Dragonwriter by Todd McCaffrey Read Free Book Online

she owned, and, I guess, her definitive commitment to Ireland. Naturally I was filled with trepidation at the possibility of meeting a “world-famous author.” The house itself was a medium-sized bungalow, nothing special (if the context could be ignored), though it had stables out in the back. Now that was impressive—ordinary people simply didn’t have stables behind the house. But then, while Annie may have been many things, ordinary was never one of them.
    I soon became familiar with the family and the huge cast of characters that orbited clan McCaffrey, and I sometimes wonder if there is a single one of us that is without a personal story of Annie’s generosity. I don’t think I can recall ever hearing a single mention of that generosity from Annie’s lips, always just a remark in passing from a third party, and always told as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Medical bills or simply living expenses covered for friends and even relatives of friends, people she hadn’t even met in some cases. But it was never just money; it was the care and consideration for the comfort and happiness of others that made the real difference.
    Also through Todd, in the early ’80s Annie met a young fantasy author from Lisburn in Northern Ireland, Peter Smyth (who writes as Peter Morwood). Peter and his then-girlfriend visited Dragonhold, and Annie took a liking to Peter and kept a motherly eye on him. When he broke up with that girlfriend, Annie turned her hand to matchmaking—an ancient Irish tradition. We even have a matchmaking festival in Lisdoonvarna each year.
    It happened that a science fiction writer of her acquaintance, one Diane Duane, had also been through a breakup, and Annie figured they would be a perfect match. And how right she was. Love blossomed at about the speed of light—maybe a little below it if you really want to be pedantic—and they were married within a year. More than twenty years later, they still seem like a pretty good match.
    For all of the ’80s and half of the ’90s, I was something of a corporate suit, so occasionally Annie would call on me for an opinion on a business matter. Now I have to admit that if Annie had a sixth sense, it was no business sense. As a writer, it could be said, she didn’t need business sense. But because she was a successful writer, there were always “opportunities” cropping up. Often, they were simply a means for her to help friends and family. One such venture was the Irish Farriery Centre. You see, Annie had a friend . . . which in McCaffrey-speak is how “once upon a time” stories usually begin. And because of this friend, Annie had acquired some property. And on that property stood a (semiderelict) building. And Annie had another friend who was a farrier. And that friend had an idea for a center in Ireland to teach farriery—a badly needed facility and close to Annie’s heart through her love of horses. And the building on the property could be turned into a school for farriers. Not that there was anything school- or farriery-like about it. But Annie wanted it to be right and was prepared to get people to make it so.
    A very Annie scenario that unfortunately found a very Irish ending. Who would ever have guessed that farriers had internal politics? Despite Annie’s best intentions and efforts, Irish farriers to this day still have to “cross the water” to England to study and qualify.
    Annie would also occasionally call on me as a writer—even though I was merely a wannabe who ran a small SF magazine. Yet again, it was related to her generosity—Annie simply could never say no to requests from friends or acquaintances. And successful writers make lots of acquaintances in the business. So Annie got regular requests from authors or their agents or publishers to give their latest novel a blurb—who wouldn’t want Anne McCaffrey saying something nice