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Library | Shelf Number | Material Type | Item Barcode | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Kensington Central Library | FAN | Book | 1386583-2001 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Pimlico Library | FICTION SF | Book | 1386583-1001 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER
A truly unmissable, beautifully illustrated collection of unearthed stories from the pen of Sir Terry Pratchett, creator of the phenomenally successful Discworld series.
'A treasure trove glistening with lost gems' Financial Times
From one of the world's best-loved storytellers, a truly unmissable collection of rediscovered stories, written under a pseudonym in the 1970s and 80s. These early tales hint at the worlds Terry would go on to create, containing all his trademark wit, satirical wisdom and fantastic imagination.
Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Ministry of Nuisances with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and go on a dangerous quest through time and space with hero Kron, which begins in the ancient city of Morpork.
'A new Pratchett! Clear the bestseller decks: this book is heading for the top' Guardian
' This delightful collection is inventive, entertaining and a little quirky, often with a twisty end' Independent
Author Notes
Terry Pratchett was on born April 28, 1948 in Beaconsfield, United Kingdom. He left school at the age of 17 to work on his local paper, the Bucks Free Press. While with the Press, he took the National Council for the Training of Journalists proficiency class. He also worked for the Western Daily Press and the Bath Chronicle. He produced a series of cartoons for the monthly journal, Psychic Researcher, describing the goings-on at the government's fictional paranormal research establishment, Warlock Hall. In 1980, he was appointed publicity officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board with responsibility for three nuclear power stations.
His first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. His first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. He became a full-time author in 1987. He wrote more than 70 books during his lifetime including The Dark Side of the Sun, Strata, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery, Truckers, Diggers, Wings, Dodger, Raising Steam, Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales, and The Shephard's Crown. He was diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer's disease in 2007. He was knighted for services to literature in 2009 and received the World Fantasy award for life achievement in 2010. He died on March 12, 2015 at the age of 66.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The late, great Sir Terry Pratchett (1948--2015) famously had his hard drive crushed by a steamroller after his death to prevent the posthumous publication of any unfinished work. Now, however, "uber-fans" Pat and Jan Harkin have unearthed a treasure trove of Pratchett's early writing published in the 1970s under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns. The result: a collection of 20 excellent, often laugh-out-loud early works. Pratchett's fans will be particularly delighted with "The Quest for the Keys," which contains the first mention of the Discworld series' Morpork, as well as the set of short stories focusing on Father Christmas leaving a job vacancy--"Wanted: A Fat, Jolly Man with a Red Woolly Hat" and "The New Father Christmas"--which will remind readers of Pratchett's Hogfather. The collection also includes a touching foreword from Pratchett's good friend and Good Omens collaborator Neil Gaiman, and a concludng essay from the Harkins explaining their methodology and their discoveries. Pratchett devotees will be moved and gratified by this unexpected gift and even casual readers will be utterly charmed. There isn't a bad story in the bunch. (Oct.)
Guardian Review
When Terry Pratchett's first Discworld novel appeared, it was a revelation. Just as Douglas Adams shifted the foundations of sci-fi, Pratchett rejuvenated fantasy. Fantasy can boast world-beating authors, but hungry readers have also had to suffer portentous tales of men with swords declaiming at one another across prose that takes half a page to say: "Yeah, but are you a werewolf, though?" - or, indeed: "Hello." Pratchett was and remains the opposite of that. Like Adams, Pratchett knows what his point is and gets to it. True to his journalistic roots, he picks a great title and cracks on. His prose is light-footed, melodious, conversational and deceptively deep. His plotlines are inventive, generous and even offer fully formed female characters. Underlying his work is a characteristic sense that any thoughtful human might consider their species with weary fondness and cynical optimism. Like the Inklings before him, Pratchett understands the monumental power of story and deploys it with relish. And he's funny, all the kinds of funny: slapstick, funny names, absurdity, black humour, existential humour, scientific humour, dad jokes, puns ¿ Plus paragraph breaks for comedy timing. A Stroke of the Pen is a postmortem collection of short fiction, somewhat alarmingly described in the publicity as "unearthed". It's very early work, but Pratchett is already unmistakably Pratchett. Does he redefine the form? No - but he's not trying to. Written for the Western Daily Press - a publication with an obvious appetite for Christmas content - these pieces rattle along entertainingly and sometimes nudge the profound. Published during the 70s and 80s using the pseudonym Patrick Kearns, they conjure a strange, distant time when unions could have power, aristocrats could be penniless, eccentricity and science had room to breathe - and so did the short story. If you feel fantasy is a debased literary snack food, fit only for solitary kids and adults who still