My first non-fiction book is a reader's guide to Terry Pratchett's magnificent humorous fantasy series. It's published by BenBella Books, officially in August, 2008.
- Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Watt-Evans
- Cover price $14.95 U.S.
- ISBN 978-1-933771-46-5
For those unfamiliar with it, Discworld is a fantasy world that rides through space atop four gigantic elephants, who in turn stand atop the shell of a cosmic turtle, Great A'tuin. Terry Pratchett has written dozens of novels in this setting, ranging from decent to incredibly brilliant; the series is a major phenomenon in Britain, relatively unknown here on the western shores of the Atlantic.
The Turtle Moves! is intended to introduce new readers to the series, and give long-time fans additional background and insight.
It's also intended to make me a little money, of course.
I've tried to suit my style to the subject matter, so The Turtle Moves! is replete with footnotes and attempts at humor. It includes three introductions, a couple of chapters on the Discworld series as a whole, a complete story-by-story summary of the series so far, more comments, an explanation of the various sub-series within the whole, yet more comments, a bibliography, and other stuff intended to make it look like a real book.
Reviews:
SFReader.com: "...an awesome collection for any Discworld fan..." Five stars!
Sci-Fi: Official magazine of the Sci-Fi Cable Channel: Grade: A
Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease, and has donated half a million pounds to Alzheimer's research. His fans and friends have organized an effort to match that gift under the name "Match It For Pratchett". If you're interested in learning more about it, or making a donation, please click on the link.
It seems only fair, since I'm indirectly profiting from Mr. Pratchett's creation, to do my part, but I have done so by donating $1,000 from my advance to The Fisher center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation, rather than through the British campaign. I encourage all readers to give what they can, as well.
The Turtle Moves! concludes with an appendix listing online resources; as is inevitable, some of the listed URLs are out of date. It therefore seems simply the polite thing to do to provide an updated version here.
Accordingly, here is Appendix 2: Online Resources, updated as of June 18, 2008.
As in the book, these are listed in approximate order of usefulness, and deliberately do not include the several interviews scattered through cyberspace, which you can find by googling on +interview +Pratchett:
The L-Space Web:
The most extensive Discworld™ fan site. Lots of annotations, bibliographic data, etc.
Terry Pratchett™ Books.com Discworld™ page:
An official site for the series.
Colin Smythe Ltd.: Terry Pratchett™:
Mr. Pratchett's agent provides news and information about his client.
The Turtle Moves:
This fan site first appeared while I was writing this book. Despite the coincidence of names I have no connection with it, but it's a good site.
Wikipedia: Discworld™:
The entry point for a great deal of accumulated information about the series. It's amazingly detailed on many subjects.
Sky One's Colour of Magic page:
Promoting the upcoming adaptation.
The Discworld™ Convention site:
Home to information about the not-quite annual Discworld™ fan conventions.
Stephen Briggs' website:
Some interesting, if largely tangential, information, and a source for some nifty Discworld™ merchandise.
The Cunning Artificer's Discworld™ Emporium:
Lots of strange and wonderful merchandise.
A Mad Fan's Guide to Discworld™ Stamps:
An obsessive fan's collection of trivia on a specific subject.
Thud! The Discworld™ Board Game:
All about the Roundworld version of the famous game.
And not in the book but should have been:
PJSM Prints:
Discworld art and signed books.
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