It's just a game . . . isn't it? The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind. Suddenly, a message appears: We wish to talk. We surrender. But the aliens aren't supposed to surrender-they're supposed to die!

Sir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948),more commonly known as Terry Pratchett, is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels. Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971, and since his first Discworld novel (The Colour of Magic) was published in 1983, he has written two books a year on average.
Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s, and as of December 2007 had sold more than 55 million books worldwide, with translations made into 36 languages.He is currently the second most-read writer in the UK, and seventh most-read non-US author in the US.In 2001 he won the Carnegie Medal for his young adult novel The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.
Pratchett was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to literature" in 1998.He was in addition knighted in the 2009 New Year Honours.In December 2007, Pratchett publicly announced that he was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease, subsequently making a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, and filming a programme chronicling his experiences with the disease for the BBC.