Todd J. McCaffrey (born 27 April 1956 as Todd Johnson) is an Irish American author of science fiction best known for continuing the ''

Dragonriders of Pern ''Dragonriders of Pern'' is a science fantasy series written primarily by American author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne ...

'' series in collaboration with his mother

Anne McCaffrey Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American-Irish writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 1 ...

Life

Todd Johnson was born 27 April 1956 in Montclair, New Jersey as the second son and middle child of Horace Wright Johnson (deceased 2009A Letter From Anne
(17 December 2009). pernhome.com (c) Todd McCaffrey. Confirmed 2011-07-12.), who worked for DuPont, and Anne McCaffrey (deceased 2011
2012-11-21. pernhome.com (c) Todd McCaffrey. Confirmed 2011-11-24.), who had her second short story published that year. He has two siblings: Alec Anthony, born 1952, and Georgeanne ("Gigi", Georgeanne Kennedy), born 1959."Anne's Biography"
. Anne McCaffrey. pernhome.com (c) Todd McCaffrey. Confirmed 2011-07-07. Except for a six-month DuPont transfer to Düsseldorf, Germany, the family lived most of a decade in Wilmington, Delaware, until a 1965 transfer to New York City when they moved to Sea Cliff, Long Island. All three children were then in school and Anne McCaffrey became a full-time author, primarily writing science fiction. About that time, Todd became the first of the children to read science fiction, the ''Space Cat'' series by

Ruthven Todd Ruthven Campbell Todd (pronounced 'riven') (14 June 1914 – 11 October 1978) was a Scottish poet, artist and novelist, best known as an editor of the works of William Blake, and expert on his printing techniques. During the 1940s he also wrote d ...

. He attended his first science fiction convention in 1968, Lunacon in New York City. Soon after the move, Todd was directed to lower his voice as an actor in the

fourth-grade Fourth grade (also called grade four, equivalent to Year 5 in England and Wales, and Year 4 in Australia) is a year of Elementary education in some countries. In North America, the fourth grade is the fifth school year of elementary school. S ...

school play, with his mother in the auditorium. That was the inspiration for ''Decision at Doona'' (1969) which she dedicated "To Todd Johnson—of course!" The story is set on "an overcrowded planet where just talking too loud made you a social outcast". Anne McCaffrey divorced in 1970 and emigrated to Ireland with her two younger children, soon joined by her mother. During Todd's school years the family moved several times in the vicinity of Dublin and struggled to make ends meet, supported largely by child care payments and meager royalties. Todd finished

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

in Ireland and returned to the United States in 1974 for a summer job before matriculation at Lehigh University in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

. He studied

engineering physics Engineering physics, or engineering science, refers to the study of the combined disciplines of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, particularly computer, nuclear, electrical, electronic, aerospace, materials or mechanical en ...

and discovered computers but remained only one year. Back in Dublin he earned a Mechanical Engineering degree at the

College of Technology (Bolton Street) Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological ...

. Later he earned a degree at Trinity College, Dublin.2009 Literary Guest of Honor: Todd McCaffrey
. CONDOR (San Diego convention). Updated 2011-07-13. Reprinted with "20 Questions" and answers by Todd McCaffrey a
"Biography: A super short history (by Angel Adams)"
Pern Home (official site (c) Todd McCaffrey). Retrieved 2011-07-13. See especially questions 4 and 12–13. Before Trinity College, Todd Johnson served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1978 to 1982, stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, and determining to pursue civilian life. After Trinity he returned to the US hoping to work in the aerospace industry but found employment in

computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as anal ...

beginning 1986. He earned a pilot's license in 1988 and spent a lot of time flying, including solo trips across North America in 1989 and 1990. Meanwhile, he sold his first writings and contributed "Training and Fighting Dragons" to the 1989 ''

Dragonlover's Guide to Pern ''Dragonriders of Pern'' is a science fantasy series written primarily by American author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. ...

'',Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey, ''The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern'', Ballantine, 1989, pp54-65. using his military and flight experience. Next year he quit his job to write full-time and in 1992 he attended the Clarion Workshop for new science fiction and fantasy writers. Writing under the name Todd Johnson until 1997/98 he specialized in military science fiction, contributing one story each to several collective works.Todd McCaffrey– – Summary Bibliography
Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2011-07-13."Publications"
(no date). Todd McCaffrey blog. – McCaffrey's own list posted sometime 2010 or 2011.

Dragons

As a boy, Todd accompanied his mother to her meetings with writers, editors, publishers, and agents; and had attended conventions from age 12. He was exposed to Pern before its beginning: soon after the move to Long Island when he was nine, his mother asked him what he thought of dragons; she was brainstorming about their "bad press all these years". The result was a "technologically regressed survival planet" whose people were united against a threat from space, in contrast to America divided by the Vietnam War. "The dragons became the biologically renewable air force." About thirty years later, Todd McCaffrey recalls,

the editor at Del Rey asked me to write a "sort of scrapbook" about Mum partly to prevent Mum from writing her autobiography instead of more Pern books. That was ''Dragonholder'' 999 The editor had also pitched it to me that someone ought to continue Mum's legacy when she was no longer able. At the time I had misgivings and no story ideas.

