Damn, this has been some kind of year. We’ve been losing a lot of great people.
Early reports are coming in that sci-fi/fantasy author Anne McCaffery died November 21, 2011 of a massive stroke at home in Ireland.
She was one of the greats – her Dragonriders of Pern series was a hugely influential book, a vividly-told fantasy about dragon riders that backed up it’s mythology with science and turned the series into a fantasy sci-fi/fantasy blend.
Unfortunately I didn’t read her until a long time after Dragon Tamers came out. I would have loved her world as a kid – and I loved it as an adult, even if I disagreed with certain beliefs she held.
If you like dragons, you’ll love her work. And who are you kidding? Everyone likes dragons. From Dragon Age to Skyrim, Harry Potter to the Hobbit, Game of Thrones to World of Warcraft, if you like fantasy you’re going to love dragons.
RIP Anne McCaffrey.
Your work changed science fiction and fantasy for the better, and your legacy will live on.