Letter from Michele

Hello Todd,

I have read most of your mother’s books over the years and my favourites were the ones with Menolly and Piemur and Decision on Doona.

I particularly liked DOD because the Todd character was just like my son who was eventually diagnosed with ADD!

I like the theme of the book that mirrored the way we dealt with our son in the end. People sometimes only seem abberrational because they aren’t in the correct setting for their personality. Once they find where they fit, it all settles down.

Our son has been home schooled now for a while and he is mad about computers (and extremely good at programming and fiddling about with their innards) has had a couple of flying lessons (landed the plane without intervention on his first flight after learning on FlightSim) and has recently taken up sailing.

I wondered if you sailed a lot? I noticed a lot of sea faring stuff in your mother’s books and that seemed to continue in Dragonsblood.

I too am in UK and would love to get a signature on my first edition of Dragonsblood. Don’t tell your mother but I liked it a lot more than most of her Pern books. Its coming in as joint favourite with DragonDrums at the moment.

I’m really looking forward to your next stuff. I must admit I was a bit worried when I bought it in case it would be cringworthy(not knowing anything about you at that point) – but it was absolutely rivetting stuff.

I believed in the characters and the story was so gripping I was awake until 3 in the morning finishing it off and then I dreamed about it all night. It then went to my husband to read and then my son.

Great stuff!!

Can I be cheeky and enclose my address for a bookplate?

Hi Michele,

I’m actually in Los Angeles, but I think I’ll be able to get a bookplate out to you (and, as you can see, I’ve kept your address hidden).

I wasn’t diagnosed ADD, so I can’t speak to it. I do think that it’s awfully difficult to ask those who are so full of energy to sit still — I wonder if we couldn’t harness the energy educationally?

I’m glad that your son has had such a great education — and congratulations to him on his flying lesson! I hate Flight Simulator because it’s so unlike flying a real airplane — you don’t get the inertial and aural cues that are available in a real airplane. But I ran across Flight Simulator sometime after I first flew.

I sailed a bit but not much. It’s not that I don’t like it — I do — but it’s not something as high on my list of activities (like rollerblading or Eyetoy Antigrav) to overcome its costliness.

Cheers,

Todd