Having wrapped up a series, there’s always a serious question of “what next?”

Sometimes I know in advance, have something lined up, ready to go.  Sometimes I meander the shelves for something familiar, seeking a particular mood or voice or world.  And other times, such as the last few weeks, I’ve stumbled about.  Sci fi or not? fantasy? re-read or new? venture into a new genre? stay with the current one?  Grrrr!  Can’t make up my mind sometimes.

My decision last night was to pick up the second Dragonriders of Pern book:  Dragonquest, by Anne McCaffrey (1971).  I’ve been looking for the first book, used, for months to no avail.  Screw it! I decided, and fortunately found a pretty good synopsis of the scenario in the prologue to the book.  Off we go!  I’ll fill in the gap of the first book sometime down the road.

McCaffrey is not the writer that some of my more recent novels have offered — Arthur C. Clarke, Aldous Huxley, Charlotte Bronte, Samuel Delaney all are much more lyrical in their language; and as Ursula K. Le Guin is always an author whose voice sets a standard for me, whether I am reading her currently or not, I suppose she belongs in that list, too.  McCaffrey is a story-teller, not a crafter of language.  Still, I expect I’ll read quite satisfied, once I get into the swing of the new “world” I’ve entered.  It’s been years (a couple of decades at least) since I read any of the Pern books, so it’s almost like tackling a brand new book.

I decided I will switch gears for a bit after this one, or at least after I run the course of Pern books (one? five? twenty? who knows?).  I picked up Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) at Costco today.  I’ve heard too much about not to want to see what’s inside.