Female Fantasy Authors, November 2012

While Anne McCaffrey has a solid foothold in science fiction as well as fantasy, it is her gifted combination of both elements in her Dragonriders of Pern that has secured her place amongst the greatest in the genre, no matter her gender. While she may have had struggles gaining a male readership back in the '60s, there should be zero problems in that area now. She enjoyed a successful run in teaming up with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough to write the Acorna Universe and the Petaybee Universe. She then worked with her son, Todd, on several Pern novels and has left the world in his hands. McCaffrey passed in November 2011, having won Hugos, Nebulas, appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list, was the 22nd Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and entered the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006.