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A Blink of the Screen
- Collected Short Fiction
- Narrated by: Michael Fenton-Stevens, Stephen Briggs
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
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A Blink of the Screen
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Summary
A collection of shorter fiction from Terry Pratchett, spanning the whole of his writing career from schooldays to Discworld and the present day.
In the four decades since his first book appeared in print, Terry Pratchett has become one of the world’s best-selling and best-loved authors. Here for the first time are his short stories and other short form fiction collected into one volume. A Blink of the Screen charts the course of Pratchett’s long writing career: from his schooldays through to his first writing job on the Bucks Free Press, and the origins of his debut novel, The Carpet People; and on again to the dizzy mastery of the phenomenally successful Discworld series.
Here are characters both familiar and yet to be discovered; abandoned worlds and others still expanding; adventure, chickens, death, disco, and actually, some quite disturbing ideas about Christmas, all of it shot through with his inimitable brand of humour. With an introduction by Booker Prize-winning author A. S. Byatt
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What listeners say about A Blink of the Screen
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- James
- 11-07-13
This is not just one for the fans
This is a fantastic rendition of "A Blink of the Screen". As a huge Terry Pratchett fan, I bought the book when it was released and read most of the way through the numerous short stories over the course of a week until I mistakenly left it in a Hotel room on holiday. With this in mind, and with a long plane ride looming, I quickly turned to Audible and downloaded the Audio book; and I am so glad that I did.
As I have mentioned, I am a huge Pritchett fan, reading and listening to almost all of his works; therefore I am quite familiar with Stephen Briggs giving voice to the varying characters, so I knew I would be in safe hands with this purchase.
For those of you that are unaware, this book is a collection of short stories from throughout Sir Terry Pratchett's long career right back to his first works in school to the current day. This gave a fan of his work such as me, a great insight into the development of themes and characters that entered our lives in the books that we know and love.
Putting aside the short stories from the Discworld (which as just as great as the novels) the other Novellas are equally as witty, fun loving and sometimes heart-warming with my favourites being "The Hades Business", "Rincemangle, The Gnome of Even Moor" and “Theatre of Cruelty”. Not only is this book well compiled and recorded but the voice acting brings the characters to life.
All in all, this is a fantastic listen for anyone not just the loyal followers of Sir Terry Pratchetts work.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 16-03-13
A real mixture but still very much worth getting.
This book is so hard to rate because the stories are so varied in here. The Discworld stories are in the minority but it's still worth buying for those alone. There a relatively long story about the witches, a short but hilarious story involving the city watch and a Punch and Judy man, Cohen makes an appearance and the details about the types aliments exclusive to Discworld had me in stitches. I would have bought the book for these tales alone. Admittedly not all the stories are as of high a quality and of course being unconnected to universe readers know and love, are often harder to get into. However I really enjoyed the fist story The Hades Business and was intrigued by The Picture. My suggestion would be that you buy this for the over 3 hours of Discwold stories and anecdotes that you can easily find by skipping through (they are 3 hours 8 minutes from the end and the book actually tells you when you get to that section). However when you have read these, give the others a try, they are hit and miss depending on taste but still really worth giving a try.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Martin
- 08-12-12
As good as he's ever been.
With the discworld so familiar, we're almost too comfortable with Pratchett. Brilliantly compelling and storytelling at its best, but this collection bring together some older stuff that reveals a freshness we've not seen for a very long time.
A rare treat.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Michael
- 24-12-12
Not so good
Yeah. There's a reason this anthology wasn't published when Pratchett was at his most popular. Most of these short stories really aren't very good. I'd recomend ignoring this and just re-reading Thud or something.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 18-03-13
Disappointing
I found it hard to follow, disjointed. I wished I had a chosen the more recent book from Terry Pratchett
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- louisavamp
- 20-02-13
Great read/ listen
This is my favourite Terry Pratchett short stories this is a must have for those who are fans of his work.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Katie
- 10-06-22
Awesome!
I really enjoy Sir Terry Pratchett’s books. All are filled with enough wit and intrigue to keep you coming back again and again - and most intriguingly, you seem to notice something you missed in the last reading/listen!
This book of his short stories is brilliant, and it’s very interesting to have the little forewords to explain (or not) some of the motivations behind them.
I’d highly recommend this book for any fan, or for someone who is intrigued by his works.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- nathan
- 12-04-22
Terry Pratchett through the years
if you love Terry Pratchett, this is a great addition to a collection of great books
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kitty McWhiskerson
- 20-09-20
Fantastic Sir Terry Pratchett short story
I have listened to this many times and I love this collection. A few Discworld short stories and some brilliant gems. There are two narrators and very easy to listen to. if you are a Pratchett fan I would recommend highly.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- CAGE
- 06-05-19
A Gem
I’ve loved the Pratchett worlds for over 30 years and have read his works many times. I am now enjoying listening to them just as much. So when I saw this collection on audible l dived right in. I found it interesting, informative and of course entertaining. It’s short story’s are ideal for listening at odd moments, this will definitely be one of my go to books for driving.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jacobus
- 21-11-12
Expected a bit more
More or less two-thirds of the book consists out of loose short fiction stories Terry Pratchett wrote over the span of decades. A third of the stories takes place in the well-known Discworld milieu. While there were one or two really good stories in the first two-thirds of the book, including his very first published story that he wrote age 13, I didn't warm up to most of them. While Michael Fenton-Stevens did a wonderful job in reading these stories, content-wise it felt a bit mediocre. Don't get me wrong, Pratchett plays with brilliant ideas, yet it is not his best writing.
I enjoyed most of the Discworld short stories, that said I am positively prejudiced towards those. Stephen Briggs was his own brilliant self in bringing these stories to life.
If you need something relaxing and which is good for a chuckle and occasional laugh, I would recommend "A Blink on the Screen." However, don't expect a masterpiece. On the other hand, Pratchett is Pratchett and worth listening to.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mim
- 09-01-13
For the collector who can't bear a hole...
I have most of the titles in various anthologies but there were a couple of holes this book filled. It is fantastic to have them all together and so well narrated.
From the first published story he wrote at 13, to the Drabble, to the story that fits into the Long Earth and various other favourites, this shows the skill and inventiveness of this marvellously talented author.
(The author notes with some of the stories are useful to understand the chronolgy of time and the progress of his prowess.)
I am so pleased to have stumbled over this quite be accident while searching for 'Nation'. Well done Audible.
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