Terry Pratchett and his books beyond Discworld

It has been exactly 10 years since the writer Sir Terry Pratchett left our awkwardly round world due to Alzheimer's disease.

Terry Pratchett (Sir Terence David John Pratchett) was born on April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, England. He wrote his first short story at the age of thirteen, which was published in his school magazine. He was so passionate about writing that he left school at seventeen to work as a journalist for the local Bucks Free Press. He debuted in 1971 with the novel The Carpet People, where he already showcased his distinctive sense of humor and affinity for fantasy. He managed to balance his early literary successes with a full-time job until he finally became a full-time writer in the second half of the 1980s.

He achieved his greatest fame with the humorous fantasy series Discworld, which kicked off with The Colour of Magic in 1983. Over time, he created 41 novels full of irony, absurd situations, satirical jabs, and original characters that won over millions of readers worldwide. Pratchett often drew inspiration from science, mythology, and pop culture, masterfully blending seemingly incompatible elements with his humorous style. He was a long-time supporter of animal charities, especially those protecting orangutans, and received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998. Eleven years later, he was knighted.

In 2007, doctors diagnosed him with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. However, Pratchett maintained his energy and spoke openly about how society could better support patients with the condition. He also continued writing—using special voice-dictation software to mitigate the effects of the disease. He passed away on March 12, 2015, at the age of 66, but his books—instantly recognizable thanks to their sarcastic humor, unconventional ideas, and fondness for cleverly hidden parodies—remain among the most popular titles in the genre.

Terry's work is not just Discworld. Throughout his life, he managed to write several books and a pile of short stories that have nothing to do with this amazing world. I wrote about Discworld and my love for it previously, but now let's take a look at the books that don't belong to this vast cycle. The truth is that some titles are hard to find today. With a bit of effort, however, it is still possible to complete the entire collection.

The Carpet People

It all started with The Carpet. Terry Pratchett wrote his first novel at just seventeen. It took another seven years before he reworked and published the text. In The Carpet People, you can already find the seeds of what later became Discworld—unconventional ideas, a witty style, and a unique world.

In the beginning, there was only an endless plain. Then came the Carpet… It is an old story that everyone knows and loves. Now, however, the Carpet is home to many different tribes and nations, and a new story is unfolding. A story about Fray, who sweeps away the traces of destruction across the Carpet. A story about power-hungry Mules—and about two Munrung brothers who set off on an amazing adventure. It is a story that will end terribly—unless someone does something about it. Unless everyone does something about it…

Strata

Kin Arad works as a planetary technician for a company that builds new worlds. Despite her great position, she leaves her job and sets out on a remarkable journey. Accompanied by Marco, a four-armed member of the Kung civilization, and the monstrous Silver, she discovers a place she never dreamed of before: a flat Earth…

Strata is a sci-fi novel that again hides the first seeds of Discworld. You can see that whatever Terry wrote at the beginning, fate was still nudging him in a Discworld direction.

The Dark Side of the Sun

Another novel reeking of sci-fi and the first text where you can easily recognize the master's style. Young Dom Sabalos has many advantages on his side. He is the heir to an immense fortune and, as the only male descendant of a powerful dynasty, is set to become the president of the board on the planet Widdershins. According to an old prophecy, however, the day of his appointment is also meant to be the day of Dom's assassination…

Dodger

Dodger is a typical Discworld-style story that, for some reason, doesn't take place on Discworld. I still don't know why. If Dodger were set in Ankh-Morpork, nothing would change. Furthermore, Dodger suffers slightly from the fact that it was written during the author's illness, and it shows in places. It gradually loses its pace.

Dodger—a child of the streets and sewers and a ward of the foundling hospital—is a popular member of the community of poor residents in central London. Most of them make a living through activities that skirt the edge of the law. Like Oliver Twist, however, he has a gift for meeting people who pull him up toward the sun rather than down into the sewer, although the truth is that it is the sewers that provide his livelihood.

Nation

Nation is a novel that could be filed under young adult fantasy. Besides that, it is again packed with unexpected ideas and iconic satirical humor.

The day the world ended… Mau was on his way home from the Island of Boys. He was soon to become a man. Then came the wave—huge, dragging a pitch-black night behind it. It brought a schooner, the Sweet Judy, which rode its crest across almost the entire island and ended up in the jungle.

The Long Earth series

The Long Earth is an amazing sci-fi series that Terry co-authored with British writer Stephen Baxter. The series originated from an original unpublished short story by Terry Pratchett titled "The High Meggas." He originally wanted to develop it when he published his first Discworld book, The Colour of Magic, but due to its success, he shelved the project and continued with Discworld.

He returned to the idea only at the end of 2010 after a conversation with his assistant and agent—and the subsequent discussion with writer Stephen Baxter led to the decision to collaborate on a novel that later became a five-book series.

The Long Earth is a story of parallel worlds. Thanks to the discovery of a simple device called a "stepper," humanity gained access to a practically infinite number of alternative Earths and an infinite number of resources. An amazing idea that will be enjoyed by fans of Stephen Baxter's hard sci-fi as well as Terry Pratchett's lighter writing style.

