“You can’t die with an unfinished book”

With all those plans, the author says he's putting off the question of when or if he will end his life.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm a writer who's writing books and therefore I don't want to die. You'd miss the end of the book wouldn't you?" he says. "You can't die with an unfinished book."

The good news is Terry Pratchett has two books in the works.  Snuff, his most recent, comes out here in the United States in October.

If you've read the Discworld novels by popular fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, you've surely encountered Death. He's an actual character — a skeleton in a black hood who's portrayed as not such a bad guy after all.

So maybe it's not so surprising that at 63, Pratchett — who has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's — speaks openly about causing his own death.

"I believe everyone should have a good death," he tells NPR's Steve Inskeep. “You know, with your grandchildren around you, a bit of sobbing. Because after all, tears are appropriate on a death bed. And you say goodbye to your loved ones, making certain that one of them has been left behind to look after the shop."

Pratchett has become an advocate for legalized assisted suicide in Britain…

Read the story, Discworld’s Terry Pratchett on Death and Deciding, and listen to the interview at NPR.