Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern - Todd McCaffrey

 I received a copy of this from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Summary

From the publishers:
When Anne McCaffrey passed in November 2011, it was not only those closest to her who mourned her death; legions of readers also felt the loss deeply. The pioneering science fiction author behind the Dragonriders of Pern® series crafted intricate stories, enthralling worlds, and strong heroines that profoundly impacted the science fiction community and genre.

In Dragonwriter, Anne’s son and Pern writer Todd McCaffrey collects memories and stories about the beloved author, along with insights into her writing and legacy, from those who knew her best. Nebula Award–winner Elizabeth Moon relates the lessons she learned from Pern’s Lessa (and from Lessa’s creator); Hugo Award–winner David Brin recalls Anne’s steadfast belief that the world to come will be better than the one before; legendary SFF artist Michael Whelan shares (and tells stories about) never-before-published Pern sketches from his archives; and more.

Join Anne’s co-writers, fellow science fiction authors, family, and friends in remembering her life, and exploring how her mind and pen shaped not only the Weyrs of Pern, but also the literary landscape as we know it.

Contributors include:

• Angelina Adams
• David Brin
• David Gerrold
• John Goodwin
• Janis Ian
• Alec Johnson
• Georgeanne Kennedy
• Mercedes Lackey
• Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
• Lois McMaster Bujold
• Elizabeth Moon
• Charlotte Moore
• Robert Neilson
• Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett
• Robin Roberts
• Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
• Wen Spencer
• Michael Whelan
• Richard J. Woods
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Thoughts

Oh wow.  I had no idea what I was getting into when I read this book!  For some reason I thought it was going to be a dry collection of stories about Anne, it would be a quick, informative read and then I'd be on my way!  I was so wrong it's laughable!  The only thing I got right is that it was very informative.

Firstly, it's clear that any stories involving Anne could never be dry.  It's amazing how clear an image of her I got - it didn't matter if it was family, friends, colleagues, or fans - no matter how these people knew Anne (and see?  I can't call her Anne McCaffrey after reading this book), they all painted the picture of the same person.  Warm, loving, snarky, hard-working, extremely supportive - the story written by her daughter referred to her as a "universal mum".  I'm not really sure how to review short stories honestly, so I won't bother to separate them because all of them were absolutely wonderful to read.  I had to limit myself to one chapter at a time though as I do much of my reading on the train and if I wasn't laughing out loud then I was failing horribly at trying not to cry which made me look a bit mad!

I came to this book as a fan of Anne McCaffrey's, but not a particularly knowledgeable one.  I must have read Dragonflight a million times and have read whatever other books she's authored I stumbled upon, but I had never really thought much about the creator behind them.   I have only recently started thinking about the impact of female writers in fantasy and science fiction in an era when they had to really fight to be recognized.  I didn't understand the full impact of Anne McCaffrey's achievements as a writer and as a woman, but while none of the stories harped on all of her achievements, it became quite clear to me that she paved the way for all the female sci-fi writers we have now.  Perhaps still in a minority, but I believe it is a growing minority.

This book also solved a big mystery for me - why do so many sci-fi series become co-written or taken over by other authors?  I'd always thought of it as a cop out sort of thing (probably because most sci-fi I read is YA sci-fi and they don't do that as of yet).  I'd never thought of it as a nurturing sort of thing that could launch another writer's career as well as bring in fresh ideas and characters into an already existing world.  And considering how much I love fanfiction, it's no surprise that I LOVED the idea of being able to create your own characters and work side by side with an author to add your characters to her world!

Most surprising to me was how approachable Anne was.  Every single story mentioned it - but at first I just thought it was something you said about someone.  In fact at first I thought most of the great things about Anne were exaggerated because people often do that after someone has died.  But then EVERY story mentioned these things about her - particularly how approachable she was, and I began to realize Anne really was all those great things!  One of my favourite stories in the book was a hilarious story of a fan, Charlotte Moore, meeting Anne.  I won't get into the particulars, but at one point when she was in high school she'd sent Anne an e-mail.  She got a response - but also a reprimand as Anne knew one of the teachers at the Charlotte's school (I think it was a teacher) and had heard that Charlotte was not applying herself in classes, so in her e-mail she'd said "So STUDY, twithead!"  I thought this was hilarious - and it was sort of amazing to me how she responded with such familiarity and not a stock e-mail sort of thing.  I was flabbergasted when I found out she would just let anyone into her home!  Fans would go to Ireland, call her up, and stop by for a visit!  I'd never heard of anyone doing that for complete strangers!  She apparently was extremely generous financially as well as everything else, and helped many young people get started on their career.  Not just family friends or aspiring authors either!  Reading these things about anyone, let alone an author you admire, was absolutely amazing.

