The beloved science fiction author – best known for her Dragonriders of Pern novels – has passed away, reports Galleycat.
She passed away at her home in Ireland following a stroke says her publisher. She was 85, and is survived by two sons and a daughter.
McCaffrey published her first novel, Restoree, in 1967. She later became the first woman to win a Hugo for fiction and the first woman to win a Nebula, plus became the first female science fiction author to appear on The New York Times best seller list with The White Dragon in 1978.
The Pern books were some of the first ‘adult’ books that I read, and one of my earlier obsessions. While I drifted away from the series a decade ago, it still remains one of my early favorites. McCaffrey was not without her faults, but her books – with their focus on female protagonists when such things were uncommon in the genre – opened up the world of SF/F to many of us.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 LadyElaine // Nov 22, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Her books are the primary reason I came through adolescence sane. Pern, Ballybran, Petaybee, all of the worlds I lived on instead of hell.
2 Michelle // Nov 22, 2011 at 8:27 pm
I’m so sad. :( I found her books in the library when I was a teenager, and her strong female characters, especially Lessa and Menolly, who’s situations I could totally empathize with, were really inspiring. Definitely the end of a great era…sad day.
3 Doyle // Nov 23, 2011 at 9:18 am
Such a shame…I’ve somehow never gotten around to reading some of her novels, but several pieces of her short fiction were some of the earliest fantasy that I ever read. A fine writer, and, by all accounts, an absolutely first class lady.
4 Danielle // Nov 23, 2011 at 11:06 am
I did not discover her writing until I was an adult and trying to survive my “stay at home” mom phase in rural Virginia with 3 TV Channels. The strength of her female characters helped me to reassess my own strengths. Thank you.
5 Mark Newbold // Nov 24, 2011 at 9:24 am
Nice piece on McCaffrey, Jonathan Hicks from Jedi News is a BIG fan and wrote this on the site today, might be of interest to some Pern fans.
http://www.jedinews.co.uk/news/news.aspx?newsID=6057
6 The quick guide to Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels (by someone who hasn’t read them in years) // May 7, 2013 at 5:28 am
[...] we heard the news that Anne McCaffrey had died earlier this week, I found myself unexpectedly effected by it. For several years in my childhood [...]
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