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Pratchett

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Your favourite books, by the best author!

See the reviews here. Quotes too.

Colour of Magic
The first in the stunning Discworld series. Meet Rincewind, wizard, failed, and Twoflower, the Disc's first, and last tourist. Follow their adventures around the Disc. Lots of tall stories and hanging over certain depths...
Light Fantastic
The follow up to Colour of Magic, and a continuation of the Rincewind/Twoflower duo. Rincewind is kept alive by one of the great 8spells left by the Creator that he read as a dare once. But the wizards need this spell to save the Disc from the huge red star Great Atuin is approaching, and they'll do anything to get it! Get to know the Luggage, no ordinary travel accessory, and Cohen the Barbarian.
Equal Rites
Women have as much right to be wizards. Drum Billet gives his staff to the 8th son of an 8th son and dies only to discover this child was Eskarina, a girl, destined to be a wizard! Meet Granny Weatherwax, a witch, who takes Esk into training and all the way to Ankh-Morpork, to join the Unseen university, premier college of Wizardry on the Disc. But the only way a girl can get in is below stairs!
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Mort
Death takes on an apprentice, then decides to take a holiday. The "business" is left in the hands of Mort, a boy who is more "real" than he should be. But how does he make up for his mistakes in this trade? With Ysobel, Deaths adopted daughter, and Binky also in major roles, this is the first book dedicated to Death on the Discworld, but it's nowhere near the last!!
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Sourcery
This 8th son of an 8th son was male, and is a sourcerer. But Coin seems controlled by his staff and things are changing at the UU. Rincewind stars again, as the wizard who does what none other can. Never underestimate the power of a half brick in a sock!
Wyrd Sisters
Granny Weatherwax again, with friends (or perhaps companions) Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick in the kingdom of Lancre. Bearing a startling resemblance to a famous "Scottish Play" this has theatre and blood enough for anyone, oh and lots of trees!
Pyramids
Teppic graduates as an Assassin, just before his father, the king and God of Djelibeybi flies off his balcony. Teppic returns to his ancient kingdom to become king,but finds he is unnecessary next to Dios. With handmaidens, pyramids, mummies, tortoises and philosophers, and the Discs greatest mathematician, this is a breath of different air in the series.
Guards! Guards!
Back to Ankh-Morpork, but focus on the City Watch. Lead by Samuel Vimes,a drunk brung low by a woman, the watch has become obselete since Patrician Vetinari created the Guilds to control crime. But a new recruit, a volunteer!, with a birthmark and a very unmagical sword joins up just as a dragon starts burning the city. Also featuring Lady Ramkin, Errol, the Librarianand the Elucidated Brethren, this crime solving book is nothing like an Agatha Christie!
Eric!
Eric is a young boy, still affected by acne, but he conjures up a demon to grant him his 3 wishes. Unfortunately, he calls up Rincewind instead of a creature from the pit. More adventures with the luggage and this failed wizard with strange survival skills that stem from his complete lack of courage. Also available as a picture book, well worth it for the brilliantimagery.
Moving Pictures
Holy Wood calls people from all over. Victor is one it claims. Another member of the UU, he breaks into films, but creatures from the other side are also attracted to the flickering lights of the utterly non-magical film industry. And it'll take more than banged grains to satisfy these monsters. Enter a world where imps paint really fast and sets are more real than actual cities; where dogs speak, and cliches run free. See CMOT Dibblers true selling skill come up with adverts, and the most famous line in the industry..
Reaper Man
Taking a job on a farm, with Cyril the dyslexic, forgetful cockerel and the combination harvester threatening to make scythes redundant, gives Death the "break" he thinks he needs. But the auditors of reality are coming. Death must be around, or people won't die. And so begins a fight to, well the death, between the original skellington (wiv all bones on) and the crowned spectre who steps into the gap. Another brilliant Death novel.
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Witches Abroad
Weatherwax et al on an adventure to prevent happy endings. Will the princess marry the frog? Beware the wolf and watch out for thehouse on legs. This is a very good book for the witch fans amongst you. Granny plays cards in a way only she can, and Nanny Ogg learnslots of foreign luggage.
Small Gods
The Great God Om is in trouble. Despite the huge number of monks andothers devoted to him, he only has one true believer, Brother Brutha. Brutha is not stupid, just slow, but he has an amazing memory. Vorbis, high Inquisitor for the Great God Om needs him, however, as much as the small tortoise that is Om incarnate does.
Lords and Ladies
Call them the Lords and Ladies, don't say their real name. They come when called,when circles form in the wheat, when the boundarys are weak. They came before, and brought terror, but all we remember is their beauty. The elves are trying to reenter the world. Magrat is due to marry Verence of Lancre and this wet hen has given up witching. Granny Weatherwax is powerful, but is she strong enough? Stones that have the power to attract iron, and lots of bees!
