Beloved British fantasy author, Sir Terry Pratchett, has died at age 66 after battling early on-set Alzheimer’s disease.
“Terry passed away in his home, with his cat sleeping on his bed surrounded by his family on 12th March,” Pratchett’s publishers said in a statement. Widely known for his satirical fantasy novels from the ‘Discworld’ series, Pratchett was the author of over 70 adult and children’s novels. Pratchett wrote with a bitingly unique blend of humour, absurd fantasy and satire of our world within others, making him one of fantasy’s most adored and respected authors in recent memory.
Pratchett was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Alzheimer’s disease in 2007 known as Posterior Cortical Atrophy. Pratchett’s publishers said his condition did not halt his career in the past few years: “Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come.” Pratchett published the 40th Discworld novel, “Raising Steam” in 2013, and the 41st novel, “The Shepherd’s Crown” is due to be released posthumously this year.
Pratchett was known to be hesitant over making his Discworld novels into feature films; while film rights for some of his books have been sold, and Dreamworks, Danny Boyle and Terry Gilliam have all expressed interest in adapting a Discworld novel, no productions have come to light as of yet.
Practchett anthropomorphised Death as a character in almost all of the Discworld books, characterised as a tall skeleton in a black robe, riding a pale horse.
Fittingly, Terry Pratchett’s twitter made an apt tribute to Pratchett. Rest in peace, legend. We’ll miss you.
AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob) March 12, 2015
Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob) March 12, 2015
The End.
— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob) March 12, 2015
Lead image by Peter Macdiarmid via Getty.
