...as will everybody else

Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series of novels and co-author with Neil Gaiman of the book Good Omens, has announced that he has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease.

He says:

"Frankly I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet," he wrote in the statement, dated December 11.

"PS ... This should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else.

There are certainly bigger Pratchett fans than me; I haven't read anything like all his books but I've enjoyed the ones I have. Two or three of them are even signed, from when he did a US tour.

And I've always been kind of sorry/grateful that no one's ever cracked how to turn Good Omens into a movie, though many have tried. Sorry because I'd love to see it, grateful because I don't want them to fuck it up. I feel about it kind of the way I do about the Watchmen movie: If Terry Gilliam couldn't figure out how to film it (and he tried)...

This is not a time to be teary and maudlin, and not what Mr. Pratchett says he wants. So I'll just say that I'm sorry to hear about this, wish him well, and I'll take comfort in thinking that his friends and family will be with him.