Winner of the 2001 Carnegie Medal "One rat, popping up here and there, squeaking loudly, and taking a bath in the cream, could be a plague all by himself. After a few days of this, it was amazing how glad people were to see the kid with his magical rat pipe. And they were amazing when the rats followed hint out of town.They'd have been really amazed if they'd ever found out that the rats and the piper met up with a cat somewhere outside of town and solemnly counted out the money."The Amazing Maurice runs the perfect Pied Piper scam. This streetwise alley cat knows the value of cold, hard cash and can talk his way into and out of anything. But when Maurice and his cohorts decide to con the town of Bad Blinitz, it will take more than fast talking to survive the danger that awaits. For this is a town where food is scarce and rats are hated, where cellars are lined with deadly traps, and where a terrifying evil lurks beneath the hunger-stricken streets....Set in Terry Pratchett's widely popular Discworld, this masterfully crafted, gripping read is both compelling and funny. When one of the world's most acclaimed fantasy writers turns a classic fairy tale on its head, no one will ever look at the Pied Piper -- or rats -- the same way again

特裏·普拉切特

Terry Pratchett （1948—2015）

獲得“卡內基大奬”“世界奇幻終身成就奬”“軌跡奬”“普羅米修斯奬”“星雲奬”

作品全球銷量超過8500萬冊，被翻譯成37種語言齣版

因文學成就兩次獲大英帝國爵士稱號

《碟形世界》係列是他的代錶作

奇幻作傢，1948年齣生於英國白金漢郡。普拉切特被稱為“我們時代的托爾金”，是當代最偉大的奇幻作傢之一。

普拉切特認為奇幻小說的重點不是魔法，而是以另一種角度看世界。他的作品不同於以托爾金為代錶的“嚴肅奇幻”，常打破常規，從經典文學、民間故事或童話中汲取靈感，並進行荒誕、幽默且具有現實意義的再創作。他的代錶作《碟形世界》被認為是這類幽默奇幻的代名詞。《衛報》評價他的作品“不是在創造另一個世界，而是在重新想象我們的世界”，並盛贊其“發現瞭高於文學的事物”。

普拉切特也是當代最成功的暢銷書作傢之一，作品的全球銷量超過瞭8500萬，已被譯成37種語言齣版。2003年BBC全民票選“最受歡迎的100本書”時，普拉切特的作品入選瞭5本，與狄更斯並列第一。布剋奬得主A.S.拜厄特甚至稱其“提高瞭英國的國民閱讀率”。