In Memoriam: Terry Pratchett

Beloved author Terry Pratchett has passed away at the age of 66.

Pratchett released his first novels in the 70’s. His epic “Discworld” series premiered in 1983 (starting with “The Colour of Magic”) and from then on, he published approximately two novels a year. He was a philanthropist, knight, hero of orangutans, and consummate defender of the validity of science fiction and fantasy as literature. At the time of his death, he was the second most read author in the U.K. 

In 2007, Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with post cortical atrophy, a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The disease did not affect his cognitive abilities as much as doctors predicted, and he was able to continue to write. In 2009, Pratchett published an article that stated he wished to die by assisted suicide before his disease progressed too far. The BBC made two documentaries about the author, one about his diagnosis called “Terry Pratchett: Living with Alzherimer’s,” and the other about his choices regarding his quality of life called “Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die.” Pratchett published, publicized and spoke until 2014, when his illness affected his ability to make public appearances. Today it was announced that he passed away due to complications from Alzheimer’s.

I used to read a lot. I mean, an excessive amount. I read so much I would get in trouble for bringing books to the dinner table, and I gobbled up stories in every genre. But it wasn’t until I was a teenager and discovered  Discworld that I learned that books could be gut wrenchingly funny. Pratchett was a rare talent; one that could be uniquely prolific in a genre that can easily stagnate in archaic “rules,” create characters and mythologies that evolve over 40 novels, and make you belly laugh all the while. I know I’ve read “Good Omens,” his collaboration with Neil Gaiman, at least five times and I laugh to tears each time I read it. Pratchett also collaborated with Stephen Baxter on a trilogy about parallel worlds, and while they are deeply different in tone than anything I had read by Terry Pratchett they are intensely inventive and compelling books. The first in that series, “The Long Earth,” was published in 2012.

I think I’ve reached a defining age. The people I looked to in my youth, the ones that created worlds I could run to when I felt too odd for the real one, are leaving. It’s very easy to feel old and slip into melancholy, mourning that the world is a little less whimsy than it was yesterday. But I don’t think our heroes would want us to do that, at least not for too long. They’d want us to slip into the garden tonight, stare up at the stars, and make a new imaginary world. They’d want us to make a little more merriment and peace than we did yesterday.

Terry Pratchett stated that he always hoped he could listen to Thomas Tallis’s “Spem in Alium” as he died. I’m including it for you below, and hope you can have ten minutes to daydream about something beautiful while you listen.