Ali first met Terry Pratchett lurking about a word processing web site. It took a bit for her to realise why his name looked so familiar, but then when you're a data junkie it sometimes takes a while to connect the data dots.

So, is Terry the person as, um, interesting a person, as his writing suggests? Judge for yourselves...

Terry Pratchett answered these questions for us when he was interviewed, see our feature

Do you have a favourite author or book or series that has influenced you or that you return to? Not a favourite. Videos are piled around the TV, books around the bed. G. K. Chesterton is admired, but there are several dozen authors - Carl Hiassen is a newcomer to the list - that I'll go back and read for pleasure Who would you most like to be trapped in a lift with? In a life? A lift repair man. In a spaceship, anyone who knows how to land the thing. Let's be practical here.

Practically anything with a QWERTY keyboard. Sad, isn't it?

What is the most important thing you would like to get from your work?

I genuinely can't answer. I don't get introspective about writing; I've done it one way or another for all of my adult and a lot of my teenage life. There is a satisfaction, but it's a diffuse and wily thing which is never in the place where I'd pin it down. I can't envisage not writing.