Soon after selling his first stories, he had contributed the chapter "Training and Fighting Dragons" to ''The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern'' (1989). Mother and son had also discussed Pern and its setting for years, and she had suggested that he "write the military science fiction prequels" to the colonization, but that never progressed far. Todd McCaffrey's work on Pern started in earnest with ''Dragon's Kin'' (2003), co-authored with his mother. His first solo Pern novel ''Dragonsblood'' was published in 2005. Both books are set around the beginning of Pern's "Third Pass", about 500 years after human settlement on Pern and 2000 years before the "Ninth Pass" events chronicled in most of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books including the inaugural ''Dragonflight''. Anne and Todd published two sequels to ''Dragon's Kin'', Todd has published two sequels to ''Dragonsblood'', and they co-authored two further sequels to the latter, ''Dragon's Time'' in 2011, and ''Sky Dragons'' in 2012. (responses 18 and 20). The title may be ''Dragon's School'', a forthcoming audiobook title liste
at Amazon.com)
an
at BN.com
Retrieved 2011-07-14. Todd McCaffrey was a Guest of Honor along with his mother at

Albacon Albacon is the Albany science fiction convention, held each year in the Albany, New York area, also called the Capital District. Albacon is the largest "Con" in upstate New York, United States. It is hosted by LASTSFA, or Latham-Albany-Sche ...

2008, the annual sci-fi convention in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Ci ...

. He was Literary Guest of Honor at ConDor 2009 in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

and at AggieCon 2009 in

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. As ...

. Todd attended DragonCon in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

(September), where the 2011 Artist Guest of Honor was Michael Whelan, creator of cover art for some early Pern books including ''The White Dragon''.''Dragonholder'' 107. In February 2018 Todd was the Literary Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker at the 36th annual Life, the Universe, & Everything professional science fiction and fantasy arts symposium.

Publications

McCaffrey recalls that he was first paid for writing in 1988: "an animated screenplay ''I got them ol’ Reptilon Blues Again Mommasaur''" and the book ''Slammers Down!'' in a "choose your own adventure" series for Ace Books. He published under his given name Todd Johnson until the late 1990s.

Pern

* "Training and Fighting Dragons" (1989), in ''The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern'' * ''

Dragon's Kin ''Dragon's Kin'' is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey. Published by Del Rey Books in 2003, it is the eighteenth book in the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' series and the first with Todd a ...

'' (2003), Anne and Todd McCaffrey * '' Dragonsblood'' (2005) * '' Dragon's Fire'' (2006), Anne and Todd McCaffrey *'' Dragon Harper'' (2007), Anne and Todd McCaffrey * '' Dragonheart ''(2008) * '' Dragongirl ''(2010) * '' Dragon's Time'' (2011), Anne and Todd McCaffrey * '' Sky Dragons'' (2012), Anne and Todd McCaffrey

Other

As Todd Johnson * ''Slammers Down! (Combat Command: In the World of David Drake's Hammer's Slammers)'' (1988) * "The Archimedes Effect", ''The War Years #1: The Far Stars War'' (1990) * "Dasher", ''The War Years #3: The Jupiter War'' (1991) * "Ploughshare", ''Bolo: Honor of the Regiment'' (1993) * "Legacy", ''Bolos 2: The Unconquerable'' (1994) * "A Question of Valor", ''Bolos: Last Stand'' (1997) As Todd McCaffrey * "Best Evidence" (1998) * ''Dragonholder: The Life and Dreams (so Far) of Anne McCaffrey'' (1999) * "The Dragons of Prague", (Doctor Who) '' Short Trips: Destination Prague'' (2007) * "Tribute", ''Jim Baen's Universe, August 2008'' (2008) * "Tree" (2008) * "DragonCon: Trials and Tribulations" (2008) * "The Terrorist in My Kitchen" (2012) *"Robin Redbreast" (2012) *"Men!" (2012) *"Stone the Crows" (2012) *"The One Tree of Luna" (2012) *"Why I Shot My Car" (2012) *"Rhubarb and Beets" (2013) *"To the Nearest Planet" (2013) *"Red Roses" (2014) *"Golden" (2014) *"With Fones" (2016)

Notes

References

*Todd McCaffrey (1999). ''Dragonholder: The Life and Dreams (So Far) of Anne McCaffrey by her son''. New York: Ballantine.

External links

Pern Home
((c) Todd McCaffrey)
Anne McCaffrey
official website at Pern Home
Todd McCaffrey
official website at Pern Home * – summary bibliography {{DEFAULTSORT:McCaffrey, Todd 1956 births Living people Anne McCaffrey American science fiction writers 21st-century American novelists People from Montclair, New Jersey People from Wilmington, Delaware People from Sea Cliff, New York American male novelists 21st-century American male writers