Anne McCaffrey Rides Out

Picture from tvtropes

Some sad news occurred today. It was announced that much-loved author Anne McCaffrey passed away on Monday. 

However, she did reach the ripe old age of 85, and leaves a stunning legacy behind her:

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. - BBC News

Over the course of her 46 year career she won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award. Her book The White Dragon became one of the first science fiction novels ever to land on the New York Times Best Seller List. - Wiki

There is a full obituary in The Guardian.

Although not my preferred genre, I did read the first of her original  Dragonriders of Pern trilogy: Dragonflight, with its wonderful opening lines:

When is a legend a legend? Why is a myth a myth? How old and disused must a fact be for it to be relegated to the category of 'Fairy-tale'?

I did so in my mid-teens, simply because, whichever bookshop I happened to be in, her novels were always prominently on display. It was impossible not to take a peek. A truly prolific and respected writer. 

This may not be the end of the Dragonriders series, however. Anne's son, Todd McCaffrey, has written a number of these books himself. Perhaps he may continue to do so. There is already one, Dragonrider, co-written and expected in 2012.

A sad day, but, as with Diana Wynne Jones earlier this year - a life well written.