Crying in Space

Do you have any wonderful science fiction or fantasy books in your past, that made you cry?

I do.  Way back, when I was in Florence (Italy) as part of a prize for a book I'd written, it was kind of lonely when I didn't have "official stuff" to do.  Especially eating in restaurants.  I used to think I shouldn't read while eating alone, but that changed when I began reading a set of three books called The Fionavar Tapestry.  I absolutely loved it.  It's a three volume (huge) set that really does mostly take place in a fantasy world.

Well, after a day or two of sitting alone shoveling in pasta and gorgeous hot bread and scampi and broiled veggies (a Florentine specialty) all by myself so that I could get back to my hotel and my books, I started bringing The Fionavar Tapestry (the name of the three volume set) with me to restaurants. Of course, with the books there and a reason to eat in a leisurely way,  I'd order wine.  Pretty soon, I'd be sitting there till the restaurant closed, reading, and of course having to keep ordering wine so they wouldn't throw me out.  Well, there was one part in the third book, I don't want to tell you what it is, because it'd be a spoiler... Well, one of my favourite characters died.  So there I am, sobbing into my vino, totally unable to move from the table.  Kindly waiters brought me napkins to dry my eyes, and free dessert, because there is nothing like dessert in Italy for stopping tears.  But even coffee with a splash of grappa in it couldn't do it. I left, crying, stumbling down the ancient street, and a good thing it was that they don't have breathalyzers for walking in Italy, because I'm sure they'd have put my weeping down to wine, which it really wasn't.

For me, that scene made the books, which I already loved, so real and believable, that when Guy wrote better books later in his career (i.e. technically better than The Fionavar Tapestry, which was his first), I didn't love them nearly as much.


So come on, now, give:  what sci-fi or fantasy books have made you cry, even if it was only in your heart?