AC Crispin, science fiction author and advocate against literary scams, dies at age 63

NEW YORK, N.Y. – A.C. Crispin, a science fiction author who wrote popular tie-in novels to “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” and helped run the online watchdog “Writer Beware” that alerted authors to literary scams, has died.

Crispin died of cancer Friday at age 63, according to an announcement on the Web site of the publisher Tor Books, and on the site for Writer Beware.

Starting in 1983, she wrote more than 20 novels, many of them based on movies and TV series, including “Star Trek,” ”Star Wars” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Other novels by Crispin, whose full name was Ann Carol Crispin, included “Storms of Destiny,” ”Sylvester” and an original series, “Starbridge.”

In 1998, Crispin and Victoria Strauss founded Writer Beware, which provides warnings about everything from poetry contests to vanity presses.