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The Road Not Taken...

Introducing the 13th and final chapter in Paul Kidby's Designing Terry Pratchett's Discworld, where Paul envisions covers for some of the books that Terry spoke of but, sadly, never got to write.

You can pre-order your copy here: https://linktr.ee/terrypratchettestate

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New Discworld Jigsaw Puzzle 👀❤

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The book, to be published by Puffin, celebrates the 20th anniversary of the first in the Tiffany Aching series The Wee Free Men. This ultimate guide marks the first time Rhianna Pratchett has contributed to her father’s body of literary work for children.

Set in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld universe, Tiffany Aching’s Guide To Being A Witch is a must-have for any Pratchett fan with new illustrations from Terry’s ‘artist of choice’ Paul Kidby.

An illustrated and practical guide to being a witch in Discworld, covering everything you’ve ever wanted to know from telling the bees to magical cheese, from dealing with elves to making deals with demons, from tending flocks to fending off forces from other worlds. This beautiful and practical guide has been compiled by Tiffany Aching herself, including snippets of remembered wisdom from Granny Aching alongside notes from Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Miss Tick, and Rob Anybody who offer their own unique perspectives on all things witchcraft. Whether you’re a herbologist or a headologist, this book will inspire and empower new witches and seasoned practitioners alike.

Rhianna Pratchett says: “When most fathers shuffle away to the great shed in the beyond, their kids inherit things like their LP collection, a carefully curated selection of humorous postcards or a dicky bladder. I inherited a world. Knowing what I could (and should) do with that world has been a constant internal debate. Growing up with a shepherdess grandmother, bottle-feeding lambs and being dressed in woolly jumpers so thick they could stand up by themselves made the Tiffany Aching series a natural starting place. I’ve always been particularly drawn to the witches books where some of Dad’s best loved and most colourful characters reside alongside shades of my own family members. Channelling the wit and wisdom of Discworld’s witches with Gabrielle has been a wonderful, life-affirming and occasionally tear-filled adventure. And definitely much better than the Pratchett bladder.”

Gabrielle Kent says: “I feel a part of me has lived on the Disc ever since a school-friend lent me my first Terry Pratchett book back in 1988. And when I discovered Granny Weatherwax and Esk in Equal Rites I knew that, in the witches, I had found my people. Back then I could never have dreamed that the girl who influenced Esk would become a huge part of my life and we would eventually go on to write a Discworld book together, discovering, in the process, that we both had shepherdess grandmothers. The Disc and its inhabitants mean so much to so very many people and, in this guide, Rhianna and I hope to have captured the essence and voices of the characters we have all grown to love as we explore what it means to be a witch in their world.”

Paul Kidby says: “I love all of Discworld but especially its natural world, the magic of the Ramtops, the energy of the chalk and its assorted local characters. The chance to illustrate this book filled with country witch lore and Nac Mac Feegles was an opportunity to good to be missed.”

Jane Griffiths, Puffin Publisher says: “Puffin is incredibly proud to be the home of Terry Pratchett’s incredible children’s books and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have such an exciting new piece of Discworld publishing for the 20th anniversary year of Tiffany Aching. Tiffany Aching’s Guide To Being A Witch, is going to be a must-have for Terry Pratchett fans everywhere as Rhianna and Gabrielle take readers to the heart of Discworld and uncover the secrets of what it really takes to be a witch in this incredible world, all brought to life by new full-colour illustrations from the amazingly talented Paul Kidby.”

Puffin will publish TIFFANY ACHING’S GUIDE TO BEING A WITCH in October 2023 in hardback.

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For the Star Wars Day (May the Fourth / May the Force Be With You) there was shared (with the permission of the Pratchett Estate ) a Terry Pratchett story from the Star Wars Universe that was only published in a newspaper 45 years ago! Very excited to read a new Terry's piece! :)❤ (tweet)

Also, Terry Pratchett writing fanfiction 45 years ago, can I hear a wahoo? :)

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75 years ago, 4th May 1948 Jan Kantůrek, the absolutely brilliant translator into czech of Terry Pratchett's books or Neil's Coraline, and of course, Good Omens, was born ❤. His wish was to translate all of Terry's work before dying which he unfortunately didn't manage to (though he did manage Discworld) dying 22 March 2018. Happy Birthday Jan Kantůrek, thank you for introducing me to Terry's books ❤.

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I got Terry's biography, I'm still at the beginning but ❤❤❤😭😭😭

While still in the beginning I did browse through the photo section though and 🥺❤: With Neil Gaiman in 2014 during shooting the cameo for BBC Radio Drama of Good Omens. (you can listen to them here ❤)

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A NEW BOOK!

Transworld has acquired an unmissable collection of recently rediscovered short stories by the late Sir Terry Pratchett. The collection, titled A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories, will be published on 5th October 2023.

Larry Finlay, MD, and Charlotte Trumble, Assistant Editor, acquired world rights in a six-figure deal from Jon Wood at RCW, on behalf of the Pratchett Estate.

