The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories

Written by Terry Pratchett

Narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt

New York Times Bestseller

Do you believe in magic? Can you imagine a war between wizards? An exciting journey in an airship or down in a submarine? Would you like to meet the fastest truncheon in the Wild West?

The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner is the second fabulously funny short-story collection from the late acclaimed storyteller Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the beloved and bestselling Discworld fantasy series. A follow-up to Dragons at Crumbling Castle, this second batch of storytelling gems features stories written when Sir Terry was just seventeen years old and working as a junior reporter. In these pages, new Pratchett fans will find wonder, mayhem, sorcery, and delight—and loyal readers will recognize the seeds of ideas that went on to influence his most beloved tales later in life.

As Neil Gaiman says, “a Terry Pratchett book is a small miracle”—and The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner proves to be another miracle taking its place alongside Pratchett’s astounding and cherished body of work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062669278

Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) is the acclaimed creator of the globally revered Discworld series. In all, he authored more than fifty bestselling books, which have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

Reviews for The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories

[Alyssa · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The narrator’s great but I just wasn’t into the stories in this book.

[Carolyn Lewis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So good!! Terry Pratchett is my favorite author of all time!

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of humorous kids' stories written by Pratchett quite early in his career, although some of them were lightly edited by him later. Mostly they're fantasy stories featuring various kinds of magic and adventures (including an early version of what would later become the novel Truckers), but there's also a series of Wild West parodies set in rural Wales. They all feel a lot more uncomplicatedly silly than Pratchett's later stuff, including his later stuff for young readers, but I'm sure I would have found them enchanting as a kid, and as an adult I found them cute. The black and white illustrations are also pleasant, but I could have done without the weird typography. Pretty much every page has something like the word "up" raised higher than the rest of the text, or the word "big" in an extra-big font, or if a character is described as murmuring something, the word "murmured" is in extra-light text, that sort of thing. I'm sure the intention was to be clever and whimsical, and if you're just looking at the page rather than trying to read it, it seems fun, but it's done without much actual regard to the flow of the narrative, and it's really kind of distracting.

Rating: My inner child gives this a 4/5, typography notwithstanding.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A shorter short story collection from Pratchett's archives, but one that is very well curated. I love the recurrences of the Wild West Wales stories and some of the other repeating adventures throughout.

Advanced Reader's copy provided by Edelweiss.

[tonifgmamtc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a collection of funny, quirky stories. I believe these may be related to the Discworld series which I haven't started yet.

[murderbydeath · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Long before Terry Pratchett became Terry Pratchett! he was a journalist for the Buck's Free Press, writing short stories for their Children's Circle.  This is a collection of some of those short stories, enhanced with illustrations by Mark Beech.  It also includes commentary after each story by a Suzanne Bridson, though I'd not include that as an enhancement.  

I found the stories charming in a Roald Dahl way, except I suspect Pratchett of imagination, whereas I sort of suspect Dahl of LSD abuse.  They were funny, witty and there are hidden references to LOTR, C.S. Lewis' work, and hilarious homages to the Wild West, including Maverick.  As I read, I kept thinking my nieces would find these fun, if I could get them to just try a story or two (they're reaching that age when the tastes of all adults tank and can't be trusted), and I must bring the collection to the attention of my sister-in-law who insists that teaching small children is fun.

The commentary was meh and in my opinion, skippable.  Bridson is, I'm assuming, aiming it at the stories' audiences, and it's obviously meant to steer them towards the full novels.  The comparisons she points out are the obvious ones, and she ignores almost all of the careful nuances and subtle wordplay that I appreciated most.

My edition is the slipcased one shown and it's beautiful.  Inside I found it included a full colour illustration from Mark Beech, on postcard sized stock, slipped between the pages, a pleasant bonus.

[phyllis2779 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Some of the short stories were cute but they didn't feel like they were written with an adult in mind. I haven't read anything else of Pratchett's so I can't compare how these stories rate versus anything else he's done.

[purrfectfire · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I somehow expected short stories of Discworld, but it’s unfortunately short stories from T. Pratchetts children’s series.

[fiddleback_ · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Delightful for wee Pratchett fans.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

short stories written when the author was a young person. Mostly humorous. Average.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun, lighthearted collection of short stories. A good intro to Pratchet.