Dragonholder (13 page)

N
ow you have the stories behind the stories. Just as Anne has more stories still to be told, you can be sure that there are still more stories behind the stories. But as she hasn't told her stories yet, I cannot tell you stories behind them. We'll all have to wait and see.

Thank you for taking the time to learn the stories behind the stories, and I hope you enjoyed
seeing how Anne McCaffrey, the “dragon lady”, first set the dragons free on Pern and then
was herself freed by her dragons — and you, their fans.

May your skies always be bright and full of promise.

T
his book would not have been written but for Shelly Shapiro of Random House/Del Rey. It was at her suggestion that I started it at all.

I would like to thank Betty Ballantine, David Gerrold, and Virginia Kidd for consenting to be interviewed for this book. I would like to thank Carolyn A. Davis of the Reader Services Librarian in the Department of Special Collections of Syracuse University for providing me with a copy of Anne McCaffrey's original Dragonflight notes.

I would also like to thank my sister, Georgeanne Kennedy, and brother, Alec Johnson, for their recollections and encouragement. Thanks also to my very good friend Geoff Hilton for allowing me to tell a very good tale on him, and to Derval Diamond for the same reason. And I'd like to thank all our friends in Ireland for their kindness and support.

I could not have written this without the support of my wife, Jenna, and the love of my daughter, Ceara.

My debt to Anne McCaffrey, my mother, goes far beyond this book and no acknowledgement will ever be sufficient. In addition to all that has gone before, I would like to thank you, Mum, for putting up with my interviews and the countless e-mail exchanges for this book.

Needless to say, any mistakes, omissions, or downright lies are strictly my own.

Todd J. McCaffrey

March 17, 1999

Todd McCaffrey is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. The second child of Anne McCaffrey, author of the Pern series, McCaffrey grew up surrounded by science fiction, fantasy, and plenty of dragons. His love of reading was supplemented by a fascination with space travel and exploration, and after growing up in both New York and Ireland he eventually earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the College of Technology (now Dublin Institute of Technology). He then earned his pilot license and subsequently flew solo across the United States—twice. McCaffrey has also served in the US Army and worked in computer programming. He is the author or coauthor of many books and short stories, among them
Dragonholder: The Life and Dreams (So Far) of Anne McCaffrey
and eight books in the Pern saga, including
Dragonsblood
. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

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