Hi, Todd. Just pre-ordered my next Pern fix, and I am so excited that I can hardly wait until July!

Any chance that your mom will run another pll soon?

Hi Novashannon,

By now you’ve got your Pern fix and are (hopefully) waiting for the next! Mum and I are chugging away on Dragon’s Fire.

I don’t know what you mean by “pll”, could you tell me?

Cheers,
Todd

I have read most of your mothers books — bought one of yours read the other (dragons of pern series), hope you keep writing expecialy about Pern

Hi John,

Yes, we’ll keep writing! Dragon’s Fire is out, Dragon’s Heart is underway!

Hi Todd!
Your Mother ended her last solo book with the weyerleader’s son crippled, and his love and dragon looking for ways to help him… Surely F’lessan won’t be left in this mess forever?!

Jan,

Are you referring to “The Skies of Pern”? Because I rather though F’lessan was doing okay. It’s been a while since I’ve read it, however.

Mum and I have been talking over some ideas in the Ninth Pass, we’ll see what comes of them.

Cheers,
Todd

Hi.

I just finished reading “Dragonsblood” and found it to be a very good story. In fact, I couldn’t tell the difference between you and your mother writing it. I was kind of disappointed, though, in the ending. I wish you would write another story where Arith and the other dragons who went Between are saved. They could go back in time with the cure and save them. (I really didn’t understand all the genetics stuff, but then, I’m not a scientist. Funny, when you mention Science Fiction Hall of Fame, I’ve always thought of the Dragonriders of Pern as fantasy, not science fiction, although I would consider other of your Mum’s books as science fiction). There were also a couple of things I noticed in Dragonsblood that were never explained, such as Grenn and Garth being sick. There was no mention of them coughing or otherwise acting sick when they were with Lorana (the first time was when they suddenly fell out of the sky four hundred and fifty years in the past. She said she thought they were sick, but how did she think that when they weren’t showing any signs of the sickness? Also, Emorra would have to be close to fifty years old by the end of the book if Wind Blossom was 81, and Tieran only about 26. That didn’t make much sense, either.

I know it was Arith appearing that ended up saving the remaining dragons, but you could have sacrificed another dragon instead of her and the story would have been much better. Now you’ve got to come up with a way to bring her back, along with the other dragons who were lost. Please?!!

I also noticed you have written another book, “Dragonholder”. What’s that one about? Are we going to be seeing more from you about Pern in the future? That would be great.

Thanks. Waiting for your response.

Jane

Hi Jane,

I’m glad you liked Dragonsblood.

Dragonholder is a non-fiction, sort of scrapbook with the subtitle “The Life and Times (So far) of Anne McCaffrey.” As it was published in 1999, many things have happened since that “so far.”

As to your questions regarding Dragonsblood, first and foremost, I’m very sorry but none of the dragons, including noble, brilliant, marvelous, and much-loved Arith, come back. Sometimes there are prices to pay. Arith and Lorana knew full well what their price might be and they were willing to pay it. It took me forever to write that scene but I knew it was coming from the first moment I had the idea for the book.

Garth and Grenn contracted the illness from Talith, whose cough was noted with alarm by Lorana. But their symptoms were masked by the noise of the storm just before Lorana sent them back. You will recall that “Garth and Grenn huddled miserably on the floorboards” in the launch. Not all of that was due to the weather.

The stress of the four hundred Turn jump, coupled with the stress of the events prior, were enough to kill Garth and render Grenn’s immune system so weak that the infection nearly overwhelmed it — and it would have without the use of the antibiotics Wind Blossom had been saving for Tieran’s operation.

As for Emorra, she was thirty when Tieran was eighteen, Wind Blossom had her at the great age of fifty-one — something not too rare for the initial colonists of Pern, particularly one who is a geneticist (I do keep track of these things).

Dragon’s Fire, which is a sequel to Dragonsblood (as is Dragon’s Kin) has just been released in hardcover. Mum and I are working on Dragon’s Heart and we’re thinking of doing some more collaborations.

I’ll be writing more about Lorana and the aftermath of Dragonsblood in two new solo books, as well.

I hope that’ll keep your reading list filled!

Cheers,
Todd