R.I.P. Anne McCaffrey, Creator of Pern and The Ship Who Sang

[thundley4]

Anne McCaffrey wasn't just the inventor of Pern, the world where a whole society is based on dragon-riding. She was also an incredibly influential author who helped transform the way science fiction and fantasy authors wrote about women, and the way all of us thought about bodies and selfhood. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award, as well as a Grand Master of science fiction.

Besides the Pern books, McCaffrey wrote the classic space-faring novel The Ship Who Sang, in which a severely disabled girl becomes the core of a starship, or Brainship, with her mind controlling all its major functions. McCaffrey's novel provided a startling new way to think about personhood and the nature of the mind/body connection, but also helped pave the way for a whole subgenre of posthuman space opera, in which heavily modified humans explore space.

http://io9.com/5862031/rip-anne-mccaffrey-creator-of-pern-and-other-classic-books

I started reading her Dragonriders of Pern  books after high school and still looked for her new books when in the store.

[Boudicca]

R.I.P. Ms. McCaffrey.  I never read any of Ms. McCaffrey's books but my daughter was REALLY invested in the world of Pern; she actually received several responses via email from the authoress herself to letters she wrote!

[Celtic Rose]

I started reading the Pern series when I was 14.  Kept me into Science Fiction through high school.  Rest in Peace indeed.

[thundley4]

I started reading the Pern series when I was 14.  Kept me into Science Fiction through high school.  Rest in Peace indeed.

I didn't start reading them until I was 18, but I've read all of them and many of her other books.