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Pern Books by Anne McCaffrey | Short stories and articles | Pern related books and stories
Pern Miscellaneous

(Abbreviations used for the various titles are given in this color)

Pern Books by Anne McCaffrey
(listed here according to publication date)

• Dragonflight, Volume 1 of The Dragonriders of Pern (1968) D1.
  After ten long Turns, Lessa was ready to come out of hiding, to reclaim her birthright... and to Impress the young dragon queen and become Weyrwoman of Benden. Suddenly the deadly silver Threads once again threatened all Pern with destruction. But the mighty telepathic dragons that for centuries had defended Pern were now few in number, not nearly enough to protect the planet in its hour of greatest peril. Then Lessa hatched a daring and dangerous scheme to rally support from people who had long ago ceased to exist!
  
  
• Dragonquest, Volume 2 of The Dragonriders of Pern (1971) D2.
  Another Turn, and the deadly silver Threads began falling again. So the bold dragonriders too to the air once more and their magnificent flying dragons swirled and swooped, belching flames that destroyed the shimmering strands before they reached the ground. But F'lar knew he had to find a better way to protect his beloved Pern, and he had to find it before the rebellious Oldtimers could breed any more dissent... before his brother F'nor would be foolhardy enough to launch another suicide mission... and before those dratted fire lizards could stir up any more trouble!
  
  
• Dragonsong (1976) H1.
  Menolly - Mistress of Music, Ward of Fire Lizards. Every two hundred years or so, shimmering threads fall, raining black ruin on Pern. The great dragons of Pern hurl themselves through the beleaguered skies, flaming tongues of fire to destroy deadly Thread and save the planet. it was not Threadfall that made Menolly unhappy. It was her father who betrayed her ambition to be a Harper, who thwarted her love of music. Menolly had no choice but to run away. She came upon a group of fire lizards, wild relatives of the fire-breathing dragons. her music swirled about them; she taught nine to sing, suddenly Menolly was no longer alone.
  
  
• Dragonsinger (1977) H2.
  Menolly - Mistress of Fire Lizards, Apprentice of Harper Hall. Menolly arrived in triumph at the Harper Hall, aboard a bronze dragon. She had run away from home and lived in a cave, outrun Threadfall, impressed nine fire lizards and written songs that pleased the Masterharper of Pern. But what was her future at the hall to be? it seemed she was always late or her fire lizards underfoot, and why didn't any of the other girls like her? Now there was nothing to keep her from her beloved music and fire lizards, could Menolly learn to live among others, realize her talent and find her rightful place in the future of Pern?
  
  
• The White Dragon, Volume 3 of The Dragonriders of Pern (1978) D3.
  Never had there been as close a bonding as the one that existed between the daring and adventurous young Lord Jaxom and his extraordinary white dragon, Ruth. Pure white and incredibly agile, Ruth was a dragon of many talents, though almost everyone on Pern thought he was a runt that would never amount to anything. But Jaxom knew better, knew he could teach his dragon to fly and to destroy the deadly silver Threads that fell from the sky. Disobeying all rules, Jaxom and Ruth trained in secret. Their illicit flight seemed but a minor disobedience - until they found themselves in the path of danger and in a position to prevent the biggest disaster of all!
  
  
• Dragondrums (1979) H3.
  Piemur - dreamer of fire lizards, apprentice of drums. Once again Pern was in danger. The air trembled with rumors of deadly Threadfall. And, from within, there was another peril. The restless Oldtimers, who once battled the shimmering Thread, were now banished to Southern Hold, and breeding rebellion. His great singing career thwarted by the changing voice of youth, Piemur was now a drum apprentice, his messages sounding from the heights, The wily lad, vowing to help his beloved Pern, ends up in the south after a narrow escape during a secret mission, vanishes, survives Threadfall and turns up with, at long last, the little fire lizard of his dreams.
  
