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vr_trakowskiIn which I talk about Anne McCaffrey. Among other things.
Back when my brother was five, which would make me nine years old, a new family moved into our neighborhood a block or so away. They had twins my brother's age, and were something less than a decade (my guess) younger than my parents, having started reproducing earlier. Betty and my mother became friends quickly, and eventually best friends, though they disagreed on many things.
I played with the twins as we grew up and eventually babysat them; we were often in and out of each others' houses, and both sets of parents would provide overnight childcare for the others from time to time. When the P-s (last name redacted to protect the innocent, and that's what we called them anyway) were in town for holidays, we generally ate a celebratory meal together. I had a great fondness for their fireplace, and Ralph's homemade pizza.
As I got older, Betty and I discovered we had similar tastes in books. My mom reads fantasy on occasion, but it's not really her thing; Betty loved it, and sci-fi as well. Through her I learned Star Trek*, and we saw The Voyage Home together in the theater. One of her graduation gifts to me was the novelization and a VHS copy of the film. She hooked me on Diane Duane's Trek novels when I was fifteen, and through that door I found the rest of the wonder that is Ms. Duane's writing. She gave me my first taste of the quietly wonderful Zenna Henderson.
And she gave me Pern by giving me the Harper Hall books to read. And then the others.
This was back when there were only six novels in the series, though eventually I learned the first seven all so well that in eighth grade my best friend and I quizzed each other on them throughout the school year...and ran out of questions. I think I have read Dragonflight at least a hundred times--no exaggeration. I know the first six so well that when I came across an abridged version of The White Dragon in Bath I could pick out what was missing--which is why I ended up corresponding briefly with Anne McCaffrey. I wrote her to ask if she was aware of the abridgement, and she replied (and this was before e-mail was widespread) that yes, she knew; when she was first published in Britain, her publisher thought The White Dragon wouldn't sell because it was too long. Apparently the response from UK booksellers was that her books were the one series that did sell, whatever the format. Certainly when I was there the sci-fi/fantasy selection was pretty poor in both bookshops and libraries, though that may well have changed.†
The rest of that story is a tale for another time, though it does involve Betty.
I have most of the Pern series to date, including the two graphic novels and the choose-your-own-adventure Robinton book. I think I sold The Atlas of Pern because it wasn't very interesting, but I do have The People of Pern.☛ I have a Menolly poster autographed by Ms. Wood and given to me by Betty, and I have a much-loved golden fire lizard (wearable soft sculpture) from the one person authorized by Ms. McCaffrey to call them so.☂ But I draw the line most firmly at anything Todd McCaffrey had his hand in, bar the scattershot but nicely done Dragonholder. Ms. McCaffrey may have approved his dabbling in her world, but he's terrible at it. He doesn't just write poorly; it's badfic. It's one thing to come up with new ideas; it's quite another to rewrite (or worse, mistake) history and then slap new abilities onto creatures whose format has been firm for forty years. For instance, I didn't know it was possible to turn a dragon into a Mary Sue. A tragic one, at that.
Granted, the series has its own flaws, and I've heard it disparaged as cliche, but the truth is it's a cliche now because of what Ms. McCaffrey created. She wrote the short story of Weyr Search to "improve the reputation of dragons", and managed to not only expand the genre but become one of the early female superstars of sci-fi. The early books in particular are somewhat a product of their time in certain attitudes. But they hold up. They are still rich and engaging and the characters are vivid and fascinating and human--or dragonish, as the case may be.
The series did get somewhat spotty later, but as I think of it, when you're past seventy with a long, distinguished, and best-selling publishing history you're allowed to turn out a few less-than-stellar efforts. It's a solidly-built world; I still have the occasional nightmare about death falling silently from the sky.
I like many of her other books as well, some more than others. I'm fond of the first two Crystal Singer books; I actually named my fire lizard Teradia without thinking about it, and that was before I read Killashandra. I have a sneaking delight in some of Get Off the Unicorn!. The psi power books don't do much for me, but I loved the Dinosaur Planet books the first time I read them. I never got into Acorna, though. I adore Restoree, though the framework is a bit shaky; it's the characters that make that book, and deservedly so. They're all, again, vivid. In fact, now that I think about it, Ferrill reminds me a touch of Emperor Gregor...
