Anne McCaffrey has gone for all time between

[Didaktylos]

From the Guardian

I first read Dragonflight when I was 15 and was hooked immediately.

 

[Piscivore]

That's sad.

 

[Darat]

If she could Helva would shed a tear.

Wasn't enamoured of much of her later works but stories like "The Ship Who Sang" were amongst the vanguard of quality science fiction that helped science fiction break with the hegemony of the "golden age" editors.

I can recall hearing her on a panel at some science fiction convention in the 1980s and she certainly was a very passionate person and unashamedly proud of being a "genre" writer.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Pern was the first religion-free society I had read about that I though might actually work. That was important to me when I was coming to realize that I could no longer hide from the issues surrounding religion.

 

[Skepticemea]

If she could Helva would shed a tear.

Wasn't enamoured of much of her later works but stories like "The Ship Who Sang" were amongst the vanguard of quality science fiction that helped science fiction break with the hegemony of the "golden age" editors.

As an evangelical Asimov fan in the 80s, I was given that book by my aunt who worked at Collins (McCaffrey's publisher at the time) as an exercise in humility. Amazing writer and all round good egg.

 

[Silly Green Monkey]

I just finished reading the Twins of Petaybee series and have the last of Freedom's Landing series to read. That's sad, that there will be no more stories like these.

 

[ZirconBlue]

From the Guardian

I first read Dragonflight when I was 15 and was hooked immediately.

For me, it was The White Dragon first. I think I was around 14 at the time. I have since read all of the Pern books written by her (although I've avoided the ones that have her son's name on them).

 

[Halfcentaur]

I grew up seeing my mother reading these my whole life, I've always meant to check them out.

 

[theprestige]

Is it too soon to predict that this will not stop the publication of new "Anne McCaffrey" novels?

 

[Hokulele]

That is sad, I loved her books as well.

However, I seem to recall reading an interview with her a long, long time ago where she claimed that her ideas for the dragon/human bonding in Pern, as well as the psychic abilities of the characters in her "Tower" books (To Ride Pegasus, and the others), stemmed from her own experiences. I believe she had claimed to have had three premonitions about her own life, two of which had already come true, and the third concerned her death.

Does anyone else know anything about this? If not, to Google I go...

 

[Elizabeth I]

That's said. If it should turn out there is an afterlife, I hope she gets a dragon.

 

[ZirconBlue]

Is it too soon to predict that this will not stop the publication of new "Anne McCaffrey" novels?

Todd McCaffrey has been writing the Pern novels in recent years, but using his own name, not selling them as "Anne McCaffrey" novels.

ETA: Correction, they are credited as written by both Anne and Todd.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A lot of authors have had posthumous publications, so it would be a surprise to see one or more "new" novels from her. And, of course, she could do what Heinlein did.

 

[Elizabeth I]

That's said. If it should turn out there is an afterlife, I hope she gets a dragon.

That should of course be, "That's sad," not, "That's said."

 

[Beanbag]

I got a VERY good backrub from her at one small sci-fi convention in the 70's when I threw my back out during a fighting demo. As others have mentioned, she was an all-round good egg.

Beanbag

 

[Robrob]

That's too bad.

 

[Aridas]

Meh. It's sad that she's gone, but personally, I'd rather cheer for what she accomplished in her life.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Meh. It's sad that she's gone, but personally, I'd rather cheer for what she accomplished in her life.

She helped pass many a long mile at sea, and many a boring night in some dank hootch while waiting for things to become non-boring (in a bad way, mostly).

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Do you think that her idea of a religion-free Pern would have worked?

 

[Hazel]

It puts a dark spot of sadness on this day. Many, very many are the nights that I sat up far too late to finish a dragonrider book. They weren't deep. They weren't heavy. Just wonderfully enjoyable books when one is too tired to read anything extremely serious.

Anne McCaffrey and Lilian Jackson Braun will always be on my list of admriable persons - not just for what they wrote but for what both stood for.

Rest in Peace, Anne.