So obviously I just stopped blogging on this platform. I'll get back to it eventually. Or not. I'm taking a break from all social media. It seemed necessary for my mental health.
The last few years have been busy and … challenging:
- 2015 Happened. - 2016 Let's call it The Lost Year. (Obviously words failed me.) - 2017 about broke me. Literally. Mentally. - 2018 was ridiculous, proving 2017 was just a warm up. (Good thing I was already broken so it couldn't hurt as much.#2018TrashCanFire I thought things were going okay, but maybe not?)
- 2019 was such a blur. I know there were highlights, but then stuff happened and carried into the next year...
- And then in March#2020 really took a turn. Who can even categorize 2020? Do we dare?
I kinda want a do-over of some of the last few years. But life doesn’t work that way.
So for now, I'm hunkering down. Regrouping. Trying to stay safe and sort some stuff out.
Why am I sad about an actor playing a character? An actor I never met? Because ... He was "my" Gilbert. Even now, I can spend hours comfortably binging on the hours-long series watching him - as Gilbert - tease and taunt and grow up and in love with his "Carrots." And, apparently, unlike some actors who feel "pigeon-holed" or "type-cast" or "resentful" for only being known for one role, he embraced the spirit of the Anne-fandom. And, at 43? 48 is just a blink away. And feels too young. You grew up with him. The boy next door is not supposed to die. EVER. He and Anne grow up, get married, and grow old together. Here's more, by other more eloquent people. Per The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/arts/television/jonathan-crombie-actor-known-as-romantic-lead-in-anne-of-green-gables-dies-at-48.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=nytimesarts&_r=0
Jonathan Crombie, Romantic Lead in ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ Dies at 48
Jonathan Crombie, a Canadian actor who was known to a generation of fans as Gilbert Blythe in the mini-series “Anne of Green Gables,” died on Wednesday in New York City. He was 48.
Mr.
Crombie rose to fame as a teenager when he was cast as the handsome and
confident love interest in the 1985 Canadian television adaptation of
“Anne of Green Gables,” Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel about an
orphan (played by Megan Follows) growing up on Prince Edward Island. It
was shown in the United States on PBS the next year.
The
role made him a household name in Canada, and he reprised it in two
sequels: “Anne of Avonlea” in 1987 and “Anne of Green Gables: The
Continuing Story” in 2000.
“I
think he was really proud of being Gilbert Blythe and was happy to
answer any questions,” Mr. Crombie’s sister, Carrie Crombie, told the
CBC. “He really enjoyed that series and was happy, very proud of it. We
all were.”
Mr.
Crombie appeared on numerous TV shows and in stage productions in both
the United States and Canada. He made his Broadway debut in 2007 in the
hit musical comedy “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
He
was also well known in his home country as the son of David Crombie,
who was mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978. After leaving the mayor’s
office, his father represented the city in the Canadian Parliament and
later held several cabinet positions.
“On
behalf of the people of Toronto, I extend to the entire Crombie family
my deepest sympathies on sudden death of actor Jonathan Crombie,” John
Tory, the current mayor of Toronto, wrote in an update posted to Twitter.
Mr. Crombie was born in Toronto on Oct. 12, 1966. Survivors include his sister and his father.
Kevin
Sullivan, the producer of “Anne of Green Gables,” told the CBC that Mr.
Crombie was chosen as Gilbert at the age of 17 after the casting
director saw him perform in a school play.
“I
think for legions of young women around the world who fell in love with
the ‘Anne of Green Gables’ films, Jonathan literally represented the
quintessential boy next door, and there were literally thousands of
women who wrote to him over the years who saw him as a perfect mate,”
Mr. Sullivan said. [emphasis my own]
Like the author of this article in the New Yorker, I had a girl-friend with whom I bonded over hours of the Sullivan films in the mid-80s. I had fond memories of a sleepover, those innocent teenaged sleepovers, with popcorn, and a copy of the films that some parent had taped (on a VCR) during the PBS pledgefest that inauguarted the films to USA audiences. To this day, we're still friends. We still talk every week. It was she that I immediately turned to for comfort. (She was sad, but not sad, sad like me. We're bosom friends, but like Diana - she had her Fred. I had dreams of a Gilbert.) Per The New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/culture/sarah-larson/jonathan-crombie-why-we-loved-gilbert-blythe?mbid=social_twitter
In “Anne of Green Gables,” Jonathan
Crombie, who died Wednesday, gave Gilbert Blythe caring, intelligence,
and dreaminess: qualities that enchant seventh-grade girls.Credit PHOTOGRAPH BY DICK LOEK / TORONTO STAR VIA GETTY IMAGES
Many were saddened, this weekend, to learn of the death of Jonathan Crombie,
the forty-eight-year-old actor who played Gilbert Blythe in the CBC’s
film adaptations of the “Anne of Green Gables” books. People on the
Internet were using the phrase “depths of despair,” as Anne Shirley
would. Gilbert was many people’s first love.