  
• Moreta : Dragonlady of Pern (1982) Mor.
  It was towards the end of the Pass of the Red Star - a time when every living creature on Pern was threatened by Threadfall - when the courage and daring of dragons and riders was all that kept the planet from extinction. And there, at the height of the battle against Thread, came a new and terrible evil. Moreta, in one last superhuman endeavor, was to save her people, and become the greatest legend of dragonlore until the end of time. This is the story of Moreta's Ride.
  
  
• Nerilka's Story (1986) & The Coelura (1983) NS.
  It was in Moreta's time - a time of legend, of heroic valor, of terrible Threadfall, and the Great Plague that devastated both Holders and Dragonfolk. For Lady Nerilka of Fort Hold the tragedy was twofold for, with the death of her mother and sister, her father's mistress took possession of the Hold. Angry and betrayed, Nerilka decided to escape and, as Pern seethed in turmoil, she began her perilous journey to Ruatha, Alessan and an unknown destiny. (remark: The Coelura is not a Pern related story). The Coelura is a non-Pern story.
  
  
• Dragonsdawn (1988) DD.
  The beautiful planet Pern seemed a paradise to its new colonists - until unimaginable terror turned it into hell. Suddenly deadly spores were falling like silver threads from the sky, devouring everything - and everyone - in their path. It began to look as if the colony, cut off from Earth and lacking the resources to combat the menace, was doomed. Then some of the colonists noticed that the small, dragonlike lizards that inhabited their new world were joining the fight against Thread, breathing fire on it and teleporthing to safety. If only, they thought, the dragonets were big enough for a human to ride and intelligent enough to work as a team with a rider... And so they set their most talented geneticist to work to create the creatures Pern so desperately needed - Dragons!
  
  
• The Renegades of Pern (1989) RoP.
  They were the misfits, the outcasts, the murderers without Hold or Crafthall. Some were resentful, some sought vengeance, but it was not until Thella, Lady Holder of Telgar, began to weld them together into a terrifying and brilliantly evil clan that they became the Renegades of Pern. It was a time of great turmoil on the planet. The pass of the Red Star had brought a new terrible reign of Threadfall, and in the Southern Hold, Toric was carving out an enormous empire for himself from lands as yet uncharted. And as the times of trouble grew, so did the ravages of Thella and her band, turning from theft to murder to vicious and insane revenge. Jayge Lilcamp, the young trader, was one of the first of the renegades, and as he saw what Thella had done to his family and his wagon train he began to seek his own revenge, a revenge which grew into a determination to destroy the most evil woman on Pern.
  
  
• All The Weyrs of Pern (1991) AtWoP.
  For generations, the dragonriders had dedicated their lives to fighting Thread, the dreaded spores that periodically rained from the sky to ravage the land. On the backs of their magnificent telepathic dragons they flew to flame the deadly stuff out of the air before it could reach the planet's surface. But the greatest dream of the dragonriders was to find a way to eradicate Thread completely, so that never again would their beloved Pern be threatened with destruction. Now, for the first time, it looked as if that dream could come true. For when the people of Pern, led by Masterharper Robinton and F'lar and Lessa, Weyrleader and Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr, excavated the ancient remains of the planet's original settlement, they uncovered the colonists' voice-activated artificial intelligence system - which still functioned! And the computer had incredible news for them: There was a chance - a good chance - that they could, at long last, annihilate Thread for once and for all!
  
  
• The Chronicles of Pern : First Fall (1993) CoP.
  Five gripping episodes of early Pern - from the very first space survey recommending colonization, to the last, where the early world, its young dragon culture undetected, is condemned to be isolated in space. Here is the sags of the mass evacuation from the volcanic southern continent, an entire group of people moved across the dangerous seas, guarded and guided by a flotilla of dolphins. Here, too, is the story of the creation of Ruatha Hold - a mammoth undertaking in the early days of Pern. And here is one of the most fascinating dragon tales, when Fort Weyr was the only weyr, and when dragonriders and dragons were overcrowded to danger point. As the news broke of three fresh weyrs to be established, a young girl, Torene, came to realize that her dragon could be the next Queen of the newly formed Benden Weyr. See for abbreviations of the respective stories under the section Short Stories.
  
