Anne McCaffrey RIP

US-born Anne McCaffrey, author of the Dragonriders of Pern series of fantasy novels, has died at her home in Ireland at the age of 85. She was the first woman to break into the all-male preserve of sci-fi and fantasy writing. Her Pern novella Weyr Search (1967) won a Hugo award and Dragonflight (1968) won a Nebula award. She broke into the New York Times bestseller list with The White Dragon (1978). The picture shows the cover of her latest Pern novel, co-written with her son Todd, Dragon's Time (2011), painted by award-winning British fantasy artist Les Edwards (CLICK).