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Terry Pratchett: An Embuggerance

sophia8

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sophia8
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Folks,

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)

Terry Pratchett

PS 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.
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:(

This is really gutting. He has such an extraordinary mind, and I can't imagine what it must be like to be faced with losing it. Let's hope Alzheimer's research comes up with something.
 
Yet Dan Brown remains in perfect health. More evidence that there is no God.

Sure, he's not dead yet. But what a terrible prospect for anyone to face, let alone someone with a mind like that.
 
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richardm said:
Yet Dan Brown remains in perfect health. More evidence that there is no God.

Sure, he's not dead yet. But what a terrible prospect for anyone to face, let alone someone with a mind like that.
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Yes, and the towering intellects behind the "Left Behind" franchise seem to be thriving too. :mad:

I'm sure we all wish Terry and his family all the best for the future.
 
Oh no. Well, this just goes to show that sometimes you can exercise your brain almost constantly and still lose it to Alzheimer's at the end of the day. Tragic. :(
 
That is just such very, very sad news. Did anyone here hear about some new research that's being done whereby if a person can have a camera filming what they are doing, and then they are shown the film, it can push back the problem for years. It was during the last week I think that I heard something on Radio 4. If anyone deserves to be top priority for such a possibility, then Terry Pratchett would get my vote for it.
 
I'm greatly encouraged by his cheerful and optimistic outlook. Before we all get too depressed - perhaps we should pay some attention to what Mr Pratchett has actually said.

... and blissfuly no mention of putting himself in the hands of any bearded sky fairy...
 
hopefully such a high profile case will raise the case for the use of Alzheimer's drugs with patients who at the moment miss out due to only being classified as "early stage"...and therefore don't appear to be regarded as a cost effective allocation of resources...

on a wholly annecdotal level they made a tremendous difference to my friend's husband - but under usual circumstances he wouldn't have received them until the condition was much further advanced....

very sad about the news - but hopefully he can have a few good years left :(
 
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Bugger, bugger, bugger. True to his style, he announces the news simply, and keeps his sense of humour. I imagine he'll keep writing as long as he can.
 
Iris Murdoch, anyone? Apparently retrospective analysis of her writing revealed early deterionration of style and vocabulary, before even the diagnosis had been made.

And just last night I was ruminating that Pratchett seemed to be one of those rare authors who can keep improving even while writing very popular books (having recently read Night Watch and been very impressed by the depth of the plotting and characterisation - All the Little Angels, and so on).

Any bets on how long it will be before the usual band of homoeopaths, acupuncturists, Chinese herbalists and so on step in where the high-end brain chemists fear to tread?

Rolfe.
 
An old lady at a charity shop once told me 'You're not dead 'til the dead horse kicks you.'.

It reminded me of Terry Pratchett's writing at the time and seems very appropriate now.
 
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