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The Colour Of Magic
''The Colour of Magic'' is a 1983 fantasy comedy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the ''Discworld'' series. The first printing of the British edition consisted of only 506 copies. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to do for the classical fantasy universe what '' Blazing Saddles'' did for Westerns." Plot summary Setting The story takes place on the Discworld, a planet-sized flat disc carried through space on the backs of four gargantuan elephants – Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen – who themselves stand on the shell of Great A'Tuin, a gigantic star turtle. The surface of the disc contains oceans and continents, and with them, civilisations, cities, forests and mountains. Summary The story begins in Ankh-Morpork, the biggest city on the Discworld. The main character is an incompetent and cynical wizard named Rincewind, who is hired as a guide to naive Twoflower, an insurance clerk from the Agatean Empire who has come to visit Ankh-Morpo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, apocalyptic comedy novel ''Good Omens'' (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman. Pratchett's first novel, ''The Carpet People'', was published in 1971. The first ''Discworld'' novel, ''The Colour of Magic'', was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final ''Discworld'' novel, ''The Shepherd's Crown'', was published in August 2015, five months after his death. With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was Knight Bachelor, knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss. An entity which provides insurance is known as an insurer, insurance company, insurance carrier, or underwriter. A person or entity who buys insurance is known as a policyholder, while a person or entity covered under the policy is called an insured. The insurance transaction involves the policyholder assuming a guaranteed, known, and relatively small loss in the form of a payment to the insurer (a premium) in exchange for the insurer's promise to compensate the insured in the event of a covered loss. The loss may or may not be financial, but it must be reducible to financial terms. Furthermore, it usually involves something in which the insured has an insurable interest established by o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have a couple of fantasy heroes closer to true human nature than the likes of Howard's Conan the Barbarian or Burroughs's Tarzan. Fafhrd is a very tall (nearly ) and strong northern barbarian, skilled at both swordsmanship and singing. The Mouser is a small (not much more than ) mercurial thief, gifted and deadly at swordsmanship (often using a sword in one hand and a long dagger or in the other), as well as a former wizard's apprentice who retains some skill at magic. Fafhrd talks like a romantic, but his strength and practicality usually wins through, while the cynical-sounding Mouser is prone to showing strains of sentiment at unexpected times. Both are rogues, living in a decadent world where only the ruthless and cynical survive. They ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Shepherd's Crown
''The Shepherd's Crown'' is a comic fantasy novel, the last book written by Terry Pratchett before his death in March 2015. It is the 41st novel in the ''Discworld'' series, and the fifth based on the character Tiffany Aching. It was published in the United Kingdom on 27 August 2015 by Penguin Random House publishers, and in the United States on 1 September 2015. In early June 2015, Pratchett's daughter Rhianna Pratchett announced that ''The Shepherd's Crown'' would be the last ''Discworld'' novel, and that no further work, including unfinished work, would be published. Plot Tiffany Aching is busy running her wikt:steading, steading and taking care of the people of the Chalk. Jeannie, the Kelda of the Nac Mac Feegle, is worried that she is overworked. When Granny Weatherwax, Tiffany's mentor, dies, she leaves everything to Tiffany, who becomes the primus inter pares, first among equals of the Witches (Discworld), witches. Witches (Discworld)#Geoffrey Swivel, Geoffrey, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Shall Wear Midnight
''I Shall Wear Midnight'' is a comic fantasy novel by English writer Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld. It is the fourth novel within the ''Discworld'' series to be based on the character of Tiffany Aching. It was published on 2 September 2010 in the United Kingdom, and on 28 September in the United States, and won the 2010 Andre Norton Award. It centres on Tiffany Aching, who is now fifteen years old and getting on with the hard work of being a witch. The title is taken from a quotation in '' A Hat Full of Sky'': "When I'm old I shall wear midnight, she'd decided. But for now she'd had enough of darkness." In an interview at the ''Guardian'' Book Club, Pratchett remarked that the book is an urban fantasy. Plot Tiffany is working as the Chalk's only witch in a climate of growing suspicion and prejudice. When the local Baron (for whom she had been caring) dies of poor health, she is accused of murder. Tiffany travels to Ankh-Morpork to inform the Baron's heir, Roland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wintersmith
