I really enjoyed Dragon’s Kin and I have loved the Pern series for 17 yrs when I discovered Dragonflight in my highschool library. I had an idea that I wanted to tell someone who write Pern books. Maybe it would interest you.

I always wondered what would happen if a young pregnant woman impressed a queen only to find out that it was her unborn daughter who impressed. I once wrote the idea on your mothers site then read where she doesn’t use other peoples ideas. I just thought the idea was interesting, I even had part of the story worked out but I am no writer.

I would also be interested in seeing what would happen if a green dragon ever clutched. I know that later on “later passes” this is said to never happen because of the greens chewing firestone and they don’t have good clutches but it would be nice to see where this idea gets started. Anyway I am glad you are writing about Pern and I hope your mother and the sister you mentioned write more also. Thanks

Jewelee,

I’m glad you liked Dragon’s Kin!

I’m afraid, that like my mother, I really can’t use other people’s ideas. There are a lot of reasons for this, the top three that I can think of right now are:

a) I need a “sense of ownership” to get excited about writing something.

b) I would hate to write something that I really liked and have it not live up to the originator’s hopes.

c) Even if you and I entered into a binding agreement that allowed me to use your idea (or ideas), I would open myself up to the possibility that other people would claim that one of my ideas was theirs and that I stole it from them — and just the lawyer’s fees alone (win or lose) would be too much to bear.

In fact, Dragon’s Kin started with an idea that I had. Mum was hoping that I could write a short story for “A Gift of Dragons” when the idea was first broached. But when she read the contract, she discovered that it required strictly Anne McCaffrey originals. So then we talked about her writing a story based on my idea and she finally decided that it would be unethical of her to do so. Fortunately, I realized that perhaps the story idea gave us a chance to write a collaboration together — and we did.

So, I can understand how disappointing it is to have an idea and not see it used just as much as I can understand hearing someone else’s idea and not being able to use it.

The only advice I can give you is to suggest that perhaps you’re not a writer — yet. Certainly, you’ve met the first qualification — reading!

— Todd

When is Dragonsblood due to be released?

I know you are writing primarily about the third pass but it would be very interesting to hear more about the earlier days of PERN. I really enjoyed Dragonholder and Dragon’s Kin. I am looking foreward to reading Dragonsblood!Keep up the good work!

Rebecca,

I’m still in the process of writing Dragonsblood and it’s late. However, I believe that the hope is to have Dragonsblood out around this time next year.

There will be a bit more about the First Pass in Dragonsblood. I’ve also thought that there is one more story to be told in the First Pass, but we’ll have to see.

Also, Mum asked me a long time back to write the military s-f prequels to Pern, answering the questions of what was the Nathi War and how did Admiral Benden win it, how did Emily Boll save Tau Ceti , and what was Kitti Ping’s role in the whole affair. And the Eridani seem to be quite interesting as well.

I’m glad to hear that you liked Dragonholder and Dragon’s Kin!

Cheers,
Todd