Anne McCaffrey

Image of Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey

76 Quotations from Anne McCaffrey

airlock n. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) i.20 She must put on the suit because the airlock had no independent oxygen or cooling units.
alien adj. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) i. 3 Helva scooted around in her shell…studying her lessons in trajectory, propulsion techniques, computation, logistics, mental hygiene, basic alien psychology, philology.
android n. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) v.175 He’s an android, complete with metal brainworks, programmed in a rarified atmosphere.
automatics n. 1990 A. McCaffrey Dragonsdawn v. 121 The space ships were now on automatic in their stable orbits. Not much fuel was required for the occasional adjustments but to deprive the automatics of that little would be disastrous at some future time when the uncorrected orbits decayed and the ships plunged as burning meteorites on to Pern’s surface.
avian n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 283 They were jealous of their position as the only sentient avians in the FSP.
avian adj. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 353 We've seen avian nests but they're always near water, preferably large lakes or rivers.
cold sleep n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Sassinak (1991) 88 Sassinak couldn’t imagine anyone wanting it. To be stuck on one planet, or shipped from one to another by coldsleep cabinet? Horrible.
cold sleep v. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 13 The escape capsule in which he'd cold-slept had had another minor malfunction that left him staring drugged and half conscious through the port glass at open space for two days before the cryogenic process had kicked in.
commlink n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Sassinak (1991) 171 What’s your cleanest com link?
construct n. 1990 A. McCaffrey Pegasus in Flight (1991) xiii. 215 The screen showed the School Room and a pleasant-faced woman seated at the desk. Tirla knew that the Teacher was a construct, devised to reproduce the old teacher-pupil confrontation, but she had always liked the look of Teacher; someone a person could trust, who would not laugh at questions or honest mistakes, who was there to help one learn.
credit n. 1982 A. McCaffrey Crystal Singer 227 Those black crystals brought you a total of twenty-three thousand credits.
dirtsider n. 1992 A. McCaffrey & M. Lackey Ship Who Searched i. 2 He decided to get married, raise a brood of his own, and settle down as a dirtsider.
Earth-type adj. 2 2006 A. McCaffrey & E. A. Scarborough Changelings iii. 33 Marmie says we’re not out of the woods so easily...especially since our population is mainly composed of other i.p.’s—inconvenient people. As an Earth-type planet, we are still supposed to accommodate i.p.’s.
empath n. 1973 A. McCaffrey in Analog Science Fiction/Fact July 24/2 We are both agreed that she is a broadcasting empath?
empathist n. 1973 A. McCaffrey Bridle for Pegasus in Analog July 34/2 ‘Yes, Sally Iselin had heard Amalda two nights before and wanted me to confirm her suspicion that Amalda was a high-gain empathist. What scared Amalda off that stage? And sent both of you into hiding?’ There was nothing helpful in Vaden’s mind except a repetition of what Daffyd and Sally had felt in Amalda’s projection. Instead, Vaden’s thoughts became despairing.
escape pod n. 1991 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Generation Warriors 101 Thinking of Sassinak reminded him again of her experience in the escape pod.
extraterrestrial adj. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) i.3 Helva’s civilization was not without busy, do-good associations, exploring possible inhumanities to terrestrial as well as extraterrestrial citizens.
flitter n. 1982 A. McCaffrey Crystal Singer 91 The cost of the flitter craft used by Crystal Singers in the ranges was staggering; the sonic cutting gear that had to be tuned to the user was also expensive and a variety of other items whose purpose was not yet known to her were basic Singer’s tools.
generation ship n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 258 It was the oldest of the original EEC generation ships still in space.
groundcar n. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) iii. 54 A ground car zipped out from the direction of the massive Control and Barracks complex.
groundcar n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Sassinak (1991) 149 Trailing a ship through FTL space was, Sassinak thought, like following a groundcar through thick forest at night without using headlights.
groundcar n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Sassinak 141 Lieutenant Commander Huron, I'm sure you wouldn’t listen to idle gossip…any more than I would listen to gossip about you and your passion for groundcar racing.
hell planet n. 1993 A. McCaffrey & S. M. Stirling City Who Fought (1994) 326 Pounding feet came closer: Joseph’s heavier tread, and the lighter, faster sound of the folk the hell-planet bred.
holovision n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 189 Flatscreen pictures don’t have enough life in them… I prefer holovision every time.
