Where the Heck Have I Been??

I have a terrible habit of not keeping up with the news of any variety. I learned the hard way at a newspaper that most of what is called and desiminated as "news" is truly gossip. However, right now I feel a little like I've been kicked in the gut because I just found out that Anne McCaffrey is dead and has been dead for twelve whole days without me knowing it.

Losing Anne McCaffrey is like losing a favorite teacher who changed my life or that neat lady who lived down the road and talked to me like an adult even though I was just a silly kid. I have nearly everything she ever wrote--her books are some of the few that have survived every move-purge over the past twenty-five years. I cut my high school fantasy teeth on her Dragonriders series and she has long been one of my favorite go-to authors for a great read with characters I will like and a world I will be both interested in and find accessible.

Her books were always about so much more than a fantasy/sci-fi premise. They were always about people and relationships and the way connections are forged. That's not to say she didn't also make me want incredible psychic powers and my very own dragon because she did that too.

I guess I need to start watching the news or keeping up with the world better. But then again, if I do I'll only find out more stuff like this that I really just don't want to know anyway.

Thank you, Anne.