A belated Happy New Year! I’m counting down the days until Dragonsblood! I really enjoyed the reading that you and Anne did at DragonCon and I’ve been anxiously waiting ever since. It looks like you won the cover-art “war”. If my assumption is correct, we get to have the same great cover art as the UK this time around. That’s a relief!

Also, did you hear about the upcoming Dragon special that Animal Planet is planning in March? You can get the details at www.dragonsarecoming.com. They ran the ads last night during the National Dog Show and it really looks great!

Take care!

Rhonda

I am a bit surprised. I was looking up books by your mater, and I ran across your nomen. I was so happy to find books in the ‘Dragonriders of Pern’ series that I hadn’t read yet. Yay!!

I am a huge fan of your mater, especially since I found out she took Latin, and I hope to be a fan of yours, as well.

Here’s to wonderful writing!!

Thanks to your mother for many hours of delightful reading. I have just finished rereading most of the Pern series and wish to share the following observations. As a long time science fiction reader, a former graduate student in applied anthropology and a retired state policy and budget analyst, I have thoroughly enjoyed most of her books. I was however struck with the question that kept being raised in The Skies of Pern, regarding what the dragon riders would do after the thread ceased to fall. I recently taught a graduate class in international development and see the Weyrs continuing to play a critical role in the political and economic infrastructure of the planet. They would of course have to provide much of their own food, but could charge enough for their services to cover their other needs.

Pern has a planetary government in which the Weyrs are critical. Without dragons the Lord Holders, Craftmasters and Weyr leaders could not meet in any practical manner to address ongoing problems of a developing planet, such as, Pern. The dragon riders have in the various books proved to be critical to dealing with natural disasters, enforcing Pern council decisions (kind of a law enforcement role), and generally maintaining communication across the entire world. If future books are written and the western and southern continents are settled, such communication, transportation, and links, that only the weyrs can provide, would be necessary to maintaining order (i.e., the rule of law essential for peace and development) throughout Pern.

I would even suggest that dragons would have been more useful that either the US navy or elephants in addressing the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean (the Pern tsunami outlined the problem rather well). The presence of dragons and fire lizards in today’s Congo would significantly transform that problem, probably for the better. But that thought focuses on a problem, poorly addressed by most science fiction writers, of transporting and reestablishing earth technology on a colony planet. Almost any piece of current technology depends on a huge pyramid of multiple technologies, manufacturing facilities, and knowledge bases, which are likely to be difficult to transport in any kind of star ship and reconstruct on a challenging planet within any reasonable timeframe.

Pern dragons and fire lizards could be essential to colonists, particularly during their first few generations on a new planet. They would make an interesting addition to any survey teams exploring new planets, as long as they could live off the land. Most science fiction survey teams seem to have an almost unlimited supply of fuel, allowing them considerable exploration time. Dragons and fire lizards would give them more flexibility. If dragons could mind merge with any of the Lyon descendents, then additional possibilities present themselves, along with solving the problem of dragons having to spend any significant time in transport ships. I see an almost unlimited potential for stories should Pern be rediscovered, after thread fall disappears and Pern has readjusted to dragon riders assuming critical roles. Fire lizards could also evolve more useful and interesting traits as generations of fire lizards co-exist with men on multiple planets, habitats, and ships.

Just a note about ideas – I know you and your Mum have more than enough of your own, and to be quite honest, I prefer them to any I’ve had so far, but an idea about ideas just occurred to me. In eharlequin.com, they have a section where they give the same starting paragraph to five of their authors, and the five resulting novels are all completely different. So it’s not the idea that counts, it’s what you do with it, and nobody else but you has your brain, and nobody else but your mother has hers. And you can’t copyright ideas, so even if somebody were to accuse you (or your Mum or Mercedes Lackey or any other writer) of stealing “their” ideas, an idea is only one line (or at most one paragraph) on a page. It’s how you take it and run with it that makes you different (and the fact that I can’t take an idea and run with it at all – maybe because I can’t run! – is why I prefer reading to writing). If you’d like to print this to try and get the message across to anybody who needs it, feel free, I’m not the first to think this, I won’t be the last, and I CERTAINLY won’t accuse you of stealing this opinion.

Best wishes