Occasionally, I have the great joy of opening up my email and finding a beautiful, heartfelt letter from a reader who has found my work and really connected with it. This letter came from a reader who has given me permission to share it. Please excuse me while I go die of happiness and sob a little bit.
I am 65 years old. I am a woman. I have never written to an author before. I read Tolkien’s books in high school -as they were published the US .I had to wait a year between the books
I re-read them every year of my life. Well, the hobbit and the Lord of the Rings!
I’ve also read as many others as possible, the Simarillion, etc.
my son introduced me (reticently,lol)to George R R Martin’s books years ago. During major surgeries I became the oldest asoiaf geek,podcasts,reddit,etc.,rereads…
I read Piers Anthony’s books as they came out. I found you as I was looking for reviews on Xanth, again re-reads due to surgery..tho I have my paperbacks of the entire series I’m no longer able to reread them because the print is too small… And many of them aren’t available on Kindle.
I was a feminist. I was involved in civil rights .my friends and I worked so women could work and it would be okay .I experienced sexual harassment before there were laws against it.
I worked as a psychologist in an all-male maximum-security prison for 30 years . I also had a private practice.
As a result of reading your Xanth comments and review, i just finished your book ,the untold tales. I sit here in tears because my whole life I’ve been waiting for the fantasy writer you are… .A women as a complex,realistic,strong protagonist ,gay characters as just strong characters. I read your book in one sitting today, well, sitting and driving ( thank you for having this voice enabled )…I remain committed to the old Kindle keyboard,because I have had one for over 17 yrs…
I have no means to thank you enough for what you’re doing except to continue to buy everything you are writing!!! Sometimes magic happens..
I’ve had such a sense that what WE fought for-the right for women to have careers AND families,to be acknowledged NOT as sexual objects, the protections afforded by sexual harassment laws,and the right not to be held PERSONALLY RESONSIBLE [sic] for their own rape & be victimized during prosecution,to be GAY AND PROUD (instead of suiciding as one of my best friends did in 1975,rather than ‘shame’his family)…. I was married to a black man for 28 years. now our biracial sons, 25 and 30 are experiencing unprecedented (for them)) harassment from random law enforcement…. and one of them is a law student at Stanford …
I have just been feeling overwhelmed by rampant cultural darkness.
Your book gave me HOPE!!!and I mean this.I hope YOU realize how ABSOLUTELY important your work is.
for me today , your writing was the candle in the darkness of current politics, racism and sexism that I needed. in addition reading your blogs and those of other young women, I see hope that the work that we did will be carried on. That the walls that are trying to be erected in this election are NOT going to be completed .
I thought as a country we had become a kinder gentler place ,but when I started reading live chats,seeing the use of the N-word &the c-word I was truly shocked. my younger son said mom where’ve you been for 10 years….
We fought hard for women not to be treated as sex objects -while the old white men promoting music videos continue reinforce women as disposable,and african -americans as thugs…the absence of people of color on tv,etc.
I’m not nuts. I didn’t mean to write a dissertation,lol! . I just want to say thank you and tell you again YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!!!
If you’d like to send me a letter, you can email me at scifrey@hotmail.com
