Terry Pratchett, author of fantasy “Discworld” novels, dies at 66

British author Terry Pratchett poses for photographers after receiving his knighthood from Britain's Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in London February 18, 2009. CREDIT: REUTERS/IAN NICHOLSON/POOL
British author Terry Pratchett poses for photographers after receiving his knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in London February 18, 2009.
CREDIT: REUTERS/IAN NICHOLSON/POOL

Terry Pratchett, the British author of the popular “Discworld” series of fantasy novels, has died of a form of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 66, his publishing house said on Thursday.

Pratchett died at home surrounded by his family with his cat sleeping on his bed, Transworld Publishers said.

“In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him,” said Larry Finlay, managing director at Transworld, a division of Penguin Random House.

“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,” he said.

The author, who sold tens of millions of books worldwide, was diagnosed with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), a progressive degenerative condition, in 2007.

He had continued to write, completing his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014 before succumbing to the final stages of the disease.

Reuters