A Stroke of the Pen will contain twenty short stories by Pratchett dating from the 1970s and 1980s. Written for a regional newspaper, mostly under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns, these stories had never been attributed to Pratchett until now, and may never have been found if not for a few dedicated fans.

One of the longer stories, ‘The Quest for the Keys’, had been framed on Pratchett fan Chris Lawrence’s wall for over forty years. When he alerted the Pratchett Estate to its existence, the rest of the stories were unearthed by fans Pat and Jan Harkin who went through decades’ worth of old newspapers to rediscover the lost treasures.

Whilst none of the stories are set in the Discworld, they hint at the world Sir Terry would go on to create in his hugely successful, bestselling series, containing his trademark wit, satirical intelligence, and fantastic imagination. Readers can expect to meet characters ranging from cavemen to gnomes, wizards to ghosts, and read about time travel tourism, the haunting of Council offices, and a visitor from another planet.

The final ever ‘new’ writing to be published from one of the world’s best loved authors, this will be a must have for Pratchett fans of all ages. Transworld will publish in a beautiful gift edition hardback in October 2023.

Larry Finlay said: ‘A Stroke of the Pen is such an exciting treasure trove of unearthed riches. Reading Terry’s rediscovered stories is going to be a joy for his army of fans as they spot nascent characters and settings that were to define his long career as one of the most exciting and inventive writers there has ever been.’

Rob Wilkins said: ‘The rediscovery of these stories is nothing short of a miracle and represents the last ‘new’ Pratchett material we are ever likely to find. Whilst Terry was always very focussed on the next novel and maintained that his unpublished works should never be released, he always held a grudging admiration for his younger self’s work, and he would be tickled to see these stories celebrated in one wonderful volume. The stories from the beginning of his career, before he became the Terry Pratchett we know and love, are no less inspired and give real insight into the development of his creative genius.’

Chris Lawrence said: ‘The Quest for the Keys resonated with me as a 15-year-old, which is why I made the effort to collect each part. I treasured and kept them safe for over 35 years. Having survived numerous house-moves, little did I know of their importance. Following contact with Colin Smythe, I realised just how significant they were.’

Colin Smythe said: ‘For all the years I was Terry’s publisher and then agent he never ever gave me any help in finding his shorter writings – but as he wrote in his dedication to me in Dragons at Crumbling Castle, there were stories he had carefully hidden away. Just how true these words were, I had no idea.’

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what I really like about Pratchett's work among all the other things, is that he basically opens all his books with exposure and "here is an immuable, very eternal law upon which the world is built" and then he spends the rest of the book trampling on that law

"it is impossible for a woman to be a wizard, so we're going to follow this wizard girl's journey"

"dragons are gone forever and dormant, here be no dragons. say hi to this one lady dragon tho"

"nobody can resist elves. that's why Magrat is going to deck their queen in the face"

"everyone knows women can't fight"

"everyone knows golems don't have souls. they all have names and personalities and-"

"all dwarves are men. then they were introduced to gender"

"Death is eternal and unchanging. Let's see what happens when he goes through all major human development stages in reverse starting with his retirement"

All in all "here's this thing everyone knows is true, here's why it's bullshit, here's how untrue it is, and here's how nobody is going to learn a lesson from being shown that this law of nature is bullshit. We all know people never learn right. or do they"

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The eagerly anticipated animated feature film The Amazing Maurice premieres in cinemas and on Sky Cinema in the UK today.

The movie is based on the Carnegie medal-winning novel The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents by Sir Terry Pratchett, originally published in 2001.

In The Amazing Maurice, a Sky Original, Maurice is a streetwise ginger cat who comes up with a money-making scam by befriending a group of self-taught talking rats. When Maurice and the rodents reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, they meet a bookworm called Malicia and their little con soon goes down the drain.

This animated family film is based on the wildly popular Discworld ® novels and will star Hugh Laurie (Avenue 5) as Maurice, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Malicia, David Thewlis (Wonder Woman) as Boss Man, Himesh Patel (Yesterday) as Keith, Gemma Arterton (The King’s Man) as Peaches, Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) as The Mayor, David Tennant (Doctor Who) as Dangerous Beans, Ariyon Bakare (His Dark Materials) as Darktan, Rob Brydon (Roald & Beatrix: The Tale of the Curious Mouse) as The Pied Piper, Julie Atherton (Avenue Q) as Nourishing and YouTuber Joe Sugg as Sardines.

The film is co-produced by Sky, Ulysses Filmproduktion and Cantilever Media in partnership with Global Screen, with animation studios Studio Rakete (Hamburg) and Red Star Animation (Sheffield). The film has the full support of the Terry Pratchett estate and is produced in association with Narrativia. Producers are Julia Stuart (Sky), Emely Christians (Ulysses), Andrew Baker and Robert Chandler (Cantilever Media) and Rob Wilkins (Narrativia). The Film is directed by Toby Genkel, co-director is Florian Westermann, from a screenplay by Terry Rossio.

The Amazing Maurice is currently scheduled to release in the USA, Australia and New Zealand in January 2023.

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The Amazing Maurice trailer! :)