Terry Pratchett, Prolific Fantasy Author, Dies At 66
Sir Terry Pratchett, the prolific author behind the Discworld series, has died at the age of 66. The British writer had struggled with a rare, early-onset form Alzheimer's disease for the better part of a decade.
His publisher, Transworld Books, confirmed news of the writer's death in a tweet Thursday morning.
The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds. Rest in peace, Sir Terry Pratchett.
— Transworld Books (@TransworldBooks) March 12, 2015
Over the course of a career that spanned more than four decades, Pratchett earned both plaudits and popularity. His novels — brimming with witches and dwarves, magic and metamorphoses — went on to sell more than 75 million copies internationally. Remarkably, he seemed to write nearly as many novels as he sold — most of which were set in his fantastical Discworld, a flat disc of a literary universe, borne on the backs of gigantic elephants that, in turn, ride a gigantic turtle.
Pratchett announced his "embuggerance" — as he called his posterior cortical atrophy — in 2007. Since then, he has continued to write.
In an essay published last year, author Neil Gaiman, who collaborated with Pratchett on the book Good Omens, commented on the loving fury that fuels the best of Pratchett's fantasies.
"I suppose that, if you look quickly and are not paying attention, you might, perhaps, mistake it for jolly," wrote Gaiman. "But beneath any jollity there is a foundation of fury. Terry Pratchett is not one to go gentle into any night, good or otherwise."
Pratchett died at home, the BBC reports. He is survived by his wife, Lyn, and his daughter, Rhianna, as well as a devoted readership unlikely to take his passing lightly.
9(MDE1MTIxMDg0MDE0MDQ3NTY3MzkzMzY1NA001))
Transcript
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This morning, we're remembering novelist Terry Pratchett, who wrote more than 70 books. He died yesterday at the age of 66, eight years after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. Pratchett is best known for his series of fantasy novels set in a magical place called the Discworld. It's populated by witches, wizards and inept police officers.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Plus, one of his most frequent characters was Death. Pratchett portrayed him as a Grim Reaper, who, on the page, speaks in all capital letters. In Discworld, Death isn't such a bad guy. He has a fondness for cats and a fascination for human quirks. He rarely takes souls out of malice; rather Death is simply providing an essential service. In the real world, death wasn't far from Pratchett's mind. After he discovered he had Alzheimer's, he spoke with candor and humor about the disease and how it affected his ability to write and to read. Our colleague Steve Inskeep interviewed Terry Pratchett four years ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
TERRY PRATCHETT: The difficulty with reading is nothing to do with the eyes really. It's because the mechanism which allows you to, as it were, read through the page, turn and still find your place doesn't work for me. It's a bit of a bugger, but it's not that much.
GREENE: Eventually Pratchett lost his ability to type, so he switched to computer dictation software, which allowed him to keep writing, though he'd found the software had some deficiencies.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
PRATCHETT: I have to teach it new words because it's an American product.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Oh.
PRATCHETT: In its original state, it doesn't have some, like [expletive], for example.
INSKEEP: It doesn't have that? Well, we do have that word in the United States.
PRATCHETT: I'm fully aware. But I...
INSKEEP: But maybe we pronounce it differently here, and that's causing the problem.
GREENE: Now, Pratchett also became an advocate for legal, physician-assisted suicide. He said he would prefer to choose when to die before his mental facilities were too far gone. But he also said he couldn't bear the thought of no longer writing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
PRATCHETT: At the moment, I get about; I write books. So as far as I'm concerned - as far as I'm concerned - I'm a writer who's writing books and therefore I don't want to die. You'd miss the end of the book, wouldn't you?
MONTAGNE: Terry Pratchett's publishers say when death finally arrived naturally, Terry Pratchett was surrounded by his family. And the post on his Twitter account offered a message marked by both lucidity and wit. The last post read simply, The End. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad