Letter from Nova
Hi, Todd.
I Just finished reading Dragonsblood. Well, really I did finish it yesterday, but then I had to watch the Superbowl since our “local” team, the Eagles, were playing. Now I have to pass the book on to two of my siblings before I get it back and reread it.
Again, well done! I had wondered how you were going to link the two time periods. You really made it work without resorting to a “Deus ex machina” approach! Your solution to the ‘one word’ question caught me completely by surprise, as did your explanation of Tullea’s shrewish behavior. I love it when a book surprises me! Yet, everything developed logically. You skillfully built tension in both time periods so that the story flowed. Was that difficult or does your mind just work that way?
I enjoyed the way you explained or foreshadowed future developments that we already know from your mother’s books. As someone who actually read all the Pern books as they were published, I really appreciate your attention to detail and the way you sort of slipped snippets of expository information into otherwise innocuous passages.
Your mention that the people of the different time periods being related set me to wondering about lineage. Is Lorana an ancestor of Lessa? The ability to talk to all dragons would logically pass down genetically. Is that talent a female trait? Is the ability passed on matrilinearly, wouldn’t it? Or can men carry a recessive? So far, only women have spoken to all dragons, unless you count all the dragons calling to Robinton when he had his heart attack.
I guess I am getting long-winded here, but it seems that your answering questions has only made me hunger for more answers!
So, when will the next book be out? (Just kidding).
Nova
Hi Nova,
I’m glad you liked the book! Please do me a favor and consider writing an on-line review at amazon.com to let others know what you think.
In answer to your questions — no, I don’t think that the ability to hear all dragons is a genetic trait. I think it’s more of a particular mindset and while genetics plays a part, I suspect that nurture has a greater role. That said, I suspect that only women can hear all dragons (hmm, although…. interesting thought, eh?).
Lorana is not an ancestor of Lessa. And Lorana is descended from Emorra/Tieran, not Torene/M’hall.
It took a lot of work to keep the tension building in both halves of the story. I made a special point, at least twice, of reading each half of the story by itself to be sure that it worked and was flowing properly.
When I first wrote the outline for Dragonsblood, my agent warned me that keeping Lorana’s story from overwhelming Wind Blossom’s story would be a challenge. I guess I must have succeeded because there are some readers who find Wind Blossom’s story the most compelling.
In many respects Dragonsblood was written to answer some of the until-now unanswered questions from Mum’s earlier books (Dragonflight and Dragonquest).
Dragon’s Fire is the next book, one of two that Mum and I are collaborating on to fill in the time between Dragon’s Kin and Dragonsblood. I’m hoping it’ll be available towards the end of this year or early next year — but I’ve got to get cracking on it. Your kind words certainly act as encouragement.
Cheers,
Todd