rionaleonhart | I Always Wanted A Fire Lizard.

Anne McCaffrey may have said some weird things in interviews, and her books may have included some weird implications (we have very different ideas about how much sexual assault a hero can commit before he starts to look rather less heroic), but she was the first woman to win a Hugo or a Nebula or to get a science-fiction book onto the New York Times bestseller list and, on a smaller-scale note of influence, I really loved the Pern series in my early teens.

I - I think I may have been involved on a Pern roleplaying guild on Neopets once? With a brown dragon named Zephyrith (no relation to the name 'Sephiroth'; this was before I discovered Final Fantasy) or something, despite the fact that women can't Impress browns because look I'm special okay. McCaffrey wouldn't have liked that, of course - she was opposed to fanfiction of her books - but it was nonetheless an act of love for her world. (Oh, hang on, I've just searched and found that she did eventually relax her stance on fanfiction. My inner twelve-year-old is suddenly itching to write reams of Mary Sue; my outer twenty-something-year-old wants dragonrider crossover AUs everywhere forever.)

(EDIT: On further reflection, I think Zephyrith may have been a green! But I think I had a special brown dragon in a different Pern roleplay I was briefly involved in.)

Curious fact: the (male) Tai in An Exercise in Pointlessness, my 2004 NaNo effort, was indirectly named after the (female) Tai from The Skies of Pern. In my first Final Fantasy VIII playthrough, I named both Squall and Rinoa after female dragonriders from the Pern series: Rinoa was Lessa, and Squall was TAI (I'd never played a Final Fantasy game before and at that stage hadn't realised that, if I named him in allcaps, EVERYONE WOULD BE SHOUTING AT SQUALL ALL THE TIME). 'Lessa' never stuck, but I recycled 'Tai' as a name for various original characters before it found a permanent home in my NaNo Tai.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry to hear McCaffrey has died. Maybe I should pick up my Pern books again.

Have some quick thoughts on television:

Misfits, episode 3.04: It's a little strange to watch Misfits when I also love so much television of questionable quality, because Misfits really is excellently written (although Simon and Alisha seem to have become slightly less interesting to me now that they are no longer such a massive failure at humanity and terrible person respectively). Kelly is still my favourite, and I find myself unexpectedly 'shipping her and Power Dealer Guy to tiny adorable pieces. I'm a little worried about the possible fate of their dynamic, though, because Misfits is an extremely hostile environment for adorability.

Glee, episode 3.06: I did have a few tears in my eyes towards the end. Santana's storyline is my favourite on Glee at the moment and I want her to take the lead on more songs. I have listened to the Adele mashup approximately a squillion times.

Waterloo Road, episode 7.20: oh my God Linda Radleigh what is wrong with you

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I know what you mean. I have fond memories of her books. I started with the ones with Melonny, and I still love those to pieces. She definitely had some ideas about gender and sexuality I don't agree with (although she did show some signs of progressing on that front - keep in mind, she started writing in the late fifties), but I still like many of her books.

I loved the Dragonrider books in my (long distance) youth - and I'm not the sort to change my mind very often. We have a shoulder sitting Siamese cat, who is to some extent a fire lizard substitute ;-)

dragonrider crossover AUs everywhere forever YES PLEASE

Oh noes D: I hadn't heard she'd died, but now I am sorrowful to hear that as well.

(My early teen years were riddled with Pern Mary Sues, I couldn't even begin to count. And mine had a bronze; at least you stuck to a fiddly little brown.)

I have like, a dozen on the Pern books sitting on my shelf right now. Maybe it's time to reread them again.

Edited 2011-11-23 14:39 (UTC)

I found out this morning from a Sporcle quiz, of all places. (It's such a great world for Mary Sues! I think I specifically went with a brown rather than a bronze because I was afraid of seeming Mary-Sueish. I was only going to be a little bit super-special.)

(I seem to recall I also commanded my own wing and had like, dozens of fire lizards. I didn't bother thinking about how that would affect my mind; clearly I was immune to such negative side effects.

And since this was before I found fanfiction and it all existed in my own head, I could be as Sueish as I wanted and not worry about being judged.)

