Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer's. Not a revelation, really; the news came out in 2007, and it's as heartbreaking today as it ever was. But the BBC is now showing a multi-part series about Terry's experience with the condition that I am going to have to watch.

And it was just as I thought of writing this blog post that it finally clicked: In Vernor Vinge's most recent novel Rainbows End, he depicts a near-future 2025 in which Pratchett fandom has leaped beyond his ridiculous success in the publishing world and has achieved a pop-culture status comparable to Harry Potter. The punchline for this novel, published in 2006? The protagonist is an elderly man who, thanks to revolutionary new treatments, has just recovered from... yes... Alzheimer's.

Stay with us, Terry. The world needs more Rincewind.