For young women only?

[Amber]

Blair is a moron. I hate Blair. Blair may wake up to me stramgling him someday

[lucifer_principle]

Well, you know what they say about women saying one thing and meaning the other...hmm

[Amber]

Certainly doesn't apply to me. I hate Blair, and I dislike Anne McCaffrey.

There is no compromise

[lucifer_principle]

Okay why do you hate your fellow man so much might I add. I myself have an underlying hate for some people, but mostly for myself. Hey thats just me I guess

[Amber]

I don't hate my fellow human beings, just thoroughly dislike lots of them :P

Actually Blair is in the process of ruining our country- making it the tail to America's dog.

Just you people wait until I get into politics

[CarlottaVonUberwald]

it is quite plausible the books were written to target a young female audience..it doesn't mean this is their sole appeal... merely an aid for direction when choices in writing need to be made. As any poor young english student knows PAF. paf peoples.

[murphy]

Originally Posted by Sirathiel

Actually, there's an official reading guide out there in the net. I followed it and didn't get lost.

Dragonflight
Dragonquest
Dragonsong (The White Dragon goes in here)
Dragonsinger
Dragondrums

That's the order of the first books as I remember it. Sadly, Anne McCaffrey's homepage seems to be down or something. The guide was put up there... Hopefully, it'll get fixed soon.

These two books, Dragonsong and the White Dragon sort of overlap timewise from difference viewpoints.

[Brown Rat]

For what it's worth, I'll mention that I've got five books by McCaffrey that were published as fiction (not SFF) in the seventies and eighties--two books published by Tor, two by Ace, and one by Ballantine. Each book clearly fits the mold of a romance novel, albeit without sex scenes (unless I'm misremembering the absence of sex scenes--it's been a long time since I read the books). The two Ace books have cover blurbs that say "Terror stalks Nialla Dunn--even in the circle of her lover's powerful embrace" and "Was he her protector, her lover . . . or her deadly enemy?"

The titles:

Ring of Fear
Stitch in Snow
The Year of the Lucy
The Mark of Merlin
The Lady

[murphy]

Originally Posted by Brown Rat

For what it's worth, I'll mention that I've got five books by McCaffrey that were published as fiction (not SFF) in the seventies and eighties--two books published by Tor, two by Ace, and one by Ballantine. Each book clearly fits the mold of a romance novel, albeit without sex scenes (unless I'm misremembering the absence of sex scenes--it's been a long time since I read the books). The two Ace books have cover blurbs that say "Terror stalks Nialla Dunn--even in the circle of her lover's powerful embrace" and "Was he her protector, her lover . . . or her deadly enemy?"

The titles:

Ring of Fear
Stitch in Snow
The Year of the Lucy
The Mark of Merlin
The Lady

I think I must have all of her books. I especially liked The Lady, because it included horses, my first love.

[Brown Rat]

Originally Posted by murphy

it included horses, my first love.

Yes, horses! Exactly. Many young girls love horses.

And then that love transfers easily to dragons in her Pern novels.

[murphy]

Originally Posted by Brown Rat

Yes, horses! Exactly. Many young girls love horses.

And then that love transfers easily to dragons in her Pern novels.

I have to say, when the Dragonriders books first came out, I wanted my own dragon to impress.

[Cheryl]

There's one more "romance" besides those five, The Kilternan Legacy. Except it's not really a romance, it's about a recent divorcee who decides to move to Ireland with her kids....sound like familiar concept?

As I recall, there is a bit of a sex scene in Ring of Fear, after Nialla was burned...


The three Harper Hall novels were written specifically as YA books, as well as the Acorna books and the Pern books done jointly with Todd. The rest were written for the adult market, although clearly many of them have appeal young adults as well, particularly women in many cases.

[alicebandassassin]

ok im a girl brought up on farms and horses dont do it for me just working animals no different from a cow except not quite as usefull and i think no book is bad and i do not think all her books lean toward female readers sure some may.Some may evan lean the other way but whether this was an intentanal move im not covinced.I think the lady just loves to write and thats what shows the most

[Rosemary]

I have to agree with your there Alice...she just loves to write. I read an interview with her a while ago and that comes across, how she has always enjoyed writing.

I have read most of her books and so too have a couple of male friends, who also enjoyed her Dragons of Pern series...

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, many writers write the books they would have loved to read when they were growing up (late teens and early twenties being the age when books are likely to make the biggest impression). Perhaps McCaffrey is doing that, which would explain a certain slant toward young female readers.