Author Ann “A.C.” Crispin died 6 September 2013 of cancer. Born in Stamford, Connecticut, on 5 April 1950, her death comes three days after she posted on Facebook “I want to thank you all for your good wishes and prayers. I fear my condition is deteriorating. I am doing the best I can to be positive but I probably don’t have an awful lot of time left. I want you all to know that I am receiving excellent care and am surrounded by family and friends. I wish all aspiring writers the will to finish and a good contract. Please continue to monitor Writer Beware and be careful who you sign with. Victoria Strauss and Richard White are there to help.”

Crispin was the author of more than 20 novels, starting with the 1983 Star Trek tie-in, Yesterday’s Son (she would go on to write six Star Trek novels). She also wrote the original novelization and co-wrote two tie-in novels to the 1980s’ version of V, and the Han Solo Star Wars trilogy (1997). This year, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers named her its Grand Master during their seventh annual Scribe Awards.

Beyond the tie-in novels, she also wrote original novels, including creating the Starbridge series, which grew to eight novels (most of them co-authored). She wrote two Witch World novels with Andre Norton, and several others.

Crispin was very active in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for as long as I was aware of the organization, and we served together on the Board of Directors for two years. But as active as she was in the main organization, it was her efforts in Writer Beware that will be her greatest legacy. She co-founded the watchdog organization in 1998 with Victoria Strauss, and devoted much time and effort to it over the years. Writer Beware’s “mission is to track, expose, and raise awareness of the prevalence of fraud and other questionable activities in and around the publishing industry.”

She is survived by her husband, author Michael Capobianco, with whom she shared SFWA’s Service Award in 2004.