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