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The dragon has flown....

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 8:36 pm
by Gob
Author Anne McCaffrey, who penned the Dragonriders of Pern series of fantasy novels, has died at her home in Ireland at the age of 85.

The US-born writer became one of the first women to break into the male-dominated world of science fiction, winning two major prizes in the 1960s.

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Much of her work was set on the planet of Pern, where humans and dragons are united against a common threat.

In later years, McCaffrey's books were co-written with son Todd.

The most recent instalment came out in June, with a further joint novel, Sky Dragons, due for publication next year.

Her son also wrote three of the series in his own right.

The opening two books in the Pern series were published in the late 1960s, winning McCaffrey the Hugo and Nebula literary prizes for science fiction.

She was the first woman to collect each of those honours.

The third book in the original trilogy, The White Dragon, was published in 1978 and made the New York Times bestseller list.

In 2005, she was named a Grand Master of science fiction.

McCaffrey emigrated to Ireland in 1970, building a home in County Wicklow which she named Dragonhold.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15877338
RIP Anne, thanks for the books...

Re: The dragon has flown....

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 11:13 pm
by Jarlaxle
I never got into ger writing, but Liz liked it. Bummer. :(

Re: The dragon has flown....

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 11:55 pm
by loCAtek
She penned Science-Fantasy: a fantastic realm (by our standards) given a scientific explanation ...and believably so. Not the science of technology, but of bio-genetics and sociology; that you could genetically enhance a breed [lizards] into large dragons and combine that with human direction [Dragon-riders]. ...but that's just the surface.

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...she first noted that a winged creature like this, actually had SIX limbs, not just four, and therefore couldn't come from Earth.


Quite original and innovative for it's time.

Thank you Anne RIP.

Re: The dragon has flown....

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 1:43 am
by BoSoxGal
The first two were the only fantasy books I read as a kid other than C.S. Lewis. I should revisit them sometime.