

Pratchett’s 2004 Discworld story Hat Full of Sky (and second featuring Tiffany Aching and her friends the pictsies – the Nac Mac Feegle wee free men) was a joy to read. I don’t often gush for a book, but this one was very good. Sir Terry Pratchett passed away on 12th March 2015. He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.

On 18 Feb, 2009, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. of 2007, Pratchett disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Regarded as one of the most significant contemporary English-language satirists, Pratchett has won numerous literary awards, was named an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to literature” in 1998, and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Warwick in 1999, the University of Portsmouth in 2001, the University of Bath in 2003, the University of Bristol in 2004, Buckinghamshire New University in 2008, the University of Dublin in 2008, Bradford University in 2009, the University of Winchester in 2009, and The Open University in 2013 for his contribution to Public Service. In 2008, Harper Children's published Terry's standalone non-Discworld YA novel, Nation. The first of these, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal.Ī non-Discworld book, Good Omens, his 1990 collaboration with Neil Gaiman, has been a longtime bestseller and was reissued in hardcover by William Morrow in early 2006 (it is also available as a mass market paperback - Harper Torch, 2006 - and trade paperback - Harper Paperbacks, 2006). There are over 40 books in the Discworld series, of which four are written for children. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Carnegie Medalist and writer extraordinaire.Born Terence David John Pratchett, Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. The Author: Terry Pratchett, celebrated creator of the internationally best-selling Discworld series. The Book: Hilarious, breathtaking, spine-tingling sequel to the acclaimed Wee Free Men. Members include: Rob Anybody, Daft Wullie, and Awfully Wee Billy Bigchin. Will attack anything larger than themselves. Famed for drinking, stealing, and fighting. The Threat: A Hiver, insidious disembodied presence drawn to powerful magic. At eleven years old, is boldest heroine ever to have confronted the Forces of Darkness while armed with a frying pan. Is about to discover that battling evil monarchs is child's play compared to mortal combat with a Hiver (see below). Once saved world from Queen of the Elves.

The Heroine: Tiffany Aching, incipient witch and cheese maker extraordinaire.
