Anne McCaffery Dragons Pern Cover - P 2011
Dragonriders of Pern author Anne McCaffrey has died. She was 85 and died at her home in Ireland after a stroke on Nov. 21, according to Del Rey Books and Random House.
The science fiction and fantasy writer is best known for her 14 Dragonriders of Pern novels and the two-part The Ship Who Sang.
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Her first novel, Restoree, was published in 1967, and, as her official website relays, was “written as a protest against the absurd and unrealistic portrayals of women in sci-fi novels in the ’50s and early ’60s.” She went on to write nearly 100 books, including Decision at Doona, the Acorna young adult series, Dinosaur Planet, Stitch in Snow and The Year of the Lucy.
McCaffrey was the first woman to win Hugo and Nebula awards, notes the Wall St. Journal. She was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006.
In April, Watchmen and X-Men writer David Hayter inked a deal to pen a big screen adaptation of the Dragonriders book series for Copperheart Entertainment and Entertainment One.
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Copperheart’s Steve Hoban (Splice) and Carver will produce the film, with Susan Montford of Angry Films and Hayter executive producing along with Transformers producer Don Murphy. Production is scheduled to begin early 2012.
Dragonflight, the first in the Dragonriders of Pern series, features an elite group of warriors take to the skies on the backs of giant, fire-breathing, telepathic dragons to save the wondrously exotic planet of Pern from a terrifying airborne menace.
McCaffrey is survived by two sons and a daughter.
Additional reporting by Etan Vlessing.
