This week the revolutionary fantasy writer Anne McCaffery suffered a major stroke and passed away. I am so sad about this. I mean, Mary Travers last year, and now this?! For those of you who are not familiar with Anne McCaffery, she wrote many fantasy and science fiction novels, and she is most famous for her series The Dragon Riders of Pern. She was an award-winning novelist who changed the fantasy writing genre for women dramatically with her charming female protagonists and game-changing career.

I was so excited about seeing Anne at Dragon*Con this year because she is an inspiration to me. I was hoping she could possibly autograph one of my books and give me inspirational words to improve my writing career, but unfortunately she had to cancel her appearance. After reading what she had her son write on her website in regards to the cancellation, I regret not getting to meet her even more:

“Mum very specifically asked me to apologize to those who had hoped to see her there, saying: ‘Sorry that old age came up and bit me on the a**.'”

She seemed like a super cool lady! I wonder if she liked cats…

Menolly is my Homegirl!

I actually never heard of or read any of Anne’s books until I was either a senior in high school or in college. My husband recommended the series to me, and I absolutely fell in love with the trilogy The Harper Hall of Pern. Menolly, a main character in the series who escapes her closed-minded family and becomes one of the most well-known song composers, performers and political mediators on Pern, is my favorite character. Hell, I would consider naming my kid Menolly someday. I’ve read a majority of the Pern series, and I love the books. It’s really too bad that the literary world is now without Anne McCaffery. Once I finish The Renegades of Pern, I plan to find out which books in the series I haven’t read yet, and I want to also read The Ship Who Sang because it was apparently Anne’s favorite.

Funny, I just suggested these books to one of the mothers here at the acting studio for her little girl who keeps breezing through books and needed something new. I hope she reads them, loves them and passes the Pern torch to others in her generation and later to her kids.

Leaping Fire Lizards! She wrote cat books! Time to add that to the Christmas List!