title: A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction
author:  Terry Pratchett 
description: &ldquo;A book meant to be cherished.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>The New York Times Book Review</i><br><br>&ldquo;Some writers simply possess the Gift. No matter what they bring out. . . . That&rsquo;s certainly the case with Terry Pratchett.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>The Washington Post Book World</i><br><br>&ldquo;In the history of comic fantasy, Pratchett has no equals for invention or for range.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>The Wall Street Journal</i><br><i>&#160;</i><br>&ldquo;Clever . . . insightful. . . . [Pratchett&rsquo;s] wry wit is as good as gold.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>The Boston Globe</i><br><br>&ldquo;Pratchett is one of the great comic writers and storytellers of our time.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>The Guardian</i><br><br>&ldquo;One of the giants in the world of fantasy literature.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>New York Daily News<br></i><br>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t call what Pratchett does satire&mdash;it&rsquo;s far too good-natured for that&mdash;but he has a satirist&rsquo;s instinct for the absurd and a cartoonist&rsquo;s eye for the telling detail.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>The Daily Telegraph </i>(London)<br>&#160;<br>&ldquo;A short story collection covering the entire career of one of our most prolific, and beloved, fantasy writers. . . . One of the main draws of&#160;[<i>A Blink of the Screen</i>]&#160;for serious fans, or aspiring writers, will be the chance to trace the evolution of Pratchett&rsquo;s craft&mdash;but there&rsquo;s plenty here for readers who have never heard of him to enjoy.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>Kirkus Reviews</i><br><br>&ldquo;A little absurdism, a little wordplay, a lot of inventive fantasy, a lot of heart, and a deep-seated fascination with the way technologies change societies. . . . Pratchett can easily fill an entire bookcase by himself. . . . But he has kept the piquant sense of someone playing with language, with new worlds, and with the familiar old tropes that he enjoys upending.&rdquo; &mdash;NPR<br><br>&ldquo;What Pratchett does is not just great, but unparalleled. In five hundred years, it won&rsquo;t be the Nobel laureates who are being studied. It&rsquo;s going to be this guy.&rdquo; &mdash;Brandon Sanderson, Tor.com<br>&#160;<br>&ldquo;One of the greatest comic novelists of all time, in his way the equal of Wodehouse and Waugh.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>GQ </i>(UK)<br>&#160;<br>&ldquo;The master of humorous fantasy . . . [Pratchett] should be recognized as one of the more significant contemporary English-language satirists.&rdquo; &mdash;<i>Publishers Weekly</i>
zlib_text:   
  
  Copyright © 2001 by Darren Shan
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
  any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
  retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by
  a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
  
  First U.S. Edition
  
  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious.
  
  Hachette Book Group, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017  
  Visit our Web site at
  [_www.HachetteBookGroup.com_](http://www.HachetteBookGroup.com).
  
  First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2000
  
  First eBook Edition: July 2007
  
  ISBN: 978-0-316-60610-3
  
  CONTENTS
  
   _INTRODUCTION_
  
   _CHAPTER ONE_
  
   _CHAPTER TWO_
  
   _CHAPTER THREE_
  
   _CHAPTER FOUR_
  
   _CHAPTER FIVE_
  
   _CHAPTER SIX_
  
   _CHAPTER SEVEN_
  
   _CHAPTER EIGHT_
  
   _CHAPTER NINE_
  
   _CHAPTER TEN_
  
   _CHAPTER ELEVEN_
  
   _CHAPTER TWELVE_
  
   _CHAPTER THIRTEEN_
  
   _CHAPTER FOURTEEN_
  
   _CHAPTER FIFTEEN_
  
   _CHAPTER SIXTEEN_
  
   _CHAPTER SEVENTEEN_
  
   