A
kindred spirit of mine—a bosom friend I’ve known since girlhood—once
observed that the best kind of romantic movie involves impassioned
gazing. (She told me this while recommending the 2004 BBC red-hot
starefest “North & South,” which features I-see-into-your-soul
staring of the Mr. Darcy variety, the kind that says, I see you—and I am too respectful to do anything but dream from afar until I deserve you.)
“Anne of Green Gables” isn’t a romance, exactly; it’s a series about
growing up. But it’s no coincidence, I realized yesterday, that this
same friend first alerted me to the phenomenon of Crombie as Gilbert
Blythe. It
was 1986, and she and I were in seventh grade, in an airport. We were
taking a trip to Disney World with my mother during our spring vacation.
We were excited, but, my friend told me, we were missing something very
important on television: part something-or-other of the PBS broadcast
of “Anne of Green Gables,” which had just burst on the scene from
Canada, a gorgeous agrarian world allowing for both puff sleeves and female ambition. She told me about Gilbert Blythe in great detail. When we were able to watch, I admired it all for myself. L.
M. Montgomery, the author of the “Anne” series, described Gilbert as “a
tall boy, with curly brown hair, roguish hazel eyes, and a mouth
twisted into a teasing smile.” Crombie was kinder—lively eyes, nothing
twisted about the mouth. His affection was evident all along. Crombie
gave Gilbert caring, intelligence, and dreaminess: qualities that
enchant seventh-grade girls. As in “Pride and
Prejudice,” things begin badly between our heroes. Gilbert admires Anne
(Megan Follows) when she arrives at their one-room schoolhouse; she
registers his handsomeness but ignores him, in part because of his
cockiness; he calls her Carrots; she smashes a slate over his head. The
“Carrots” slate-smash is “Anne” ’s “tolerable, I suppose, but not
handsome enough to tempt me” moment, setting in motion a whole course of
standoffs and shenanigans which, after many years, finally end as they
should—with mutual understanding and perfect bliss. In between: oh, the
staring. Crombie was an expert gazer. Through
meaningful looks and other subtleties, he showed that Gilbert wasn’t
threatened when Anne could spell “chrysanthemum” and he couldn’t; he
appeared deeply concerned when she fell off the ridgepole, and didn’t
mock her for braving it; he was kind during the “The Lady of Shalott”
escapade, while executing a dashing rescue. In this video, a young Crombie explains that the moment Anne breaks a slate over Gilbert’s head is the moment he starts growing up. For
girls my age, that was an important moment, too. The “Anne” series let
us dream about adolescence while holding on to childhood. The world of
Avonlea—Matthew and Marilla
Cuthbert, the apple blossoms and the knickers and caps, dance cards,
hay rides, Gilbert’s patient and steadfast heart—was gentler than what
we might have imagined about adolescence. It wasn’t “The Breakfast
Club,” and that was, on some secret level, very exciting—a last moment
of being able to enjoy gentler childhood ideals. “Anne of Green Gables”
appealed to those impulses without condescending to us. It wasn’t
exactly cool. It had no edge. You didn’t want to race into school and
announce that you were obsessed with “Anne of Green Gables.” But, to
your bosom friend, you could discuss its many joys to your heart’s
content. And Gilbert Blythe, because he was the
romantic ideal and a feminist, in his way—always respecting Anne’s
intellect and ambitions, competing with her and admiring her
academically—was an encouraging example of what teenagerdom and a loving
gaze might have in store. Here he is calling her “Carrots” and getting his just desserts.
[emphasis my own.]
