Dearest Todd,
I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of WVA, the son of a coal-miner and a seamstress in a very small Coal Camp. We didn’t have a library, shoot we had an outhouse and didn’t get a televion until I was 13 and a telephone (party line) until I was 16 but my brother and I discovered books by mail and if it hadn’t been for your Mom, I would have had the most boring summers!
We’d order a case of books to get us through the long summer break. Being a young gay man and having to hide the fact in a very narrow-minded, red-neck community was torture. If it hadn’t been for Pern, I would have had a miserable life. But instead, I got to soar with dragons on top of a beautiful mountain with the clearest lake (which the dragons used for hunting food and bathing).
Then, last month I saw Dragon’s Kin and OH MY GOD!! A Dream Came True! I’ve lived in San Diego for 30 years and now you’ve brought them all the way from the mountains to here just for me!! You have no idea how excited I’ve been! I’ve LOVED them all: Dragon’s Kin, Dragon’s Fire, Dragonsblood, I just ordered Dragon Harper and now I find you’re writing Dragonheart!!! I Love You!! And I Love Anne for not letting Pern die and here you have a marvelous girl (Please God, oh please let her write about Pern, also!) I’ve had so many wonderful daydreams about the interaction between animals of the southern continent and the dragons, the fire-lizards, watch-whers and dolphins and a couple that have mutated through the years.
The White Dragon will always be a favorite. I just had to tell my two favorite authors how they have made my live so much richer! With sincerest heartfelt gratitude, I thank you both. Greg
Dearest Greg,
I’m glad that Pern was there for you during those boring summers. Mum’s Pern has been a salvation to so many people, a special place to go and see things done that have yet to be done here on Earth save in the rarest of circumstances. As I’ve said before when asked, I’d never thought to write on Pern, I’d hope that the need for a place like Pern would have disappeared as we realized its potential here on Earth long before my daughter was born. But, sadly, it’s not so and Pern is a great place where many stories remain untold. So, as long as I have stories on Pern that intrigue me, I’ll continue writing on Pern. My current challenge is figuring out how to write more quickly, as I have books of my own worlds and times that I’d like to finish as well!
As for my daughter, she’s at the stage where she steadfastly refuses to read any of her grandmother’s or her father’s books. Her aunt went through a similar stage, so perhaps she’ll change her mind when she gets older. I personally hope that by the time she’s old enough to write on Pern, there won’t be a need for books about such a marvelous place — that we’ll have made our own Earth just as marvelous and maybe even have settled upon new planets!
Cheers,
Todd