Fantasy author Terry Pratchett dies at 66

Acclaimed fantasy author Terry Pratchett has died following a long battle with Alzheimer's. He was 66.

Pratchett is best known for creating the sprawling Discworld universe — a comedy/fantasy series that spawned 40 books, and inspired radio, comic book, television and video game adaptations. He also collaborated with Neil Gaiman on Good Omens, an acclaimed comic novel about the apocalypse. In 2007, Pratchett was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. He continued to write until the end of his life, dictating when the physical conditions of his disease made it too difficult to write.

In a statement, Pratchett's publisher, Larry Finlay, offered a memorial. "In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirize this world: He did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humor and constant invention."

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"Terry faced his Alzheimer's disease (an 'embuggerance', as he called it) publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come."