The Light Fantastic

and disappeared.
    * They won’t be described, since even the pretty ones looked like the offspring of an octopus and a bicycle. It is well known that things from undesirable universes are always seeking an entrance into this one, which is the psychic equivalent of handy for the buses and closer to the shops.
    * A Thaum is the basic unit of magical strength. It has been universally established as the amount of magic needed to create one small white pigeon or three normal-sized billiard balls.
    * An interesting metaphor. To nocturnal trolls, of course, the dawn of time lies in the future.
    * Not precisely, of course. Trees didn’t burst into flame, people didn’t suddenly become very rich and extremely dead, and the seas didn’t flash into steam. A better simile, in fact, would be “not like molten gold.”
    * No one knows why, but all the most truly mysterious and magical items are bought from shops that appear and, after a trading life even briefer than a double-glazing company, vanish like smoke. There had been various attempts to explain this, all of which don’t fully account for the observed facts. These shops turn up anywhere in the universe, and their immediate nonexistence in any particular city can normally be deduced from crowds of people wandering the streets clutching defunct magical items, ornate guarantee cards, and looking very suspiciously at brick walls.

About the Author
    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?
    Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

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