Dragonriders of Pern author Anne McCaffrey dies, Aged 85

[the_leander]

Author of the Dragonrider series of books, Anne McCaffrey, died on Monday aged 85, having authored a huge number of books that straddled the border between science fiction and fantasy.

The author suffered a stroke at her home in Ireland on Monday, and passed away shortly afterwards. Her publisher, Del Rey, posted a notification and recent photograph of the author along with a forum which is already filling with fan tributes. She is survived by two sons and a daughter.

Linky.

It was through her work that I first fell in love with the written word. Before my Dad introduced me to the Dragonriders series, I'd considered books to be dull, dry mind numbing affairs that should have been relegated to history (thank you national curriculum - your tax pounds at work). In truth, going through school, it was only the worlds my mind conjured up that allowed me to find a space for myself to escape the frequent abuse that was allowed to run rampant there. Quite literally she is probably a good part of the reason I'm still alive.

R.I.P. And thank you.

 

[cecilia]

I'm not a huge fantasy fan (much prefer hard sf), but I respected her and her work. She was a fine lady