R.I.P Terry Pratchett

One of Fantasy's most prolific and creative writers has died today, losing his long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Sir Terry Pratchety famous for the Discworld-series. His writing has been the source of hours of pleasure for thousands of people, including myself, and the humour and heart with which he infused every single one of his books endeared him to generations of readers. As one of the world's favourite authors he will be dearly missed by all his fans.

The first Discworld book was The Colour of Magic, published in 1983. Since then he has sold over 85 million books all over the world and has been translated into 37 languages.

He made no mystery of his struggle with Alzheimer's Disease and donated US$1,000,000 to the Alzheimer's Research Trust 2008, shocked at the minimal funding this disease received. He went on to work on a two-part documentary, hoping to shed more light on Alzheimer's and on living with the disease. He continued to write, either by dictating to his assistant and friend, Rob Wilkins, or by using speech recognition software.


Some of his books include:

The Colour of Magic

On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious buy inept wizard, a naïve tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist ifyou believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet...

Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch with Neil Gaiman

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch(the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .

He was recently working on the fourth installment of the Long Earth series, The Long Utopia, together with Stephen Baxter. The book is scheduled for release this June.

The fourth novel in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s internationally bestselling “Long Earth” series, hailed as “a brilliant science fiction collaboration . . . a love letter to all Pratchett fans, readers, and lovers of wonder everywhere” (Io9).

2045-2059. Human society continues to evolve on Datum Earth, its battered and weary origin planet, as the spread of humanity progresses throughout the many Earths beyond.
Lobsang, now an elderly and complex AI, suffers a breakdown, and disguised as a human attempts to live a “normal” life on one of the millions of Long Earth worlds. His old friend, Joshua, now in his fifties, searches for his father and discovers a heretofore unknown family history. And the super-intelligent post-humans known as “the Next” continue to adapt to life among “lesser” humans.

But an alarming new challenge looms. An alien planet has somehow become “entangled” with one of the Long Earth worlds and, as Lobsang and Joshua learn, its voracious denizens intend to capture, conquer, and colonize the new universe—the Long Earth—they have inadvertently discovered.

World-building, the intersection of universes, the coexistence of diverse species, and the cosmic meaning of the Long Earth itself are among the mind-expanding themes explored in this exciting new installment of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's extraordinary Long Earth series.

Rest in peace Terry Pratchett, your work will be remembered and treasured forever!

No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away...