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Men at Arms
Another book anout the City Watch in Ankh-Morpork. It is getting larger, and has another crime to solve. Each race is represented. They have a dwarf, a troll, and a woman (who can be a bit of a bitch at times). But the enemy has the gonne and is willing to use it.
Soul Music
Another book in the style of Wyrd Sisters and Moving Pictures. A story you are familiar with and yet Terry writes it as a new tale. A young musician from Llamedos, whose name happens to mean Bud of the Holly,comes to Ankh-Morpork to seek his fortune. The future has music with rocks in. Death is on holiday again, and his granddaughter Susan is left to take over, but can she bear to see fate, and the music, take its course?
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Interesting Times
The newest Rincewind novel. He travels to the Counterweight Continent where his old "friend" Twoflower the tourist is in prison after writing the book of his travels. Also featuring Cohen the Barbarian and his horde of elderly mercenary friends, this book is about water buffaloes, revolution, and the Red Army.
Maskerade
Another book with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, but not Magrat, who is now married. The witches travel from Lancre to Ankh-Morpork where a strange thing is happening at the opera house. In true operatic style, the heros wear masks and take forever to die. Worth reading just to guess at Nanny Oggs recipes that are now published, and used in the book.
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Feet of Clay
This novel catches the City Watch in their prime. A golem seems to be killing people, yet they are not violent beings. The deaths are strange. A man with words rolled up in his mouth. Another escapade with Angua, the werewolf, and Carrot's girlfriend, Vimes as an officer who will never leave the watch. Note also Nobby's heritage and the people who make up your coat of arms. Usual number of clever jokes that you may not notice if you read as fast as I do. This is the book that made the heraldic hippos famous!
Hogfather
Starring Death as the Hogfather (Father Xmas)and Susan as the governess. Things are going to change this year, because someone is after the fat jolly man
Jingo
A continent has risen in the sea between Klatch and Ankh-Morpork. Who owns the land?? War is about to break out, unless the City Watch (Carrot and Vimes and other old faithfulls) can find who kidnapped the Klatchian prince. It is well worth a read for Leonardo da Quirms inventions, Nobby in handmaidens garb, and the Patrician juggling knives and melons. A good book.
The Last Continent
This one is the one not about Australia or New Zealand, nor even Oz! Another Rincewind novel, and a fairly good one. Look out for how Marmite was invented!
Carpe Jugulum
This is a book with four witches, not the normal coven number. Magrat returns, with her new daughter. Agnes is in two minds about everything, but Granny is decidedly of one mind about the vampires taking over the little Ramtop kingdom of Lancre. This is a good book for Agnes fans.
The Fifth Elephant
The one I was lucky enough to get signed by him on his visit to Canterbury. Despite the title the book bears little resemblance to a film with Bruce Willis and Jean Paul Gaultier costumes. It is a City Watch book, though Vimes is yet again elevated (Duke of Ankh-Morpork), and is sent to Uberwald on a diplomatic mission in this one. Angua's werewolf roots are explored, and Carrot does his thing. I read this one very quickly, and really enjoyed it. .
The Truth
Journalism starts on the Discworld, and brings the obvious problems. I need to reread this one!
The Thief of Time
I quite enjoyed this one about the son of time, training under the sweeper in a monastery of monks that manage time. I've always liked Death's daughter, Susan, and she is in this one too. I laughed less than at some of his earlier books, but perhaps I am becoming too used to his sense of humour....
The Last Hero
Has been released, but I have not yet read it.
Night Watch
I read this Christmas. Another Vimes book, where he ends up in the past, training his younger self, replacing his commander who was killed by the criminal that went back in time with him. A good book, but unfortunately lacking Carrot and Angua etc!
Monstrous Regiment
Not yet read!
Going Postal
Where a criminal is spared the death penalty by the Patrician, and given instead the task of restarting the Ankh Morporkh Post Office - whose last few head postmasters have died rather nasty deaths! This may be a fate worse than the death penalty. But our hero, and his golden suit, takes it on, with help from free golems, and the rather insane postal workers. Another classic Pratchett novel dealing with well known Earth topics, seen with his special slant on the world!
For children, he has also released: Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, the Wee Free Men, and a Hat Full of Sky (2004)

I have also had the luck to read The Unadulterated Cat, which I bought from Amazon.co.uk This is an older Pratchett book and not based on the Discworld, but it is funny and cat owners will love it.
I have also read The Science of the Discworld and enjoyed it. As a scientist, there were some satisfying sections!



