Anne McCaffrey, Dragonriders of Pern creator, dead at 85

By Matthew Jackson, Source: Blastr.com

Anne McCaffrey, the groundbreaking, award-winning fantasy author who won a dedicated following with her sci-fi/fantasy blending series Dragonriders of Pern, passed away Tuesday, November 22. She is survived by her three children.

After beginning her writing life by contributing short stories to sci-fi magazines in the ’50s and ’60s, McCaffrey kicked off her stellar career as a novelist in 1967 with Restoree, and since then published more than 100 books, including short story collections, guides to her fantasy worlds and even cookbooks. She won acclaim from fans, becoming the first female writer to win a Hugo Award in 1968, and from her sci-fi and fantasy peers as well, becoming the first female writer to win a Nebula Award in 1969. Despite the praise, she initially struggled financially as a writer, living in Ireland in the early ’70s and fighting to make ends meet.

Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders will finally take flight as a movie

The Dragonriders of Pern series of books has been stuck in Development Hell for years. You know what Development Hell is, right? It’s more like limbo: a place where some great ideas are stuck and unable to actually get turned into movies. Now the series has FINALLY been freed from that Hell.

According to Deadline, Dragonriders of Pern is going into production in early 2012:

David Hayter has been set to write the script for Dragonlight, the first novel in a series that includes 22 novels generated by Anne McCaffrey. Steve Hoban’s Copperheart Entertainment has teamed with Hayter and Benedict Carver’s Dark Hero Studios and Angry Films partners Don Murphy and Susan Montford on the project.

Hoban has apparently been trying to bring Dragonriders to the big screen for 14 years. It looks like he’s about to succeed.