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, some of my filk songs and miscellany — and the hope that you explore onward, to great delight. All external links open in a separate window.

Art by Josh Kirby

What I have read of The Canon:

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 for ages: can be found at amazon uk]

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.

 

Witches Abroad (also out of print for ages: can be found at amazon uk)

The creator of the Hedgehog Song and her companions leave Ankh-Morpork to save the world — to the dismay of many therein. Mordant comments on what would happen if fairy tales really did come true.

 

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.

 

Men at Arms

The ancient tale of the Hero who, raised as a foundling, is really a King — as done by Pratchett. Also magic swords. And poodles.

 

Soul Music

In which Ankh-Morpork discovers Music With Rocks In. While Death has gone off again, to join the Klatchian Foreign Legion, leaving in charge his grand-daughter Susan, who likes the young man who does Music With Rocks In...

 

Interesting Times

Rincewind is ba-a-ack... along with the intergalactic tourist Twoflower, the demented Luggage, and Cohen the Barbarian, traveling to the endangered Empire of Hong, Sung, Fang, Tang and McSweeney, where a new Emperor is about to be chosen in the Forbidden City of HungHung. All the standard fictional images of the Mysterious East are fractured in Pratchett style.

 

Maskerade

Phantom of the Opera, Discworld style, with Witches.

 

Feet of Clay

Another fond fantasy motif, the Golem, gets a working over by Pratchett.

 

Hogfather

Ankh-Morpork has to have Christmas, right? Well, Death thinks it does, so when the cosmic Auditors delete Santa, Death tries driving the sleigh...

 

Jingo

Do you know that there is a rock island off the coast of Sicily that rises above water once every 200 years or so, and countries wrangle with each other over who gets to claim it? That might be what sparked Pratchett this time, or it might be all the rest of the history of human warfare and diplomacy ("war by other means.") A small island rises off the coast between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch, and we're off to the races.

 

The Last Continent

Australia. Theoretical physics. Evolution. Drag queens. Pratchett sends up the popular fantasies about all of them as Rincewind is off to the far continent of Fourecks and the Wizards of Unseen University are off 30,000 years in the past.

 

Carpe Jugulum

I am as fond of vampire literature as any female, but even I think it gets overdone. What Pratchett did to elves in Lords and Ladies he does again to vampires in Carpe Jugulum — and he sics the Witches on 'em.

 

The Fifth Elephant

Four elephants hold up Discworld, supported in turn by A'Tuin the Great Turtle. Legend says that a fifth elephant came hurtling out of space and crashed on the Disc, ages ago, becoming the source of the enormous fat mines of Uberwald. Ankh-Morpork needs its trade with Uberwald, which is why the Patrician sends an Ambassador to the coronation of the new Dwarf King. He makes Commander of the Watch Sam Vimes be that Ambassodor because he expects trouble (he always does) and he isn't disappointed. Neither are readers: much more from a lot of favorite characters, new bits in the culture of the Dwarves, and Werewolves.

 

The Truth

Ankh-Morpork gets its first printing press, and the newspaper business gets the business from Pratchett.

 

The Thief of Time

The cosmic Auditors return, still intent on clearing up the untidiness of Humanity. They are opposed by the Monks of History, the Grim Reaper, and the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse (the one who quit before they became famous.)

 

The Last Hero

Huge graphic novel about the last (?) adventure of Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde. Leonard da Quim is released from his tower and invents a dragon-thrust vehicle to circumnavagate the Disc. Someone else gets out of his usual haunts, too. "Houston, we have an orangutang." Illustrated by Paul Kirby. It's awful expensive, but worth it for the annotated drawings from da Quim's notebook.

 

Night Watch

Lu Tze the Sweeper (from the History Monks) returns when Commander Vimes of the Night Watch pursues an insane serial killer over the roof of the wizard's Library and is tumbled 30 years into the past by a magic accident — along with the serial killer. Anyone see a movie like this? I haven't seen it, but I bet the book's funnier.

Not read yet: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, a Discworld novel "turned down a notch to be accessible to children," so far available only in the UK, apparently because US publishers disagree about what should be accessible to children. Available at amazon uk

Discworld Related Books:

The Science of Discworld

The only one of the non-novel Discworld books I have, as yet. Actual science, of our own world, explored by the device of comparison with Discworld. The Wizards of Unseen University have a new experiment in progress. They have created an odd little Universe where planets form into balls instead of disks. (Were the craters of the moon the result of Ponder's trials with orbital dynamics? Were the asteroids created by a game of pocket billiards?) Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen collaborate with Terry Pratchett.

 

There are many more: a second Science book, The Discworld Companion, map books, calendars, graphic novels, plays based on the books, audio books, a Nanny Ogg Cookbook, and instead of listing them I will refer you to the L-Space Bibliography.

 

Non-Discworld Novels:

Good Omens

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

Terry Pratchett has many other great series's.
See the Terry Pratchett Bibliography kept by his agent

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Updated December 7, 2002