Musing On Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett writes stories that can be enjoyed as comic romps, witty philosophical commentary, delicious sendups of popular cultural icons, or intricately clever fantasies.

There is a lot of material about Terry Pratchett on the web: bibliographies, reviews, annotations, quotations, biography and fannish filk songs, among other things. Here is a brief index, a list of the Pratchett books I've read (so far), and the hope that you explore onward, to great delight.

Josh Kirby draws Terry Pratchett with a head full of ideas.

Art by Josh Kirby

Discussion group about Pratchett books	alt.books.pratchett	On Dejanews
More informal discussion among Pratchett fans	alt.fan.pratchett	On Dejanews
FAQs about Pratchett and his works and the above newsgroups (plus much else wondrous, including the words to The Hedgehog Song)	www.lspace.org	TINC!
The Discworld Fan Club	Fanzine, newsletter, email list, and other wonders.
GrimReaper 4.0	The DiscWorld on PalmPilot!
Matthew's Discworld Page	One of the better fan pages.
Welcome to AnkhMorpork	Another excellent tribute page: take a tour, test your qualifications for Unseen University.
Wyrd Sister's Discworld	High-graphic introduction to the Wyrd Sisters.
Discworld Webrings
The Discworld Webring	The Discworld Ring	The Broken Drum
And the all-encompassing Collective

What I have read of The Canon:

(Most of the following links take you to amazon.com, except where I found more interesting reviews elsewhere. If you do decide to buy a copy of the book at Amazon while following one of these links, a few cents of your purchase will go to the Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project.)

The Colour of Magic: A galactic tourist discovers Discworld, the most unique world in the Cosmos: a flat disc supported by four giant elephants, being carried through space on the back of the great turtle A'Tuin. His introductory tour is made even more interesting by his tour guide, the dropout wizard Rincewind, and his Luggage, which has 100 dear little legs and a mind of its own.
The Light Fantastic: The tour continues, with all of Discworld in hot pursuit, because the dropout wizard Rincewind actually does have one working spell -- the most dangerous spell in Discworld.
Equal Rites: The eighth son of an eighth son, inheritor of a wizard's staff -- is female! Feminism takes on Discworld, with humor; rare and delightful.
Mort: Death takes on an Apprentice. This was the first Discworld novel I read; the one that inspired me to read all the others.
Sourcery: One mark of really good fantasy is an intricate and logical system of magic. This book takes that grand tradition and marks it all up, hilariously. There is also quite a bit of fun had with the traditions of Barbarian Hero and Heroine.
Wyrd Sisters: Terry Pratchett sends up Macbeth and the The Pirates of Penzance and quite a bit else. The first mention of The Hedgehog Song.
Pyramids [out of print]: Pratchett takes on popular mythology about Egypt.
Guards! Guards!: Dragons, heroes, court intrigue -- all foiled by the despised city guard, "not so much 'rank and file' as just 'rank'."
Eric: A teenage would-be Faust calls up Rincewind, the most inept wizard in the universe.
Moving Pictures: The alchemy of the Discworld awakens Holy Wood. Buy a bag of banged grains and watch a giant woman carry a screaming ape up a tall building.
Reaper Man: Death Takes a Holiday on the Discworld.
Small Gods: The god Om manifests himself to the lowliest of novices, Brutha, as a very small tortoise, setting religion in Discworld in turmoil and giving play to intriguing speculations on other religious and spiritual subjects, like -- ours.
Lords and Ladies: Elves have always been a prime ingredient in fantasy, long before Tolkien -- and here Terry Pratchett takes them on as a prime ingredient for satire.
Feet of Clay: Another fond fantasy motif, the Golem, gets a working over by Pratchett.

Maskerade

Phantom of the Opera, Discworld style, with Witches.

Non-Discworld Novels:

Good Omens: Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman set the Apocalypse on its ear and spin it.

Filks for Fans and Other Folks

My First AFPfilk
Down Again!
It's All for Me Web
Red Tape Come Again No More

Creations of the AFPwordlovers

Fantastic Female Fantasy & Science-Fiction Authors
Comic Fantasy Books & Movies

My AFPCode

AFP Code 1.1a ALi/C/E@$-US d s-:s+ a+>++ U- R-- F++ h- !P OSM: C+++ M- pp--- L+ c- B Cn? !PT Pu70 5+>++ X? MT++ e+>+++++ r+++ x+ end

My AFPrelationships

AFPfriend to James Green and to Adrian Morgan; AFPwordlover to Laurabelle; AFPtangent to Kevin Hackett

My Geek Code

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