  
• The Dolphins of Pern (1994) DoP.
  When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize the oceans of the new planet while their human partners settled the vast continents. But then disaster struck. The deadly silver spores called Thread fell like rain from the sky, and as the human colonists' dreams of a new, idyllic life shattered into a desperate struggle for survival, the dolphins were forgotten... Now, centuries later, as the dragonriders of Pern were preparing to complete the momentous task of ridding their world of Thread forever, T'lion, a young bronze rider, and his friend Readis, son of the Lord Holder of Paradise River Hold, made contact with the legendary "shipfish". And as the dragonriders grappled with the ending of an era, T'lion, Readis and the dolphins faced the start of a new one: reviving the bond between land- and ocean-dwellers - and resurrecting the dreams of the first colonists of Pern!
  
  
• Red Star Rising (also published as Dragon's Eye in the USA), The second Chronicles of Pern (1996) RSR or DE.
  For two hundred Turns there had been peace on Pern - but now the signs were ominous. Violent winter storms and erupting volcanoes heralded the coming of the Second Pass of Thread, when the red planet would rain down its horrifying harvest and destroy every living organism on the face of Pern. No human or dragon or animal or plant was safe from the hideous death inflicted by Thread. Weyrs and Holds tried to prepare, but they had serious problems. Over the generations much of the old technology had been lost. AIVAS, the giant information bank, was buried under tons of volcanic ash, and valuable and skilled men and women had succumbed to disease and old age, taking with them the knowledge of a great civilization. They had to prepare as best they could, training the great flights of dragons and ensuring that the Lord Holders did their part by protecting their people in every possible way. Only Lord Chalkin, Holder of Bitra, refused to co-operate. He did not believe in Threadfall. It was a plot of the Weyrs to gain ascendancy over the Holds. He would do nothing to protect Bitra or its people. The Lord Holders and Weyrleaders were of one accord. Chalkin must be impeached and removed from his lands if the planet was to made safe.
  
  
• The Masterharper of Pern (1998) MHoP.
  In a time when the deadly scourge Thread has not fallen on Pern for centuries - and many dare to hope that Thread will never fall again - a boy is born to Harper Hall. A musical prodigy who has the ability to speak with the dragons, he is called Robinton, and he is destined to be one of the most famous leaders Pern has ever known. It is a perilous time for the harpers who sing of Thread - they are being turned away from holds, derided, attacked, even beaten. In this climate of unrest, Robinton will come into his own. But despite the tragedies that beset his own life, he continues to believe in music and in the dragons, and he is determined to save his beloved Pern from itself - so that the dragonriders can be ready to fly against the dreaded Thread when at last it returns...
  
  
• The Skies of Pern (2001) SoP.
  A new age is dawning on Pern, for since the dragons have changed the orbit of the Red Star, the horrors of Threadfall will soon be a thing of the past. But even as the dragon riders are trying to decide what their future role will be, further dangers are beginning to emerge, as those calling themselves the Abominators plot together to destroy all the learning that has been discovered from the records of the Ancients (colonists). Their first vicious assault is on the Healer Halls - irrevocable damage is done and it is obvious that this is a worldwide movement with a dangerous mind leading those who would destroy all of the new knowledge.
  And now comes a fresh and terrible catastrophe - a large cometary fragment is hurtling towards Pern and cannot be deflected. Everyone - dragons, riders, holders and craftsmen - must stand by to perform a giant rescue operation. As F'lessan, son of Lessa and F'lar, plays his heroic part in the events that follow, he is helped by Tai, his new weyrmate. But it is the dragons, bronze Golanth and the brilliant green Zaranth, who will provide the solution to the dangers of the skies.
  
