McCAFFREY, Anne (Inez)

(1926-)

   US writer, now living in Ireland. Most of her work is sf, though tinged with the tone and instruments of FANTASY. She began publishing 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, tellsthe story of a young woman who is flayed alive by alien flesh-eaters, is saved, and with her skin restored has some adventures. Soon AM began publishing the linked novels and stories that have made her reputation as a writer of romantic, heightened tales of adventure explicitly designed to appeal - and to make good sense to - a predominantly female adolescent audience.Her major series is set in a long-lost Earth colony, Pern, a world whose humans, symbiotically pair-bonded with tame, time-travelling, telepathic and telekinetic dragons, engage in high adventures and defend the planet from the poisonous Threads. It comprises several shorter units: DRAGONFLIGHT (fixup 1968) (containing the 1968 HUGO-winner "Weyr Search"and the 1968 NEBULA-winner "Dragon Rider"), Dragonquest (1971) and The White Dragon (1978) are assembled as The Dragonriders of Pern (omni 1978);Dragonsong (1976), Dragonsinger (1977) and Dragondrums (1979), which are juveniles, are assembled as The Harper Hall of Pern (omni 1979); Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern (1983 UK; exp 1983 US) and Nerilka's Story (1986) areclosely connected. Further titles include Dragonsdawn (1988), a prequel to the overall sequence, which is followed by The Renegades of Pern (1989), All the Weyrs of Pern (1991), The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (coll oflinked stories (1993), The Girl Who Heard Dragons (coll 1994), The Dolphin's Bell (1994) and The Dolphins of Pern (1994). A Time When: Beinga Tale of Young Lord Jaxom, his White Dragon Ruth, and Various Fire-Lizards (1975 chap) is connected to the series; DRAGONFLIGHT (graph1991) is the first of a projected series of graphic-novel versions of the material. Though the tone is that of fantasy, the premises underlying Pern are orthodox sf; even the dragons turn out to have been bio-engineered eons previously by humans as a defence against a vacuum-traversing spore. The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern (1989) with Jody Lynn Nye (1957-) may beof assistance to readers.Other series include: the Pegasus books - To Ride Pegasus (fixup 1973), which deals with a corps of parapsychologicalinvestigators in the near future and is notable for its political conservatism, Pegasus in Flight (1990), these two being assembled as Wings of Pegasus (omni 1991) - the Ireta books-Dinosaur Planet (1978 UK) and Dinosaur Planet Survivors (1984), both being assembled as The IretaAdventure (omni 1985) - the Killashandra tales - The Crystal Singer (1974-5 Continuum ed Roger ELWOOD; fixup 1982 UK), Killashandra (1985), and Crystal Line (1992) and the Planet Pirates books - Sassinak (1990) with Elizabeth MOON, The Death of Sleep (1990) with Jody Lynn Nye, and Generation Warriors (1991) with Moon, all three being assembled as PlanetPirates (omni 1993); the Rowan sequence - linked with the Pegasus books (see above) to the extent that they may be considered as a single series, the Talents books - comprising The Rowan (1990),Damia (1992), Lyon's Pride (1994) and Damia's Children (1994), features a powerful female telepathwho 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 PLANETS), comprises Powers That Be (1993) with Elizabeth AnnSCARBOROUGH and Power Lines (1994) with Scarborough, with further volumes projected.AM's early singletons include Decision at Doona (1969) - disappointingly sequeled much later by Crisis on Doona (1992) with Jody Lynn Nye (1957-) and Treaty Planet (1993; vt Treaty at Doona 1994 US),also with Nye - and The City who Sang (fixup 1969) - unexcitingly sequeled by PartnerShip (1992) with Margaret Ball (1947-), and The Ship who Searched (1992) with Mercedes Lackey (1950-), The City Who Fought (1993)with S.M. STIRLING and The Ship Who Won (1994) with Jody Lynn Nye. The two original 1969 titles were assembled with Restoree as The Worlds of Anne McCaffrey (omni 1981 UK). Though less popular than the Pern books, these(the sequels excepted) are perhaps more clearly inventive. The Ship who Sang, for instance, intriguingly presents a deformed girl who is grafted into a SPACESHIP (CYBORGS) and in effect becomes the ship; the emotional difficulties facing a musical lady spaceship are many (Hyperlink to: MUSIC). Later singletons, like The Coelura (1983 chap) - strangelyassembled with Nerilka's Story from the Pern sequence as Nerilka's Story \& The Coelura (omni 1987) - tend to downgrade their sf premises in favour ofromance. AM's stories, including some connected work, have been collected in Get Off the Unicorn (coll 1977). Though her work has been criticized as oversentimental, AM is among the most popular writers in her particular subgenre.

   JC

   Other works: The Mark of Merlin (1971), Ring of Fear (1971) and The Kilternan Legacy (1975), none sf or fantasy, and all assembled as Three Women (omni 1990); The Smallest Dragonboy (1982 chap Ireland);Stitch in Snow (1984 Ireland) and The Year of the Lucy (1986 Ireland), neither being sf or fantasy; The Girl who Heard Dragons (1985 chap); Habit is an Old Horse (coll 1986 chap); The Lady (1987; vt The Carradyne Touch 1988 UK), a romance; Rescue Run (1991 chap), an sf novella.As Editor:Alchemy \& Academe (anth 1970); Cooking Out of This World (anth 1973), a collection of recipes supplied by various sf writers.

   About the author: Anne McCaffrey, Dragonlady and More: A Working Bibliography (latest rev1989 chap) by Gordon BENSON Jr and Phil STEPHENSEN-PAYNE.

   See also: ARTS; COLONIZATION OF OTHER WORLDS; DEL REY BOOKS; PLANETARY ROMANCE; PSI POWERS; SCIENCE FANTASY; WOMEN AS PORTRAYED IN SCIENCE FICTION; WRITERS OF THE FUTURE CONTEST.