The Light Fantastic (18 page)
Terry Pratchett
lives in England, an island off the coast of France, where he spends his time writing Discworld novels in accordance with the Very String Anthropic Principle, which holds that the entire Purpose of the Universe is to make possible a being that will live in England, an island off the coast of France, and spend his time writing Discworld novels. Which is exactly what he does. Which proves the whole business true. Any questions?
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Unanimous
Praise
For Terry Pratchett
“For lighthearted escape with a thoughtful center, you can’t do better than…any…Discworld novel.”
—
Washington Post Book World
“If I were making my list of Best Books of the Twentieth Century, Terry Pratchett’s would be most of them.”
—Elizabeth Peters
“Consistently, inventively mad…wild and wonderful!”
—
Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
“Simply the best humorous writer of the twentieth century.”
—
Oxford Times
“A brilliant story—teller with a sense of humour…whose infectious fun completely engulfs you…The Dickens of the twentieth century”
—
Mail on Sunday
(London)
“If you are unfamiliar with Pratchett’s unique blend of philosophical badinage interspersed with slapstick, you are on the threshold of a mind—expanding opportunity.”
—
Financial Times
(London)
“If you don’t know Pratchett and Discworld, you’ve got a treat in store.”
—Jerry Pournelle
“The funniest parodist working in the field today, period.”
—
New York Review of Science Fiction
“Pratchett demonstrates just how great the distance is between one—or two—joke writers and the comic masters whose work will be read into the next century.”
—
Locus
“Terry Pratchett is fast, funny and going places. Try him!”
—Piers Anthony
“As always he is head and shoulders above the best of the rest. He is screamingly funny. He is wise. He has style.”
—
Daily Telegraph
(London)
“Pratchett is a comic genius.”
—
Express
(London)
“Pratchett is as funny as Wodehouse and as witty as Waugh.”
—
Independent
(London)
“Terry Pratchett does for fantasy what Douglas Adams did for science fiction.”
—
Today
(Great Britain)
“What makes Terry Pratchett’s fantasies so entertaining is that their humour depends on the characters first, on the plot second, rather than the other way around. The story isn’t there simply to lead from one slapstick pratfall to another pun. Its humour is genuine and unforced.”
—
Ottawa Citizen
“Terry Pratchett ought to be locked in a padded cell. And forced to write a book a month.”
—Barbara Michaels
“Terry Pratchett is more than a magician. He is the kindest, most fascinating teacher you ever had.”
—Harlan Ellison
“It is his unexpected insights into human mortality that make the Discworld series stand out.”
—
Times Literary Supplement
(London)
“Quite probably the funniest living author, bar nobody.”
—
Good Book Guide
(England)
“Delightful…Logically illogical as only Terry Pratchett can write.”
—Anne McCaffrey
The Carpet People
The Dark Side of the Sun
Strata · Truckers
Diggers · Wings
Only You Can Save Mankind
Johnny and the Dead · Johnny and the Bomb
The Unadulterated Cat (with Gray Jollife)
Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman)
T
HE
D
ISCWORLD
® S
ERIES
:
Going Postal · Monstrous Regiment · Night Watch
The Last Hero · The Truth · Thief of Time
The Fifth Elephant · Carpe Jugulum
The Last Continent · Jingo
Hogfather · Feet of Clay · Maskerade
Interesting Times · Soul Music · Men at Arms
Lords and Ladies · Small Gods
Witches Abroad · Reaper Man
Moving Pictures · Eric (with Josh Kirby)
Guards! Guards! · Pyramids
Wyrd Sisters · Sourcery · Mort · Equal Rites
The Light Fantastic · The Color of Magic
The Art of Discworld (with Paul Kidby)
Mort: A Discworld Big Comic (with Graham Higgins)
The Streets of Ankh-Morpork (with Stephen Briggs)
The Discworld Companion (with Stephen Briggs)
The Discworld Mapp (with Stephen Briggs)
The Pratchett Portfolio (with Paul Kidby)
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
. Copyright © 2007 by Terry Pratchett. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2007 ISBN 9780061801150
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