I'm also privileged to own all but one of her non-sf/f books. The Lady is quite enjoyable, an interesting glimpse into a time and place; Ring of Fear is basically dated pulp and is of interest (in my aged opinion) only to completists. Stitch in Snow is a fun little romance, not at all standard, and all the more interesting because the heroine is not only middle-aged but older than the hero. I haven't read The Year of the Lucy in too long to give an opinion, but I really enjoy The Mark of Merlin, in part because one of the main characters is a German shepherd.
Betty died in 1997. I never obtained the signed Pern book I wanted to give her, as a thank-you for all the wonderful years of reading and discussion. I did end up with some first-edition Pern novels from her collection, after her death, every one a memory of her even if I prefer the Michael Whelan covers (the early ones are hideous). I never got to mock the collaborations with her, or share the joy of The Masterharper of Pern. I did get to tell her about the complete People collection of Zenna Henderson's work, and lend it to her, and I take comfort in that, because it includes previously unpublished stories. We didn't get to fangirl over the last three Rihannsu books.
But because of Betty I have Pern, and ch'Rihan and ch'Havran, and the Tale of the Five, and the Wizardry universe, and heck, Trek itself. I have the beautiful example of faith entwined in story without damaging either; I have heroines who can manage quite well on their own, thank you, and heroes who can let them. Betty took me by the hand and led me through wonderful doors, which opened to still more, and one of the widest opened on Rukbat, that golden G-type star, and the waiting world it lit.
And I still want a fire lizard.
* For some reason my parents took me to see the first film. I still don't know why. My dad also took me to see III, which confused me as I had not seen II.
† I ended up buying books at charity shops a lot. I also bought some Doctor Who novels out of desperation, but they were almost uniformly grim. I hope this trend, too, has changed.
☛ I once got into a (friendly) argument with Robin Wood at a con concerning one of her paintings, though I didn't know she was the artist at the time. I'm still not convinced she was right.
☂ Chrysalis Ltd., if I recall correctly (it's been twenty-five years, after all!). The owner, sadly, died some time ago.
Back when my brother was five, which would make me nine years old, a new family moved into our neighborhood a block or so away. They had twins my brother's age, and were something less than a decade (my guess) younger than my parents, having started reproducing earlier. Betty and my mother became friends quickly, and eventually best friends, though they disagreed on many things.
I played with the twins as we grew up and eventually babysat them; we were often in and out of each others' houses, and both sets of parents would provide overnight childcare for the others from time to time. When the P-s (last name redacted to protect the innocent, and that's what we called them anyway) were in town for holidays, we generally ate a celebratory meal together. I had a great fondness for their fireplace, and Ralph's homemade pizza.
As I got older, Betty and I discovered we had similar tastes in books. My mom reads fantasy on occasion, but it's not really her thing; Betty loved it, and sci-fi as well. Through her I learned Star Trek*, and we saw The Voyage Home together in the theater. One of her graduation gifts to me was the novelization and a VHS copy of the film. She hooked me on Diane Duane's Trek novels when I was fifteen, and through that door I found the rest of the wonder that is Ms. Duane's writing. She gave me my first taste of the quietly wonderful Zenna Henderson.
And she gave me Pern by giving me the Harper Hall books to read. And then the others.
This was back when there were only six novels in the series, though eventually I learned the first seven all so well that in eighth grade my best friend and I quizzed each other on them throughout the school year...and ran out of questions. I think I have read Dragonflight at least a hundred times--no exaggeration. I know the first six so well that when I came across an abridged version of The White Dragon in Bath I could pick out what was missing--which is why I ended up corresponding briefly with Anne McCaffrey. I wrote her to ask if she was aware of the abridgement, and she replied (and this was before e-mail was widespread) that yes, she knew; when she was first published in Britain, her publisher thought The White Dragon wouldn't sell because it was too long. Apparently the response from UK booksellers was that her books were the one series that did sell, whatever the format. Certainly when I was there the sci-fi/fantasy selection was pretty poor in both bookshops and libraries, though that may well have changed.†
The rest of that story is a tale for another time, though it does involve Betty.
