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A Stroke of the Pen
A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories | Terry Pratchett
18 posts | 6 read | 5 to read
A truly unmissable set of unearthed stories from the pen of Sir Terry Pratchett: award-winning and bestselling author, and creator of the phenomenally successful Discworld series. An exclusive collection of twenty early short stories by one of the world's best loved authors, these are rediscovered tales that Pratchett wrote under a pseudonym for newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s. Whilst none of the stories are set in the Discworld, they hint towards the world he would go on to create in his award-winning and globally bestselling series, containing all of his trademark wit, satirical wisdom and fantastic imagination. These are tales which entertain, enlighten and, most importantly, make you laugh. Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Council with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and travel millions of years back in time to The Old Red Sandstone Lion pub. The final ever 'new' writing to be published from the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett, A STROKE OF THE PEN is a must-have collection of fantastic short stories for fans, old and new. Praise for Terry Pratchett 'Pratchett is a master storyteller' - A. S. Byatt, Guardian 'The Discworld novels have always been among the most serious of comedies, the most relevant and real of fantasies' - Independent 'Compulsively readable, fantastically inventive, surprisingly serious exploration in story form of just about any aspect of our world . . . There's never been anything quite like it' - Evening Standard 'Like most true originals, Pratchett defies categorisation' - The Times 'Pratchett found something better than literature' - Frank Cottrell Boyce, Guardian
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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

Delightful. Never thought about how predisposed Pratchett's charmingly nonsensical moments were to short stories, but it's basically what would happen if he expanded any footnote you encounter in the Discworld books. A good chunk are Christmas themed, so I could see rereading them each year for the festive season. Mostly fantasy, arguably a couple sci fi. 1/3

Robotswithpersonality 2/3 Couldn't possibly pick favourites among them. Loved the background on how these tales were discovered, just adds to the overall magical, cozy vibes. 😊 5mo
Robotswithpersonality 3/3 ⚠️I'd like to think if Terry were writing The Quest for The Keys today rather than the early 80s, the Joke Monk order would have a different speech style, this one felt a little too close to racist caricature 🫤 5mo
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Robotswithpersonality
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For those times when no other explanation is handy, I think this is a very satisfactory alternative.👻

MariaW 🤣 5mo
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Robotswithpersonality
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🎅🏼😁

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bookishbitch
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Today's book haul. Queen of Nothing was a gift from my daughter and is the 3rd of a series. I do already have the other two.

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wanderinglynn
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I saw this at the first 2 indies I went to on IBD but didn‘t get it at either because I intended to pick it up at the 6th & last store. But I didn‘t make it to that 6th store.

And I didn‘t realize then that this is the special edition only offered by indie bookstores on Independent Bookstore Day because IBD always falls around Pratchett‘s birthday (4/28).

Luckily my intended 6th store still had copies & I picked it up today! 🎉 Huzzah! 🥳

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ju.ca.no
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Put my birthday gift cards to good use😁😁

erzascarletbookgasm Happy birthday! 9mo
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julesG
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#OokBOokClub

Hello friends! Open discussion is in the FOLLOWING POST marked as a spoiler. Find the #AStrokeOfThePen post & tap "show me" on the spoiler tag to join in the discussion. Join in whenever you can! Today. Tomorrow. Next month! The post will always be up so just tag each other & we'll jump in to discuss with you. Feel free to chat about anything!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyread

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julesG
This post contains spoilers
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Welcome to the #OokBOokClub open discussion for #AStrokeOfThePen feel free to discuss anything! Don't forget to tag each other in the comments so your friends can see your reply. Have fun!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyread

julesG Which was your favourite story? 9mo
willaful I'm not sure; maybe the Scrooge sequel. I've seen turnarounds of the story before but never that all-too-likely version. 😂 And Father Christmas' new job was sweet. Pretty much all of them have made me chuckle. 9mo
See All 10 Comments
julesG @willaful The Scrooge sequel was great. My favourite story was the time travel story, The Fossil Beach. But it was also fun too see Pratchett's early writing that turned into parts of Discworld. Honestly made me want to start a re-read of the Discworld novels again. 9mo
willaful @julesG That one was cute. And the one with the stage sets was wild, though I wish it had a stronger ending. 9mo
BookmarkTavern I really loved the Pilgarlic Towers one with all the ghosts. It just tickled me. But I also loved the Fossil Beach one. His time travel stories are always some of my favorites. 9mo
Soubhiville @julesG I liked the fossil story too! I think my favorite was the gnome garden one. I loved that they took care of the gnome problem just to invite mermaids! @BookmarkTavern I liked the ghost story too! 9mo
Soubhiville I‘m really glad these were gathered and I got to read them, but I also wonder if that‘s what Terry would have wanted after reading his bio by Rob… it sounds like it may have been clear that he was happy these early stories had disappeared, and he didn‘t want anything additional printed after he was gone (though maybe that only applied to his unfinished stories.) 🤷‍♀️ 9mo
Soubhiville Of course I contributed by purchasing and reading the book. How could I not? 9mo
willaful @Soubhiville I had exactly the same thought! It felt like in the intros, both writers had qualms they did their best to squash, but I had some discomfort mixed with my enjoyment. 9mo
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BookmarkTavern
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Pickpick

Rediscovered short stories of Terry Pratchett when he was submitting stories under a pseudonym.

Delightful as always. Some old stories here, some new. Some surprising early bits and pieces of Discworld. And I wish I could have asked him when he would want to time travel to. Reading the Pilgarlic Towers story made me desperately want more ghost stories. And the story at the end about the discovery of The Quest would have tickled him. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

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Soubhiville
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Pickpick

My favorite thing about this collection is catching glimpses of ideas in some of the stories that Terry later developed into pieces of Discworld.

I felt like the first few showed a clear influence by Dahl, but were kinder and funnier.

My favorite of the stories was the one about the gnomes in the rock garden, but all of them were fun. I‘m glad they were collected from those early newspapers so we can feel the joy in his writing once again. 🖤

Aimeesue Sir Terry 💙💙💙 10mo
AlaMich I‘ve been listening to this on and off lately. I think the stories are hit or miss, but all the narrators are great, so that makes up for it. (edited) 10mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 10mo
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julesG
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Pickpick

#OokBOokClub #EpicBuddyread

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

I enjoyed the stories although some of them were familiar.

Can highly recommend pairing the book with the #audiobook.

#52bookclub24 - Buddyread
#BookChain24 - Next book's title has same colour(-ish) as last book's title

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julesG
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#OokBOokClub-ers, our #EpicBuddyread adventure slowly draws to a close. TODAY we'll start with the first but last book in our long #ReadAlong with the 'lost stories' collection #AStrokeOfThePen!

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #BuddyRead

Happy reading!

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JoyBlue
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Pickpick

So much fun!

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BookmarkTavern
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I‘m so excited for this collection of rediscovered stories! ❤️💚❤️

#SundayFunday I hope you‘re all having a good weekend, and don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!

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LitsyEvents
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repost for @julesG

#OokBOokClub

Just a friendly reminder that next month we'll be reading #AStrokeOfThePen! Dig out your books, put in your library holds, or place your orders! The next Discworld adventure continues on January 8th! Woohoo!

If anyone wants to be tagged/untagged for future posts please let me know! Happy to oblige!

original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2673741

julesG Thank you!!! 11mo
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AllDebooks
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A perfect afternoon is an absolute delight while finalising plans for #Midwintersolace

GondorGirl I got my partner this one for Christmas... which, sadly, means I can't read it until he's done. 😅 12mo
AllDebooks @GondorGirl I'm sure he'll love it and read it quickly. It's very funny, especially the retelling of a Christmas Carol ( more so if you're British) 😅 12mo
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BookmarkTavern
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WHAAAAAAT?!?!?

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS?!?

Lizpixie Mine is On. The. Way.🤣 13mo
julesG We talked about it #OokBOokClub. It's planned for January '24. 13mo
BookmarkTavern @julesG I must have completely forgotten about it! I‘m looking forward to it! ❤️ 13mo
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Jari-chan
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Guess, what I just preordered 🤷🤭