Gone Between
On Monday, a coworker who knows I’m a ginormous nerd came over to my desk and said, Oh, hey, I have to tell you about this book we bought over the weekend, Ender’s Game? And I was all, Um. And she was all, Oh, is it bad? and I was all, Well, a lot of people really like it, and it’s considered a classic of modern sci-fi, but the author is, um, kind of a homophobic asshat? And she was all, ... dammit. I am going to kill the person who recommended that to us.
As I was lying in bed falling asleep that night, I started thinking about other books I could recommend to her, by authors who weren’t complete shitefucks. And that got me thinking about some of the greats of the genre that we’ve lost recently, and that led to me thinking about Anne McCaffrey. As you do. At least I thought to myself, she’s still alive and kicking.
Back when I was 11, we moved to Page, AZ. And, like, take how socially awkward I am now, and then multiply that by a factor of adolescence, and you will have some idea of how long it took me to make friends there. In the meantime, I did what I always do, and devoured about a book a day. My aunt and uncle came for a visit, and my aunt and I got to talking books. She mentioned this series that had dragons, and a strong female protagonist, and was written by a woman. Our local library had them, so I started in on the first book in the series - a green covered paperback with a golden dragon on the front.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that her writing had some problematic elements to it (and she herself has some… interesting ideas about human sexuality) but back then? All I knew was that those books were total escapism. The world-building was so thorough, the characters so real. I devoured every one of them I could get my hands on at the library, and then started collecting them on my own shelves. They were my gateway drug to all of the hundreds of books by the dozens of sci-fi authors I spent the rest of my adolescence reading.
I hadn’t read much by her in recent years - I wasn’t terribly keen on the last series of hers that came out as I was finishing high school, and I haven’t been reading as much SFF in general. So I didn’t realize how hard the news of her death last night would hit me. I have to admit, I full-on sobbed. She was a true trailblazer in the genre, and we will not see her like again.
As I was lying in bed falling asleep that night, I started thinking about other books I could recommend to her, by authors who weren’t complete shitefucks. And that got me thinking about some of the greats of the genre that we’ve lost recently, and that led to me thinking about Anne McCaffrey. As you do. At least I thought to myself, she’s still alive and kicking.
Back when I was 11, we moved to Page, AZ. And, like, take how socially awkward I am now, and then multiply that by a factor of adolescence, and you will have some idea of how long it took me to make friends there. In the meantime, I did what I always do, and devoured about a book a day. My aunt and uncle came for a visit, and my aunt and I got to talking books. She mentioned this series that had dragons, and a strong female protagonist, and was written by a woman. Our local library had them, so I started in on the first book in the series - a green covered paperback with a golden dragon on the front.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that her writing had some problematic elements to it (and she herself has some… interesting ideas about human sexuality) but back then? All I knew was that those books were total escapism. The world-building was so thorough, the characters so real. I devoured every one of them I could get my hands on at the library, and then started collecting them on my own shelves. They were my gateway drug to all of the hundreds of books by the dozens of sci-fi authors I spent the rest of my adolescence reading.
I hadn’t read much by her in recent years - I wasn’t terribly keen on the last series of hers that came out as I was finishing high school, and I haven’t been reading as much SFF in general. So I didn’t realize how hard the news of her death last night would hit me. I have to admit, I full-on sobbed. She was a true trailblazer in the genre, and we will not see her like again.