Review of A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett

Early in 2023 I read Rob Wilkin's fine biography of Terry Pratchett. Putting to bed any theory of a vault of unpublished Discworld stories waiting to be released posthumously, Wilkins describes how the USB containing all of Pratchett's unused story ideas was ceremoniously crushed by a steam roller upon the author's passing. But the one thing the steam roller could not destroy were short stories Pratchett published (under his own name and pseudonyms) in various newspapers as a journalist many years before he became a household name. Collecting those early seeds of Pratchett's imagination is A Stroke of the Pen (2023).

Before getting into the stories, the question hovering on many people's lips will be: is this a money grab? The answer is yes and no. The content itself is weak. When you've had Chinese food in China it's tough to like much of the Chinese food available in the West. In other words, the stories are not on par with the Disc. That being said, it's clear Rob Wilkins, Neil Gaiman, and the other people who worked to pull this collection together did so out of love and a desire to give Pratchett fans something new, something unique—that last little unknown scrap of goodness that exists in the world. A Stroke of the Pen, regardless what else it is, is that.

I normally go through individual stories in collections, but I'm going to make an exception here. A Stroke of the Pen, while not a collection of flash fiction, is a collection of really short stories. Most of the dozens of selections are between four and seven pages in length. None get into an idea at any depth. Instead, most are superficial commentary—zingers about something.

That “something” is likely what people are interested in, so here is a loose overview of the contents. Cavemen, technology, Dickens, Christmas, ghosts, unexpected urban happenings, deus ex machina, a humongous pie, a dragon quest, Wencelas, the wild west, odd people, and much, much more.

Another question hovering on the lips of people is likely: does the collection contain Pratchett's trademark wit/humor? The answer is: occasionally. If the reader peers through their fingers they can see Pratchett's mind at work in the stories. It's just not as formed, not as confident, not as sharp a “mind” as it would evolve into.

In the end, I personally struggled to read A Stroke of the Pen. I am accustomed to a Pratchett whose writing has purpose and drive beneath the humor and wit—a multi-layered experience. This was pure confectionery. Thus, my recommendation for this collection is for two groups of people: 1) readers who want to see a young Terry Pratchett's take on fiction and/or 2) collectors who want to own everything Pratchett wrote. And so while there are hints and teasers of what Discworld became, there is zero material of that caliber here. Publishers never promise that, to be clear. But potential readers need to be clear on that, also.