play Dungeons & Dragons, this book may not convert you. Still, there's much here to delight the open-minded, the fantasy aficionado and the Pratchett completist - including hints of the Hogfather and an early glimpse of Morpork. The long legacy of fantasy short fiction is well served. Those who know his voice will see how quickly it was established and glimpse how fierce and large it would become The book comes equipped with two introductions. First, Neil Gaiman reassures those wondering why an author wouldn't have published this work during their lifetime. Gaiman gently divides the man from the voice, remembers both and sets the scene. Colin Smythe usefully describes the search for what amount to Pratchett's lost apprentice pieces. It's traditional to start anthologies with a bang and we do here with How It All Began¿ in which a curious caveman's foundational inventions irritate his companions. "He'd have probably set fire to the whole world if we let him" has the neatly prophetic ring of later Pratchett. We then enter a chaotic, more contemporary world with shades of Ealing comedy. Nature misbehaves, as does suburbia. Small town Blackbury and its bizarre residents are explored in various adventures, some more successful than others. Government offices are invaded by ghosts and a humdrum holiday upends Mr Brown's whole existence. Mr Brown's tale offers a doorway where no doorway should exist. It's a joyful moment of muscular creation, like CS Lewis's lamp-post sprouting in the wood, or Flann O'Brien revealing the policemen who tend reality's mechanisms. The whole piece is deft, unsettling, charming, and seems to ask for exploration in a novel, even a series of novels. Pratchett was, of course, writing these pieces within a word limit. The multiple Blackbury tales are perhaps an attempt to evade constraints by a writer who clearly needs more elbow room, but a setting without its own agency may have become a constraint in itself. Like the wonderful Immediate Jungle Seeds, all these pieces are full of explosive life: an expansive time-travel narrative, proliferating gnomes, a suddenly talking horse and a ragtag quest across a sketchy version of what would become Discworld. But often the threads whirling wonderfully outwards have to be snipped and finished with a knot before they create the full, wild tapestry they suggest. The couple of weaker stories might have blossomed with enough space and the longer Morpork quest could have slowed from 300mph to a more reasonable 90, given enough space to roam. Long-form prose clearly suited Pratchett best, but this collection still delivers worthwhile gifts. Those who know his voice will see how quickly it was established and glimpse how fierce and large it would become. For newcomers, this is a fine Pratchett tasting menu. If we're left wanting more of this particular colour of subversion, ambition and fun, it's partly because of editors long gone, but mainly because we'd be very odd not to.
Kirkus Review
A collection of lost stories from early in Pratchett's career. Commissioned to find episodes of a serial story called "The Quest for the Keys," enterprising Pratchett scholars Pat and Jan Harkin unearthed this cache of early stories, written for newspapers under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns. "How It All Began…" shows a young caveman inventing fire and troubling the older cavemen with his newfangled ways. Father Christmas quits in "Wanted: A Fat, Jolly Man With a Red Woolly Hat" and can't seem to find another job where his talents are appreciated. "The New Father Christmas" decides to " 'modernize and streamline' the toyshop," which means sacking almost all his employees, including the reindeer. In "Mr. Brown's Holiday Accident," a man drives through what turns out to be the scenery of his life and discovers the scriptwriters and props managers who make things work behind the scenes. As Neil Gaiman writes in his foreword to the volume, these stories are briskly written: "He has a certain amount of space on the newspaper page…and he's going to start, build and finish his story to the word-count." There's not much space for character development or worldbuilding; these short fictions are essentially jokes, setups, and punchlines delivered efficiently, but with glimmers of the Pratchett charm. Several stories set in the fictional town of Blackbury have a genial, tall-tale feel, and the "proto-Discworld" in "The Quest for the Keys" is a true treat. Like any collection of juvenilia, for committed fans only, but there's plenty here for them to enjoy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
ldquo;When does a young writer become the writer you love?" asks longtime friend Neil Gaiman in his heartfelt introduction to this collection of previously undiscovered stories written by the late Discworld author when he was a young reporter. Serialized in regional newspapers under a pseudonym in the 1970s and 1980s, these early stories show Pratchett's remarkable ability to poke fun at the absurdity of the real world through fantasy full of irreverent wordplay, silly authority figures, and subverted endings. Many tales take place in Blackbury, a "pleasant little town really" where "things are never quite usual": town-council members are beset by freak storms whenever they try to do anything official, an alien hides in plain sight, and a simple misunderstanding can lead to the creation of the world's biggest exploding pie. The two most clearly fantasy stories, "Dragon Quest" and "The Quest for the Keys," follow innocent adventurers sent upon foolish quests by shiftless leaders; the latter is also the most proto-Discworld, set in Morpork and featuring a wizard named Grubble the Utterly Untrustworthy. Pratchett's legion of fans will relish the view through this almost-overlooked window into the author's evolution, finding much to love in these clever, funny, and tightly written tales.