My nieces are reaching the age at which Anne-girl and her friends enter their lives. I was looking forward to introducing them to "my" Gilbert. I still will. But when I start crying, that will be harder to explain. Until they are older and can read this.
I must have known, somehow, that this was coming. My heart is heavy...
For some reason this month, I dipped back into the world of Pern created by science fiction grandmaster, Anne McCaffrey. I just reread my favorite of her books (there are over 55 by her, or inspired by her, in my personal library), the three set at the Harper Hall and then the novel featuring MasterHarper Robinton's backstory. One of her later novels, sadly, featured his passing. I cried. I cried in public. It wasn't pretty. It was like losing a family member. Later, when I taking my Chinese History classes, I came across this poem and thought that it was so appropriate for this character. I have been saving it for today.
Now that Anne has gone "between" herself, I post it here, with love and appreciation for hours of reading rapture, decades of dragons, many melodies, and dreams of my own fire lizards.
"Requiem for Robinton"
All that live must die: This early end is not fate’s malice. Last night a many like any other, Today inscribed among the ghosts. Where goes the soul’s dispersed vapor When dry bones fill the coffin’s hollow? My son weeping seeks his father, Good friends shed tears and stroke my body. No more do gain and loss affect me, What have I do to with right and wrong? After a thousand years of ten thousand Who will know my fame or failure? Of life I have but one regret - I never had enough to drink.
Official New York Times obituary, published November 24, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/arts/anne-mccaffrey-dragonriders-author-dies-at-85.html?ref=obituaries
Anne McCaffrey, Author of 'Dragonriders' Fantasies, Dies at 85 by Margalit Fox
Anne McCaffrey, a science-fiction writer widely known as the Dragon Lady for her best-selling series of young-adult novels, “Dragonriders of Pern,” died on Monday in County Wicklow, Ireland. She was 85.
The cause was a stroke, her publisher, Random House, told The Associated Press. Ms. McCaffrey, who had lived in Ireland since the 1970s, died at her home, Dragonhold — so named, she liked to say, because it had been paid for by dragons.
The author of scores of books in a spate of different series, Ms. McCaffrey was indisputably best known for “Dragonriders,” written over four decades and comprising more than 20 novels.
That series, which is notable for marrying elements of fantasy to pure science fiction, takes place on the planet Pern, which Earthlings have settled. A utopian idyll at first, Pern has degenerated, after centuries of human habitation, into a tense feudal society.
The greatest threat to Pern is Thread, a type of deadly spore that rains down periodically. To combat these Threadfalls, inhabitants have cultivated a species of large, airborne, telepathic and eminently congenial dragons, whose fiery breath can vanquish the Thread. Throughout the series, Ms. McCaffrey’s protagonists — often young women or children — right all manner of galactic wrongs, stalwart paladins astride their soaring scaly steeds.
The series, which began in 1968 with “Dragonflight,” includes “Dragonquest,” “Dragonsong,” “Dragondrums,” “The Masterharper of Pern” and, most recently, “Dragon’s Time,” written with her son Todd McCaffrey and published this year.
As a stylist, Ms. McCaffrey was not uniformly esteemed. Reviewing “Dragonsdawn” in The New York Times Book Review in 1989, Gerald Jonas wrote of her, “Few are better at mixing elements of high fantasy and hard science in a narrative that disarms skepticism by its open embrace of the joys of wish fulfillment,” but faulted her “awkward similes” and “formulaic descriptions.”
But the immense commercial success of “Dragonriders of Pern” more than outweighed any criticism. The books sold millions of copies and have inspired a cornucopia of Internet fan fiction and a spate of scholarly studies.
The world of Pern became so all-encompassing to those who entered it that it gave rise to a concordance, “The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern,” by Jody Lynn Nye, with Ms. McCaffrey.
Anne Inez McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Mass., on April 1, 1926. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Slavonic languages and literature from Radcliffe, and trained as an actress and opera singer before her writing life transported her to operatic worlds of another kind.
Her first novel, “Restoree,” was published in 1967. A satirical work of science fiction for adults, it lampooned the genre’s portrayal of women as helpless chattel.
The novel’s plot, as summarized in the reference work Authors and Artists for Young Adults, is set in motion when its strong, savvy heroine, Sara, “is snatched from Central Park by a low flying space ship.”
