Terry Pratchett
1948 - Present
Creator of The Discworld
Currently Britains Most Successful Male Fiction Author
Born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England in 1948. Pratchett came into this world with vague literary roots due to his parents being from the famous UK book capital, Hay-On-Wye. He claimed to be a quite non-descript student at Wycombe Technical High School, crediting the Beaconsfield Public Library as the major source of his education. With typical humour he is said to have chosen the technical school over the local grammar school as woodwork would be more fun than Latin.
His first published short story The Hades Business appeared in the school magazine when still only 13 and was later commercially published when he was 15 in Science Fantasy #60, one of the few professional science fiction magazines in the UK at the time. Pratchett left school with a basic education to work for a local newspaper, and continued in journalism for a number of years. during this time his first novel The Carpet People was published in 1971, with his next work The Dark Side of the Sunnot seeing publication until 1976, followed by Strata in 1981. The first Disworld Novel The Colour of Magic was published in 1983 and had no relation to his current employment as a press officer for a nuclear power station! The second discworld novel The Light Fantastic followed a few years later in 1986. The next novel, Equal Rites was released very soon in comparison to the large gaps in his earlier writing and was followed the same year b the fourth Discworld novel, Mort. With good reveiws and revenue from these early books Pratchett had the security and encouragement to quit his job to write full time.
Stop Press
Terry Diagnosed with Alzhiemer's Disease
Full Details of an open letter from Terry Pratchett are available here.
On the 11th of December Terry Pratchett published a letter on his biggest fan site stating
he had been diagnosed with very rare form of early onset Alzheimer's. Throughout this statement
his humour remains very much present along with his intention to carry on as normal and continue to
completion his current projects. We at The Book Garden wish him and his family well and are looking forward to the future publications.
Other Fiction
The Carpet People
1971 & 1998
Written first in 1971 by the 17 year old Pratchett, and then re-written 26 years later due to demand on it being re-published.
A tale of fantasy and adventure of little folk living inbetween the fibres of a carpet.
The Dark Side of the Sun
1976
Dom Salabos had a lot of advantages. As heir to a huge fortune, he had an excellent robot servant (with Man-Friday subcircuitry), a planet (the First Syrian Bank) as godfather, a security chief who even ran checks on himself, and on Dom's home world even death was not always fatal. Why, then, in an age when prediction was a science, was his future in doubt?
Strata
1981
The Company builds planets. Kin Arad is a high-ranking official of the Company.
After twenty-one decades of living, and with the help of memory surgery,
she is at the top of her profession. Discovering two of her employees have placed a fossilized
plesiosaur in the wrong stratum, not to mention the fact it is holding a placard which reads,
'End Nuclear Testing Now', doesn't dismay the woman who built a mountain range in the shape of
her initials during her own high-spirited youth. But then came discovery of something which did intrigue Kin Arad.
A flat earth was something new.
This was an early exploration of the idea that was to become the bestselling "Discworld" series.
The Unadulterated Cat
Co-Written with Joliffe Gray
1989
A hilarious insight into the world of the feline. Amusingly illustrated by cartoonist Gray Jolliffe, Pratchett delivers a wonderfully funny collection of anecdotes that anyone, cat owner or not, will be hard pressed not to smile at.
Good Omens
Co-Written with Neil Gaiman
1990
Taking a cynical look at the horror genre, this book features Crowley and Aziraphale, two friends who attempt to prevent the prophesised Armageddon. When the Antichrist is born they divert him from his original home at the American Embassy to Tadfield, where he grows into an unkempt individual.
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter - the world's only totally reliable guide to the future - the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea...
Young Discworld Books
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
2001
Although technically set on Discworld this book does not have the usual characters in and is supposedly aimed at the younger reader.
A civilisation of rats, and a cat called Maurice, living in the magical dump at Unseen University have developed intelligence and the ability to talk. Upon meeting these rats, Maurice gets an idea and convinces them to travel from town to town as a plague of rats. Then he'll get a kid with a pipe and ... well, you know the rest. The plan works perfectly, until they arrive in the town of Bad Blintz. There's something unusual going on here, and they can't leave until they've sorted it out.
The Wee Free Men
2003
The appearance of Granny Weatherwax almost makes this a Discworld novel, but again it is aimed at the younger reader.
Tiffany Aching is a young girl who lives a quiet life on a farm. So when monsters start appearing in the river, she's certain something odd is going on. When the queen of the Elves kidnaps her little brother, she's determined to get him back (not that she likes him, but he's her brother). It'll involve a daring expedition into fairyland, but she's not alone. The Nac Mac Feegle, a group of rude, drunk pictsies are going to help her.
A Hat Full of Sky
2004
The sequel to The Wee Free Men, again written for the younger reader
Eleven-year-old Tiffany Aching wants to be a real witch. But a real witch doesn't casually step out of her body, leaving it empty. Tiffany does - and there's something just waiting for a handy body to take over. Something ancient and horrible, which can't die. Now Tiffany's got to learn to be a real witch really quickly, with the help of arch-witch Mistress Weatherwax and the truly amazing Miss Level. Oh, yes. And the Nac Mac Feegle - the rowdlest, toughest, smelliest bunch of fairles ever to be thrown out of Fairyland for being drunk at two in the afternoon. They'll fight anything-
Wintersmith
2006
When Tiffany Aching - young witch - steps into a dance she shouldn't, the spirit of winter falls in love with her. He gives her roses and icebergs, says it with avalanches and showers her with snowflakes - and suddenly winter is all around her. All the time. With the help of the Nac Mac Feegle, first met in The Wee Free Men, and a bit of advice from witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, Tiffany must put the mess right - or there will never be another springtime ...
The Bromeliad Trilogy
Truckers
1988
For years the Store has been home to hundreds of four-inch-tall nomes, until the day they discover devastating news: The Store is going to be demolished. Now the nomes need a new way of thinking, a daring escape plan, and a whole lot of luck ...
Diggers
1990
Just as the nomes are settling into their new home, they discover they have to move again. That is, unless they can find a way to fight back ...
Wings
1990
The powerful conclusion to the trilogy, wherein the nomes search for a way back to their original home and learn more than they ever could have imagined about airports, humans, outer space, geese, and Floridian sandwiches.
The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy
Only You Can Save Mankind
1992
Twelve-year old Johnny Maxwell is ready to set a new high score on his computer game.. .but something unusual happens; the aliens in the game wish to surrender. This reality bending fantasy is filled with laughter and suspense.
Johnny and the Dead
1993
The town council wants to sell the cemetery, and its inhabitants aren't about to take that lying down! Johnny is the only one who can see the outraged ghosts, and the previously alive need his help to save their home and their history. Johnny didn't mean to become the voice for the lifeless, but if he doesn't speak up, who will?
Johnny and the Bomb
1996
Johnny Maxwell and his friends have to do something when they find Mrs Tachyon, the local bag lady, semi-conscious in an alley ... as long as it's not the kiss of live. But there's more to Mrs Tachyon than a squeaky trolley and a bunch of dubious black bags. Somehow she holds the key to different times, different eras - including the Blackbury Blitz in 1041. Suddenly now isn't the safe place Johnny once thought it was as he finds himself caught up more and more with then ...
template
Currently Under Construction
More Titles will be added shortly.
Posted 5th September 2007