Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011)
http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2011/11/anne-mccaffrey-april-1-1926-november-21-2011.html
I feel compelled to pay tribute to her, since it was through being a fan of her works that I met some of my earliest internet friends, some of whom I still sort of keep in touch with and do miss. It's been so long since I read any of Ms McCaffrey's books but she was a hugely influential force in my youth as a writer, and the first author to be so influential for me that didn't write about unicorns or magical horses.
Her writing was a unique blend of fantasy and science-fiction, combining the high-tech of space-travel to reach the new world of Pern, and the low-tech of using natural resources for light and fuel and using specially-bred dragons to combat the constant threat of Threadfall. I have yet to see another author who blended the two genres so well, so many different ways and so many times.
As I grew older and wiser as a writer, and read more and more books in the genres, when I came back to the Pern series, I was a bit disappointed by some of the underlying themes that seemed to seethe beneath the surface in ways that I didn't really like, the inherent sexism and male-dominance, but still I respect the richness and depth with which the world of Pern was created and defined. I can only wish I could create a world so vibrant and believable, familiar and yet alien at the same time, as Pern.
Granted, Mrs McCaffrey was 85, which is no spring chicken, but it still saddens me that she's gone.
So, to all my friends out there that were part of Welach Weyr... let's raise a glass and toast the late, great Dragonlady herself. We owe part of our youth to her imagination, after all. I learned a lot of writing techniques while playing in her world with our Welach Weyr RP stuff and I think we all learned a lot about ourselves and each other while doing so.
I feel compelled to pay tribute to her, since it was through being a fan of her works that I met some of my earliest internet friends, some of whom I still sort of keep in touch with and do miss. It's been so long since I read any of Ms McCaffrey's books but she was a hugely influential force in my youth as a writer, and the first author to be so influential for me that didn't write about unicorns or magical horses.
Her writing was a unique blend of fantasy and science-fiction, combining the high-tech of space-travel to reach the new world of Pern, and the low-tech of using natural resources for light and fuel and using specially-bred dragons to combat the constant threat of Threadfall. I have yet to see another author who blended the two genres so well, so many different ways and so many times.
As I grew older and wiser as a writer, and read more and more books in the genres, when I came back to the Pern series, I was a bit disappointed by some of the underlying themes that seemed to seethe beneath the surface in ways that I didn't really like, the inherent sexism and male-dominance, but still I respect the richness and depth with which the world of Pern was created and defined. I can only wish I could create a world so vibrant and believable, familiar and yet alien at the same time, as Pern.
Granted, Mrs McCaffrey was 85, which is no spring chicken, but it still saddens me that she's gone.
So, to all my friends out there that were part of Welach Weyr... let's raise a glass and toast the late, great Dragonlady herself. We owe part of our youth to her imagination, after all. I learned a lot of writing techniques while playing in her world with our Welach Weyr RP stuff and I think we all learned a lot about ourselves and each other while doing so.