Sad News

Writer Pratchett has Alzheimer's
By SIMON NEVILLE

THE best-selling fantasy author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

I have been a huge fan of Terry Pratchett's books ever since the first time I read one of them (it was Hogfather, for the record). Pratchett is, in my humble opinion, funnier than Douglas Adams (for one thing, he's not as cynical as Adams), and possesses the rare ability to mix comedy with truly serious situations.

Anyway, it appears that we're going to lose a genuinely funny man far too early (he's only 59).

In other news, Friday Archaeology Blogging will be along tomorrow.

David Gemmell Dies

Sadness.

Fantasy writer Gemmell dies at 57

Fantasy novelist David Gemmell, best known for stories such as Legend and Waylander, has died at the age of 57.

As a die-hard afficionado of cheap fantasy paperbacks (the kind that fit in your coat pocket so you can take them on the bus easily), I was dismayed to see this. While Gemmell's novels could be, sometimes, accused of being formulaic, this problem was mitigated by the fact that the formula was pretty good. And some of them, Knights of Dark Renown and Echoes of the Great Song for example, were quite original. All-in-all, Gemmell was a clear cut above most modern fantasy authors. R.I.P.

New Guy Gavriel Kay Book!!

I like GGK, I really do. I confess, though, that I enjoyed his earlier stuff, particularly Tigana more than some his less fantasy-ish later books. That's not to say that his later writing is weak or unenjoyable, because the opposite is definitely true. In any case, his new one is called The Last Light of the Sun, and it seems to be set in a sort of Celtic/Viking fantasy world. Based on his earlier stuff, I would expect it to be lavishly researched and filled with interesting characters. It's just out in hardcover right now, which means that we're probably several months from the paperback release, at which point I will actually be able to buy and read it!