author: anne mccaffrey

Anne McCaffrey has died. The first woman to win the Hugo and the Nebula, and her Dragonriders books, her Lessa and Brekke and Menolly, her Rowan and The Ship that Sang, Crystal Singer and the breadth of her works between I owe a debt of gratitude for that I'll carry until the day I die.

I honestly had no idea how much this would hurt, one of the women whose work built the foundation of my love of sci-fi and fantasy, dragons and starships, but mostly, the people she created in the worlds she built who embodied all the potential of what we could become.

Comments

[jamethiel]

Wow. Her work was problematic, but it was also what I grew up on. It was the first time I'd seen female main characters of fantasy novels who were leaders.

That's sad. I'll have to dig out my copies and reread.

[scy]

Yeah, when I saw this and reported it for TV Tropes I then wandered around the house blinking a lot.

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

fuck. no.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of freaked out that I keep breaking into tears. She was pretty much my first sci-fi fantasy; I was like, twelve when I found Dragonflight and a woman who rode a queen dragon and saved the world.

I really, really didn't expect it to hit me like this.

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, same age for me.

I'm not crying but it's a close thing. I'm so sad...I love her so much. DoP is like, my go to for dragons. I have self insert fantasies about impressing a dragon when I'm bored! :( :( :(

[apetslife.livejournal.com]

Same age for me, with the Dragonsong and Dragonsinger books. A girl who could sing, and make music, and hear dragons, and just. WOW. It blew my mind and changed my life.

[crown-of-ice.livejournal.com]

You and me both...her books got me through the hardest years of my life. They were my first introduction into Grown Up books. I just...I cannot even begin to cope with this. At all. The fact that the Great Lady is gone seems utterly unreal.

[misagoddess.livejournal.com]

No...damn it. I remember the first time I read her Pern series and I still have the original Dragonsinger trilogy.

What a shame.

[traveller.livejournal.com]

I am not familiar with her work but I am familiar with the shock and pain of this kind of loss. you have my sympathy and affection.

[chosenfire28.livejournal.com]

:(

I love the Dragonrider of Pern series so much, its one of the first scifi books I've read and I fell in love with her world.

[tingler.livejournal.com]

The Dragonrider books will always hold a special place for me, but for some reason, "The Ship Who Sang" is my favorite McCaffrey book, one that I reread nearly as many times as "The Last Unicorn."

This has been a bad week for losing favorite people.

[sffan.livejournal.com]

This is a lovely tribute. Anne was one of my favourite early authors, too. I adored the Dragonrider and the Dragonsinger trilogies. I am trying to remember exactly when I stopped reading her books, but those six will always mean so much to me. She built such an incredible world and populated it with great characters. I won't "blame" her for the dragon tattoo on my back, but her stories of telepathic dragons and their incredible riders are definitely a contributing factor.

[aubergineautumn.livejournal.com]

She really empowered and made female characters the focus of the story, in a way that few authors ever have

[apetslife.livejournal.com]

I can still picture whole pages from Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, the very first modern fantasy novels I'd ever read. I gulped them down like water, and dreamed of fire lizards for years afterwards. Menolly and Sebell, the Masterharper, Brekke and Jaxom and Ruth and Lessa and F'lar...I haven't read the books in over 15 years and their names still roll right off my tongue.

Bless, Anne, for giving us dragons.

[helene94.livejournal.com]

...oh. ow.

I discovered Lessa at 10, Menolly a year later, then Killashandra and Helga, and I'm going to miss her SO MUCH. She taught me so much...that girls save the world ALL THE TIME, that we're all capable of taking care of ourselves.

...and she started me off on what has turned out to be a lifetime love affair with science fiction and fantasy.

I need to go buy the Dragonflight trilogy and give it to my 11 year old daughter RIGHT NOW. (because she can't have my copies, I'm going to reread them)

Oh, Anne.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

You know, I was just thinking about her today and how important her writing was to me in Jr. High. I remember buying Dragonflight and the Menolly books, The Rowan, Killashandra. Wow. Her books changed my whole creative life. What a loss. What a legacy.

[druidspell.livejournal.com]

A long time ago, when I was a wee druidspell, one of the first fantasy or sci-fi books I read on my own for myself was Dragonflight.

That book opened up my world.

Over the course of the next 5 years, I purchased many of her books and checked out many more. I joined a text-based Dragonriders of Pern RP guild on Neopets, where I met many of my closest friends. That guild and those friendships helped me build my writing skills and gave me a reason to keep on living after my first suicide attempt (12 years ago yesterday). I met my adopted mom/godmother because we both loved her Dragonriders books.

Anne McCafferey changed my life; I owe a debt to her creativity that I can only repay by exercising my own, and hopefully opening up the world for some other reader the way she opened up the world for me.

Rest in peace, Dragonlady. May your beloved dragons carry you between.

[margeauxmay.livejournal.com]

Our school library had Dragonsinger and I was the only one who checked it out for 4 years while I was there...and I did, over and over, because I loved Pern and the world she created there. Dragonsinger was my gateway, and I owe my teen years' mental health to Anne and her creativity.

oh man. heart. breaking.

[ladyholder.livejournal.com]

When I started to actually get involved with the internet, I picked my name, my internet identity from Anne's works.

She taught me about space and time and being everything that I could be. Just because I am female does not mean that I can't do it. It means that I can do it all and while I might have to fight for it, it will be all the sweeter for the win.

Blessed be, DragonLady. We will miss you!

~L

[singletailwhip.livejournal.com]

Heh. As I was reading these comments I was fomenting my reply - and you almost wrote it. I fell in love with the name Brekke the first time I saw it (age... 11? 12?) not so much the *character* - she was kind of a wuss :-) - but the NAME, oh the word, so *strong* - and resolved to use it to name my daughter. As life went on and it became clear I would have no daughter - but I *would* be involved in the BDSM scene, I decided to use it as my scene name. I have been known as Brekke for over 10 years now, probably now to more people as that than my legal name. Thanks, Anne, for a rockin name, and for all of the inspiration your characters have given us.

[silveraspen]

Yes. This. So much this.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

She was an awesome builder of worlds and the first author whose books I actively sought out because I loved her stuff so much. She'll be missed.

[fyrdrakken]

I ran across her work for the first time in junior high, read the Dragonflight and Dragonsinger trilogies over and over (once I finally tracked down the books that the library didn't have and bought both trilogies for myself). Definitely formative stuff, and not just for me -- I can think of at least two other fantasy series that I like to reread frequently that are clearly responses to her work.

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

I loved her books, have almost all of them. It's a deep loss.

[eccentrikita.livejournal.com]

I'm really weirding myself out but I pretty much had to stop, sit down, cry, and now am in the wiping-tears-while-sadly-eating-chocolate-ice-cream stage.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

No, that was me yesterday night. It completely shocked me.

[imwalde.livejournal.com]

I was saddened when I read that. Her books were a huge influence on my middle school and high school years. I still vividly recall many details from her books I read a decade ago. I must have read dozens of her books. What a loss of a great talent.

[melodyunity.livejournal.com]

Her Harper Hall trilogy were the very first sci-fi books I ever read. I think I would be a different person if I'd never read them.