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Index/Intro

Pratchett

Star Wars

Star Trek

Me, Myself

Travel
Mail me!



All these copyright of Terry Pratchett. I have tried to choose lines that won't spoil the story if you haven't read it yet, but they are also my favourite bits, so they may be irrelevant, or revealing.....enjoy!
Equal Rites: "This is a story about magic and where it goes and perhaps more importantly where it comes from and why, although it doesn't pretend to answer all or any of these questions.
It may, however, help to explain why Gandalf never got married and why Merlin was a man. Because this is also a story about sex, although probably not in the athletic, tumbling, count-the-legs-and divide-by-two sense unless the characters get totally beyond the author's control. They might!"
Mort: "I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY...."
"Won't people notice there's a horse up here? [Mort} said.."WOULD YOU BELIEVE THERE COULD BE A HORSE AT THE TOP OF THIS TOWER?" [Death] said. "no, you couldn't get one up these stairs," said Mort. "WELL THEN?" "Oh, I see. People don't want to see what can't possibly exist." "WELL DONE".
Reaper Man: "You're out of time, Mr Bill Door. The new Death raised his cowl. There was no face there. There was not even a skull. Smoke curled formlessly between the robe and a golden crown. Bill Door raised himself on his elbows. A CROWN? His voice shook with rage. I NEVER WORE A CROWN! You never wanted to rule...NO CROWN, said Bill Door, looking directly into the smoke. NO CROWN. ONLY THE HARVEST. The robe folded up around his blade...Death hesitated for a moment, then gingerly gave the robe a prod with his foot. The crown, bent slightly out of shape, rolled out of it a little way before evaporating. OH, he said dismissively. DRAMA"

Lords and Ladies: "ARE YOU A MAN OF FAITH, MR OGG?...WHAT DO YOU REALLY HAVE FAITH IN, RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT? He's inches away, Jason thought. I could reach out and touch...There was a smell. It wasn't unpleasant. It was hardly anything at all. It was the smell of air in old forgotten rooms. If centuries could smell, then old ones would smell like that.. Jason swallowed. Well, m'lord, he said, Right now...I really believe in this blindfold."
Soul Music:"4 chords rang out. Buddy hung from a rear wheel, feet over the drop and jerked as the music played an 8 note riff on his soul. Never age. Never die. Live for ever in that one last white-hot moment, when the crowd sreamed. When every note was a heartbeat. Burn across the sky......and then the air became light, white as moonlight but as strong as sunlight. There was also a sound, like the roar of a million voices. It said: Let me show you who I am. I am the music."
Interesting Times: "A guard kicked Rincewind in the kidneys. This suggested, in the universal language of the boot, that he should get up. He managed to get up on one knee, and saw the Luggage. It wasn't his, and there were 3 of them...In addition to not having any equipment with which to think or feel, the Luggage also had no means of seeing. The manner in which it perceived events was a complete mystery. It perceived the other Luggages. The three of them stood patiently in a line behind the palanquin. They were big. They were black. The Luggage's legs disappeared inside its body. After a while it very cautiously opened its lid, just a fraction."
Maskerade: "[Agnes] had woken up one morning with the horrible realisation that she'd been saddled with a lovely personality. It was as simple as that. Oh, and very good hair...No one had asked her, before she was born, whether she wanted a lovely personality, or whether she'd prefer, say, a miserable personality but a body that could take a size 9 in dresses. Instead, people would take pains to tell her that beauty was only skin deep, as if a man ever went for an attractive pair of kidneys. She could feel a future trying to land on her. She'd caught herself saying 'poot' and 'dang!' when she wanted to swear, and using pink writing paper. She'd got a reputation for being calm and capable in a crisis. .. She'd heard somewhere that inside every fat woman was a thin woman trying to get out (or at least, dying for a chocolate) so she'd named her Perdita."
Much later in the book, at the opera house
"The wooden stairs gave way to stone. Perdita said "[The ghost] will have a vast cave somewhere under the Opera House. There will be hundreds of candles, casting an exciting yet romantic light over the, yes, the lake, and there will be a dinner table shining with crystal glass and silverware, and of course he will have a huge organ- Agnes blushed hotly in the darkness.- on which, that is to say, he will play in a virtuoso style many operatic classics. Agnes said: It will be damp. There will be rats."

Basic T.P.

The Song
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