A Stroke of the Pen Is an Unexpected, Heartfelt Gift to Terry Pratchett Fans

Beloved author Terry Pratchett very famously had his hard drives destroyed by a steamroller after he passed away in 2015. This was, ostensibly, to prevent the posthumous publication of his work. As a result, we’ll never know what he might have had planned for his Discworld universe, and we’ll only ever be able to learn any sort of details about what he and Neil Gaiman might have planned for a Good Omens sequel through whatever manages to get worked into the events of the Prime Video series. Maybe it’s that feeling of finality, that sense of a definitive endpoint—there is only this much and no more—that makes the short story collection A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories feel like such an incredible gift. 

No, these aren’t miraculously unearthed Pratchett stories found in a box or high up on a closet shelf somewhere. Instead, this collection features stories from early in the author’s career, written by Terry Pratchett before he became the man we knew Terry Pratchett to be. Originally published in the 1970s and 80s under a handful of pseudonyms and often appearing in various small newspapers that no longer exist, these stories represent some of the author’s earliest fiction. And, since they’ve technically already been published elsewhere—even if most of us never realized they had been, the author’s estate decreed they don’t violate the “no publishing of unpublished material” rule Pratchett himself laid down.

These stories are brief and fairly insubstantial, and a surprising number of them are concerned with Christmas themes and settings. (There are no less than three stories specifically about Santa or a Santa-adjacent figure.) Pratchett is an author who excelled at long-form fiction and is clearly hemmed in a bit by the word counts and other restrictions necessitated by writing to a newspaper publisher’s specifications. But, for most of us—especially for anyone who has loved any piece of Pratchett’s writing—his voice here is unmistakable, unformed though it may be. And hearing it again is something I expect most of us had assumed we’d never get the chance to do.  

A Stroke of the Pen is full of the linguistic and thematic flourishes that fans associate with Pratchett’s writing: His unique, indomitable humor. (Several of these stories are laugh-out-loud funny.) His gift for creative world-building even in these tiny, hemmed-in spaces. You can see hints of the stories he’ll one day tell in this book, and it’s weirdly like watching a star being born. A privilege, even, to know what this will all one day become. 

The 20 stories in this slim volume run the gamut from decent to downright excellent. “How It All Began…” features an enterprising young caveman who wants to help his people improve their lives and does so by inventing fire (among other things). “Mr. Brown’s Holiday Accident,” which tells the story of a man who realizes he’s just a character in a play that’s continuously being written, has serious The Truman Show vibes. “The Fossil Beach” has a charming time-travel hook and an intriguing idea about what you hear when you pick up a seashell. And the lengthy “The Quest for the Keys,” which includes a disreputable wizard and so many other elements that will one day come to populate Pratchett’s famous Discworld. (In case anyone is curious, this is the first mention of Morpork.)

Equally worthwhile is the loving forward from Pratchett’s good friend and collaborator Neil Gaiman, who beautifully writes about both his memory of the man himself and the voice he was developing in the stories within this collection, with its heaps of irrepressible, distinctly Pratchett charm. (Don’t skip the forward, is what I’m saying; it’s honestly lovely.) A Stroke of a Pen also makes for an easy entry point for fans of Good Omens who are interested in dipping their toes into Pratchett’s solo writing without making the sort of intense commitment, say, that diving into Discworld requires. 

Although this collection is a pleasant enough introduction for newcomers to Pratchett’s fiction and writing style—something that, hopefully, will encourage them to read more of his work—it’s likely to be something that’s only fully embraced by the committed longtime fans. If anything, it feels like an origin story, not necessarily for the characters or stories Pratchett will one day be known for, but for the author himself, who is so clearly finding his feet here, and on the cusp of so much more to come. 

A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories is available now. 

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB