An Embuggerance

Yesterday, fantasy author Terry Pratchett came out with news that he is suffering from form of Alzheimer's disease that attacks at a comparatively young age. The author of the Discworld series refers to the disease as an embuggerance and that he'd like things to stay cheerful. He thinks that he can come out with several more books before the disease makes writing too difficult.

This is at least the second blow that Fantasy literature has suffered this year. In September we lost author Robert Jordan to amyloidosis. Jordan was unable to complete his extensive series The Wheel of Time, though the final book, A Memory of Light, will be completed by author Brandon Sanderson.

We all hope that the 56-year-young Pratchett will be able to continue writing for many years to come and gets to a place he feels happy with in the Discworld series. Pratchett is known for his contemporary satirists and for being named Officer of the British Empire for services to literature in 1998. He has sold over 55 million books which have been translated into 30 or more languages.