Day: February 14, 2005

Letter from Ruth

Letter from Ruth

I just posted most of the following on another site and wanted to make sure you and Anne both saw it. I have been a fan since 1978 when I first read Dragonquest and always make sure I have a cassette player in my car so I can listen to the Pern series wherever I might roam. Thank you both for making such a wonderful place for me to visit daily.

Review of Dragonsblood:

I have 95% of the books Anne McCaffrey has written and all are in hard bound. I also have every one of the Pern series I can find unabridged in audio, so I very familiar with each and every “person”. I just finished Todd’s book and I think it does live up to his “Mum’s” works. With the speed that Kitti Ping had to create the dragons it would seem natural that something could have slipped past them. So it does not surprise me that some gene manipulation happened later as the dragons never get sick in the later turns. Nothing is THAT healthy.

The book grabbed me from the beginning and I was saddened by the passing of Sean and Sorka, having known them from Dragondawn and The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall. I congratulate you Todd for taking up the gauntlet and doing such a marvelous job. Now I would like to see a book about the people that have been exiled to the Southern islands (Dragonseye) or to the islands in the Eastern Ring (All The Weyrs of Pern). Seeing that some of the families when also, they have had to prolificate…..?

Hey Ruth,

Thanks for your review!

As for your suggestion about the exiled, that may be something Mum wants to pursue, or maybe my sister, Gigi (the same Georgeanne Kennedy to whom I dedicated Dragonsblood). I’ve got enough ideas for Third Pass to keep me busy for a number of years to come, and then when I’m done with that, I’ve got some really interesting ideas about the whole Nathi Wars.

Cheers,
Todd


Letter from Krista

Letter from Krista

Dear Mr McCaffrey – just finished Dragonsblood, and it was great! I’m SO happy that you are carrying on with the Chronicles of Pern. Also enjoyed Dragon’s Kin very much; nice to know that watch-whers weren’t just a mistake.

Certain that you’ll get lots of notes on your books, but wanted to add congrats from another long-time McCaffrey fan.

Best Regards,
Krista

p.s. Knowing that you grew up with German Shepherds, you are welcome to visit my pack if you are ever in the Cincinnati area!

Hi Krista,

I’m glad that you liked Dragonsblood and Dragon’s Kin! With watch-whers, I took Mum’s famous quote about why she wrote about dragons in the first place — “I decided that dragons had a bad press, so I decided to fix it” — and just applied it to watch-whers.

I’m always thrilled to get a kind note about my books. There are many times, for every writer, where despair sets in and the writer is convinced that their work is useless, they don’t know how to write, and can’t imagine why anyone would want to read their work (even J.K. Rowling mentions it on her website) and reading e-mail like yours is a great way to dispel that!

Oddly, we went from German Shepherds to Doberman Pinschers (not pure-bred). Our last dog was a Dobie-Shepherd cross and a really sweet lady (she was a stray). Still, I’d love to meet a brood of Shepherds!

Cheers,
Todd


Letter from Barbara

Letter from Barbara

I am a McCaffrey re-re-re-reader! and am anxious for your next book(s). Pern or some other worlds but please, keep your current style.

How many books do you have in progress at one time?

It is said that Barbara Cartland wrote her books 5 to 7 at a time per month, granted you are not on that easy agenda but still you write elsewhere that you have two books for this year and AGIME for many more….I know your Mother has many worlds on her mind at one time. Are you going to be as prolific?

Sure do hope so….I have your books on order as soon as I hear of them.

Hi Barbara!

I’m trying to get faster but I think I’ll concentrate on quality over speed. Dragonsblood was the result of over 5 years’ worth on-and-off work. Dragon’s Kin went much faster. All the same, I’d like to be able to write two books a year, although it may work out to two books every three years.

As for how many books I have in “progress” at one time, that’s hard to say. Contractually, I’m obligated to work on one book at a time. However, that doesn’t stop me thinking about other books (as you noticed with my AGIME list), particularly as they impact and are impacted by the current book (which is why I mentioned Nuella’s watch-wher in Dragonsblood, and why the map of Third Pass Pern is subtly different from Ninth Pass Pern). I find that it’s sometimes dangerous not to work exclusively on one book. Working on too many books at once is like a cat going after too many mice — all that happens is that they all get away.

I will say that when I look like I’m off on another planet, I usually am!

Cheers,
Todd