Oh man, I was pretty bummed by that news. I really loved the Pern books in my early teens as well. I might not have been very fond of the weird dragonrider politics, but I loved the Harpers unabashedly, and also totally wanted a firelizard.

I kind of want to run a mini-Mary Sue 'hatching' event now. : | On an LJ post. Would you be down?

My memories of the books are so vague now, but I do seem to remember that the Masterharper was a really nice guy.

I am intrigued by your mention of a hatching event. How would it work?

I will make a post describing how many eggs there are on the hatching ground, and people would post in as their Mary Sue (or other character) vying for the eggs as Candidates- I would then respond to various comments and have eggs hatch and bond with people. (Might even be able to draw you a silly MS paint picture of your dragonfriend when they hatch/Impress)!

Why, look! A Hatching! (http://dev-chieftain.livejournal.com/877886.html?mode=reply#add_comment)

Ooh, I'm so tempted to jump in, but I'm not sure if I'm going to have internet in the next few days or not, and I cannot stand to abandon a virtual baby dragon that's just hatched. Because I get quite emotional over adorably-arranged pixels.

It will still be there waiting for you when you come back! :)

Aww, go on then! I've just Impressed the darlingly snaggletoothed Mirzath, and the brilliant bit is that it's internet time, which slows down or speeds up depending on our needs. And it'll be fun to imagine flying in a wing with you!

Edited 2011-11-24 01:16 (UTC)

In a couple of hours, I will know if I have internet all weekend or not until Monday.

If you do, you should totally join us. There's now a little brown tottering around, and the queen has just popped out as well.

I never really got into the Pern books - I was lent one at the age of seventeen and I could not make myself look past the way the heroine was treated for long enough to enjoy the story - but Anne McCaffrey was talented and influential, and I am sorry she's gone.

Waterloo Road, episode 7.20: oh my God Linda Radleigh what is wrong with you

I GENUINELY CANNOT WORK OUT WHETHER HEADMASTER MAN WHOSE NAME FOR THE MOMENT ESCAPES ME HAS SURVIVED OR NOT

also, I'm starting to become uncomfortable with the level of sexism in Waterloo Road. Have you noticed that? Am I making it up? Women are almost never sexually assaulted on Waterloo Road, but they sure do make up stories about it a lot. I think the only genuine cases of it I've seen so far were the father in Season 5 and Becca's storyline from the last series.

I can't work it out either! He certainly wasn't looking very well. If they were always planning to kill him off after ten episodes, I suppose it explains why they never really bothered giving him a strong personality.

You're definitely not making it up; I've noticed it as well. We must have learnt the 'don't tell everyone you were sexually assaulted when you weren't!' lesson at least four times by now.

~~mustn't make pony joke mustn't make pony joke mustn't make pony joke~~

Well, that's put a real crimp in my plans for the afternoon.

I once wrote a Lord of the Rings/Pern crossover in which Legolas' half-Orc daughter fell through a magic portal into Pern and Impressed a genetically-manipulated black dragon called Faroth. Legolas went chasing after her and met Menolly, and he sang her songs from Middle-earth.

(Also, there were dolphins and space pirates with talking cats and an OC bronze rider called J'fery who I adored. And somehow it all made sense at the time.)

An awful lot of girls in fandom today seem to have An Anne McCaffrey story. Regardless of problematic things she said and did at times, I think the positive effect she's had will be felt for a long time. I'll just be sadly re-reading The Crystal Singer over in the corner now. :(

God, that's sad news. After mum died and we cleared out her books we had two BOXES of Pern novels for the charity shop...

Glee. Glee. Glee~ ♥ (on a two day break from work, so I figured I should pop by and flil about)

I must say that I am rather nervous about Misfits purely because... I think his name is Nathan? He has an Irish accent and beautiful curly hair? Anyway, he was my fave character in the series. He was such an arrogant idiot that it made me smile. And now I can't think of Misfits without him. And I have never heard of the Pern series before. I think I might have a rumage around the internet for this now.

I Always Wanted A Fire Lizard.

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