intergalactically adv. 1997 A. McCaffrey & M. Ball Acorna (1998) 240 There hadn’t been time to procure the kind of recording equipment an intergalactically known vid-artist would expect to use.
jump n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 300 The ship was capable of running on its own power indefinitely in sublight, or making a single warp jump between short sprints before recharging.
lightspeed n. 1 1991 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Generation Warriors 331 The more massive yacht, with its limited drive system, could not possibly outmaneuver a Fleet shuttle as long as it stayed below lightspeed.
nearside n. 2000 A. McCaffrey Pegasus in Space 260 Installing a telescope on the nearside wasn’t very smart but the early bureaucracy made some pretty big errors here that we are still trying to correct.
out-system adj. 1959 A. McCaffrey Lady in the Tower in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 66/1 By the time Jupiter’s big bulk had move around to blanket out-System traffic, Callisto’s day was over.
outworld adj. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) iv. 95 Among his many grievances with the galaxy at large, the extortionate price of repairs and maintenance made by outworld stations ranked high.
planet-bound adj. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) iii.81 She waited, alert, lest the instability of the spaceport field became too critical for her to remain planetbound.
planetfall n. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) v. 180 As the TH-834 had had planetfalls on Durrell, Tania Borealis’ fourth planet before, the spaceport was familiar with Teron.
planetside adv. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 7 During her remaining days planetside, she had turned over her laboratory work to a co-worker.
plasteel n. 1984 A. McCaffrey Survivors: Dinosaur Planet II 41 Even a heavyworlder would have had to grunt to bash the sturdy plasteel frame and body skin.
plasteel n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 95 I knew those struts were faulty. Trust Plasteel Corporation, the crew boss told us.
precog n. 1 1969 A. McCaffrey in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Feb. 12/1 I'll bear down heavily on the scientific corroboration of authentic foresights…the use of computers to correlate details and estimate reliability of data, the fact that sometimes three and four pre-cogs come up with the same incident, seen from different angles.
precog v. 1991 A. McCaffrey Pegasus In Flight 317 Sascha’s pre-cogged it. To his intense astonishment.
scout ship n. 1993 A. McCaffrey & S. M. Stirling City Who Fought iv. 71 The brain/brawn scout ship is too claustrophobic and limited. I like dealing with a lot of people.
sentience n. 1 1969 A. McCaffrey Dramatic Mission in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact June 64/2 She knew nothing of these Beta Corviki, but it was a convention among all the sophisticated societies she had encountered that sentience was not permitted to waste itself. Kira Falernova had found it excessively difficult to commit suicide.
shapechange n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Sassinak (1990) 208 She nodded to Gelory, who instantly attacked, a move so fast she was sure it must have been half shapechange. Something that felt almost boneless at first stiffened into a leg over which she was flipped—but she coiled in midair, managed to hang onto a wrist, and flipped Gelory in her turn. But this was the only change that Gelory pulled on her for the rest of the session.
shapechange v. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 221 Lunzie lay back, trying to involve herself in the ratiocinations of Toli Alopa, a Weft detective who could shapechange to follow a suspect without fear of being spotted.
shapechanging adj. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 218 The receptionist, who Lunzie suspected was a shapechanging Weft because of the utter perfection of her human form, impassively checked Lunzie’s credit code.
shapeshift v. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 55 He’s so young, he doesn’t know yet that it’s considered bad manners by his people to shape-shift in public.
skimmer n. 1974 A. McCaffrey Prelude to a Crystal Song in R. Elwood Continuum 1 (1977) 112 He ordered a private skimmer to be ready within the hour.
slideway n. 1991 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Generation Warriors 145 Little vehicular traffic: in fact, little sign of anyone else on the streets. Lunzie presumed that most people used the underground walkways and slideways she and Zebara had used their two previous meetings.
slideway n. 1991 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Generation Warriors (1992) 205 His shoulders twitched, but he moved across the slideway traffic that way.
slideway n. 1991 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Generation Warriors (1992) 145 Lunzie presumed that most people used the underground walkways and slideways she and Zebara had used their previous two meetings.
