The world grew a bit more dismal this morning when Terry Pratchett passed on. According to the BBC, Pratchett, aged 66, died in his sleep.
Pratchett was a notable author, and the second biggest selling fantasy author after Jo Rowling. he wrote more than 70 books, and was best known for his "Discworld" novels, set on a world that was flat, riding the back of 4 great elephants, those riding a rather large turtle. The Discworld began as a comedy idea, but quickly became a setting for some very biting (and extremely funny) satire. He was able to use the magical nature of the world to make some very good points about life, politics, race, and life in general.
He has said that, as he started out writing PR papers for the British Atomic Energy industry, he always knew he had a future in fantasy. His best examples of that are (in my opinion, of course) "Good Omens", which he co-authored with Neil Gaiman, and his later Diwscworld books, though he also did hard SF (The "Long Earth"novels with Steven Barnes most recently) and shorter articles.
Terry was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's (or "embuggerance" as he called it) seven years ago,and quickly became one of the world's great proponents of study toward treatment of cure of that awful disease. It was mostly for that, he said, that he was knighted by the Queen.
I will personally miss his precise and pointed use of language, and his sometimes very sharp sense of humor.