I’ve asked my local Library to get “DragonRider and After the Fall is Over” but they can’t locate them, is there a site that they need to be looking at? Thank you for taking the time to help me with this request.

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Kathleen,

Ah! You’re a bit ahead of the times, I’m afraid. Or maybe even beside the times. Or maybe a classic victim of the old “loose lips sink ships” warning.

Dragonrider was the working title for one of the two books that became Dragon’s Time and Sky Dragons (it was also the title for the award-winning novella that became part of the original Dragonflight as well as the title of a book by the German writer, Cornelia Funke). So it was a title but it’s never become a book.

After The Fall Is Over was the working title of the last book Mum was working on. What’s going to happen with that still needs to be sorted by the Executors of her Estate (I’m not one of them) but the hope is that it’ll see publication sometime in the future (not this year).

In the meantime what you can expect to come around about August is Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern which will come out from Benbella books and will have a gorgeous Michael Wheln cover and a number of truly marvelous essays on Mum.

Cheers,
Todd

Hi! I love your pern novels and was wondering when I can expect another to devour. Your mother was my top author and you’re my second. I only read from 2 other authors and the other authors just seem interested in revising old books and making new cover art and reselling them. I’m desperate for a good read.

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Hi Katie,

Thanks! Right now, though, everything’s in flux because we’re busy trying to get the Estate set up and operating. That mostly involves jumping through hoops on both sides of the Atlantic.

I’m working on a lot of non-Pern stuff — after eight books, it was time for me to take a break. You can find City of Angels in both Nook and Kindle format as well as in trade paperback but, admittedly, that book is more science thriller than science fiction. I also have a collection of short stories, The One Tree of Luna which, again, is available for Nook, Kindle, and trade paperback.

And, of course, there’s the forthcoming Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern which is due out in August of this year from Benbella Books. It will have a truly gorgeous Michael Whelan cover and marvelous essays.

So… the short answer, I suppose (and this clearly isn’t the short answer) is that for the moment there’s nothing beyond Sky Dragons Pern-wise. We — myself and Gigi (Georgeanne) — are actively thinking about future Pern books, so I don’t think you’ve need to worry in the long term.

In the short term, I can say that I’ve had a lot of fun reading Seanan McGuire’s excellent October Daye series (start with Rosemary and Rue, as well as Patricia Briggs’ Mercedes Thompson series (start with Moon Called) and, of course Jim Butcher’s ever-popular Harry Dresden> novels.

If you’re into reading hilarious hard science non-fiction than anything by Mary Roach will cause you to gasp in both laughter and delight (or cringe, sometimes).

I should be remiss in not mentioning Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden series of which Mum was a particular fan. She and I also shared a fondness for David Weber’s Honor Harrington series as well as Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series.

Clearly, that’s not an exhaustive list but hopefully it’ll give you something to go on with.

Oh! And let’s not forget Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series with the giant talking dragons in Napoleonic times.

Nor Elizabeth Moon’s marvelous Winning Colors series (horsewomen in space!) and her newer Trading in Danger series.

Whew! Hopefully that’ll help (and I’m sure I’m missing tons of other people — that was just off the top of my head).

Cheers,
Todd

Will you be writing a “sequel” to the skies of Pern? It seemed to end on a cliffhanger, what happens to Tai and F’lessan, how do the dragons adapt after last threadfall? Is there more sabotage from “fourth” Does Golanth manage to fly Zaranth and does he recover?
PLEASE think about it!
An avid fan of you and the late great Anne.
regards
Jean
(Belgium and UK)

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Jean,

Mum’s Estate is still being established and so everything is “on hold” until it gets sorted (by my hard-working, under-appreciated little sister, Georgeanne Kennedy who is also the other person allowed by Mum’s Will to write on Pern).

We’ve heard this question a lot and the answer is that we’re going to try to do right by Mum’s memory. Some of that will mean moving more slowly and deliberately than had been done in the past. Certainly, the question is not far from our collective thoughts.

Cheers,
Todd

I have just tried several times to go to your “letters” page but the letters link http://pernhome.com/tjm/?page_id=1739 points me to a non-existent page.
Hope to hear from you one way or another
regards
Jean (Belgium and UK)

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Jean,

Thank you very much for finding that. Goodness, that error has been there for years now!

It’s fixed (I checked). Sorry about that and really thank you! for pointing it out to me.

Cheers,
Todd