This is a *good thing*. Pratchett has been writing fantastic stories for years now. If you haven't read or heard of the Discworld series, I strongly recommend that you find them.

Huh? Plenty of people have heard of Pratchett o'er here.

I'm actually kind of annoyed with the guy. For every Discworld book that's, well, deep and genuine ("Small Gods"), there are a dozen that are utter bilge; formulaic tripe. The writing may be just as funny in these boilerplate entries, but that gets tired real fast when you realize that plot is pretty much the same as the last two books you read.

Hell, the last one I read actually had some self-referential humor about the awful-world-menacing-thing trope. I'd tell you which one that was, but I can't remember. It was that forgettable.

Kill the series and move on, Terry . . .

My brother's trying to get me to read Pratchett. Someone want to recommend his top three so I don't waste time on the crappier ones?

What's the source for the alleged fact that Pratchett is responsible for 10% of all books sold in the UK? He's popular here, yes, but...

When HarperCollins launched the new US editions of the Discworld books, they released a presskit with stats on his sales, in which they attributed 10% of all UK booksales by vollume to Pratchett. This was pre-Potter, so the stat may be outdated now.

The Bromeliad remains my favorite Pratchett, and my first recommendation. Much too much story for one movie, though, so I'm not encouraged by the news.

Discworld I read about nine of and figured I'd pretty much had my fill.

Of the Discworld stuff _Small Gods_ was quite good. And, um, perhaps _Men at Arms_, but I hope I got that title right.

I'll see if I can track down _Bromeliad_, but first I have to finish _Arrowsmith_ and _Ecstacy Club_ and _Nothing Like it in the World_ and _The Hidden Lives of Dogs_. I have a lot of non-SF&F reading to catch up on . . .

Wow ... some people just don't get it. In fact, those who have commented on this page about Pratchett probably would make fine targets for characters in his next book. Sure the plot-lines are somewhat formulaic ... because he takes tales you know well and uses them as the girder for the satire he writes (often about the tales, themselves, or more likely about the content and the mythology surrounding said tales). Even the worst Pratchett is better and more thoughtful than 90% of all popular fiction. There's non-fiction, too (three books discuss the science and math of discworld with a mathematician and a scientist); there's a series of children's books computer game whizzes; there's a junior high book about the pied-piper starring a con-artist cat; there's the trilogy of a witch coming of age that reflects coming-of-age everywhere; and then there is the book he wrote with Neil Gaiman called Good Omens, about the Apocalypse and the mistaken identity of the antichrist. Gimme a break. You don't have to read everything he has ever written, but the man has genius, humor, insight and the skill to crank out spot-on satires with every effort.