Damn. Damn. Damn.

[tellner]

Terry Pratchett diagnosed with rare early-onset Alzheimer's

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 )

 

[Big Don]

While Pratchett isn't one of the authors I read, I always hate to hear about bad things happening to writers.

 

[Whitebelt]

Nooooo! Such a great mind too...Its sad when it happens to anyone but especially when its so many peoples favorite author

 

[exile]

That counts as genuinely horrible. Alzheimer's is always horrible, but when it hits someone like that, it seems so... especially cruel, for some reason...

What's troubling about this, among many other things, is that—just as with Iris Murdoch and similar cases—it really makes you wonder just how much the frequently repeated nostrum that mental activity correlates with resistance to the disease actually does hold. Authors like this are constantly exercising their imaginations and problem-solving faculties (plotting involves high-order solutions to non-trivial problems of temporal order, motivation, narrative conventions (including legal vs. unfair misdirection of the reader) and so on). If they aren't protected from Alz's, who is?

Yes, yes, I know it's a statistical thing, but....

 

[Live True]

Well...Damn:waah:

From the first line I read ("on an astral plane that was never meant to fly..."), I was hooked by this contagious and engaging mind. Let's hope research advances and his spirits stay high!

 

[Ping898]

this is too bad...one can only hope that the newest therapies can help him be "normal" for as long as possible.....