Rediscovered short stories by Pratchett set for autumn publication

Transworld has acquired a collection of recently rediscovered short stories by Sir Terry Pratchett. The collection, titled A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories, will be published in a gift edition hardback on 5^th October 2023.

Transworld managing director Larry Finlay and assistant editor Charlotte Trumble acquired world rights in a six-figure deal from Jon Wood at RCW, on behalf of the Pratchett Estate. 

A Stroke of the Pen will contain 20 short stories by Pratchett dating from the 1970s and 1980s. Written for a regional newspaper, mostly under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns, these stories had never been attributed to Pratchett until now and may not have been found were it not for a few dedicated fans.  

One of the longer stories, "The Quest for the Keys", had been framed on Pratchett fan Chris Lawrence’s wall for over 40 years. When he alerted the Pratchett Estate to its existence, the rest of the stories were unearthed by fans Pat and Jan Harkin who went through decades’ worth of old newspapers to rediscover them. 

Lawrence said: “’The Quest for the Keys’ resonated with me as a 15-year-old, which is why I made the effort to collect each part. I treasured and kept them safe for over 35 years. Having survived numerous house moves, little did I know of their importance. Following contact with [Pratchett’s agent] Colin Smythe, I realised just how significant they were.”

Smythe commented: “For all the years I was Terry’s publisher and then agent he never ever gave me any help in finding his shorter writings — but as he wrote in his dedication to me in Dragons at Crumbling Castle, there were stories he had carefully hidden away. Just how true these words were, I had no idea.”

While none of the stories are set in Discworld, the publisher says they hint at the world Sir Terry would go on to create in his bestselling series. Readers can expect to meet characters ranging from cavemen to gnomes, wizards to ghosts, and read about time travel tourism, the haunting of council offices, and a visitor from another planet. 

Finlay said: “A Stroke of the Pen is such an exciting treasure trove of unearthed riches. Reading Terry’s rediscovered stories is going to be a joy for his army of fans as they spot nascent characters and settings that were to define his long career as one of the most exciting and inventive writers there has ever been.”

Pratchett’s long-time assistant and biographer Rob Wilkins added: “The rediscovery of these stories is nothing short of a miracle and represents the last ‘new’ Pratchett material we are ever likely to find. While Terry was always very focused on the next novel and maintained that his unpublished works should never be released, he always held a grudging admiration for his younger self’s work, and he would be tickled to see these stories celebrated in one wonderful volume. The stories from the beginning of his career, before he became the Terry Pratchett we know and love, are no less inspired and give real insight into the development of his creative genius.”