Anne McCaffrey, the prolific science fiction and fantasy author who was best known for her “Dragonriders of Pern” novels, has died of a stroke at her home in Ireland. She was 85.

Anne McCaffrey (Image via Flickr user Bill Rusham ) McCaffrey is celebrated for the new worlds she created in her fiction, such as in the “Dragonriders of Pern” — where a whole society is based on dragon-riding, and in “The Ship Who Sang” — in which a starship’s functions are controlled entirely by a severely disabled girl.

McCaffrey also helped transform the way science fiction writers wrote about women, and became the first woman to win a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award, as well as a Grand Master of science fiction. Below, some tributes written for McCaffrey:

“I met her as a person in the late 80s, when I was a young writer, at a convention, where she was the Guest of Honour. It was a small convention, and she decided that I needed to be taken under her wing and given advice I would need in later life, which she proceeded to do. It was all good advice. ... I liked her as a writer, and by the end of that convention I adored her as a person.”

— Neil Gaiman, graphic novelist, author of “Sandman”

“Anne McCaffrey, the lady who taught dragons to fly and spaceships to sing...”

— FantasyFiction.com