Fans left reeling by the death of Terry Pratchett have raised £28,000 for an Alzheimer’s charity, less than 24 hours after the beloved fantasy author succumbed to an infection complicated by the disease – and have also launched a hopeful petition to his lugubrious personification, Death, to “bring back Pratchett”.
Pratchett died at home on Thursday, aged 66, “with his cat sleeping on his bed, surrounded by his family”, said his publishers, Transworld. His publicist, Lynsey Dalladay, set up an appeal shortly afterwards, and by lunchtime on Friday more than 1,600 people had donated £28,053 to the charity The Research Institute for the Care of Older People (Rice).
The charity was chosen by Pratchett’s family and by his long-term assistant, Rob Wilkins. The Bath-based organisation, which supports those with Alzheimer’s disease and carries out research into the ageing process, has cared for Pratchett since 2008.
Messages from those donating ranged from quotes from Pratchett’s more than 40 novels – such as: “No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away” – to outpourings of gratitude for what the author has meant to his fans. “Thank you for Tiffany Aching and all the characters that are part of my world. ‘Stop stealing the funeral meats right now, you wee scuggers!’,” wrote one donor. “The Night Watch salutes you Sir,” wrote another. “There will be a little less laughter on the Roundworld without you,” said a third.
“The outpouring of love for Terry and his books has been completely amazing and we’re all overwhelmed,” said Dalladay this morning. “It is completely heartbreaking to think Terry is no longer here, he was such a force in all our lives.”
Pratchett was one of the UK’s best-loved authors, selling more than 75m copies around the world and publishing 40 novels set in a fantasy universe called Discworld. Diagnosed with posterior cortical atrophy, a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s, in 2007 – and quickly dubbing it “the embuggerance” – Pratchett continued to write using voice recognition software. A science fiction collaboration with Stephen Baxter, The Long Utopia, is due to be published later this year.
Professor Roy Jones, director of Rice, said the charity had been unaware of the JustGiving page until “money started to appear unexpectedly”.
“Clearly it’s a tribute to him,” Jones said this morning. “People want to donate, and we’re getting money in euros and dollars and pounds. Terry and his family knew we were trying to expand our research programme, and that they decided it should be us is very generous.” Jones, who met Pratchett in 2008, said the author was “a character – not a typical patient in many ways”, and paid tribute to the way he managed to change the public conversation about Alzheimer’s and dementia more broadly.
“He has really set a marker,” he said. “He was relatively shy in many ways. He didn’t necessarily seek a lot of publicity before his diagnosis, but he faced up to his diagnosis by saying he was going to talk about it openly. He may not have realised how much his message was going to take off; that people would be surprised that someone of his profile would speak out.”
As fans launched a petition, already signed by more than 6,000 people, calling on Death to “bring back Pratchett”, and quoting the author’s line that “There are times in life when people must know when not to let go. Balloons are designed to teach small children this”, tributes continued to pour in from Pratchett’s fellow authors and friends.
Neil Gaiman, who collaborated with Pratchett on the classic comic fantasy novel Good Omens, wrote on Twitter that the novelist had been his friend “for 30 years and a month. I miss him. Donate to Alzheimer’s research and make it so things like this don’t happen.”
George RR Martin posted a tribute to the writer on his blog, echoing the feelings of many when he wrote: “Terry Pratchett is gone, and the world of fantasy is that much poorer this morning.” Martin continued: “I cannot claim to have known Terry well, but I ran into him at dozens of conventions over the decades, shared a stage with him a few times, and once or twice had the privilege of sharing a pint or a curry. He was always a delight. A bright, funny, insightful, warm, and kindly man, a man of infinite patience, a man who truly knew how to enjoy life ... and books.
“He is survived by Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Mort, Death, Death of Rats, Commander Vimes, the Librarian, Cohen the Barbarian, Rincewind the Wizard, the Luggage, and hundreds of other unforgettable characters, whose adventures will continue to delight and surprise readers all over the world for many years to come.”
Pratchett’s daughter, Rhianna Pratchett, wrote on Twitter that the series of tweets she posted on her father’s behalf yesterday, announcing his death, “were sent with shaking hands and tear-filled eyes”. She had revealed his death in suitably Pratchett-esque fashion, letting Death speak first – “AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER” – before adding: “Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night ... The End.”
Gaiman shared further memories of Pratchett this morning, telling a fan that his last conversation with the author “was good”. “We sang Shoehorn With Teeth together for the last time, and remembered together, and talked about real things, and said our honest goodbyes,” wrote Gaiman. “It didn’t mean I wasn’t devastated this morning, and that I’m not still reeling. But it helps.”
The last thing the pair did together, Gaiman added, was to record their cameo appearance on the BBC adaptation of Good Omens in a car parked outside Pratchett’s office. “Terry couldn’t read his lines, so I read them to him, and he’d act them back,” Gaiman wrote. “Then I’d read one of my lines, and he’d think it was one of his and he’d do it too. It was strange and silly and odd, but no stranger, sillier or odder than anything else we’d done in the previous 30 years.”