The series includes: The Long Earth, The Long War, The Long Mars, The Long Utopia, and The Long Cosmos.

Where's My Cow?

Commander of the City Watch, Samuel Vimes, is home at six o'clock every day to read to little Sam, who recently turned one, from his favorite book. At six o'clock sharp, even if anything or anyone stood in his way, or if the wind blew and the frost bit into his bones… Because some things are important! This is a book about reading a book that turned into another book. But everything turned out fine!

Where's My Cow? is a collection of rhymes and fairy tales for small children. Although it officially does not belong to the Discworld, the Discworld repeatedly references it. Similar to how The Tales of Beedle the Bard exist in the world of Harry Potter.

Johnny Maxwell series

The trilogy about Johnny is among Terry Pratchett's early works, full of retro references to the nineties. It is intended more for younger readers, but any Discworld lover will enjoy it, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Johnny Maxwell is only twelve, but many adults could envy his worries. His parents haven't been getting along well lately, he has his hands full at school, and on top of that, something strange happens that complicates his life. Johnny, like most kids his age, likes playing computer games. When he reaches the finale in the game Only You Can Save Mankind and is about to destroy the last ships of the evil aliens, a message appears on his computer screen: "Don't shoot, we surrender." The aliens ask Johnny for help against the bloodthirsty humans who are trying to exterminate them.

The series includes: Only You Can Save Mankind, Johnny and the Dead, and Johnny and the Bomb.

The Nome Trilogy

Nomes are tiny beings who seem to have fallen out of Discworld. However, the story takes place in our reality. It is again full of humor and exaggeration.

Imagine that all around you, hidden from sight, are thousands of small people. They are four centimeters tall, brave, stubborn, and inventive. They are Nomes. The Nomes in this story live under the floorboards of a large department store and have never been outside. In fact, they don't even believe that an outside exists. But new Nomes are arriving—from where else?—and they bring terrifying news: The store is closing, and everything must go…

The series includes: Truckers, Diggers, and Wings.

Good Omens

A now-legendary novel that Terry co-authored with Neil Gaiman. The budding writer Gaiman (the Sandman comic series was just beginning) was sending out the first version of his novel to anyone he could. Eventually, Terry Pratchett responded, excited by the idea. Thanks to the collaboration of two brilliant writers, a timeless story about the arrival of the Antichrist—which didn't quite go as planned—was born. Success was guaranteed. The book was eventually adapted into a series produced by Amazon.

In Good Omens, you follow an unconventional duo: the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, who have lived on Earth since the beginning of time and have grown fond of human beings. When Crowley is tasked with delivering the Antichrist child to start the Apocalypse, he joins forces with Aziraphale to try and prevent the end of the world. However, due to a mix-up at the hospital, the Antichrist ends up in a completely ordinary family in the English village of Lower Tadfield, where he grows up as a boy named Adam Young—with special abilities he is not yet aware of.

The Unadulterated Cat

The Unadulterated Cat is a discourse on cats. The book will be appreciated mainly by cat lovers (among whom Terry counted himself). The book is full of Terry's humor and witty illustrations.

Real cats don't wear collars; sometimes, however, they let themselves be dressed in doll clothes, after which they sit with a vacant expression on their faces, watching their surroundings, only to escape from the stroller, bonnet, and apron all at once with a single powerful leap. Real cats are neither clearly confident nor clearly neurotic. They are a bit of both, just like real people. Real cats will happily eat your pudding, giblets, butter, and anything else you leave on the table if they get the impression they can get away with it.

Short story collections

When Terry wasn't yet a famous freelance writer, he had to go to work like you or me. He began his career as a journalist for a small paper, where he had to write about football and turnip exhibitions. Soon, however, he was put in charge of a short story column where he could finally let loose. This resulted in a whole series of texts written under various names, where he honed his distinctive style.

In recent years, several collections of such texts have been published. The quality of individual stories varies. Most of them, however, surprise with fresh ideas and twists. Elements we know from Terry's later works often appear in them. They are interesting expeditions into the beginnings of his career.

Short story collections: A Slip of the Keyboard, Blink of the Screen, The Caveman Who Could Time Travel, The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories, Dragons at Crumbling Castle, Father Christmas's Fake Beard, Theatre of Cruelty.

Terry Pratchett: A Life in Footnotes

For the end, I saved a book that Terry Pratchett didn't write. It is his official biography, which was written by his long-time friend and assistant Rob Wilkins. Who else could write it but the person who was by Terry's side for most of his writing life.

In 2015, when Terry was finally overcome by a degenerative brain disease, he managed to dictate some 24,000 words to his personal assistant, reaching the year 1979. From there, it was up to Wilkins.

Terry in his words is an extremely prolific person who loved words, beekeeping, old things, or gardening. However, he was also someone with whom it was often not easy to work. He loved people more from a distance and was not afraid to tell them unpleasant truths to their faces.

Wilkins managed to "paint" a picture of an ordinary person who was brilliant in many respects but also had his flaws. It is a biography in every sense, including the truly sad and slow end that every fan still cries over even after ten years.

author Karel Krajča