Sara awakens to find herself “restored” — that is, clad in an entirely new body — in a world that combines great technological sophistication with a retrograde social order.
Ms. McCaffrey’s honors include the two loftiest awards of her genre: a Hugo, which she won in 1968 for her novella “Weyr Search,” later incorporated into the Dragonriders series; and a Nebula, for the novella “Dragonriders,” also incorporated into the series.
Her non-Pern books include “The Ship Who Sang”; “PartnerShip,” with Margaret Ball; and “The City Who Fought,” with S. M. Stirling.
Ms. McCaffrey’s marriage to Horace Wright Johnson ended in divorce. Besides her son Todd, she is survived by another son, Alec Johnson; a daughter, Georgeanne Kennedy; and grandchildren.
She was the subject of a biography, “Anne McCaffrey: A Life With Dragons,” by Robin Roberts, published in 2007 by the University Press of Mississippi.
Ms. McCaffrey, an avocational horse breeder, was often asked, Why dragons? “You can get closer to a dragon than you can to a horse,” she said in an interview with National Public Radio in 2007. “Horses are smart within their own boundaries, but dragons are very smart.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mccaffrey_anne
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction McCaffrey, Anne
(1926-2011) US-born professional horsebreeder and author, in Ireland from the 1970s; mother of Todd McCAFFREY. Most of her output was sf, though tinged with the tone and instruments of FANTASY: much of her main work, the enormous Pern sequence of PLANETARY ROMANCE adventures (see below) is normally experienced as fantasy. She began publishing work of genre interest with "Freedom of the Race" for Hugo GERNSBACK's SCIENCE-FICTION PLUS in 1953, but became active only a decade or so later with her first novel, Restoree (1967), which rather conventionally, though with tongue in cheek, tells the story of a young woman who, after being flayed alive by ALIEN flesh-eaters, is saved and with her skin restored has adventures in another world's high society. Soon McCaffrey began publishing the linked novels and stories that have made her reputation as a writer of romantic, heightened tales of adventure designed to appeal – and to make good sense to – readers who start young and who, over the years, grow into her world.
Her major series is set in a long-lost Earth colony, Pern, a world whose first human settlers (> COLONIZATION OF OTHER WORLDS) had modified the native dragonish species "fire lizards" through GENETIC ENGINEERING – the relatively late Dragonsdawn (1988) serves as the relevant origin story – in order to create the romantic empath dragons who dominate the overall sequence. These huge but loyal and sapient creatures have powers of TELEPATHY, TELEPORTATION and TIME TRAVEL – further fantasticated speculation appears in the "nonfiction" A Diversity of Dragons (1997) with Richard Woods – and symbiotically pair-bond at birth like giant ponies with a selected human. Such human/dragon duos, who dominate the many volumes of the sequence, engage (as the founders of the colony had intended) in high adventures while defending civilization and the planet from the deadly fungus-like spores known as Threads that fall at intervals from a neighbouring planet, searing human flesh and destroying the native ECOLOGY. In the process of exfoliating the series, McCaffery and her collaborators and successors have, perhaps inevitably, allowed a touchy-feely YOUNG ADULTWOMEN AS PORTRAYED IN SF), and her remarkable nuts-and-bolts attentiveness to the problems of living and gaining career success in Pern. glow to soften the impact of its first volumes, losing in the process the clarity of her focus on strong women protagonists (>
The series is complexly organized, with considerable retrofitting evident in later volumes; in a sequence that was in production for more than forty years, it is perhaps inevitable that the early volumes are the freshest. The first portion of the overall sequence, which contains the heart of Pern, comprises Dragonflight (fixup 1968) (containing the 1968 HUGO-winner "Weyr Search" [October 1967 ANALOG] and the 1968 NEBULA-winner "Dragonrider" [December 1967-January 1968 ANALOG]), Dragonquest (1971) and The White Dragon (1978), all being assembled as The Dragonriders of Pern (omni 1978). A second sequence – Dragonsong1976), Dragonsinger (1977) and Dragondrums (1979), assembled as The Harper Hall of Pern (omni 1979) – comprises YOUNG ADULT tales calved off from the Main; Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern (1983 UK; exp 1983 US) and Nerilka's Story (1986) are closely connected. Further titles include Dragonsdawn (1988), a prequel to the overall sequence (see above), which is followed by The Renegades of Pern (1989), All the Weyrs of Pern (1991), The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (coll of linked stories 1993), The Girl Who Heard Dragons (coll 1994), The Dolphin's Bell (1994), The Dolphins of Pern (1994) and other titles down to The Skies of Pern (2001), after which point Todd McCAFFREY was listed as collaborator in various continuation projects. A Time When: Being a Tale of Young Lord Jaxom, his White Dragon Ruth, and Various Fire-Lizards (1975 chap) is connected to the series; Dragonflight (graph 1991) was the first of a projected series of graphic-novel versions of the material. The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern (1989) with Jody Lynn NYE and Todd McCAFFREY may be of assistance to readers.
