephen Donaldson.
Who would have believed back in 1985 that this first introduction into the madcap Discworld which satirised fantasy novels and introduced us to some fantastic characters would turn into the Discworld series numbering some thirty works. If you have wondered where to start in this huge series (which need not be read in order) then start here and read The Light Fantastic straight after it. They are great books. A "Piece of Passion" from the publisher... ‘The very first novel in what turned into the celebrated, magisterial Discworld series, this novel was first published by Corgi in 1985. Although the more recent novels in the series have become more layered, satirical and thoughtful (number thirty-seven, Unseen Academicals, is the most recent) The Colour of Magic must remain one of my all-time favourites, for its soaring inventiveness, sparky parody and madcap humour – and for introducing us in the first place to that flat World so very different from, yet so very like our own. ' Marianne Velmans, Publishing Director at Transworld
If ever there was a Discworld novel to introduce new readers to Pratchett’s brilliance, this is it. And don’t worry if you aren’t familiar – try this and then work through the 30+ others.
The first of the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, aimed at younger readers but accessible to all, deals with perceptions of reality, humanity, gender, race and conflict in Pratchett's famously light and witty style. Set against the first Gulf War and the break-up of his parents, young Johnny's world is shaken when the alien invaders from his computer game ask him to save them from the humans. Pratchett's deeply clever humour makes difficult subjects understandable, action sequences compelling and characters charmingly human, whatever their species. One of my all time favourite books. Comparison: John Connolly (Gates of Hell), James Patterson (Maximum Ride); Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl). Only You Can Save Mankind - The Musical. Only You Can Save Mankind the musical premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2004, receiving stunning reviews, amongst them Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph who said "the songs are excellent - witty - melodic and with a couple of soaring power ballads that are deeply affecting. This is clearly a show with a future." Only You Can Save Mankind - The Album. This release of the overture and five songs is the prelude to that future for a show now gathering the investment for a national tour. The recorded songs have a selecton of voices from the West End, Daniel Boys and Sharon D Clarke amongst them. Available now to download on i-tunes or to pre-order a CD, go to www.ifnotyouthenwho.com.
A collection of wonderful Christmas stories from the fantastically funny Terry Pratchett. With incredible illustrations from Mark Beech, it's the perfect stocking filler! Have you ever wanted Christmas to be different? Turkey and carols, presents and crackers - they all start to feel a bit . . . samey. How about a huge exploding mince pie, a pet abominable snowman, or a very helpful partridge in a pear tree? What if Father Christmas went to work at a zoo, or caused chaos in a toy store or, was even, arrested for burglary!? Dive into the fantastically funny world of Terry Pratchett, for a festive treat like no other. These ten stories will have you laughing, gasping and crying (with laughter) - you'll never see Christmas in the same way again. 'Funny, action-packed . . . a rip-roaring read' The Sun
Bereits mit 13 Jahren veroffentlichte Terry Pratchett seine erste Geschichte und wurde uber vier Jahrzehnte hinweg zu einem der beliebtesten und meistverkauften Schriftsteller seiner Zeit. "e;Groe Worte"e; vereint nun erstmals uber dreiig seiner Kurzgeschichten und Erzahlungen in einer Sammlung, die einmal quer durch seine grandiose Karriere fuhrt: Von Geschichten, die bereits zu Terry Pratchetts Schulzeit entstanden, uber solche, die er als junger Reporter schrieb, bis hin zu denen aus den Tagen seines groten Erfolges begeistern sie alle als unverwechselbare "e;Pratchetts"e;. Tauchen Sie ein in alte und neue Welten, treffen Sie neue Charaktere und altbekannte Gesichter! "e;Groe Worte"e; ist ein Schatz fur jeden Pratchett-Fan!
