TEXAS - James Michener (90), one of the world's great authors, died yesterday, according to TV reports in Austin, Texas. Friends said on Monday he had stopped taking kidney dialysis treatment. Michener won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for his first book Tales of the South Pacific, which became the musical South Pacific. He went on to write some 40 books which sold more than 75 million copies. Along with South Pacific, his books Sayonara, Hawaii and The Bridges at Toko-Ri, were made into films.