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Anne McCaffrey Passes Away At 85

Posted by Soulskill on from the rest-in-peace dept.

JSC writes "Anne McCaffrey died Monday at her home after suffering a stroke. 'In the late 1960s she became the first woman to win a Hugo Award for a work of fiction and the first woman to win a Nebula Award. She was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006.' She will be missed by Dragons and their Riders the world over."

10 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. I has a sad.. by kheldan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sad that she's gone, but she did spend her entire life doing what she loved (writing), and we will always have her legacy to enjoy. Farewell, Dragonrider!

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  2. Dragonriders, stand to honors! by Erbo · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Though she's more famous for The Dragonriders of Pern and The Ship who Sang, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for her Crystal Singer series. Look it up sometime; it's a nice little combination of music, mining, meteorology, and not a little romance.

    She has passed for all time between; we accord her a dragon tribute. May she always sing the black, and cut well.

    --
    Be who you are...and be it in style!
    1. Re:Dragonriders, stand to honors! by Bill+Currie · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, the Crystal Singer series was good. I also rather liked the Freedom series, as well as the Doona series. Then there's Restoree: a great little stand-alone(?) story.

      --

      Bill - aka taniwha
      --
      Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak

    2. Re:Dragonriders, stand to honors! by jazzmans · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm sure someone has already said this, but

      Crystal Singer was inspired by Pat Benatar, who was trained in opera, but was told by a teacher that the burr in her voice would keep her from being a world class opera singer.......

      Man, I loved Crystal Singer.

      the Pern stuff was fun, but Crystal Singer was always my favorite.

      jaz

      --
      Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. No-one sees motorcycles
  3. Anne by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Out of life, and into legend. Even Arthur C Clarke had a soft spot for her.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  4. RIP to such a wonderful person by Cito · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Anne was really great, and enjoyed her fans a lot. I remember back in 1998 I had old crappy computer on dialup and had read all but 2 of the Pern series, as well as read the Rowan trilogy and Powers that be books. I really didn't expect to get a reply but I saw her email address on her website which was that good ol' html 1.0 look :) would make a geocities page proud haha. Anyhow I emailed her with praise and a couple questions I had on the book "The white dragon' about Jaxom & Ruth and was shocked after about a week she replied with 4 paragraphs, thanking me, and answering my questions and a couple with a "keep reading..." response.

    I remember the countless times on her website and on the newsgroups (which she also posted to by the way) she was always asked about doing a movie. She had been approached countless times. But it always fell through because she didn't want the series butchered and she wanted creative control. Of course as the 2 or 3 times we heard the news of talks of a movie fall through, us on the newsgroup and on her website were sad but also happy that some 2-bit director wouldn't horribly butcher her magnum opus.

    I know her son has been continuing the pern saga the last few years with Anne's blessing. But it just don't feel like Anne when reading the newer stuff. Although good, it's hard to explain.

    I am saddened, but very glad and honored to have been able to come across and fall in love with her books so many years ago, which included a rereading of the Pern beginnings as my son got little older and I started reading him Pern as a bedtime story.

    1. Re:RIP to such a wonderful person by jd · · Score: 5, Informative

      She was still posting on her blog and replying to fans a few weeks ago. I think it is her relationship with the fans that kept her going, to be honest. I met her at WorldCon in Glasgow back in the 90s and she wasn't all that well then. But when she talked with those of us at the coffee clatch, her energy seemed boundless.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    2. Re:RIP to such a wonderful person by btpier · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I know from personal experience how important her fans where to her:
      In the late 90's my wife and I, during a vacation in Ireland, actually knocked on the door of Dragonhold-Underhill. Many of the dust jackets on her books give very good clues about where she lives and several of them mention she welcomes visits from fans as long as you call ahead. Try as we might during our previous 5 days in Ireland we were unable to find a number we could reach her at, although I did manage to call her stables but she wasn't there. After a bit of driving around Wicklow we found her home and decided we'd take the chance to knock on the door, politely apologize for showing up unannounced, and ask if we could talk to Anne for a moment. Todd answered the door, said hold on and closed it again. We figured that was it and prepared to leave. A minute later he opens the door again and there is Anne! I gave her a enormous hug (I couldn't help it) which I believe made Todd nervous for a minute but Anne laughed and said you don't get a greeting like that at your door everyday. She warmly and kindly invited us into her home and chatted with us over tea and cookies for an hour. She introduced us to her mother, daughter, and Todd and gave us a tour of her home. On the way out she told us we should drive through Wicklow Pass and we'd see her vision of Pern. I'll never forget that day and often share the story with new readers of her books.

      One thing I learned during our visit was the main reason she stopped writing was due to a combination of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and arthritis. She had tried speech to text programs but they didn't work for her because of the way she wrote and how her creative process worked.

      She was a fabulous lady who will be missed dearly by many, many people. She will always be the Masterharper. May her dragons sing her between!

  5. May she live in her fantasy worlds forever. by spokenoise · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Being a geeky kid at school I often sought sanctuary in the library where someone cool wanted us to have an alternative to the same dry stuff and regularly donated great boxes of sci-fi and fantasy. These helped me through that era of life far more than anything else. The Dragonriders were and still are a favourite that I look forward to sharing with my kids. Rest IN Peace Anne.

  6. Re:Shards by Hyperhaplo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

    James Nicoll

    This is the second time in two days that this quote is (probably) appropriate. I wonder at what point it becomes worthwhile to write a macro :-)

    Meanwhile, I take your point but persist in the notion that the Covenant novels are, in my opinion, a good worthwhile read. Just takes a couple of reads to get everything :-)

    Better than Tolkien though.. that could be a real slog.

    I will miss Anne McCaffrey's writing style. Good thing is that there will always all of the books she left behind for all of us.
    What I like about her writing is that it is understandable, clearly defined and easy to process. I can open just about any of her books and enjoyably pick up the story, even if only for a chapter. Good to unwind your mind before sleep.

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