In the 4th grade we read a story about a boy who rode dragons. It was my first introduction to the world of Pern and the writing of Anne McCaffrey. Shortly thereafter I devoured the Harper Hall trillogy and then every successive Pern book I could get my hands on. While I waited in between releases, I gobbled up the Crystal Singer series, the Tower & Hive series, the Dinosaur Planet series, the Doona series, the Brain Ship series. I dabbled with Acorna and the Freedom series and Petaybee but never fell in love with them like I had the previous books.
One day, while browsing the hallowed asiles of Borders I spied her name on the spine of a book in the romance shelves. Romance? Really? And I found Three Women, a compilation of her 3 romance novels and I fell in love with those, as well.
The first summer we were married, Uncle Sam moved Tim before I was finished with school. Being broke and bored, I spent many hours in the library and stumbled across two other romance-like books by Anne, for by now she was simply Anne, the mother of so many of my best friends. And I fell in love with them as well and nearly cried when it came time to return them. It was the first time I seriously considered "losing" a library book and just paying for it. (Two or three times a year I wish my scruples had been sleeping when I decided to be honest, since they're both out of print and I can't find them!)
Anne's work is part of my constant annual rotation of re-reads. Even though without much difficulty I could most likely recite several of them from memory from start to finish with very little hesitation. The worlds and people she creates are still alive and they sit on my shelf and I know that I will always feel welcome within their pages.
When I was 12, I crafted a fan letter to, well at the time, Ms. McCaffrey. But I never sent it, talking myself out of it on the grounds that she must get millions of letters just like mine every day. Since then, I have rewritten that letter mentally many times as I close the back cover of one of her beloved masterpieces. But I've never put one in the mail.
Six or so years ago, I stumbled across her website and saw that she was now only accepting fan mail through email. On one hand I though that was a wise and savvy move, since it certainly made it easier for people to contact her. And I sat down and typed up an email. But re-reading it I simply shook my head and closed it, because Anne deserves better than that. Now, after basically 23 years with her characters, I couldn't just email her a letter. I would want to find a stationery store - a real one, with fine linen papers, thin and silky smooth. I would need a pen with a delicate, smooth point that would let the ink glide gracefully.
I would need to hire an amanuensis, because my handwriting is horrific.
Thus, year after year, the letter telling her how much joy her worlds have given me goes unwritten.
Today I wrote the letter in my head again and, with a little bit of a sigh and a mental scolding, decided that emailing it was perhaps better than nothing and I should seize the day because, well, the years march on and none of us lives forever. So I went to her website and looked for the link I'd seen previously. Only now it had been replaced by a FAQ. A FAQ which directs you to click this link if you want to contact Anne for such and such a reason and this other link for these other reasons. And so on, and so forth. And click though I might, I could find no link for "General Adoration", so in disgust, I gave up and contented myself with finishing off the letter in my head and sending it to her via Mental Mail.
I don't think I'll ever try to follow through again having encountered her bizarre menu mess now. I can't imagine it matters to her, after all, she really probably does get millions of emails a day from people just like me who love her worlds and are grateful that she took the time to share them with us. And it leaves me wondering, have you ever sent a fan letter? Did you get a reply or did it just travel out into the void?
11 hours ago
I never have done so, but I think you simply MUST! With such adoration in your heart and your ability to express your thoughts so cogently, I can't help but think your letter would stand out, even among millions. Just DO IT!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young political idealist, I sent a fan letter to William F. Buckley, Jr., along with my National Review subscription renewal. Really nothing more than a covering note, it contained a little joke to the effect that even though my address was a P.O. box of a very liberal college and my surname was similar to that of one of his political arch-enemies, I wouldn't want him to think my enthusiasm for NR was in any way diminished.
ReplyDeleteI certainly didn't expect a reply. Yet nonetheless, a few weeks later a letter appeared in my mailbox from Buckley. He wrote: "Your letter, though short, packed a terrific punch, and I thank you for it. And I hope we live up to your high expectations. Cordially, WFB (signed)."
I was so pleased by the unexpected response that I posted it on my dorm room wall, much to the extreme annoyance of my fellow students. I've still got the thing somewhere or other.
I'd say go ahead and send your letter. How did that line go? "If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it was meant to. If not, hunt it down and kill it."
My sister wrote a fan letter to Karen Peris, of Innocence Mission, when she was in high school, saying that she liked to sing to, particularly Innocence Mission songs, and that Karen was an inspiration to her. She got a reply, which I never read myself, but Katie really treasured it, I guess it was very nice and personal.
ReplyDeleteThe closest I ever came was a couple of years ago, when I decided to write Dr. Wood, my "Issues & World Views" prof at Wheaton, an e-mail telling him how his class was probably my favorite of my college career, and how he had sparked an interest in philosophy in me that looks as though it will be life-long. He replied within 24 hours, thanked me, and recommended a few books that had recently been published in the philosophy/apologetics realm. It was really nice.
Anyway, send your letter, somehow. I can't imagine such things get tiring to read, and everyone's story is unique.
Amanuensis...nice. The weird thing is, after I read this, I watched an old Sherlock Holmes mystery and voila! There was an amanuensis in the story. Go for all those years since high school without hearing that word, and then hearing it twice in one week! It's a sign! Of what, I dunno. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think she might still appreciate a hand-written letter from such an articulate and grateful fan. :-)
She replies... or at least she used to. I sent a poorly-written fan email a few years ago when I was in junior high school. She sent me an email back and thanked me for thinking to send her something.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely go for it :)