A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction
- Author: Terry Pratchett
- Page count: 330
- Started on: 2026/06/29
- Finished on: 2026/07/09
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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A Blink of the Screen is a collection of 32 pieces of short fiction by Terry Pratchett. The oldest story, The Hades Business, dates from 1963, when STP was 13, and the newest, Sir Joshua Easement: A Biographical Note, is from 2010/2011. The shortest piece in this collection is a two-page poem, The Secret Book of the Dead, and the longest is the novella-length The Sea and Little Fishes. Each piece has an introduction, usually by Pratchett.
About a third of the pieces are set in Pratchett’s Discworld universe and feature some of its most (in)famous characters. But even some of the non-Discworld stories have connections to his other works. For example, Rincemangle, the Gnome of Even Moor is clearly an early (shorter) version of Truckers. Turntables of the Night features a version of Pratchett’s personified Death, and the barbarian in Final Reward reminded me of Cohen the Barbarian (who actually does appear in Troll Bridge).
Much to my surprise, I didn’t enjoy this collection as much as most of Pratchett’s other works. Most likely, his short stories are just not my thing. In fact, the longer the short story, the more I enjoyed it. The Sea and Little Fishes was the clear standout for me, but I also liked the opening story, The Hades Business. Stephen Briggs’s narration is excellent, as usual, and Michael Fenton Stevens handles the non-Discworld pieces well.
