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	els_chan 2004-03-28 08:59 pm UTC (link)
	(In the UK.... no-one can hear you scream.) This needs an icon. Badly. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2004-03-28 09:38 pm UTC (link)
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	guinevere33 2004-03-29 06:46 am UTC (link)
	Done and done. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2004-03-28 09:08 pm UTC (link)

This is really creepy because I literally just finished rereading the Tent Pole wank.

*twitch*

I almost want to get the Pern books from my library now just to see the awfulness. I've actually only read one-- the very first Lessa book. Didn't like it that much.

I do have the Acorna series, which I bought because I liked the first one, but I reread that earlier this year and ow, Sueness, pain. Wish I hadn't bought the first four now.

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	(Anonymous) 2004-03-28 11:26 pm UTC (link)
	I had a similar experience with Crystal Singer last month. My eleven year old self thought it was great, now, feh - so Sue it hurts. The Pern stuff isn't really like that, though... well, some of them are better, anyway. (Sorry for the 'anon' but I have no account yet.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

maryavatar
2004-03-29 12:54 am UTC (link)

You think that's bad, try Restoree. She was just an ugly librarian on Earth, but then she's abducted by aliens, who make her beautiful, and then she meets the Dashing Hero, and she rescues him, and he falls madly in love with her, and they don't have sex right away because she's a virgin, but then they do have sex, and they save the world, and I have to stop now, because I'm running out of commas. And the will to live.

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	eep! (Anonymous) 2004-03-29 05:47 am UTC (link)
	I read that when I was young - and I thought it was a little suspect, but mostly I was terrified by the idea of aliens who randomly abduct people from earth to flay them alive and eat them. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	doctorcal 2004-03-29 09:36 am UTC (link)
	Don't forget that her parents didn't care about her! And she was never ever pretty in her whole life. Teh angst OMG. Apparently Restoree is meant to be a parody. I have no idea what it's meant to be parodying or how it's even a parody, but there you go. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	maryavatar 2004-03-29 04:07 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, it was supposed to be backlash against all those 50s heroines whose only function was to get rescued by the Big Dumb Hero. Which is kinda funny, since at the end of the book she pretty much just sits around and waits for the men to kill all the icky skin-stealing aliens. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kijikun 2004-03-29 12:21 am UTC (link)
	The Pern harper books seem to be the only ones that stand up to re-reading. At least for me (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	baskinglizard 2004-03-29 01:26 am UTC (link)
	I've managed to reread those as well, several times over. I'm also still fond of Dragonsdawn, and the original trilogy. But as for the rest, meh. I guess I outgrew it. :/ (Reply to this)(Parent)

	byagghametta 2004-03-29 04:57 am UTC (link)
	Agreed, but the funny thing is I only like the first two. Dragondrums bores me... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mpoetess 2004-03-29 08:37 am UTC (link)
	What, you mean just because she suddenly and fairly randomly changed main character, setting, and any thread of overall theme? burns third book (Reply to this)(Parent)

	arielchan 2004-03-29 04:51 am UTC (link)
	Yes. I very much enjoyed the first Acorna at the age of 13, but all the subsequent books in the series bored me to tears. I read nearly everything by Anne McCaffery eventually and the only ones I still reread are Crystal Singer and the B&B books. Of the two, the B&B are probably the only un-sues. ~Ariel~ (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

doctorcal
2004-03-29 09:45 am UTC (link)

Is the Acorna series the one where all the women are forced to breed for the good of the colony? That was one of my greatest fears when I was young and impressionable.

I do like the Crystal Singer, but most McCaffrey series fall into the same pattern - create an interesting world with fairly well-developed characters, then trash the backstory, forget the names, throw in some Friendly Aliens (tm) and turn everyone into wisecracking one-dimensional sitcom characters. (Bonus points if all that happens in one book *cough*TheRowan*cough*.)

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(Anonymous)
2004-03-29 09:49 am UTC (link)

No, the Acorna series is the one with the unicorn girl who's speshul and pure and innocent (and all the men love her despite her being, yanno, not human and having a horn in the middle of her forehead and deformed hands and feet-- but they're not deformities! They're marks of her species!), and she travels around with these crusty, golden-hearted asteroid miners who take her to this planet where she saves all the poor children from slave labor and is basically a god to them.

