Gone, Yet Still With Me

Anne McCaffrey, one of my very favorite authors, passed away back in November.  When my brother told me the news, I remember tears filling my eyes—I couldn’t believe that she was no longer with us, writing her incredible tales.  She really was—and is—the Queen of Science Fiction.  Anne has transformed the SciFi genre into something completely new and exciting by creating worlds and characters that both men and women can relate to and love as if they are real places and people.

When I was in seventh grade, Grandpa bought me Anne’s Dragonflight, the first novel in her Dragonriders of Pern series.  I was instantly captivated by the cover which depicts a huge, golden dragon soaring across a vibrant green sky with a glowing red planet seemingly pulsing in the background.  I remember wondering who the dragon and the young woman riding it were so I eagerly turned to the first page and was instantly transported to a world unlike any other I had ever visited before:

A lush and beautiful world called Pern where gold, bronze, brown, blue and green dragons live in rapport with the women and men they bond with.  I had never read a story before where dragons, when they are born, choose a man or woman to be theirs, and once they have chosen, their minds are so profoundly linked with their humans’ that they can communicate mentally with them and feel everything the other feels.  And when the female dragons (gold and green) rise to mate with the males (bronze, brown and blue)…well, let me tell you (one romantic to another) it gets pretty darn steamy since their humans are linked mentally with them down on the ground, experiencing what they are experiencing…it’s enough to make me blush.  The Pernese men and women and their dragons share and experience everything together.  It’s like they are two halves of one soul, or two souls made one—one cannot live without the other once the bond is made at the dragon’s birth, and once the bond is made, it cannot be undone.  I had never read a story before where the dragons are always the “good guys,” battling a constant threat in the form of deadly spores that rain down from the sky—silvery, deadly spores that burn and absorb anything organic they touch, turning vegetation to barren wastelands—by using their ability to breathe fire, searing them from the sky before they can reach the ground.  I had never read a story before where dragons could teleport not just between places but between times as well (yes, I said time travel).  I had never read a story before that combined elements of both fantasy and science fiction so effortlessly that it created an entirely new genre of its own.  And, come to think of it, I had never read a story before where I actually forgot I was reading because the world of Pern, its dragons and its characters became so real to me—and are still so very real to me to this day.

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
The golden dragon is Ramoth and her rider is Lessa
Painting by Michael Whelan

I have lived and breathed this series that spans seventeen novels and many short stories for years.  Every time I read it it’s like I’m visiting old friends.  I have collected all of the novels in hardcover and softcover.  I own all of the Collector’s and Book Club editions of the novels.  I met Anne in person quite a few years ago and she signed the well-read and well-loved copy of Dragonflight Grandpa gave me.  Because Anne is the inspirational woman that she is, in middle school I began dabbling in creative writing by inventing my own dragonrider characters, penning down their stories and making illustrations to go along with them (sadly I can’t find those stories but I still have many of the drawings).  When I was in high school I joined an online Pern-based writing club—one of the few that had been officially approved by Anne herself—and created, very thoroughly I might add, my own dragonrider characters and wrote their stories alongside many other talented and devoted fans.  I poured my heart and soul into many of the storylines I created with the other club members, and like Anne’s characters, my own became just as real.  (I hope to return to the club and my characters one day!) 

When you love a fictional—and yet real—world like Pern with all your heart and when you devote so much creative energy to play in that world…it’s hard to describe just how much it becomes a part of you.  To know that the creator of Pern is no longer with us is very sad and my heart ached when my brother told me she had passed on.  However, I really can’t be too sad because she lives on in her novels and short stories, and because I know that her soul is certainly in a much better place now—and she is probably blissfully soaring across the astral heavens on her own golden dragon even as I write this.

Anne McCaffrey

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My Journey with Harry Potter

Everyone has their Harry Potter story.  This is mine.

My long and epic journey with Harry Potter began back in 1997 and I have my dear Grandpa to thank for it.  He had always—and still does—encourage my love of reading.  When I was a little girl he’d take me to Barnes and Noble (then called Bookstar) and would set me loose among the shelves to find novels I wanted to read.  After watching me browse, he would get a feel for what genres I liked and would go on his own hunt for me…and would eventually come back with his arms full of all kinds of books.  Together we would kneel down in an aisle and would go through the back of each one.  Grandpa would always help fill my basket up—sometimes we even needed two!  It was Grandpa who had heard about the new British author, JK Rowling, and how her book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone had captured the hearts and imaginations of so many children.  Since Grandpa knew I loved books with magic in them, he went to Bookstar on his own one day and bought Sorcerer’s Stone and gave it to my mom to give to me. 