From the legendary Terry Pratchett, the author of Discworld, the third instalment in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy --------------------- THIS TIME . . . IT'S WAR. Johnny Maxwell is just an ordinary boy, walking through an ordinary alley . . . until he stumbles across a shopping trolley that can travel back in time. A trip on this time travelling shopping trolley takes Johnny and his friends back to 1941, in the middle of the Second World War. More specifically, on the day the German bombs will fall on their town. What if Johnny and his friends could stop it? But tampering with history could have disastrous consequences... `Enormously entertaining and contains more wry observations than you could shake a Heinkel at' - Daily Telegraph
The calendar dates are extensive, and exhaustively researched, and include all major real-time calendrical data for Great Britain, Eire, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, as well as notable Discworld dates. This year's calendar draws upon the whimsical, remarkable art of long-time Discworld collaborator, Paul Kidby - the man whose depictions Terry Pratchett himself described as being 'the closest anyone's got to how I see the characters'.
The 2019 Discworld Quiz Diary contains everything you needed to know - and a few things you didn't - about modern literature's favourite flat earth. One part diary, one part quiz on the arcane practices of the funniest creation in modern fantasy, 100% Discworld goodness. With their trademark mix of cultural ephemera, background detail and hilarious one-liners, the Discworld diaries are back. This year: trivia. Do you know where the Discworld gods live? Do you know the name of the last continent? Do you know the name of the Discworld's worst engineer? Do you know what's in CMOT Dibbler's sausages? Put your knowledge to the test, and all will be revealed. Well, except the last one; nobody knows that, not even Dibbler. These and other gems of knowledge await you within. Make every day a Discworld day, with the 2019 Discworld Quiz Diary.
From the legendary Terry Pratchett, the author of Discworld, the second instalment in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy --------------------- Sell the cemetery? Over their dead bodies . . . Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell can. And he's got bad news for them: the council want to sell the cemetery as a building site. But the dead have learnt a thing or two from Johnny. They're not going to take it lying down . . . especially since it's Halloween tomorrow. Besides, they're beginning to find that life is a lot more fun than it was when they were . . . well . . . alive. Particularly if they break a few rules . . .
Even wizards produce leftovers. But a wizard's rubbish is laced with magic, and for the rats that forage this rubbish, the magic has changed them - they can speak and read, and have rather grand ambitions for a comfortable retirement. Which is perfect for a con-cat like Maurice. He has his own magical talents, and wants to get rich quick. Together with the rats, and young (rather simple) Keith, the `piper', they work the towns to create their very own plague of rats - then lure them away for cash. But in the run-down town Bad Blintz, this little con goes wrong, and suddenly these educated rodents aren't playing to the piper's tune . . .
Seit Generationen leben die kleinen Nomen friedlich im Kaufhaus "e;Arnold Bros"e;. Die Jahreszeiten Winterschlussverkauf, Fruhjahrsmode, Sommerschlussverkauf und Weihnachten kommen und gehen - bis plotzlich andere Nomen auftauchen und von einem geheimnisvollen "e;Drauen"e; erzahlen. Und als die Parole "e;Raumungsverkauf"e; ausgerufen wird, muss schleunigst ein Plan her, um in dieses "e;Drauen"e; zu gelangen. Ein Lastwagen scheint die Rettung zu sein - und mit vereinten Kraften schaffen es doch auch Winzlinge, ein solches Gefahrt zu steuern, oder?! Aber auch ihr neues Zuhause "e;Steinbruch"e; wird bald von den Menschen bedroht. Da hilft nur noch die Ruckkehr in ihre wahre Heimat. Doch dafur mussen die Nomen erst das Raumschiff "e;Schwan"e; finden, das sie zuruck ins All bringen kann, von wo sie einst herkamen.
