SF Writer Ann (A.C.) Crispin Has Died

Science fiction and fantasy writer Ann (A.C.) Crispin has died at 63 due to cancer, numerous sources have confirmed.  (Here’s an obituary from Tor.com.)  Ms. Crispin wrote numerous novels, many of them being media tie-ins with emotional depth and resonance (such as her two Star Trek novels, YESTERDAY’S SON and TIME FOR YESTERDAY); she also wrote two excellent novels with André Norton, GRYPHON’S EYRIE and SONGSMITH, and several in her own STARBRIDGE series.

Ms. Crispin was an excellent writer, but she also was very interested in helping newcomers navigate the world of publishing.  Alongside this blog is a list of links, one being to a site called Writer Beware.  That site was co-founded by Ms. Crispin and Victoria Strauss because they both wanted writers to arm themselves with knowledge and to know what a reasonable, honest contract from a publisher should look like — and what one definitely should not look like.

I never met Ms. Crispin personally, never talked with her in any depth online, but I still feel a debt is owed to her due to all of her advocacy through Writer Beware.  And as I read and enjoyed many of her twenty-four complete novels (much less her numerous short stories), but never reviewed any of them (some of them predate my excursions into reviewing; others were printed in the years right after my beloved husband Michael’s passing, where I rarely reviewed anything or had much of an online presence, either), I wish I had said something while there was still time.

Others who did know Ms. Crispin personally have shared at least some of their experiences, including Crispin’s best friend, Victoria Strauss a few days ago (Crispin had posted a message saying she knew her time was short, and Ms. Strauss posted a wrap-around message with a picture of the two of them together, walking along the beach — it’s a beautiful shot).  As Ms. Strauss said today, “Please honor Ann’s memory, and her work, by reading her books and spreading the word about Writer Beware.”

I agree.

On a personal level, I wanted to mention that my late husband, Michael, was also a fan of Ms. Crispin, partly because he was a huge fan of Andre Norton and knew about Crispin’s two collaborations with Norton.  He started reading Ms. Crispin’s work because of those collaborations, as did I, then read her Star Trek novels and the entire Starbridge series, among others.  We also recommended her books to our friends, though we found that most of them had already read her books before we got a chance to recommend them.  (Strange how we all tended to read the same books, but that is a subject for a different blog than this one.)

In case you haven’t read Ann Crispin’s work, here’s a link to her available books on Amazon.  Take a look.  Then buy something, and look forward to a great read with emotional depth and poignance.

Because that’s what Ms. Crispin was best at, whenever she wasn’t over at Writer Beware helping out other writers.

My condolences to Ms. Crispin’s family, especially her husband, writer Michael Capobianco, her best friend, writer and Writer Beware co-founder Victoria Strauss, and to all of her fans, everywhere.  She will be greatly missed.

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Note: Earlier this week, the SF&F community lost another great writer — a pioneer in the field, no less — Frederik Pohl — at the age of  93, and the world at large lost writer and television broadcaster David Frost at 74.  Supposedly, it’s a myth that noteworthy passings come in threes . . . yet here, that myth has proven out.  (Strange, that.)