There are several further series, whose first volumes are sometimes by McCaffrey solo, though most were carried on with collaborators. Entirely solo is the first, the Pegasus sequence comprising To Ride Pegasus (fixup 1973) – which deals with a corps of parapsychological investigators in the near future and is notable for its political conservatism – and Pegasus in Flight (1990), both assembled as Wings of Pegasus (omni 1991), plus Pegasus in Space2000). The Ireta sequence – Dinosaur Planet (1978 UK) and Dinosaur Planet Survivors1984), both being assembled as The Ireta Adventure (omni 1985; vt The Dinosaur Planet Omnibus2001 UK) – is also listed as solo, as are the Killashandra tales: The Crystal SingerContinuum 1, anth 1974, to Continuum 4, anth 1975, ed Roger ELWOOD; fixup 1982 UK), Killashandra (1985), and Crystal Line (1992), all assembled as The Crystal Singer Trilogy (omni 1996). Further series, some solo, some collaborative, include the Planet Pirates books beginning with Sassinak (1990) with Elizabeth MOON; the Rowan sequence beginning with The Rowan (1990), featuring a powerful female telepath who engages in adventures and much sex with an even more powerful male telepath named Jeff Raven; the Petaybee sequence, about a sentient planet (see LIVING WORLDS), beginning with Powers That Be (1993) with Elizabeth Ann SCARBOROUGH; and the Catteni sequence beginning with Freedom's Landing (1995), in which humans fight back against an ALIEN conquest of Earth; the Acorna sequence beginning with Acorna: The Unicorn Girl (1997) with Margaret Ball. For further details on all these, see Checklist. ( ( (stories in
The effect of McCaffrey's early singletons, which include some strong work, was not strengthened by the comet's tails of further volumes (some so weak that it is possible that they may be described as SEQUELS BY OTHER HANDS). Decision at Doona (1969) was, for instance, disappointingly sequeled much later by Crisis on Doona (1992) with Jody Lynn NYETreaty Planet (1993; vt Treaty at Doona1994 US), also with Nye. The Ship who Sang1969) is an intriguingly plausible tale in which a deformed girl, grafted into a SPACESHIP (> CYBORGS) as its pilot, in effect becomes the ship; the emotional difficulties facing an conjoint entity of this sort, who understands the universe in terms of MUSIC, are many. The story was influential from the first; but that initial impact was diffused by a succession of sequels, the Brainship collaborations beginning with PartnerShip (1992) with Margaret Ball (1947- ). The two singletons mentioned here, along with Restoree (see beginning of entry above), were assembled as The Worlds of Anne McCaffrey (omni 1981 UK), a volume which, though less popular than Pern, may stand alongside McCaffrey's main sequence as her most significant accomplishment in the field. and (coll of linked stories
Later singletons, like The Coelura (1983 chap) – strangely assembled with Nerilka's StoryPern sequence as Nerilka's Story & The Coelura (coll 1987) – tend to downgrade their sf premises in favour of romance. The best of McCaffrey's relatively infrequent short stories, including some connected work, were collected in Get Off the Unicorn (coll 1977) – the title, originally "Get Of the Unicorn", was changed either by an ignorant copyeditor, or by someone more senior who thought McCaffrey's readers would not understand "get" as a term used in horsebreeding. Though her work has been criticized as oversentimental, a careful reading of her best work may absolve it of later sins; McCaffrey was deservedly among the most popular writers in her particular subgenre. In 2005 she received the SFWA GRAND MASTER AWARD, and she was inducted into the SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME in 2006. [JC]
SFWA Grand Master Anne McCaffrey, 85, died November 21, 2011 of a massive stroke at home in Ireland.
