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First I would like to acknowledge my dear friend and colleague Steve Moore, with whom I have discussed Pratchett’s work and who was kind enough to read over the chapters of this book to ensure I didn’t beat too far off the Pratchett track and to offer his own dose of wit and wisdom – many thanks for that.

Posthumous thanks to Nigel Williams, who had one of the most fascinating and value-for-money antiquarian bookshops in the whole of the Charing Cross Road area. Nestled in Cecil Court, Nigel acquired over a dozen Pratchett first editions for me, for which I am eternally grateful.

A big thank you to Colin Smythe, Terry Pratchett’s agent, for casting an eye over the finished book and offering informed and detailed comment, especially clarity regarding early proof copies. Thanks also to Nathan for always wanting to ‘acquire’ the odd Discworld title from me, thus making me read them more quickly (although I did have to borrow the odd one from him too)! And thanks to Simon Gosden for finding a few obscurities for me and always being so amiable. Thanks to my dear friend John Collins for keeping me up to date with the latest press cutting. (Next time my mysterious postman should stop for a small beer or glass of wine perhaps?)

I would also like to thank some dear old friends and acquaintances who pop up in this book in a variety of ways: James Herbert, Clive Barker, Stephen Laws, Simon Clarke, Joe Donnelly, Ian Rankin, Iain Banks, Neil Gaiman, Alice Cooper and Christopher Lee. Your influence stays with me, gentlemen, despite the passing years.

I would also like to thank some of the great fantasy writers past, such as JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Richard Adams, Robert Browning and the great Charles Dickens, who helped me realise the scope of the genre.

Thanks are due to Anita, Samantha, Nathan, Fern and my father Colin, for putting up with yet another book; Berny for the Terry Nation tip-off; and John Blake and John Wordsworth for allowing me to write about Terry Pratchett. Then there is my Danish friend Michael, who always uses Saturday morning football as the catalyst for varied conversation from Lord Nelson to Terry Pratchett – how diverse can you get? Thanks, too, to other members of the Saturday Morning team, specifically John and Robert.

Thanks to Tony Mulliken and those early breakfast meetings, which, as always, helped immensely.

Finally I would like to thank Terry Pratchett himself for being such a stimulating character to research and write about. His imagination and strength of character have brought so much happiness and hope to many people all over this world, and that is one of the fundamental reasons why I was so interested in writing this book.

Craig Cabell

London, 2011