It was one of the best presents Grandpa has ever given me.  Harry Potter isn’t just a book series.  It’s so much more than that.  It’s a phenomenon, and I’m not sure how you can explain a phenomenon.  I know I can’t really find the words to explain how much the series means to me and why.  It’s a mystery, it’s magical, and it’s a story in which you can connect emotionally with each character, whether they are major or minor.  It’s a story about good and evil, love, loyalty, bravery, and sacrifice.  When I first started reading it I could not put it down.  I remember staying up long past my bedtime because I had to unravel the magical mystery of Harry Potter.

As the years passed and I got older, Harry got older with me.  When the fourth book came out a couple of my childhood friends, my brother, my mom and I went to Barnes and Noble for the first ever Harry Potter midnight book release.  I remember the employees pushing giant carts filled with nothing but copies the book down the aisles to the cash registers—but the tops were covered because the dustjacket and title were supposed to remain a secret and a surprise for everyone until the stroke of midnight.  I remember being absolutely delighted with the cover once it was unveiled, and we all were trying to predict what would happen and who the new characters were on the ride home.  When we all got back to my house that night we read together for at least an hour before going to bed. 

As I entered into high school the first movie came out in theatres and the fandom reached a new, incredible high.  I’m proud to say that I have taken part in every part of Harry fandom, have taken an actual Harry Potter class to fulfill a GE requirement during undergrad, and have gone to all the midnight premiers of the movies and the books.  I have three very favorite Harry Potter memories.  One was when I went to the midnight book release of Deathly Hallows.  I went to the Bella Terra Barnes and Noble Harry Potter party with my high school friends, my cousin and my brother and we all had a blast!  The store was decked out in Harry Potter decorations: banners of the four houses were hung from the balcony and golden snitches were hung from every ceiling panel.  People, young and old, either came in Harry Potter-themed home-made or Hot Topic shirts or came in costume—one kid even brought his pet snake!  When the clock stuck twelve pandemonium erupted in the store.  The excitement and happiness was palpable—and you should have seen the parking lot!  Hundreds of people were milling around the outside of the store, waiting for those who had reserved copies to hurry up and finish purchasing so they could have their turn.  Both my brother and I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning that night to read it—and we both finished it the following night.  I remember weeping non-stop during the last few chapters.  My bed was riddled with Kleenex and I can remember my heart breaking when I finally learned the Prince’s Tale, when Fred, Lupin and Tonks died, when Harry spoke to the spirits of his dead family and friends before going to Voldemort to die, and when Dumbledore came to Harry at King’s Cross. 

In the same year that Deathly Hallows was released, my brother and I were two of 2,000 people who won tickets from Scholastic to go meet JK Rowling and have a book signed at the Carnegie Hall in New York.  That was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will never forget! 

My third favorite memory was going to the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II last week.  I went with two of my dearest friends, Sam and Molly, and Molly’s family.  I decided to bake Harry Potter “Puppet Pals” cupcakes for the occasion and as I baked I remembered how bittersweet it had been to hold the final book in my hands back in 2007 because I knew it would be the last time I’d be adventuring with Harry, Ron and Hermione.  But at the time I had consoled myself with the fact that there were still the movies to look forward to—but now the movies are over.  I enjoyed every moment of waiting in line for the movie that night—even though I was very aware that it was the last Harry Potter event, I didn’t let it subdue me.  It was so much fun to talk with my friends about our favorite moments in the books and movies, to take pictures with the giant cardboard cutouts of the characters, and watch those who had come in costume.  Some guy dressed up as a dementor battled it out with a stormtrooper.  Yes, a stormtrooper.  From Star Wars.  It was hilarious!

The movie itself was amazing.  We fans cheered when we recognized the famous lines characters had said in the book (such as Molly Weasley’s “Not my daughter, you bitch!” to Bellatrix), and we wept when Snape was murdered, when Harry gathered his tears, and when we saw into his memories of his relationship with Lily.  Alan Rickman is incredible and he will always be Snape—no other actor could ever be him.  Ever.  Tears streamed down my cheeks when Snape held Lily’s lifeless body in his arms and I had to pull out the Kleenex from my purse and share it with my girls. 

