A Blink of the Screen

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A Blink of the Screen, by Terry Pratchett

As my final book for MarchMagics, I got this newish collection of Pratchett's short stuff.  I've never read any of it before, so it was a real treat!  I gather that it was originally published in hardback with a lot of fun Kirby illustrations, but I only have the paperback.  That's OK, because while I know Josh Kirby was a hugely popular Discworld illustrator, I don't personally care much about it one way or the other.

The first half of the book is non-Discworld stuff.  We get Pterry's very first published story--at 13!--which is far better than most stories by 13-year-olds would be.  There are a couple of fractured fairy tales, some spoofy news stories, that sort of thing, and then a really great SF short story about Earth in a multiverse that eventually turned into The Long Earth, which I think is the only Pterry novel I haven't read, and clearly that is going to need to change soon.  A few other short stories, one about living in a Christmas card (it's terrifying), and a couple of really creepy ones that I loved, especially the virtual reality one.  And a cute little story about a truckload of chickens living on the verge of a Hollywood freeway--since I am rather fond of a local tribe of freeway chickens, I got a kick out of that one.  Finally, a time travel/King Arthur story that goes wrong in consummate Pratchett fashion.

Then, the Discworld part: mostly enjoyable bits and bobs written for various events or magazines, plus one pretty great Granny Weatherwax story that is fairly long.

The perfect wrapup to my month of Pterry and DWJ reading.  Thanks to my husband for finding it, and to Kristen for hosting!

Comments

  1. Kristen M.April 6, 2016 at 7:56 AM

    I need to get this one. I absolutely loved the non-fiction version.

    ReplyDelete

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