I met you today at your book signing in San Diego and as usual I was tongue tied when I came up and you signed my book. I just wanted to thank you for the books you have already written and that I appreciate you taking the time to come down to San Diego. And it was a pleasure to listen to you in person, especially when you took the time to answer the girl scout’s question about being a writer. And it was fun to see your energy as you talked about the books, especially the next set of books you have planned.

And when you mentioned the Pern reference Excel spreadsheets done by a summer intern, I was nodding in agreement, I’ve worked in software for many years and worked with summer interns, I can just imagine what happened. I wanted to jump up and volunteer to convert the sheets but I need to finish up some other side software projects I have. And your writing of your best experience in software was a bit intimidating since it was with Java and UML. I switched from Java to PHP after attempting to understand Java Enterprise Beans, from what I could tell, there appears to be some magic functioning underneath the surface.

Anyway, thank you again for coming down to San Diego, it was great fun to listen to you answer questions and talk about your next books. Speaking of which, it’s time to get started on Dragon Harper and find out more about Kindan and second interval/third pass Pern.

Sincerely,
Tamara

P.S.: And thank you for the recommend of the author Tamora Pierce, I picked up one of her books today and I look forward to reading it. After I finish Dragon Harper, of course. It’s always fun to find a good quality read no matter whether it’s adult or YA.

Dear Tamara,

Thank you for taking the time to write! I was happy to come down to San Diego and Mysterious Galaxy. I’m glad that it worked out for you, too!

I don’t know whether the issue with the spreadsheets is so much a function of the summer intern or or Mum’s level of computer skills — I spent a fair bit of time converting her from her beloved IBM Selectric! For all too many, spreadsheets often seem like magic and, as with all things magical, there is a tendency to impute too much ability to the software.

I hope you enjoy Tamora Pierce’s Alana series, I certainly found it a pleasant YA read.

Cheers,
Todd

I just finished reading Dragon Harper. I loved it! You and your mum did it again. I get so involved in the story and it touched my heart tremendously! Please keep them coming!

I’m glad that you loved Dragon Harper! We were hoping people would like it.

I’m busy with Dragonheart and hope to have it done soon!

How do I go about getting a book from the UK? I really love there cover and would like one for my collection. Another great book. You definitely have inherited the writing gene from your Mum!

Keelin,

I’m glad that you liked Dragon Harper! In school in Ireland my teachers used to accuse me of having “the gift of the gab” — I guess they were right!

I don’t know the best way to get UK copies of the books but I’d suggest starting with amazon.co.uk (the UK website for Amazon). My guess, however, is that you’ll pay a fairly hefty shipping penalty.

To Mrs. Anne McCaffrey and Mr. Todd McCaffrey,

I just finished reading “Dragon Harper” and I am in full sympathy with Martha Trachtenburg. Luckily I had a full box of tissues when I started reading! The story tugs at one’s heart strings. I hope you keep the Kindan story line going. It will be interesting to see what happens to him in the future. Perhaps he might surprise everyone and impress a dragon of his own. It might even complicate things if it were a bronze, especially since Valla is a bronze fire-lizard. Valla could nestle on the larger bronze dragon and no one would be the wiser. I have one request though. Would it be possible to write a book about the dragons with laughter. I know Anne McCaffrey’s, your Mom’s, books have made them both fierce and loyal with endearing personalities and they can be playful at times. It would be fun to hear more about this and laugh at their antics. For instance they love the water and dolphins as in “The Dolphins of Pern” and they can literally go anywhere even backwards in time. I guess what I am saying is you gave us the tears now please give us the laughter to wipe the tears away. After all thread is not due for at least another few years. Thanks for listening and keeping the Dragonriders of Pern forever alive. An avid fan I am. Sandy.

Sandy,

I’m glad that you liked Dragon Harper. If you want to read more about Kindan, then you might want to pick up Dragonsblood.

I hear your request for more humor and we’ll have to see what we can do. For the next several books there are some serious issues on Pern but I’ll bear in mind that people laugh, too!

Cheers,
Todd