Once the movie ended and the credits started rolling the applause was deafening.  We were all laughing and wiping away our tears and I remember just living in the moment, soaking it all in, since it was the last time all the fans and friends would be together united in Harry Potter love. 

Thank you, Jo Rowling, for a wonderful 14 years.  I have stuck with Harry until the very end and have enjoyed every moment.  You’ve created a world that is unique and special and I consider myself blessed to have been a part of the magic.

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Summer Reading

Probably like most college graduate students, summer is my reading-for-fun time.  Even though I work 40 hours a week, go out with my friends and take care of family responsibilities on top of all of that, I always make time to read every summer night before bed.  Reading relaxes me and it allows me to escape the mundane of every day life (because, let’s face it, every day life can get a little boring sometimes!) into time periods lost to history, or into different worlds filled with the fantastical.

I’m the type of summer reader who likes to devote her time and energy to one book at a time.  However, since I belong to two book clubs this summer I’ve had to adapt—and I’ve done so very willingly!  Right now I’m reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens with one group (there are six of us) and with the other (there are only two of us) I’m reading Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.  I haven’t started Agnes Grey yet (it’s coming in the mail!) but I have started Bleak House and I love it!  It’s Dickens’s best work.  If you haven’t read it I highly suggest picking it up, or if it’s too daunting for you, I recommend watching Bleak House the BBC mini series starring Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock.  The mini series is what got me completely hooked into the intricate mystery of Bleak House—not surprising, since the screenplay is written by the genius Andrew Davies (he’s the one who wrote screenplay for the beloved Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice) so you will not be disappointed I promise!

In addition to these two books I’m reading for my book clubs, I’m also reading a historical fiction novel called Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman and The Witches of Eileanan fantasy series by Kate Forsyth.  Kate is an Australian author and even though this series was first published back in the 1990s I’ve just discovered it this year.  I’ve been searching and searching for a new fantasy series to cherish as much as I cherish The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies.  I remember browsing Barnes and Noble a few years back, scouring the book shelves for another fantasy series that wasn’t cliché, and suddenly came across one of Kate’s novels called The Tower of Ravens.  The cover depicted a blue-black, horned, winged mare flying over wild, mountainous terrain with a bold, young woman riding on her back, a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder.  Now, I’ve always loved horses, and as a young one I loved stories about pegasuses (pegasi?) and unicorns, and of course that love has carried over into my adult life, so I picked it up, read the back, thought it seemed promising, and bought it. 

As is the way of the world, life happened and I forgot about The Tower of Ravens until I came across it on my bookshelf last semester.  So I picked it up…and couldn’t put it down!  Kate has created the world I’ve been searching for: Eileanan, a fantastical land that mingles both the eastern and western cultures, a land that is overflowing with Celtic, Scottish and Indian lore, magic, dragons, winged horses, satyrcorns, witches, warlocks, merpeople and fantasy creatures I hadn’t even imagined until reading this series.  All of characters are three-dimensional, the main plot and subplots are woven together with such finesse, and rather than just telling me her story, Kate shows it to me using detailed descriptions and allowing me to see into the intriguing minds of her characters.  There are nine books in the series (Dragonclaw, The Pool of Two Moons, The Cursed Towers, The Forbidden Land, The Skull of the World, The Fathomless Caves, The Tower of Ravens, The Shining City and The Heart of Stars).  The Tower of Ravens, The Shining City and The Heart of Stars actually take place after the first six, and when I realized this I went back to Barnes and Noble to start at the very beginning like I should have done so in the first place—but found out that the first six were out of print here in America!  So I made a mad dash to a used bookstore in Fullerton and couldn’t find them there, or even on ebay.  Amazon had a couple of them for sale starting at $15.00 and I wasn’t about to pay that much for a used paperback no matter how much I wanted to read it.  So I waited.  Bided my time for weeks on end—and my patience finally paid off this week because I found all six novels being sold by the same person on Amazon for $2.00 each and I snatched them up before anyone else could!

My friends, Kate’s rare novels are USPSing their way to me as I write this and I’m so excited!  As much as I love reading classic literature, there will always be a part of me that adores well-written and thought-provoking fantasy novels just as much.  I’m very happy to be reading both genres this summer.

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