Influential science fiction and fantasy novellist Anne McCaffrey died at her home in Ireland on November 21, 2011, ages 85, following a period of illness.
Best known for her incredible Dragonriders Of Pern series, which began in 1967 and has resulted in an incredible 22 books our of career featuring over a hundred, some of the more recent ones written as a collaboration with her son Todd McCaffrey.
In 1968 she became the first woman to win a Hugo Award or a Nebula Award, picking up Best Novella at both of the ceremonies for her first Pern story ‘Weyr Search’ which appeared in the pages of prestigious genre anthology Analog Science Fiction And Fact, and the first women SF/F author to appear on the New York Times bestsellers list.
Neil Gaiman (pictured with Anne here) commented, “She was a wonderful, goodhearted, funny lady. Goodbye Annie. I’m glad I knew you.”
We can only echo those sentiments.
