Marc Burrows is a music critic, author and occasional comedian. His biography The Magic of Terry Pratchett won the 2021 Locus Award for Best Non-Fiction, and he writes regularly for The Guardian, Observer, Quietus and Hey U Guys about music, film and pop culture. He plays bass in the cult Victorian punk band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, and lives in North London with his wife, the poet and author Nicoletta Wylde and a small black cat called Princess. He also has two tropical fish, who he suspects might be psychopaths.
"""[Pratchett's] voice is sorely missed... In his absence, The Magic of Terry Pratchett is a worthy substitute."" -- ""The Critic"" ""An impressively comprehensive, engagingly written biography. ****"" -- ""SFX"" ""Marc Burrows' affectionate yet clear-sighted biography includes enough new material to enthrall existing fans already entrenched in Discworld lore while offering a broad introduction to the man and his work for those less familiar with Ankh-Morpork's odiferous back alleys.""-- ""Lit Reactor"" ""...affable and consistently engaging... Burrow's buoyant, pun-pepperd, and aptly footnote-flecked style... helpfully marries his subject matter, propelling us through decade after decade of a heavily writing-centric life while illuminating Pratchett's complexities and contradictions without any drag in the tempo.""-- ""Locus Magazine"" ""In this encompassing biography of the prolific fantasy and science-fiction author, writer and comedian Burrows details both the writing accomplishments and the personal life of Sir Terry Pratchett. With his start as an amateur astronomer, Pratchett's journey to his love of books was encouraged by his mother, Eileen, who bribed him with a copy of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. This led to an adventure to the Beaconsfield Library and an after-school job that gave him access to a cornucopia of material to feed his young mind and his budding writer's imagination. In the summer of 1959, Pratchett wrote a short story for his school magazine about an advertising executive asked by the devil to improve hell's reputation. This began an epic life of creating stories and books for both children and adults, and his path to joining the sf/fantasy community--there he found his people. His first work for children, The Carpet People, led to the 41-volume Discworld series. By the time of his death in 2015, Pratchett enriched generations of readers with his comedic, fantastical works. Burrows spoke to friends and family, and this biography has moments of sadness, especially when discussing Pratchett's fight with Alzheimer's. But the book is also funny and conversational in tone, and an excellent tribute to a beloved author.""-- ""Booklist"""