About the Author
Terry Pratchett was born April 28, 1948 in Beaconsfield, Bucks
County. In 1959, he attended High Wycombe Technical High School
rather than the local school because he felt 'woodwork would be
more fun than Latin.' His short story "The Hades Business" was
published in the school magazine when he was thirteen, and
commercially when he was fifteen. Having got five O-levels and
started A-level courses in Art, History and English, he decided
after the first year to try journalism. But then a job opportunity
presented itself with the Bucks Free Press, and Pratchett left
school in 1965. While with the Press he took the National Council
for the Training of Journalists proficiency class and also passed
an A level in English while on day release. Pratchett had written a
book called "The Carpet People" which was published in 1971. "The
Carpet People" was followed by "The Dark Side of the Sun" in 1976
and "Strata" in 1981. He left the Bucks Free Press and started work
for the Western Daily Press on September 28, 1970, he returned to
the Press in 1972 as a sub-editor, and on September 3, 1973 joined
the Bath Chronicle. At this time, he had also produced a series of
cartoons for the monthly journal, Psychic Researcher, describing
the goings-on at the government's fictional paranormal research
establishment, 'Warlock Hall'. In 1980 Pratchett was appointed
publicity officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board with
responsibility for three nuclear power stations, where he was
working when the first of the Discworld novels "The Colour of
Magic," was published, in 1983. Pratchett's paperback publisher at
the time was New English Library, who had published "The Dark Side
of the Sun and Sourcery.""The Light Fantastic" was published in
1986, and Pratchett decided that he had to move to a major
publishing house. He chose Gollancz, and they considered taking
Pratchett onto their SF list, although they had never published
fantasy before, only traditional SF, and struck a co-publishing
deal for three titles, "Equal Rites", "Mort" and "Sourcery." In
September 1987, soon after he had finished writing "Mort,"
Pratchett decided that he could afford to devote himself to
full-time writing. His books for young readers, Truckers, the first
volume of what is known in the USA as the Bromeliad Trilogy, was a
landmark publication, becoming the first children's book to appear
in the British adult paperback fiction best-seller lists. It was
followed by "Diggers,""Wings," the revised version of "The Carpet
People," and all three Johnny Maxwell books. Pratchett has also
written a number of short stories, three of which have Discworld
themes. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British
Empire in the Queen's 1998 Birthday Honours List in June, 'for
services to literature'. In July 1999 he received an honorary
Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt.) from the University of Warwick
and granted doctorates of the Unseen University to Ian Stewart and
Jack Cohen, co-authors of "The Science of Discworld," which had
been published the previous month, and in 2001, one from the
University of Portsmouth.
Neil Gaiman was born in 1960 in Portchester, England. He worked as
a journalist and freelance writer for a time, before deciding to
try his hand at comic books. Some of his work has appeared in
publications such as "Time Out,""The Sunday Times,""Punch" and "The
Observer." Gaiman's first comic endeavor was the graphic novel
series "The Sandman." It is what Gaiman is most famous for and the
series has won every major industry award, including the 1991 World
Fantasy Award for best short story, making it the first comic ever
to win a literary award. "The Sandman" series has outsold both
"Batman" and "Superman" comics, selling over a million copies a
year. The collections have sold over 750,000 copies in both
paperback and hardcover and Warner Bothers has optioned the rights
to Sandman. Gaiman is the co-originator and co-editor of The
Utterly Comic Relief, an organization which raises money to
maintain First Amendment Rights for comic book creators. In 1991,
the organization raised over 45,000 pounds for the Comic Relief
Charity. Gaiman has also co-authored a book with Terry Pratchett
called "Good Omens" and wrote "Ghastly Beyond Belief" in 1985 and
"Don't Panic" in 1987. He has edited a book of poetry entitled "Now
We Are Sick" and his essays have appeared in such publications as
"Horror: 100 Best Books and 100 Great Detectives." Gaiman has also
delved into children's books, writing "The Day I Swapped My Dad for
Two Goldfish" which was selected by "Newsweek" as one of the Best
Children's Books of 1997. In 2009 Gaiman won the Newbery Award for
"The Graveyard Book."