McCaffrey is best known for her long-running Pern series of SF novels and stories. She was the first woman to win both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards, with “Weyr Search” (1968) and “Dragonrider” (1969) respectively. Pern novel The White Dragon (1978) was the first hardcover SF novel to make the New York Times bestseller list. Many of the later books in the Pern series were written in collaboration with McCaffrey’s son Todd. In all she authored or co-wrote more than 100 titles, beginning with first novel Restoree (1967).
Her other works include the Freedom series, the Doona series (with Jody Lynn Nye), the Dinosaur Planet series (with Jody Lynn Nye and Elizabeth Moon), the Crystal Singer series, the Brain & Brawn Ship series (with Margaret Ball, Mercedes Lackey, S.M. Stirling, and Jody Lynn Nye), the Petaybee series (with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough), the Talent series, the Tower & Hive series, the Acorna series (with Margaret Ball, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, and various other authors), and the Coelura series.
Anne Inez McCaffrey was born April 1, 1926 in Cambridge MA. She attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1947, and worked as an advertising copywriter while directing and performing in stage productions. She married H. Wright Johnson in 1950, and had three children. She divorced Johnson in 1970, and moved to Ireland, where she opened a stable and began raising horses.
Her many honors include being named a SFWA Grand Master (2005); induction into the SF Hall of Fame (2006); and a Robert A. Heinlein Award (2007).
See the January issue of Locus for a complete obituary and appreciations.
Anne McCaffrey, legendary SF and fantasy author best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series, has passed away. Random House has confirmed that McCaffrey died of a stroke at her home in Ireland on Monday, November 21. The initial word arrived through author Alan Baxter reporting on behalf of Trent Zelazny.
McCaffrey was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction, the first woman to win a Nebula Award, and the first author to hit the New York Times bestseller list with an SF title (The White Dragon).
McCaffrey leaves behind a tremendous legacy. She was active in the science fiction and fantasy fields right up to her passing and will be greatly missed.
Anne McCaffrey, the groundbreaking, award-winning fantasy author who won a dedicated following with her sci-fi/fantasy blending series Dragonriders of Pern, passed away Tuesday, November 22. She is survived by her three children.
After beginning her writing life by contributing short stories to sci-fi magazines in the '50s and '60s, McCaffrey kicked off her stellar career as a novelist in 1967 with Restoree, and since then published more than 100 books, including short story collections, guides to her fantasy worlds and even cookbooks. She won acclaim from fans, becoming the first female writer to win a Hugo Award in 1968, and from her sci-fi and fantasy peers as well, becoming the first female writer to win a Nebula Award in 1969. Despite the praise, she initially struggled financially as a writer, living in Ireland in the early '70s and fighting to make ends meet.
That all changed when her dragon tales set in the fictional world of Pern began to take off in the mid-'70s. The first book in her Harper Hall series of Pern novels, Dragonsong, earned her a contract for a sequel that allowed her to buy a house, which she christened "Dragonhold" in honor of the dragons that helped buy it. By 1978, she had become the first science fiction writer with a title on the New York Times hardcover bestseller List, with The White Dragon.
The Pern series now encompasses a total of 22 novels, many of them co-written with McCaffrey's son Todd. Another installment in the series, Dragon's Time, is set to arrive in 2012.
As McCaffrey's career grew, she continued to expand her writing into new fictional universes, including the worlds of the Brain & Brawn Ship series, the five-book Ireta series and the works of her Talents universe. In 2005, she received the highest honor of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Grand Master Award, joining the likes of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury, and in 2006 she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
McCaffrey maintained an active relationship with her fans via her website, and was answering fan questions as recently as Nov. 4. Among her more notable fan interactions is this advice to writers that she posted on her blog in April:
"First -- keep reading. Writers are readers. Writers are also people who can't not write. Second, follow Heinlein's rules for getting published: 1. Write it. 2. Finish it. 3. Send it out. 4. Keep sending it out until someone sends you a check. There are variations on that, but that's basically what works."
Since the inception of this blog, the majority of the photos featured here were taken by a digital Nikon Coolpix I think I received for Christmas in 2007. It accompanied me on cross country trips, commuting jaunts to and from work, documenting the beautiful and mundane, the sublime and the ridiculous.
