A Blink of the Screen

Collected Shorter Fiction

By: Terry Pratchett, A. S. Byatt - introduction

Narrated by: Michael Fenton Stevens, Stephen Briggs

A collection of short fiction from Terry Pratchett, spanning the whole of his writing career from schooldays to Discworld and the present day.

In the four decades since his first book appeared in print, Terry Pratchett has become one of the world's best-selling and best-loved authors. Here for the first time are his short stories and other short-form fiction collected into one volume. A Blink of the Screen charts the course of Pratchett's long writing career: from his schooldays through to his first writing job on the Bucks Free Press, and the origins of his debut novel, The Carpet People; and on again to the dizzy mastery of the phenomenally successful Discworld series.

Here are characters both familiar and yet to be discovered; abandoned worlds and others still expanding; adventure, chickens, death, disco and, actually, some quite disturbing ideas about Christmas, all of it shot through with Terry's inimitable brand of humour. With an introduction by Booker Prize-winning author A.S. Byatt, illustrations by the late Josh Kirby and drawings by the author himself, this is a book to treasure.

Critic reviews

“A book meant to be cherished.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Some writers simply possess the Gift. No matter what they bring out. . . . That’s certainly the case with Terry Pratchett.” —The Washington Post Book World

“In the history of comic fantasy, Pratchett has no equals for invention or for range.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Clever . . . insightful. . . . [Pratchett’s] wry wit is as good as gold.” —The Boston Globe

“Pratchett is one of the great comic writers and storytellers of our time.” —The Guardian

“One of the giants in the world of fantasy literature.” —New York Daily News

“You can’t call what Pratchett does satire—it’s far too good-natured for that—but he has a satirist’s instinct for the absurd and a cartoonist’s eye for the telling detail.” —The Daily Telegraph (London)

“A short story collection covering the entire career of one of our most prolific, and beloved, fantasy writers. . . . One of the main draws of [A Blink of the Screen] for serious fans, or aspiring writers, will be the chance to trace the evolution of Pratchett’s craft—but there’s plenty here for readers who have never heard of him to enjoy.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A little absurdism, a little wordplay, a lot of inventive fantasy, a lot of heart, and a deep-seated fascination with the way technologies change societies. . . . Pratchett can easily fill an entire bookcase by himself. . . . But he has kept the piquant sense of someone playing with language, with new worlds, and with the familiar old tropes that he enjoys upending.” —NPR

“What Pratchett does is not just great, but unparalleled. In five hundred years, it won’t be the Nobel laureates who are being studied. It’s going to be this guy.” —Brandon Sanderson, Tor.com

“One of the greatest comic novelists of all time, in his way the equal of Wodehouse and Waugh.” —GQ (UK)

“The master of humorous fantasy . . . [Pratchett] should be recognized as one of the more significant contemporary English-language satirists.” —Publishers Weekly

Classic Pratchett

Loved it. Well worth a read. Some is not his best, bit some is wonderful. The classic Pratchett.

really interesting

being a writer must be really interesting. Seeing how the writing changed and things like pacing which I didn't really know about was really interesting to me. I also like that he repeatedly said short stories are really difficult and I guess for some Riders it just depends on what they can do. just like anything else some things are more difficult for some people than other things. So that was really interesting to learn. it was also very nice to learn that I haven't read everything in Discworld. There's still some things out there that I haven't heard about or read about yet so that's really really nice it's not finished yet for me.

Sir Terry Pratchett is the best!

Every story is fun and interesting! Terry Pratchett is and was an amazing writer! And the voice acting nails the tone of his stories. I highly recommend

Mostly good stories

The narration was very good.

Most of the stories were very good. Unfortunately the long earth story was very tedious, and took up too much of the audiobook.

The Best

Always the best and I will never be lonely in my declining years on earth