In Memoriam: Sir Terry Pratchett.

It is hard to sum up the exact sensation I felt, earlier today, when I happened upon Rhianna Pratchett's tweet that read quite simply: "The End."

I think first, there was this brief electric moment of dread. Please, no, not today, not this year. It is utterly childish to add on, Not ever, but isn't that what we always feel, in the moments when we have a good book sprawled over our knees or its talented creator before us with a twinkle in their eye and a hand extended for a shake.

It's particularly hard to swallow, on days like these, that everything is so brief and fleeting and dishearteningly finite.

And now, a fount of wisdom and whimsy has been stopped up for good. And all we can think is, What a great, great loss. Because that is what it is.