hiya todd

I’m sorry if this isn’t good but I’m quite new to this!

Anyway, I just wanted to say I’ve been reading your mother’s books since I was about 6 and I absolutely adore them! (I’ve even got a queen dragon painted on my wall).

For my birthday (8th April) I got her and your newest book and I just wanted to say how great it is and that I’ve been waiting for a new Pern book for ages!

I always wanted to know more about the watch-whers you know. Are there going to be more Pern novels?

‘Cos I really do love them! And perhaps maybe about Readis or Menolly ‘cos they’re my favorite characters along with the dragons. Oh, and about Kindan as well.

Oh, and how do you write a joint book? I’ve always wondered about that.

I’m really really sorry if this is to long.

thanks
Katy

Hi Katy!

Belated Happy Birthday!

It’s no problem that you’re new at this — everyone starts somewhere. You’ll note that I did a bit of editing on your letter (it’s become habit to fix typos and punctuation).

There are going to be more Pern novels. I’m working on revisions to Dragonsblood at the moment.

Mum and I are talking about books following on from “Dragon’s Kin” (the one you just read). Writing with someone else can be both easy and hard — it varies from writer to writer and from book to book. Mum and I had been hoping to collaborate for a long while and we were glad when we realized that we could do that with Kindan (who is also in Dragonsblood but all grown up).

The most important part of writing a collaboration is to decide the plot ahead of time and figure out which parts each writer wants to work with — although I’ve also heard of writers who just alternate chapters. The first writer does the first chapter and the second writer has to figure out what comes next and it goes on like that until the book’s finished. That can be very challenging.

I don’t know if there are going to be more stories with Readis or Menolly — those characters are from the Ninth Pass while Kindan lives in the Third Pass — nearly two thousand Turns before Menolly.

Cheers,
Todd

Hi,

I’ve read almost all of your mothers pern books and I love them.

I am so glad that you have decided to follow in her footsteps.

I just wanted to ask a question, your mother did a artwork book with Robin Wood called “The People of Pern”. I was just wondering if there is plans to do a “People of Pern Volume Two”. Because there are so many more new charecters that I bet people would love to see, myself included. So that’s my question, thank you for reading it.

Sara Joy

Hi Sara Joy!

I’m glad to hear that you love Mum’s books. She does write a good yarn, doesn’t she?

I don’t think there are plans for a “People of Pern Volume Two”. I don’t know how well the first edition sold which is always a consideration for a publisher and I’m also afraid that Robin isn’t doing that type of artwork any more.

All the non-fiction books connected with Mum and Pern tend to be suggested by publishers rather than by Mum. Perhaps one day a publisher will want something like that.

Cheers,
Todd