Millenium hand and shrimp

To say that I like Terry Pratchett is something of an understatement. I own over 40 of his novels including the entire Discworld series, the Tiffany Aching young adult Discworld series, the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, the Bromeliad trilogy, the miscellany Once More* With Footnotes, Good Omens, the Art of Discworld book, an assortment of anthologies that he contributed short stories to, etcetera, etcetera. Pretty much anything with his name on the cover is something I will buy. He has brought me no end of joy with his work. He's made me laugh of course but he's also made me marvel at the enormity of his gift for writing.

I tell you this to give you some idea of how hard it hit me when I read this:

AN EMBUGGERANCE

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)

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.

I wish I could have as positive an attitude about this as he seems to have. Mr Pratchett, you truly are amazing, sir. You say you want people to keep things cheerful but I don't think I can do that. At least not yet. Perhaps after the sadness and anger fade a little I can re-read your works and find some cheer.