And that's just the first book. I never got past the second one.

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	doctorcal 2004-03-29 02:44 pm UTC (link)
	That was much better when it was a couple of Cordwainer Smith stories! I knew there was a good reason why I never looked at the blurbs for that series. I don't think I'd make it through the first book even for snarking purposes. (Reply to this)(Parent)

azarias
2004-03-29 09:54 am UTC (link)

Is the Acorna series the one where all the women are forced to breed for the good of the colony? That was one of my greatest fears when I was young and impressionable.

No, you're thinking of the ironically-named Freedom series. The one where they're abducted from Earth by slavers and are planning a counterstrike and need everyone drop of professional, military, or technical expertise they can get but the important thing for the women to do is to have as many babies as possible (despite the fact that half of them have been raped and don't want to touch men, but no worries, 'cause the magic healing properties of cock will make them well again).

That's also the last McCaffrey book I ever spent money on.

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doctorcal
2004-03-29 02:48 pm UTC (link)

(despite the fact that half of them have been raped and don't want to touch men, but no worries, 'cause the magic healing properties of cock will make them well again)

Now they het from cock.

It's times like these I wish I hadn't been banned from the library (too many overdue books). I'd love an excuse to get righteously indignant but there's no way I'm spending any money on that crap.

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	I must make icon norabombay 2004-03-29 11:15 pm UTC (link)
	I soo need a now she het from cock icon. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: I must make icon doctorcal 2004-03-30 09:56 am UTC (link)
	I'm really tempted to make one. I just need to find the right pictures and a gif animation program that works on my Mac. (Reply to this)(Parent)

esseilte
2004-03-29 08:58 pm UTC (link)

No, you're thinking of the ironically-named Freedom series. The one where they're abducted from Earth by slavers and are planning a counterstrike and need everyone drop of professional, military, or technical expertise they can get but the important thing for the women to do is to have as many babies as possible (despite the fact that half of them have been raped and don't want to touch men, but no worries, 'cause the magic healing properties of cock will make them well again).

I didn't actually mind the basic idea - they were trying to form a colony and it would make sense for the women to be asked to have children, though the timing was dodgy what with the whole counterstrike thing going on. What I found unbelievable was that none of the women objected...obviously the aliens didn't send women like me to that planet, because they'd have had to tie me down for the full nine months.

It's a basic flaw with a lot of Anne McCaffrey's work, though - I've lost count of the decent female characters she has ruined by having them settle down, breed, and turn into paranoid bitches.

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	maryavatar 2004-03-30 12:47 am UTC (link)
	The worst was Nimisha's Ship. I think she had five kids in two pregnancies or something stupid like that. I was thinking 'Okay, so she's this hotshot ship designer, but given the choice, she'd rather sit on her butt on a primitive world spawning? I don't think so!' (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

azarias
2004-03-30 01:01 am UTC (link)

But of course. Otherwise she wouldn't be a Real Woman (tm) and that would mean she was Bad.

What *really* annoys me is that this Real Women Have Babies theme in McCaffrey's books is paired with interesting cultural background that claims that the women in those cultures aren't actually compelled to have children, or to place children as their first priority. I.E., female dragonriders, who, according to the cultural stuff McCaffrey writes, are free to sleep around all they want, have access to almost instantaneous, practically risk-free abortions, and are too busy running and/or saving the planet to become soccer moms ... and yet all the characters we see living according to those supposed social norms are either Bad Selfish Bitches or Misguided Bitches Redeemable By A Good Man, and all the good, smart, successful women hand over their power and responsibilities to men so that they can have as many babies as possible, or angst about how horrible it is that they have problems conceiving or carrying to term.

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	Re: arielchan 2004-03-29 11:56 pm UTC (link)
	lol Acorna is the series with the little girl who has hoof-like hands and feet and a little unicorn-esque horn on her forehead... yeah. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2004-03-29 04:03 am UTC (link)
	If there is any fandom that could beat HP in wanking, it's the Thirteen fandom. Mind you, I love the movie, but I hate visiting the message boards. Someone please report this wank: http://forum.foxsearchlight.com/viewtopic.php?t=2537 (Reply to this)

janegraddell
2004-03-29 05:18 am UTC (link)

Ah. This wank is like the cups of lemon sorbet they give you between courses, a refreshingly concise little palate cleanser.

