Discworld creator Terry Pratchett passes at 66

it's with great sadness that we've to report the passing of Terry Pratchett, writer and creator of the Discworld fantasy series. He was 66.

It's believed his passing was due to final complications with Alzheimers, which the author had revealed he was suffering the early stages of in 2007, and had seen him dictating his most recent works for transcription.

Pratchett's work spans over thirty years, and while it included single novels and books for younger readers, it's his life-long work on the Discworld series - featuring a rotating cast of characters and plenty of comedy - that he'll be best remembered.

Discworld spawned a multitude of tie-ins, which included point & click style video games (the first two starring the wizard Rincewind, voiced by Eric Idle) that were full of references and cameos from the series.

His publisher marked his passing by saying:

"The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds.

In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirise this world: he did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention.

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.

My sympathies go out to Terry's wife Lyn, their daughter Rhianna, to his close friend Rob Wilkins, and to all closest to him."