''Wintersmith'' is a comic fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, set in the Discworld and written with younger readers in mind. It is labelled a "Story of Discworld" to indicate its status as children's or young adult fiction, unlike most of the books in the ''Discworld'' series. Published on 21 September 2006, it is the third novel in the series to feature the character of Tiffany Aching. It received recognition as a 2007 Best Book for Young Adults from the American Library Association. In 2013 folk-rock band Steeleye Span collaborated with Pratchett, a fan of the band, to produce a '' Wintersmith'' concept album, released in October 2013. Plot Tiffany Aching, now 13 years old, is training with the witch Miss Treason. But when she takes Tiffany to witness the secret "dark morris", the morris dance (performed wearing black clothes and octiron bells) that welcomes in the winter, Tiffany finds herself drawn into the dance and joins in, despite being warned earlier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Hat Full Of Sky
''A Hat Full of Sky'' is a comic fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld and written with younger readers in mind. It is labelled a "Story of Discworld" to indicate its status as children's or young adult fiction, unlike most of the books in the ''Discworld'' series. First published in 2004, the book is set two years after '' The Wee Free Men'', and features an 11-year-old Tiffany Aching. The book is also a sequel to the ''Discworld'' short story " The Sea and Little Fishes", which introduced the Witch Trials and Mrs Earwig. It is followed by '' Wintersmith''. Plot summary ''A Hat Full of Sky'' by Terry Pratchett is a fantasy novel about a girl who is learning her place as a witch. Early in the novel, Tiffany Aching leaves her home in the chalk country (based on England's chalk country) to act as an apprentice and maid for the elderly witch Miss Level. Her former teacher, Miss Tick, who is also a witch, escorts her to the town of Twoshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wee Free Men
''The Wee Free Men'' is a 2003 comic fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, which takes place in his Discworld setting. It is labelled a "Story of Discworld" to indicate its status as children's or young adult fiction, unlike most of the books in the ''Discworld'' series. A sequel, '' A Hat Full of Sky'', appeared in 2004 (both books were republished in a combined edition, ''The Wee Free Men: The Beginning'', in August 2010); a third book called '' Wintersmith'' appeared in 2006; and the fourth, '' I Shall Wear Midnight'', was released in September 2010. The final book in the series, ''The Shepherd's Crown'', was released in 2015. While Terry Pratchett's first ''Discworld'' book for children, '' The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'' had swearing translated to rat language, in this book it is in the dialect of the Nac Mac Feegle which is taken from Scots and Scottish Gaelic. An illustrated edition of the novel, with pictures by Stephen Player, appeared in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Making Money
''Making Money'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, part of his ''Discworld'' series, first published in the UK on 20 September 2007. It is the second novel featuring Moist von Lipwig, and involves the Ankh-Morpork mint and specifically the introduction of paper money to the city. The novel won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2008, and was nominated for the Nebula Award the same year. Plot Moist von Lipwig is bored with his job as the Postmaster General of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office, which is running smoothly without any challenges, so the Patrician tries to persuade him to take over the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and the Royal Mint. Moist, though bored, is content with his new lifestyle, and refuses. However, when the current chairwoman, Topsy Lavish, dies, she leaves 50% of the shares in the bank to her dog, Mr Fusspot (who already owns one share of the bank, giving him a majority and making him chairman), and she leaves the dog to Moist. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Going Postal
''Going Postal'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 33rd book in his '' Discworld'' series, released in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2004. Unlike most of Pratchett's Discworld novels, ''Going Postal'' is divided into chapters, a feature previously seen only in Pratchett's children's books and the Science of Discworld series. These chapters begin with a synopsis of philosophical themes, in a similar manner to some Victorian novels and, notably, to Jules Verne stories. The title refers to both the contents of the novel and the idiom ' going postal'. The book was on the shortlist for both the Nebula and Locus Awards for Best (Fantasy) Novel. It would also have been shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, except that Pratchett withdrew it, as he felt stress over the award would mar his enjoyment of the Worldcon. This was the first time Pratchett had been shortlisted for either award. Plot The story takes place in Ankh-Morpork, a powerful c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyramids (Discworld)
''Pyramids'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, published in 1989, the seventh book in his ''Discworld'' series.Fantastic FictioPyramids (Discworld, book 7) by Terry PratchettRetrieved 2009-05-9 It won the BSFA Award for Best Novel in 1989. Plot summary The main character of ''Pyramids'' is Teppic (short for Pteppicymon), the crown prince of the tiny kingdom of Djelibeybi (a pun on the candy Jelly Baby, meaning "Child of the Djel"), the Discworld counterpart to Ancient Egypt. The kingdom, founded seven-thousand years ago and formerly a great empire which dominated the continent of Klatch, has been in debt and recession for generations due to the construction of pyramids for the burial of its pharaohs (primarily on prime agricultural land) and now occupies an area two miles wide along the 150-mile-long River Djel. Young Teppic has been in training at the Assassins Guild in Ankh-Morpork for the past seven years, having been sent to bring in revenue for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