  
• Dragon's Kin (2004) DK.
  The first Pern novel on which the heir-to-Pern, Anne's son Todd McCaffrey, collaborated with the Dragonlady herself.
  Young Kindan has no expectations other than joining his father in the mines of Camp Natalon. Mining is fraught with danger, but fortunately the camp has a watch-wher, a creature distantly related to dragons and uniquely suited to specialized work in the dark, cold mineshafts. Then disaster strikes, leaving Kindan orphaned and the camp without a watch-wher. Grieving, Kindan is taken in by the camp's new Harper and finds a measure of solace in a burgeoning musical talent... and in a new friendship with the mysterious Nuella. Nuella assists Kindan when he is selected to hatch and train a new watch-where, a job that forces him to give up his dream of becoming a Harper; and it is Nuella who helps him give a new meaning to his life. Meanwhile, long-simmering tensions are dividing the camp. As warring factions threaten to explode, Nuella and Kindan begin to discover hidden talents in the watch-wher - talents that could very well save an entire Hold and show them that even a seemingly impossible dream is never completely out of reach...
  
  
• Dragonsblood (to be published January 2005 in US and April 2005 in UK) DB.
  The first Pern novel written by Todd McCaffrey alone.
  Todd gave the outline (and read some stuff) during the 2003 Dragon*Con and together with Anne he read even more at the 2004 Dragon*Con. For those of you who can't wait and want to read about Dragonsblood, here's a link to the outline: click here Please be aware that this link will only work if you are a registered member of The Worlds of Anne McCaffrey!

Short stories and Articles

• Weyr Search, first published in: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (October 1967).
  The first Pern story to be published, later being the first part of the book Dragonflight.
  
  
• Dragonrider, first published in: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (December 1967 and January 1968).
  Sequel to the abovementioned Weyr Search, later being the second part of the book Dragonflight.
  
  
• The Smallest Dragonboy, in: Science Fiction Tales (ed. by Roger Elwood; 1973), in: Get off the Unicorn (1977) and in: A Gift of Dragons (2002) TSD.
  The only thing Keevan wanted in life was to be a dragonrider, just like his father. Surely nothing could be as thrilling as soaring through the air between the powerful wings of a dragon... But Keevan was small, and there were always more boys than there were dragons - someone must be disappointed. Keevan wasn't exactly the foremost candidate but dragons have their own standards, especially the bronzes, the most highly prized dragons of all...
  
  
• The Impression (written byJody Lynn Nye with input from Anne McCaffrey), in: Gateways (March 1989) and in: The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern (1989) Impression
  I asked both authors who actually wrote this story. When asked in chat on her site Anne said she did but Jody later stated that she had written the story with input from Anne.
  
  
• Rescue Run, published as a seperate book by The Wildside Press (1991) and in: Analog (August 1992) and in: The Chronicles of Pern : First Fall (1993). CoP-RR.
  A story about a rescue mission carried out by a team that reacts to Ted Tubberman's homing device.
  
  
• The P.E.R.N. Survey, in: Amazing Stories Magazine (September 1993) and in: The Chronicles of Pern : First Fall (1993).CoP-Survey.
  A story about the Evaluation Corps team that first discovered and evaluated Pern.
  
  
• The Dolphin's Bell, published as a seperate book by The Wildside Press (1993) and in: The Chronicles of Pern : First Fall (1993). CoP-DB.
  A story about the heroic journey from the Southern Continent to the Northern Continent, featuring the dolphins of Pern. Set during the First Pass.
  
  
• The Ford of Red Hanrahan, in: The Chronicles of Pern : First Fall (1993). CoP-FoRH.
  A story about the founding of Ruatha. Set during the First Pass.
  
  
• The Second Weyr, in: The Chronicles of Pern : First Fall (1993). CoP-SW.
  A story about the start of Benden Weyr. Set in the First Pass.
  
  
• The Girl Who Heard Dragons, in: The Girl Who Heard Dragons (1994) and in: A Gift of Dragons (2002) GWHD.
  A story that covers the adventures of Aramina, Jayge Lilcamp and Lady Holdless Thella about which you can read more in The Renegades of Pern.
  
