Loved for his Discworld series, Sir Terence David John Pratchett, aged 66, is planning something special for younger readers. A beautifully illustrated new collection of children’s short stories is to be released by Random House Children’s Publishers (RHCP) UK this fall. Dragons at Crumbling Castle. So what exactly should we expect?
What we know so far is:
· It will feature dragons, dinosaurs, cavemen and car races – more than enough to feed one’s imagination!
· It will be extraordinarily humorous! – “So funny I dropped my spoon laughing!” – King Arthur.
· The book will include full-page black and white illustrations by Mark Beech, a freelance illustrator widely recognised in the industry for working with clients such as Bloomsbury, Harper Collins, Scholastic, Macmillan, Usborne, Oxford University Press, WH Smith and Albert Whitman.
· The cover will be revealed very soon, but Pratchett is making sure that the book poster will whet our appetites while we wait.
The book synopsis revealed by Terry Pratchett himself states that: “Dragons have invaded Crumbling Castle, and all of King Arthur’s knights are either on holiday or visiting their grannies. It’s a disaster! Luckily, there’s a spare suit of armour and a very small boy called Ralph who’s willing to fill it.” Curious yet? The master of storytelling can’t go wrong, can he?
It is worth remembering here that Pratchett catered for children for the first time in The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, which he was awarded the annual Carnegie Medal for in 2001. With this being recognized as the year's best children's book published in the U.K, will his upcoming book beat this success?
In the meantime, Gollancz , in partnership with The Discworld Emporium, is getting ready to publish The Discworld Diaries. These were developed in consultation with Pratchett and stand as a “guide to the arcane practices of the funniest creation in modern fantasy”.
Dragons at Crumbling Castle will be published in £12.99 hardback and as an e-book in September. A collector’s edition with extra content will follow in November, while The Discworld Diary 2015 is published in hardback on 21st August 2014, at £16.99. There seems to be a lot of going on for Pratchett’s fans this year!
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