Sol n. 1 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 167 Partly because of the Admiral’s influence, but also because it is convenient to our mission, we’re going to Alpha Centauri, then toward Sol.
space v. 2 1990 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Sassinak (1991) 242 In the end they'd won—though they'd had to space most of the trader’s original crew—and she had brought the ship in whole.
space armor n. 1992 A. McCaffrey & M. Lackey Ship Who Searched iii. 74 It looked like his legs and waist were encased in the bottom half of space armor!
space-going adj. 1992 A. McCaffrey & M. Lackey Ship Who Searched i. 2 That had given him a window of opportunity for a little shore leave, in a base-town that catered to some fairly heavy space-going traffic, and he had taken it.
spacehand n. 2009 A. McCaffrey & E. A. Scarborough Catalyst xii. 113 ‘There was—a note,’ she said. ‘And Carlton—Jubal’s father—is an old spacehand. This is where he would come. It took me awhile to catch a ride with one of the neighbors who was coming here. I need them to search the station and find my boy. If he didn’t get on board the ship with the cat, he could still be here.’
space navigator n. 1997 A. McCaffrey & M. Ball Acorna (2001) 380 That, she considered, was the price she paid for the money that had put her through nav training…. She couldn’t actually work as a space navigator; that would be beneath her family’s status.
spaceport n. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) i. 18 I'm here to take you to the spaceport at Rosary.
space suit n. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) i. 20 Jennan broke out spacesuits to the three who would have to remain with him in the airlock.
space tan n. 1985 A. McCaffrey Killashandra 40 He had a pleasant voice, his ship-suit was well cut to a tall lean frame, his features were regular but without a distinguishing imperfection; his medium length dark hair complimented a space tan.
spacewoman n. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) iii. 62 Shoulder-length hair was the common fashion among spacewomen.
speculative fiction n. 1 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) vi. 249 In writing speculative fiction, I feel I have not failed the auspices of my natal day.
star system n. 1969 A. McCaffrey Partnered Ship in Ship Who Sang (1970) 232 Despite every shortcoming, Central Worlds at least worked for the good of the total Federation, not for the aggrandizement of one isolated star system, or a mercenary monopoly.
sublight n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 300 The ship was capable of running on its own power indefinitely in sublight, or making a single warp jump between short sprints before recharging.
sublight adj. 1969 A. McCaffrey in Galaxy Magazine Mar. 102/2 A sublight message?… Now what?
sublight adv. 1991 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Generation Warriors 153 That’s how emergency calls went out: sublight to the transfer point, which launched the pod, and the pod carried only a standard message, plus its originating transfer code.
telempath n. 1974 A. McCaffrey Apple in Science Fiction Monthly June 8/1 Who had been dim-witted enough to let the telempath out of this shielded room at a time like this? The moron was the most sensitive barometer to emotion Daffyd had ever encountered.
telepath v. 2001 A. McCaffrey Skies of Pern IV. 366 The white one leads the way, but why is it that they do not use telekinesis if they can telepath and teleport?
Terran n. 2 2001 A. McCaffrey & E. A. Scarborough Acorna’s Search (2002) 180 You speak Terran, I speak Terran, we should be able to come up with some kind of understanding.
tight-beam n. 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) ii. 32 I need to use your tight beam.
tight-beam v. 1969 A. McCaffrey Ship Who Disappeared in World of If Mar. 52/1 It was offensive of Teron to tight-beam back to Central Worlds.
time storm n. 1994 A. McCaffrey Girl Who Heard Dragons (1995) 167 The time storm shifted and that resettlement was enough to rouse Chloe, attuned as she was to the distortion phenomenon.
tractor field n. 1991 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Sassinak 179 She nodded to Arly, who poured all remaining power to their tractor field.
tri-D n. 1982 A. McCaffrey Crystal Singer 85 Her quarters were as good as the guest facility in the Shankill Base, nothing gaudy but certainly substantial: bed, table, chairs, writing surface, tri-d screen, the customary audio-visual terminals.
tri-v n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 35 Have I got a tri-vid team waiting to talk to me, too?
Venusian n. 1 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) i. 6 She had…enjoyed a music appreciation course that had included…the curious rhythmic progressions of the Venusians, Capellan visual chromatics, the sonic concerti of the Altairians and Reticulan croons.
vibroblade n. 1991 A. McCaffrey Pegasus in Flight (1992) 178 She got out the vibro-blade…and sheered [sic] off two screws.
vidscreen n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Sassinak (1991) 171 His face in the vidscreen already looked different, the face of a fellow captain.
warp n. 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 300 The ship was capable of running on its own power indefinitely in sublight, or making a single warp jump between short sprints before recharging.
xenobiological adj. 1993 A. McCaffrey Chronicles of Pern: First Fall 228 How will you ever increase your understanding of xenobiological forms unless you examine closely whatever samples come your way?