  
• Runner of Pern, in: Legends (ed. Robert Silverberg; 1998) and in: A Gift of Dragons (2002). Runner.
  A story about a girl named Tenna, one of the Runners of Pern, who follows family tradition by delivering messages and who will find her destiny on the mossy traces that runners have used for centuries under the dragon filled sky. Set just prior to the start of the Ninth Pass.
  
  
• Ever the Twain, in: A Gift of Dragons (2002). EtT
  A story about twins who both Impress. Probably set in the Second or Third Pass
  
  
• Beyond Between, in: Legends II (ed. Robert Silverberg; 2004). BB
  A story that covers the experiences of Moreta, and her friends, right after she goes between after delivering the last serum for the dreaded plague (end of Sixth Pass).

Pern related books and stories
(by Anne McCaffrey or by other authors, some with Anne McCaffrey)

• The Atlas of Pern by Karen Wynn Fonstad (1984). Fonstad-AoP.
• Dragonharper by Jody Lynn Nye (1987).Nye-DH.
• Dragonfire by Jody Lynn Nye (1988). Nye-DF.
• The People of Pern by Robin Wood with text and introduction by Anne McCaffrey (1988). Wood-PoP.
• The Dragonlover's Guide To Pern by Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey, first edition (1989). DLG1.
• Training and Fighting Dragons by Todd Johnson (Todd McCaffrey), in: The Dragonlover's Guide To Pern (1989, 1997), pp. 54-65. DLG1-TAFD; DLG2-TAFD.
• The Dragonlover's Guide To Pern by Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey, second edition (1997). DLG2.
• A Diversity of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey with Richard Woods (illustrated by John Howe) (1997). DoD.

Pern/McCaffrey Miscellaneous

• Brekke's Lament by Julia Ecklar, in: The Traveller (Waukegan, Ill. 1981). Ecklar-BL.
• The Dragonriders of Pern Game. Mayfair Games (Chicago, 1983). Mayfair boardgame.
• Secrets of the Dragonriders by Foster, Gibson and Rubin, in: Princessions, issue 14, Summer 1983.
• Anne McCaffrey, The Dragon Lady of Science Fiction by David Gerrold, in: Starlog, number 80, March 1984.
• Dragonlady Anne McCaffrey (...) by Fred Hauptfuhrer, in: People, volume 21, number 10, March 12, 1984.
• Weyrwords by Harry and Marilyn Alm (New Orleans, 1985). Alm-Weyrwords.
• Threadfall Charts, by Harry and Marilyn Alm (New Orleans, 1987). Alm-Charts.
• The Weyrbook of Ista by Harry and Marilyn Alm (New Orleans, 1988). Alm-Weyrbook.
• Pern: A Cultural Analysis by David M. Shea, in: Niekas #37, 1988.
• Pern Dragonlady by Deanne Holding, in: Starburst, volume 11, number 7, March 1989
• The Big Sellers, 4: Anne McCaffrey by Wendy Bradley, in: Interzone Science Fiction and Fantasy, number 34, March/April 1990.
• Dragonflight Book One (comic) adapted by Brynne Stephens, illustrated by Lela Dowling & Cynthia Martin (Forestville, Ca. 1991). DFcomic1.
• Dragonflight Book Two (comic) adapted by Brynne Stephens, illustrated by Lela Dowling & Fred von Tobel (Forestville, Ca. 1991). DFcomic2.
• Dragonflight Book Three (comic) adapted by Brynne Stephens, illustrated by Lela Dowling & Cynthia Martin (Forestville, Ca. 1991). DFcomic3.
• Dragonlady of Pern by Drew Bittner, in: Starlog, number 190, May 1993.
• Dragonmasters' Dialogue. Anne McCaffery [sic!] interviews Michael Whelan, in: Science Fiction Age.

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