This book was extremely moving.  You don't have to be a fan of Anne McCaffrey's, you don't need to know a single thing about her or her books.  This book is a fantastic collection of stories about a powerful woman's life, as well as enlightening on sci-fi writers in general.  I would highly recommend you read this - I told you, I don't do non-fiction or pseudo non-fiction, but I absolutely loved this book!

Mao's Last Dancer - Li Cunxin

Summary                                    

From Goodreads:  

From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to Beijing, where he would study ballet. In 1979, the young dancer arrived in Texas as part of a cultural exchange, only to fall in love with America-and with an American woman. Two years later, through a series of events worthy of the most exciting cloak-and-dagger fiction, he defected to the United States, where he quickly became known as one of the greatest ballet dancers in the world. This is his story, told in his own inimitable voice.

Thoughts 

I had originally seen the movie based on this book when it came out a couple years ago (watch it - it will be well worth your while.  Not only is the story great - which we'll get to here - but the script and acting were very good and the dancing was phenomenal) and have been waiting anxiously to get my hands on the book, which I was FINALLY able to do a couple months ago.  Let me preface this by saying I don't read nonfiction normally.  I avoid it at all costs - I will read the occasional memoir or biography, but I can count the number of both genres combined on one hand.

Cunxin's insight into communist China as well as into the art of dance makes for an absolutely compelling read.  You start with a little background about his family before he was born and the opening bit of the book is devoted to his childhood before he was introduced into dance at the age of eleven.  The poverty he describes is beyond imagination.  Most first-world citizens will not be able to even come close to picturing the poverty that much of China (and much of the world even today) lived in.  Cunxin grows up in a small village.  He shared a tiny house with seven brothers, his parents, and grandmother.  There is no heat, and China reaches frigid temperatures much of the year.  School is devoted to teaching Mao's ideals (this is set a few years before Mao dies), meat is a luxury.  Even reading his descriptions and seeing some of the photos, it is literally beyond the realms of my imagination to dream up a situation as poor as his family was for generations.  At age 11 he is chosen to attend the Beijing Dance Academy, where he endured grueling 16-hour days.  Imagine everything you've heard about how challenging the dancers' lives are in New York or England or Australia.  Now imagine being 11 years-old, being physically stretched beyond your body's capabilities so that some student's are forever disabled.  These students are sent home in disgrace. Imagine being in an environment when one day your teacher is a renowned professor, then the next moment he is branded a traitor against Chairman Mao and forced into physical labor or prison.

Cunxin is finally able to escape this environment when he invited to work with the Houston Ballet Company.  When he comes to America he discovers that everything he has been taught in China about the outside world is a lie.  The rest of the book is devoted to his escape from China, dealing with the aftermath of a huge culture change as well as consequences for himself and for his family.  For almost a decade Cunxin didn't even know if his family had been murdered because of his defection.

I thought this story was amazing - to read how hard a person can push themselves to succeed and to see how far a human can come - it's really just mind boggling.  This isn't a work of fiction.  These things actually happened to real people, many of whom are still alive.  This story is only set a little over 30 years ago.  The writing is so descriptive, and the way everything is described is so foreign to everything I have experienced in life.  It is an absolute delight to read how Cunxin describes the world.  Even if you are not into nonfiction (like me) I highly recommend you read this book just so you can understand even a little of what goes on in some countries.   I would also recommend you watch the movie, which is a beautiful work of art.  It doesn't even matter which order you do either - they are both amazing stories.

Recommended

                           
Red Scarf Girl Review                     I Was A Dancer Review