I have most of the Pern series to date, including the two graphic novels and the choose-your-own-adventure Robinton book. I think I sold The Atlas of Pern because it wasn't very interesting, but I do have The People of Pern.☛ I have a Menolly poster autographed by Ms. Wood and given to me by Betty, and I have a much-loved golden fire lizard (wearable soft sculpture) from the one person authorized by Ms. McCaffrey to call them so.☂ But I draw the line most firmly at anything Todd McCaffrey had his hand in, bar the scattershot but nicely done Dragonholder. Ms. McCaffrey may have approved his dabbling in her world, but he's terrible at it. He doesn't just write poorly; it's badfic. It's one thing to come up with new ideas; it's quite another to rewrite (or worse, mistake) history and then slap new abilities onto creatures whose format has been firm for forty years. For instance, I didn't know it was possible to turn a dragon into a Mary Sue. A tragic one, at that.
Granted, the series has its own flaws, and I've heard it disparaged as cliche, but the truth is it's a cliche now because of what Ms. McCaffrey created. She wrote the short story of Weyr Search to "improve the reputation of dragons", and managed to not only expand the genre but become one of the early female superstars of sci-fi. The early books in particular are somewhat a product of their time in certain attitudes. But they hold up. They are still rich and engaging and the characters are vivid and fascinating and human--or dragonish, as the case may be.
The series did get somewhat spotty later, but as I think of it, when you're past seventy with a long, distinguished, and best-selling publishing history you're allowed to turn out a few less-than-stellar efforts. It's a solidly-built world; I still have the occasional nightmare about death falling silently from the sky.
I like many of her other books as well, some more than others. I'm fond of the first two Crystal Singer books; I actually named my fire lizard Teradia without thinking about it, and that was before I read Killashandra. I have a sneaking delight in some of Get Off the Unicorn!. The psi power books don't do much for me, but I loved the Dinosaur Planet books the first time I read them. I never got into Acorna, though. I adore Restoree, though the framework is a bit shaky; it's the characters that make that book, and deservedly so. They're all, again, vivid. In fact, now that I think about it, Ferrill reminds me a touch of Emperor Gregor...
I'm also privileged to own all but one of her non-sf/f books. The Lady is quite enjoyable, an interesting glimpse into a time and place; Ring of Fear is basically dated pulp and is of interest (in my aged opinion) only to completists. Stitch in Snow is a fun little romance, not at all standard, and all the more interesting because the heroine is not only middle-aged but older than the hero. I haven't read The Year of the Lucy in too long to give an opinion, but I really enjoy The Mark of Merlin, in part because one of the main characters is a German shepherd.
Betty died in 1997. I never obtained the signed Pern book I wanted to give her, as a thank-you for all the wonderful years of reading and discussion. I did end up with some first-edition Pern novels from her collection, after her death, every one a memory of her even if I prefer the Michael Whelan covers (the early ones are hideous). I never got to mock the collaborations with her, or share the joy of The Masterharper of Pern. I did get to tell her about the complete People collection of Zenna Henderson's work, and lend it to her, and I take comfort in that, because it includes previously unpublished stories. We didn't get to fangirl over the last three Rihannsu books.
But because of Betty I have Pern, and ch'Rihan and ch'Havran, and the Tale of the Five, and the Wizardry universe, and heck, Trek itself. I have the beautiful example of faith entwined in story without damaging either; I have heroines who can manage quite well on their own, thank you, and heroes who can let them. Betty took me by the hand and led me through wonderful doors, which opened to still more, and one of the widest opened on Rukbat, that golden G-type star, and the waiting world it lit.
And I still want a fire lizard.
* For some reason my parents took me to see the first film. I still don't know why. My dad also took me to see III, which confused me as I had not seen II.
† I ended up buying books at charity shops a lot. I also bought some Doctor Who novels out of desperation, but they were almost uniformly grim. I hope this trend, too, has changed.
☛ I once got into a (friendly) argument with Robin Wood at a con concerning one of her paintings, though I didn't know she was the artist at the time. I'm still not convinced she was right.
☂ Chrysalis Ltd., if I recall correctly (it's been twenty-five years, after all!). The owner, sadly, died some time ago.