Colesea: "Hi, I decided to suddenly change my character's personality into something that would serve no purpose other than to completely disrupt the game and focus all attention on MEEEEEEEEEE. I know, it was really brilliant of me, wasn't it? Unfortunately, those mean old mods don't seem to appreciate how clever I was in finding the power-gaming loopholes in their silly common-sense rules, so I thought I'd flounce over here and pout in public so everyone can worship me for the goddess I am."

Personally, I'm betting the other players threw a party the moment she was booted.

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	azarias 2004-03-29 05:58 am UTC (link)
	Yeah. And the thing is, from what I remember of her, she does it again. And again. And again. It's a crying shame. She's a good writer and pretty inventive, and pretty cool when you talk to her about anything but roleplaying. When she gets gaming, though ... argh. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

janegraddell
2004-03-30 01:10 am UTC (link)

While a lot of the same qualities that make a good writer also often make a good roleplayer--and vice versa--sometimes it's just the reverse. I can imagine, just from witnessing this small incident, that she probably has a very strong grasp on her ideas and how to make them work in her own playground, which probably helps make her a good writer and a lousy roleplayer.

My problem is that my roleplaying creativity and fiction creativity run on the same circuit. I can only devote myself to one at a time. :)

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	leucrotta 2004-03-29 05:18 am UTC (link)
	I believe the fan Weyr in question is First Landing, as opposed to Odyssey. Odyssey has a different setting. Okay, yes, I play Pern. Anne is a wanker, but Odyssey is interesting to me and I play there. Honestly, the world really deserves better authors than it gets ;) (Reply to this)(Thread)

	azarias 2004-03-29 05:53 am UTC (link)
	Ack. Damn it, you're right. I don't know why I put Odyssey instead of New Landing; her character sheet's even still up at New Landing, last I looked. I'll edit. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2004-03-29 04:37 pm UTC (link)

Here's a little cooldown exercise from the fandom I truly believe would drown Harry Potter in its spooge, if only it were big enough.

Quite possibly because 75% of the fandom are HP fans. I got involved in the fandom surrounding the official site and a rather popular(at the time, it since looks like the websites been shut down) PBEM RP(Since, you know, the structure, 'rules', and archiving of Pern RP's is one of the most wanky things about the fandom) and if I remember correctly, was around there when GoF was released. Between the squeeing over that, and the many, many quotes of 'Don't Tickle A Sleeping Dragon' I swear I was the only person who hadn't read HP in the fandom(at the time, now I'm a happy HP fandomer).

~Risti on LJ

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azarias
2004-03-29 05:15 pm UTC (link)

I used to play in (and sometimes BoD) a Pern PBeM where Harry, Draco, and Snape were all PCs. Fortunately, Draco's and Snape's players were both pretty competent, so it wasn't as bad as it might've been, but in retrospect I wince at approving that.

(Since, you know, the structure, 'rules', and archiving of Pern RP's is one of the most wanky things about the fandom)

Amen. I wish that Yahoo clubs were still extant so that I could report the Great Archiving Wank of 2001.

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(Anonymous)
2004-03-29 10:50 pm UTC (link)

I used to play in (and sometimes BoD) a Pern PBeM where Harry, Draco, and Snape were all PCs.

*blinks*

Dude, we at least had rules about that... But ours was such a canon-thumping groups, what with BoD members who were also mod's on the official site, etc. Ironically enough, it was that group that also introduced me to exactly what a MS was, and how to avoid her.(Every newbie was required to read a parody character sheet before submitting...involved the gorgeous redhead and an unpronouncable name who rides the purple dragon along with her gold fire lizard and has all the men after her petite, curvy frame...)

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	azarias 2004-03-29 10:55 pm UTC (link)
	Hmm. Cibby? Mine was Arolos. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2004-03-29 11:59 pm UTC (link)
	Yep. I even joined the sister weyr they created while I was there, although a couple months later I left the fandom entirely when I headed out of town for university. ~Risti (Reply to this)(Parent)