News is just beginning to get out that one of my favorite authors, Anne McCaffrey has died. It is my personal belief that she played a massive role in creating the current fascination with, as well as the mythology for, dragons in contemporary literature. Even if you have never read her work, you have felt the impact of it, however unknowing.
I can remember reading the Dragonriders of Pern series when I was a child. Her writing played a large part in my falling in love with science fiction and fantasy novels. Because of authors like her and Piers Anthony, when other little girls were reading Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew, I was poring over my dad’s collection of thousands of science fiction and fantasy novels, discovering classic authors like Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard and contemporary authors such as Arthur C. Clark and L. Sprague DeCamp.
The literary world has suffered a great loss, but her influence will continue to live on for generations.
from Alpha Airlock:
The literary world has lost one of its greats. Anne McCaffrey, the author of nearly 100 science-fiction and fantasy books, died Nov. 21. She was 85.
Random House, her longtime publisher, confirmed her death to Media Bistro on Tuesday.
Reports are that McCaffrey suffered a stroke, and died peacefully in Ireland, which has been her home since 1970.
Born April 1, 1926 in Massachusetts, and began her writing career with the publishing of Restoree by Ballantine Books in 1967. However, she is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series, which now counts 22 novels and several short stories. Some included her son Todd McCaffrey as an author as well.
Check out the full article published by Alpha Airlock.