Month: July 2005

Letter from “Masterharper Bridget”

Letter from “Masterharper Bridget”

I was so glad to meet you again, and hope that you and your daughter had a good time at the picnic/gather Sunday,June 26th. It was so cute to see her face when she picked the white bag and got an anime character that she recognized.

We hope that you can make the next one in October. (If we can ever decide whether to have it on the 23rd or 30th.) We know that tends to be a very busy month for you, but we would all love to have you both come back again. This time we’ll have a pocket dictionary with us to define the text twist words better!

Hugs from all here.

Margaret.

Margaret,

We had a blast. I shall hope to make it to the October gather.

Thanks to you and all for your kindness in having us.

Cheers,
Todd

Letter from Barbara

Letter from Barbara

Dear Todd,

You got me started on Wen Spencer and am I a happy reader, just finished `A Brother’s Price’ Not a comfortable read but provocative.

Dear Barbara,

I haven’t read “A Brother’s Price” yet and didn’t know of it until you mentioned it. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. I’m glad that you like Wen Spencer!

Cheers,
Todd

Letter from Jaxie

Letter from Jaxie

Hi Todd,

I was hoping I could ask you a question. I sent Anne an email over a month ago now, I think and didn’t receive a reply so am hoping I can find out this way.

As you may or may not know, I am still a host at the New Kitchen Table, and we are hoping to have a biography of Anne’s books somewhere linked to our home page, and I was wondering if I need to, or if I could somehow get permission to post the blurbs from the books to go with a picture of the cover of each book (or as many as I can find and get blurbs for) to go with it, so that people who haven’t read certain books can get a general idea of what the book may be about.

Do I need special permission to do this? Do you know how I could get permission?

Also I remember that we were told – the hosts of the Old Kitchen Table, that our website address would be added to the links of message boards that you have listed under Fan Links, but it’s been over 6 months now and we are not still there, I hope this is an oversight and that we can be added soon!

I saw on our forums today (http://www.annmccaffreyfans.org) that you went to the gather today (yesterday for you now, I think :D). It looks like you had fun! I wish I could have been there, but there is just too much land and sea inbetween here and there for me to be able to attend easily! LOL

Well, I hope you get this email, and that everyone is doing well!

Take care!

Jaxie {{{{{{{{{{{{{{snugsels}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Hi Jaxie,

I’ve forwarded the links issue on to the webmistress.

The blurbs question is really a question for the publishers, as they wrote them. From my interpretation of copyright law, however, I’d say that it’s probably safe to copy the blurbs as you are working to enhance the sales of the books (and that’s what the publishers want). You may actually need to be more careful with the book covers as not all publishers get blanket reproduction rights from the artists. The easiest way to avoid this issue is to link to an image already in use, say amazon.com or amazon.co.uk.

The gather was fun. I’m sad that I didn’t get there earlier and that I couldn’t stay later. I shall strive to correct both next year!

Cheers,
Todd

Letter from Stephanie

Letter from Stephanie

Dear Mr.McCaffrey,

How to begain… When I started high school I was shy and somewhat a “geek”. I played the violin, sang in choir and loved math, art, and science. I was very out of place and knew it. Then one day I finally decided to read a book I bought in 7th grade at a book fair. It was “Dragonsinger”.

After the fist chapter I decided to buy “Dragonsong” and start at the beginning. It didn’t take long until I was hooked.

Throughout high school I read all the books that had anything to do with Pern. By my senior year I had changed completely. I was no longer as shy and I stood up for what I felt was right. I even ran for president of Student Council and won. I felt (and still do) that your mother’s books helped me become a better person. (Sounds sappy, I know).

My father is a tatoo artist and has been in bad health since 2000. I wanted him to put something on me so I would always have some of him close by. So before my 18th birthday I had him tattoo a beautiful piece of artwork on my thigh. It is of a watch-wher. And every time I feel down and in the dumps, I look at my thigh and it reminds me of who I am.

I am now reading “Dragonsblood” and will hopefully finish it tonight. It has captured me within its pages just as all your mother’s books had done before. I can only hope I will take over my father’s pations as well as you have done with your mother’s.

And even though you and your family do not know me, I feel that I owe you greatly. So from the bottom of my heart, Thank you.

From a silly girl giving thanks,
Sincerely

Stephanie

Dear Stephanie,

First, let me invite you to call me Todd, please. (“Hey you!” has been known to work but it tends to get more attention than perhaps is desired.)

Second, please never refer to yourself as “a silly girl” again. You are clearly nothing of the sort!

Third, please forgive my tardiness in answering you. I have had a very full six weeks (I’ll describe it in more detail in my home page) and haven’t been keeping up with my correspondence as well as I’d like.

When I was nine I read “Space Cat” by Ruthven Todd. I really loved the whole story and it started my lifelong love of science fiction. I liked it so much that I wrote the author. He never wrote back. Why, I don’t know. What I do know is that the lack of response prompted my mother to vow that she’d always answer her mail. I may be tardy and I reserve the right not to answer (some people can be pretty rude or just plain offensive) but I will answer my e-mail.

Do you still play the violin? I’ve always found it a fascinating instrument. Your “out of place” sounds like a great place to me.

I’m really sorry to hear that your father has been in bad health. As you probably know, Mum had a heart attack in 2000 and a stroke early in 2001 so I think that all these years since are a blessing. Is there a chance that he’ll recover his health? I certainly hope so, as you are clearly very close to him.

Are you planning to become a tatto artist yourself? Or are you already?

It must be great to have a watch-wher companion. Have you had a chance to read “Dragon’s Kin”? There’s more about watch-whers in it. And there’ll be more about them in “Dragon’s Fire”, too.

A book is a strange thing — by itself it’s nothing, marks on pages. It takes someone to write it and bring it to life in their eyes — and someone to read it and bring it back to life in their eyes.

I’m glad that you like to bring Pern to life in your eyes.

Thank you,
Todd