Painful news this morning with the BBC reporting that Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld novels (having sold around 50 million books in his career) has early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Pratchett, whose novels beautifully blend fantasy, sci-fi and oddball humour, announced the news on the website of Discworld artist Paul Kidby, in a news update titled “An Embuggerance”:
I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early
onset Alzheimer’s, which lay behind this year’s phantom “stroke”.We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I
expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there’s time for at least a few more books yet :o)P.S. I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as ‘I am not dead’. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think – it’s too soon to tell. I know it’s a very human thing to say “Is there anything I can do”, but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.
As someone who has had close personal experience with the disease, I can only wish Pratchett – and those closest to him – the very best.
