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posted by [personal profile] owlfish at 10:15pm on 22/11/2011
I just read, third-hand, that Anne McCaffrey died yesterday. It's news enough that this is the first I can find of it; the world is now such that it's notable that Wikipedia hasn't even been updated yet. But it's plausible enough. She was increasingly frail, had long since handed on the torches of writing in her series, and stopped going to conventions years ago.

No author had a greater impact on the development of my social life and getting to know sf fandom than she did. More anon with further confirmation of this.

Updated: [livejournal.com profile] sioneva finds that GalleyCat confirmed it with Random House an hour ago.
And Tor.com confirms she had a stroke on Monday.
Random House confirms it first-hand.
There are 10 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 
posted by [identity profile] sioneva.livejournal.com at 10:18pm on 22/11/2011
Very sad. Her later books were...not her best but I have a number of her novels on my shelf and still love them!
 
posted by [identity profile] sioneva.livejournal.com at 10:20pm on 22/11/2011
This source, at least, claims to have confirmed it with Random House: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/anne-mccaffrey-has-died_b42826
 
posted by [identity profile] tisiphone.livejournal.com at 10:23pm on 22/11/2011
That's very sad. Anne McCaffrey was absolutely one of the biggest influences on my intellectual development (especially my writing), and also she spun an excellent yarn.
 
posted by [identity profile] alexmc.livejournal.com at 10:32pm on 22/11/2011
bugger
ext_59934: (Default)
posted by [identity profile] taldragon.livejournal.com at 10:42pm on 22/11/2011
oh wow. RIP Ms McCaffrey.
 
posted by [identity profile] aquitaineq.livejournal.com at 10:46pm on 22/11/2011
That's sad, though she had a long productive life! I used to read her books like crazy. I stopped at a certain point because I liked where things had been left with certain series.
Well, that and some traits of her writing kinda annoyed me (mainly the way she kept pairing like 18 year old girls with 40+ year old men). Also, as series went forward she kept taking people you liked from the previous books and turning them into jerks. So I just don't read those ;)
 
posted by [identity profile] makyo.livejournal.com at 11:04pm on 22/11/2011
This is very sad. Her dragon books (in particular Dragonsong and The White Dragon) were some of the first fantasy books I read. I met her very briefly once, at a bookshop in Nottingham (she signed a copy of The Rowan for my sister) and I remember her being friendly and approachable. Some years later, I got a short-term programming job in Dublin, and just before I went, Jack Cohen said "Do you know Anne McCaffrey? Here's her phone number - give her a call, I'm sure she'd love to talk to you". (Obviously I was far too nervous to actually follow his advice and I regret that a little.)
 
posted by [identity profile] borusa.livejournal.com at 11:12pm on 22/11/2011
That makes me quite sad. I loved many of her books, and if, sometimes, I look at them now with slightly less forgiving eyes, I still remember that they filled me with delight.

Dragonsinger: Harper of Pern still does, really.
gillo: (sunset scene)
posted by [personal profile] gillo at 12:26am on 23/11/2011
A friend who acted as a first reader for her posted an email from her daughter a couple of hours ago.

The internet is a wondrous thing, in sad as well as good events.

I loved Menolly. RIP Anne.
 
posted by [identity profile] rhube.livejournal.com at 11:36pm on 23/11/2011
Damnit - I keep trying to comment and LJ keeps eating it!

Anyway - I only just heard today. Couldn't believe it. Didn't remember, until I heard, just quite how much her books meant to me. For what it's worth, I've written my own tribute of sorts: http://serenitywomble.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/rest-well-anne-mccaffrey/ .

What a woman. What an imagination.

Thank you Anne. Rest well.

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