The first of the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, aimed at younger readers but accessible to all, deals with perceptions of reality, humanity, gender, race and conflict in Pratchett's famously light and witty style. Set against the first Gulf War and the break-up of his parents, young Johnny's world is shaken when the alien invaders from his computer game ask him to save them from the humans. Pratchett's deeply clever humour makes difficult subjects understandable, action sequences compelling and characters charmingly human, whatever their species. One of my all time favourite books. Comparison: John Connolly (Gates of Hell), James Patterson (Maximum Ride); Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl). Only You Can Save Mankind - The Musical. Only You Can Save Mankind the musical premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2004, receiving stunning reviews, amongst them Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph who said "the songs are excellent - witty - melodic and with a couple of soaring power ballads that are deeply affecting. This is clearly a show with a future." Only You Can Save Mankind - The Album. This release of the overture and five songs is the prelude to that future for a show now gathering the investment for a national tour. The recorded songs have a selecton of voices from the West End, Daniel Boys and Sharon D Clarke amongst them. Available now to download on i-tunes or to pre-order a CD, go to www.ifnotyouthenwho.com.
Have you ever wanted Christmas to be different? Turkey and carols, presents and crackers - they all start to feel a bit . . . samey. How about a huge exploding mince pie, a pet abominable snowman, or a very helpful partridge in a pear tree? What if Father Christmas went to work at a zoo, or caused chaos in a toy store or, was even, arrested for burglary!? Dive into the fantastically funny world of Terry Pratchett, for a festive treat like no other. These ten stories will have you laughing, gasping and crying (with laughter) - you'll never see Christmas in the same way again. 'Funny, action-packed . . . a rip-roaring read' The Sun
A beautiful new hardback edition of the classic Discworld novel. Time is a resource. Everyone knows it has to be managed. And on Discworld that is the job of the Monks of History, who store it and pump it from the places where it's wasted (like underwater - how much time does a codfish need?) to places like cities, where there's never enough time. But the construction of the world's first truly accurate clock starts a race against, well, time for Lu Tze and his apprentice Lobsang Ludd. Because it will stop time. And that will only be the start of everyone's problems.
A beautiful new hardback edition of the classic Discworld novel. Polly Perks had to become a boy in a hurry. Cutting off her hair and wearing trousers was easy. Learning to fart and belch in public and walk like an ape took more time . . . And now she's enlisted in the army, and searching for her lost brother. But there's a war on. There's always a war on. And Polly and her fellow recruits are suddenly in the thick of it, without any training, and the enemy is hunting them.
A beautiful new hardback edition of the classic Discworld novel. Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch had it all. But now he's back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck... Living in the past is hard. Dying in the past is incredibly easy. But he must survive, because he has a job to do. He must track down a murderer, teach his younger self how to be a good copper and change the outcome of a bloody rebellion. There's a problem:if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future...
A beautiful new hardback edition of the classic Discworld novel. Moist von Lipwig is a con artist and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet. It was a tough decision. But he's got to see that the mail gets though, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer. Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too.
Terry Pratchett's hilarious take on the Faust legend stars many of the Discworld's most popular characters. Eric is the Discworld's only demonology hacker. The trouble is, he's not very good at it. All he wants is the usual three wishes: to be immortal, rule the world and have the most beautiful woman fall madly in love with him. The usual stuff. But what he gets is Rincewind, the Disc's most incompetent wizard, and Rincewind's Luggage (the world's most dangerous travel accessory) into the bargain. The outcome is an outrageous adventure that will leave Eric wishing once more - this time, quite fervently - that he'd never been born.
Random House presents the audio CD edition of Father Christmas's Fake Beard by Terry Pratchett, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt. Have you ever wanted Christmas to be different? Turkey and carols, presents and crackers - they all start to feel a bit . . . samey. How about a huge exploding mince pie, a pet abominable snowman, or a very helpful partridge in a pear tree? What if Father Christmas went to work at a zoo, or caused chaos in a toy store, or was even arrested for burglary!? Dive into the fantastically funny world of Terry Pratchett, for a festive treat like no other. These ten stories will have you laughing, gasping and crying (with laughter) - you'll never see Christmas in the same way again.