DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Fantasy novelist Anne McCaffrey has died at her home in County Wicklow, Ireland, shortly after suffering a stroke, her publishers said. She was 85.
The author of the popular Dragonriders of Pern series of books died Monday. She is survived by two sons and a daughter.
"Surrounded by the reassuring presence of family and close friends, her passing was swift and without suffering," her family said in a statement released by Del Rey Books and Random House. "We, her children, are hugely comforted by the outpouring of sympathy flowing now from all over the world. Our mother's talent was known to countless fans. Yet her greatest gift to us all has to have been her enormous heart. That she was able to touch so many with her tender and loving heart is the greatest source of pride we will forever enjoy. Words cannot express how grateful we are to the universe of her admirers, whose heartfelt condolences beguile us in our grief, which pales beside the joy we know Anne McCaffrey brought to so many people."