We had our issues, this camera and me. Although I loved the ease of point and shoot, the ability to change from color to black and white, and the ability to pull it out of my pocket on a whim, it took too long for it to take a second photo, recover after a flash, and I never did figure out how to keep it from going to "sleep" so fast. I did love the macro and ability to take video on the same device as stills, but it never seems to shoot/save to the card, and I long, nay pine, for the ability to focus at will.
Alas, a SLR is out of the budget for the time being, not to mention too heavy to carry around in my pocket. I selected my most recent cell phone for its QWERTY keyboard and not its photographic qualities. Unfortunately, it's all I have left. A cellphone and my dreams of a compact, lightweight, pocket-sided affordable SLR.
My poor Coolpix had been suffering in recent years. The battery door and card door had been chipped for a while, and to keep them from flying open, I had liberally applied duct tape, packing tape, or painters tape to the frame at any given time. There have been a handful of incidents that I call the RED SCREEN OF DEATH, where the lens froze and wouldn't move, causing the whole system to be paralyzed. After some sickenly horrid moments, with prying off the tape, forcing open the battery chamber, and many prayers, the system came back on board and the photos were saved. The thing was battered though, and looked, for a better word, ghetto.
Until yesterday..
Yesterday was the end. (*sniff*)
I was attempting to photograph the August crafting projects, when all of a sudden it slipped off the counter and bounced on the floor. I wasn't too alarmed. I have dropped it before. This time, though, I got the RED SCREEN OF DEATH. Closer examination showed that the lens was dented, off center, and it looks like a fracture appeared in the aperture either due to that fall or me attempting to "tap" the metal into shape.
Time once was, you could open a device and actually figure out how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. This was not that time. It didn't help that tiny pieces started to fall out of the interior of the camera as I pried the back off.
Here lies the carcass of my Nikon Coolpix, as recorded by the cell phone camera. If you look carefully, you can see how the lens is already looking heavenward.
Nikon Coolpix Christmas 2007-September 2011 Farewell Old Friend
Just got some very sad SciFi news. I feel like I've lost a grandpa. (Look, if you spent as much time watching SciFi and Stargate as I have over the years, you'd be upset too.)
Gateworld reported that Don S. Davis, who played Maj. Gen. George Hammond on SCI FI Channel's Stargate SG-1 for seven seasons, died June 29 after suffering a heart attack. He was 65.
Citing Davis' wife, Ruby Fleming-Davis, the site reported that a family memorial will take place in a few weeks during which Davis' ashes will be scattered in the ocean; fans were asked to make memorial donations to the American Heart Association.
Davis left the regular cast of SG-1 in 2003 because of a medical condition that restricted his workload, but he made several guest appearances on the show and its spinoff, Stargate Atlantis.
A native of Missouri, Davis had a 26-year career that included many roles on TV series, notably Maj. Garland Briggs on Twin Peaks. He met SG-1 co-star Richard Dean Anderson on the set of MacGyver, on which he worked as a stunt double for actor Dana Elcar. *
Davis' final Stargate appearance is in Stargate: Continuum, the upcoming straight-to-DVD movie. He will also appear in the films Vipers, Woodshop and Far Cry.
*Which explains why I always thought that it was strange that he looked like Pete from MacGyver.
At the risk of sounding too geeky (or more geeky as the case may be), I am saddened to note the passing of another great sci-fi/fantasy writer.
According the AP reports, Arthur C. Clarke passed away today in his adopted home of Sri Lanka. The guy was more than a sci-fi giant. "He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits."
*Sigh* This totally bums me out. My sci-fi/fantasy favorite writers are getting older, passing the torch to their sons or other authors, and/or dying off too quickly. The day that Anne McCaffrey "goes between" I'm seriously going to have to take a few personal days to reread all of the Pern Books. It was bad enough when Robinton "died," and he was just a character in her books.
*******
In semi-related news, I had another star sighting today. Rushing out of the subway, up Broadway, past the Barnes and Noble, was the star of stage and screen, best known for appearances on Mad about You, Spin City, and numerous guest spots on Scrubs, etc ....
Just got some very sad SciFi news. I feel like I've lost a grandpa. (Look, if you spent as much time watching SciFi and Stargate as I have over the years, you'd be upset too.)
