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Writerly Wednesday: RIP Anne McCaffrey
Nov. 23rd, 2011 04:09 pmI always say I don't read sci-fi, but that's not true. It's just that the only sci-fi I read is Anne McCaffrey. My first McCaffrey book was The White Dragon, which I bought second-hand at a school bookfair and paid for entirely in pennies, to the delight of the bookseller I didn't know it was part of a series, or that it was science-fiction, just that it was about dragons and that meant it was probably awesome. I completely fell in love with Jaxom and Ruth, and quickly set about finding the rest of the series.
This is the actual cover I had - it took me so freaking long to figure out that was a dragon...
The Dragonriders of Pern quickly become a minor obsession of mine. You don't even know how badly I wanted fire lizards and to live at Igen Weyr (I'm not sure why it was Igen; maybe that was the one by the sea?). My obsession reached a pinnacle with Dragonsdawn, which I still think is one of the best books I've ever read. I can't count the number of times I've re-read it.
I probably wouldn't have tried any of McCaffrey's other books though, which all sounded too "sci-fi-ey" to me, if I hadn't found a cheap omnibus of the Crystal Singer and figured I'd give it a whirl.
Wow. I'm so glad I did. The Crystal Singer trilogy is incredible. It showed me sci-fi was not necessarily what I thought it was, and that a heroine didn't have to be a nice person to be a fascinating character. Killashandra is the character responsible for the kind of heroines (and heroes) I like and write - difficult characters who may not be instantly likeable, but ultimately you can't help but root for. Encouraged by this, I tried more of McCaffrey's non-Pern books. Some were miss, some were hit. I adored the Catteni Sequence, but didn't ever get into the Rowan books. I haven't enjoyed the later, co-authored Pern books, but early this year I got Kyle into the early ones, and we've been listening to them on audiobook. It's been great to share the books I love so much with someone new, and make a new fan of them :)
I was so sad to hear Anne McCaffrey passed away, but judging by all the tweets, blogs, and Facebook statuses I've seen, her work will keep going and delighting new fans for generations to come. If you've never read a McCaffrey book, I encourage you to do so as soon as you can. If you have, I'd love to know what your favourites are.
This is the actual cover I had - it took me so freaking long to figure out that was a dragon...
The Dragonriders of Pern quickly become a minor obsession of mine. You don't even know how badly I wanted fire lizards and to live at Igen Weyr (I'm not sure why it was Igen; maybe that was the one by the sea?). My obsession reached a pinnacle with Dragonsdawn, which I still think is one of the best books I've ever read. I can't count the number of times I've re-read it.
I probably wouldn't have tried any of McCaffrey's other books though, which all sounded too "sci-fi-ey" to me, if I hadn't found a cheap omnibus of the Crystal Singer and figured I'd give it a whirl.
Wow. I'm so glad I did. The Crystal Singer trilogy is incredible. It showed me sci-fi was not necessarily what I thought it was, and that a heroine didn't have to be a nice person to be a fascinating character. Killashandra is the character responsible for the kind of heroines (and heroes) I like and write - difficult characters who may not be instantly likeable, but ultimately you can't help but root for. Encouraged by this, I tried more of McCaffrey's non-Pern books. Some were miss, some were hit. I adored the Catteni Sequence, but didn't ever get into the Rowan books. I haven't enjoyed the later, co-authored Pern books, but early this year I got Kyle into the early ones, and we've been listening to them on audiobook. It's been great to share the books I love so much with someone new, and make a new fan of them :)
I was so sad to hear Anne McCaffrey passed away, but judging by all the tweets, blogs, and Facebook statuses I've seen, her work will keep going and delighting new fans for generations to come. If you've never read a McCaffrey book, I encourage you to do so as soon as you can. If you have, I'd love to know what your favourites are.
