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Anne McCaffrey
Nov. 22nd, 2011 06:14 pmLink
Once upon a time, there was a little girl who read too much. When she was eight, her ten-year-old best friend came to visit for the summer. The small town library didn't have "Clan of the Cave Bear" or "The Mists of Avalon", but it did have "Dragonsdawn", and thus something was begun.
If "Mists" taught me how to change the story and "Cave Bear" taught be to hide things under my bed so my mother wouldn't find them (or so we could pretend she hadn't), Anne McCaffrey taught me how to dream. More than any world I've ever read, hers is the one I wanted to live in.
The Pern books aren't perfect. One scene in particular pretty much scarred me for life. But they were written for so long that they evolved as a series, showing how the genre changed as the world did too.
This series, and the others she wrote, are pretty much why I started drinking coffee. They're why I want to fly and/or be telepathic. They followed me through four countries and taught me that in Australia and the UK, books have different titles. It's how I learned the basics of genetics. And time travel. And music! AND ALSO, THERE WERE DRAGONS. AWESOME, AWESOME DRAGONS. AND I WANT ONE.
*excuse me, I'm a little emotional
Anne McCaffrey was the first woman to win a Hugo. And a Nebula. And "The White Dragon" was the first sci-fi book to hit the NYT Bestsellers List. She gave us the Hatching, and also Impression, which are still some of the most affecting written sequences of my reading experience. Aside from Pern, she gave us The Rowan, and an image of a future in space that was driven by hope, peace, and the strength of the human mind. (Also, dinosaurs, Selkie planets, space pirates, telepathic ships and TINIER, MORE PORTABLE DRAGONS.)
So thank you, Anne McCaffrey. The book world is a bit smaller today, but your world will be with me forever.
ETA: I've also just realized that Anne McCaffrey was the last of my "original six". *hugs all my writer friends extra close*
Once upon a time, there was a little girl who read too much. When she was eight, her ten-year-old best friend came to visit for the summer. The small town library didn't have "Clan of the Cave Bear" or "The Mists of Avalon", but it did have "Dragonsdawn", and thus something was begun.
If "Mists" taught me how to change the story and "Cave Bear" taught be to hide things under my bed so my mother wouldn't find them (or so we could pretend she hadn't), Anne McCaffrey taught me how to dream. More than any world I've ever read, hers is the one I wanted to live in.
The Pern books aren't perfect. One scene in particular pretty much scarred me for life. But they were written for so long that they evolved as a series, showing how the genre changed as the world did too.
This series, and the others she wrote, are pretty much why I started drinking coffee. They're why I want to fly and/or be telepathic. They followed me through four countries and taught me that in Australia and the UK, books have different titles. It's how I learned the basics of genetics. And time travel. And music! AND ALSO, THERE WERE DRAGONS. AWESOME, AWESOME DRAGONS. AND I WANT ONE.
*excuse me, I'm a little emotional
Anne McCaffrey was the first woman to win a Hugo. And a Nebula. And "The White Dragon" was the first sci-fi book to hit the NYT Bestsellers List. She gave us the Hatching, and also Impression, which are still some of the most affecting written sequences of my reading experience. Aside from Pern, she gave us The Rowan, and an image of a future in space that was driven by hope, peace, and the strength of the human mind. (Also, dinosaurs, Selkie planets, space pirates, telepathic ships and TINIER, MORE PORTABLE DRAGONS.)
So thank you, Anne McCaffrey. The book world is a bit smaller today, but your world will be with me forever.
ETA: I've also just realized that Anne McCaffrey was the last of my "original six". *hugs all my writer friends extra close*
