Sir Terry Pratchett Leaves Earth for Discworld (1948-2015) – R.I.P.

Sir Terry Pratchett, best known for his Discworld series of fantasy books, left this world earlier today at the age of 66 after an 8-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

The following statement was released by his publisher:

In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirize this world: he did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention.

Terry faced his Alzheimer’s disease (an ’embuggerance’, as he called it) publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come.

My sympathies go out to Terry’s wife Lyn, their daughter Rhianna, to his close friend Rob Wilkins, and to all closest to him.”

Terry passed away in his home, with his cat sleeping on his bed surrounded by his family on 12th March 2015. Diagnosed with PCA1 in 2007, he battled the progressive disease with his trademark determination and creativity, and continued to write. He completed his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014, before succumbing to the final stages of the disease.

We ask that the family are left undisturbed at this distressing time.

Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken? – Terry Pratchett, Going Postal.

[Picture Source: Robin Zebrowski on Flickr (CC)]