About the Author

Anne McCaffrey, one of the world’s most popular authors, is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern® series. She was the first woman to win the two top prizes for science fiction writing, the Hugo and Nebula awards. She was also given the American Library Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement in Young Adult Fiction, was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and was named a Science Fiction Writers of America Nebula Grand Master. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1926, McCaffrey relocated to Ireland in the 1970s, where she lived in a house of her own design, named Dragonhold-Underhill. She died in 2011.



Todd McCaffrey is the bestselling author of the Pern novel Dragonsblood, as well as Dragon’s Kin and Dragon’s Fire, which he co-wrote with his mother, Anne McCaffrey. A computer engineer, he currently lives in Los Angeles. Having grown up in Ireland with the epic of the Dragonriders of Pern, he is bursting with ideas for new stories of that world, its people, and its dragons.

Reviews

Praise for Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey

Dragon’s Fire

“The McCaffreys’ second fire-breathing collaboration . . . proves why these fabled dragons still cast a spell.”
–Publishers Weekly

“Grittier than the early parts of the series; Todd’s apparently brought a wider, more current worldview to Pern.”
–The San Diego Union-Tribune

Dragon’s Kin

“Superb storytelling . . . essential for Pern fans of all ages.”
–Library Journal (starred review)

“A guaranteed pleaser [in] one of SF’s most splendid and longest-lived sagas.”
–Booklist

Adult/High School-This third collaboration takes readers to Pern during an outbreak of a particularly virulent flu. Kindan, a young harper, uncovers danger in old records; many years before, a similar epidemic caused 20 years' worth of damage, leaving Weyrs and Holds undermanned. With the next Threadfall only 12 years away, the dragonriders cannot risk bringing the disease to the Weyrs. But without the riders' help, will there even be enough holders left to defend in a dozen years? Kindan faces the unenviable task of finding a solution that protects everyone. Dragon Harper is as much a story of his coming-of-age and taking his place in society as an adult as it is a medical adventure. Many references to events and characters from previous volumes limits the audience to those familiar with the series, but Pern has many fans.-Susan Salpini, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

As a terrible plague sweeps Pern, a brave Harper apprentice emerges as a true hero in this satisfying third collaboration between McCaffrey mere and fils (after 2006's Dragon's Fire). The danger this time is not the deadly Thread but a virulent disease, similar to our world's 1918 influenza epidemic or the more recent outbreaks of SARS. Kindan, a young apprentice of the Harpers' Guild who's dedicated to music, education and healing, had hoped to become a dragonrider, but failed to bond with a dragon at the last hatching. Then his education and budding romance with a lord's daughter are disrupted by the epidemic, which poses a particular threat to the dragons and dragonriders who will be needed to fight the approaching Thread. The McCaffreys depict the crisis vividly, with enough detail to make the tragedy all too real and with enough hope to keep fantasy fans happy. (Dec.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Praise for Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey

Dragon's Fire

"The McCaffreys' second fire-breathing collaboration . . . proves why these fabled dragons still cast a spell."
-Publishers Weekly

"Grittier than the early parts of the series; Todd's apparently brought a wider, more current worldview to Pern."
-The San Diego Union-Tribune

Dragon's Kin

"Superb storytelling . . . essential for Pern fans of all ages."
-Library Journal (starred review)

"A guaranteed pleaser [in] one of SF's most splendid and longest-lived sagas."
-Booklist