This is a critical study of the wide range, development, and thematic complexity of Terry Pratchett, the leading fantasy writer of his time, an inventive humourist who, in the famous phrase, was “occasionally... accused of literature”. Ranging from the Discworld series to the equally successful (and award-winning) novels for children and the unrelated “stand-alone” novels, it examines Pratchett’s work as a whole. It makes particular reference to his position as a “popular” writer in the context of a “fannish” readership attuned to responding to, discussing, and arguing about texts, and the responses from more theoretically-based critics and “literary” readers who came to understand how Pratchett's inventive comic absurdity highlights fury at unfairness and moral self-deception. The book discusses how this allowed him to respond to his audience – or audiences – and to explore how “story” – the narratives we build about ourselves and the world – can be both liberating and shackling. It also investigates Pratchett's growing maturity and expertise as a writer, which allowed him to play with the conventions and thematics of genre, surpassing the pastiche and parody of his earlier works without dismissing the capability of fantasy and science fiction to foreground morality and ethics.

Andy Sawyer is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of English at the University of Liverpool. He was formerly the Science Fiction Collections Librarian at the University of Liverpool Library and Director of the MA in Science Fiction Studies.