Terry Pratchett suffering from Alzheimer's
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:41am GMT 13/12/2007
Terry Pratchett, the bestselling author of the Discworld fantasy books, is suffering from a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's.
# Terry Pratchett's 'Embuggerance' statement in full
The 59-year-old author revealed the diagnosis on a website today and called it "an embuggerance".
His announcement, in a statement posted on the website of his illustrator Paul Kidby, "should be interpreted as 'I am not dead' ", he insisted.
The author said that he was taking the news "fairly philosophically" and "possibly with mild optimism" and that he expected to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments.
Earlier this year Pratchett underwent medical investigations after he started having problems with hand-eye coordination and dexterity.
An MRI scan showed some areas of dead tissue and it was suggested that he had suffered a "mini-stroke" some time in the past few years and that he was now living with its legacy.
In his statement, Pratchett said that it had now been discovered that the early onset Alzheimer's "lay behind this year's phantom 'stroke' ".
Pratchett published his first short story when he was 13 and has gone on to become one of the world's most prolific and successful fantasy and science fiction authors, writing on average two new titles a year. He has sold more than 55 million copies of his books worldwide.
He is best known for the Discworld books - a series of almost 40 humorous and satirical fantasy novels set on the Discworld, a pizza-shaped planet which floats through the universe on the back of four elephants which in turn are standing on a giant turtle.
The stories feast on magic and chaotic logical absurdities.
Many literary critics have turned up their noses at the books, though others have compared him to P G Wodehouse, Douglas Adams and Jorge Luis Borges. He has also written children's books, including The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents which won the prestigious Carnegie medal for children's fiction.
He was awarded an OBE in 1998.
"I am sometimes accused of literature," he has joked.
In today's statement he said: "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.
"Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet."
In a postscript, he went on: "I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'.
"I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell.
"I know it's a very human thing to say 'Is there anything I can do?', but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry."
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syndication@telegraph.co.uk
So sad, here. Such a merciles disease.
