The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall

Author Essay

There are dragons all over Anne McCaffrey’s house. Some she’s bought, but many have been made for her by adoring fans and given to her as gifts.  I don’t make dragons, of course.  But whenever circumstances allow, I do try to bring her American bacon, something she can’t get easily in Ireland, and something which she has taught all her friends there to love, as well!  I remember the first time I went to visit her, when she was still living in her old, much smaller but very homey, house.  My husband and I arrived at the doorstep, and she immediately began bustling about, frying up some of the bacon we’d brought and sharing a lovely late breakfast with us before sending us off to the hotel for a nap.  She made us dinner that night, too–the one and only time in my life that I’ve actually liked shrimp cocktail.  Maybe that’s because if you squint your eyes and look sideways, shrimp are kind of dragonlike, and I was eating them in the right company!
                        –Shelly Shapiro, Executive Editor