Before his death in 2015, Terry Pratchett left instructions that his hard drive should be flattened by a steamroller, thereby ensuring that no incomplete projects, or any work he deemed not for public consumption, could be published posthumously. The 20 stories that make up A Stroke of the Pen, written by Pratchett under the pen name Patrick Kearns in the 70s and 80s and published in the Western Daily Press, escaped destruction since no one, least of all their author, knew where to find them. But now they’ve been dug out of the newspaper’s archive with the help of Pratchett uber-fans Pat and Jan Harkin.
David Tennant, Claire Foy, Derek Jacobi, Paterson Joseph and Indira Varma are among the narrators of this collection, which includes stories with a seasonal theme such as Wanted: A Fat Jolly Man With a Red Woolly Hat, in which Father Christmas gets a job at a bank, and The New Father Christmas, where Santa sacks his helpers in an effort to streamline his staff. Elsewhere, the Truman Show-esque Mr Brown’s Holiday Accident tells of a man who discovers he is the main character in a continuously unfolding play, and The Quest for the Keys, the best and longest story here, features the first mention of Discworld’s Morpork, a city from which a disreputable wizard sends a warrior named Kron on an adventure.
While some of these stories whizz by a little too fast, they nonetheless brim with the absurdist wit and inventiveness with which Pratchett would make his name. The book is a fascinating glimpse of a writer finding his voice.
• A Stroke of the Pen is available via Penguin Audio, 4hr 35min
Further listening
Christmas Is Murder
Val McDermid, WF Howes, 5hr 32min
The crime writer’s atmospheric short-story collection includes Happy Holidays, a new addition to her longstanding crime-fighting series featuring DCI Carol Jordan and Dr Tony Hill. Angela Ness, Dan Bottomley and Esther Wane are among the readers.
The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories
Various authors, Penguin Audio, 11hr 8min
Shaniqua Okwok reads this compilation of seasonal stories from classic writers, including Truman Capote, Laurie Lee, Elizabeth Bowen, Daphne du Maurier, Angela Carter and Italo Calvino.
