Diane, I'm so sorry
A strange way to headline a memorial post, I suppose, but it will make sense eventually. Anne McCaffrey, author of the Pern books, passed away today at the age of 85. Like with David Eddings, I suppose I shouldn't be so sad. She had a full rich life, and I hadn't willingly picked up one of her new books since Masterharper of Pern more than a decade ago. The problem with that logic is that it's not my 40-year-old self that's upset, it's my 14-year-old self, still riding along somewhere inside of me, still thrilled that he finally chose to crack that green book with the dragon on it and found out that it did indeed live up to its promise.
I loved the Pern books as a teen and young adult and I suppose I still do, even though I'm much more aware of gender politics and class issues and how quickly understanding sped past an aging divorcee who started writing to balance the scales between the sexes is sf, but ended up authoring some pretty reactionary stuff. It doesn't matter, though, because Menolly was the first fictional character I fell in love with (my ardor has since faded, but I still hate Sebell), and Lessa and F'lar were awesome, and Masterharper Robinton was one of the coolest characters I've ever read. And the dragons! They rode around on dragons who were their best friends! And if that seems a little hokey now, well, for an awkward teen, that was the best thing ever.
So when I saw that she died, I swore and swore, and then started to cry, and then thought of my dear, dear friend diadem8. If my inner 14-year-old is so torn up, her inner 5-year-old must be devastated. She got to Pern earlier than I did, and she's one of the few people I know who loved those books more than me. Di, I don't know how you feel right now, and if you're seeing this for the first time and welling up, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you. Annie's gone between and we're all a little poorer.
I loved the Pern books as a teen and young adult and I suppose I still do, even though I'm much more aware of gender politics and class issues and how quickly understanding sped past an aging divorcee who started writing to balance the scales between the sexes is sf, but ended up authoring some pretty reactionary stuff. It doesn't matter, though, because Menolly was the first fictional character I fell in love with (my ardor has since faded, but I still hate Sebell), and Lessa and F'lar were awesome, and Masterharper Robinton was one of the coolest characters I've ever read. And the dragons! They rode around on dragons who were their best friends! And if that seems a little hokey now, well, for an awkward teen, that was the best thing ever.
So when I saw that she died, I swore and swore, and then started to cry, and then thought of my dear, dear friend diadem8. If my inner 14-year-old is so torn up, her inner 5-year-old must be devastated. She got to Pern earlier than I did, and she's one of the few people I know who loved those books more than me. Di, I don't know how you feel right now, and if you're seeing this for the first time and welling up, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you. Annie's gone between and we're all a little poorer.