Anne McCaffrey, 1926-2011
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?Best-selling, beloved fantasy author Anne McCaffrey passed earlier today at the age of 85. Although she wrote or co-wrote more than 100 books, she will be best remembered for her long-running Dragonriders of Pern serie. She was the first woman to win the Nebula and Hugo awards for science fiction writing, the first female science fiction/fantasy author on the New York Times best-seller list, and was made the 22nd Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2005.
Like so many nerds, I devoured all the Pern books I could get my hands on in middle school; I remember distinctly reading Dragonsdawn and discovering what I thought was a great fantasy series was secretly a science fiction story in disguise. It blew me away. So long, Anne, and thanks for all the dragons.
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.