Dragonriders of Pern


Dragonriders of Pern is a science fantasy series written primarily by American-Irish 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. The series comprises 24 novels and two collections of short stories. The two novellas included in the first novel, Dragonflight, made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo Award for writing fiction as well as the first to win a Nebula Award.

Overview

Humans have colonized the planet Pern in the Rukbat star system, but have lost much of their technology and history due to periodic onslaughts of Thread, a mycorrhizoid spore that voraciously consumes all organic material, including humans and their crops, given the opportunity. Thread comes from the Red Star, actually another planet. The Red Star has a 250-Turn elliptic orbit around Rukbat, and when its orbit brings it close enough, Thread rains down on Pern at predictable intervals over about 50 Turns.
The Pernese use intelligent firebreathing dragons to fight Thread. A human rider has a telepathic bond with their dragon, formed by Impression at the dragon's hatching. The bonding instantly creates a very close, lifelong relationship – the dragon almost invariably commits suicide at the rider's death, and a rider whose dragon has died bears a deep emotional wound which can never be fully healed. Later books deal with the initial colonization of Pern and the genetic modification of small native animals into creatures capable of carrying humans in flight.
The Pernese live in a pre-industrial society, with lords, holds, harpers, and dragons, with occasional examples of higher technology. There are four basic social classes: Weyrfolk who live in Weyrs, Holders who rule Holds, Crafters, and the Holdless who have no permanent home. The society resembles feudal Europe, but with some significant differences – especially, farmers are organized in their own guild, independent of the Holders – rather than being serfs as in historical feudal societies. Also, there is no formal religion and nothing like the Medieval Church, the closest equivalent being in fact the Dragonriders, who have a planet-wide organization and to whom a tithe is due – though they are in no way sworn to celibacy.
The series as a whole covers over two and a half millennia.

Publications by the McCaffreys

There are 24 Dragonriders of Pern novels and two story collections, the latest published in 2018. Anne McCaffrey once requested reading the works in the order they were written. That differs greatly from Pern historical order, for several reasons. The McCaffreys have published stories set in several different periods of Pern's history from initial exploration to more than 2,500 years after landing. Multiple stories feature the same events from different viewpoints. Some stories feature travel between times, even across centuries. Todd McCaffrey, writing alone or with his mother after 2002, has specialized in an early time period.

Original trilogy

These stories take place immediately before and during the Ninth Pass, about 2,500 years after landing :
  • Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
  • Dragonquest, by Anne McCaffrey.
  • The White Dragon, by Anne McCaffrey
The trilogy was released 1978 in an omnibus edition titled The Dragonriders of Pern by Nelson Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club.

Harper Hall trilogy

These stories take place immediately before and concurrently with those depicted in Dragonquest and The White Dragon.
  • Dragonsong, by Anne McCaffrey
  • Dragonsinger, by Anne McCaffrey
  • Dragondrums, by Anne McCaffrey
The Harper Hall trilogy was released 1984 in an omnibus edition titled The Harper Hall of Pern by Nelson Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club. Dragonsong was subtitled "Volume One of The Harper Hall Trilogy" on the front cover of the Bantam Spectra edition, March 1986.

Other fiction by Anne McCaffrey

  • Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
  • Nerilka's Story, by Anne McCaffrey
  • Dragonsdawn, by Anne McCaffrey
  • "The Impression", by Jody Lynn Nye and Anne McCaffrey
  • Renegades of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
  • All the Weyrs of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
  • The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall, by Anne McCaffrey
  • * "The Survey: P.E.R.N."
  • * "The Dolphins' Bell"
  • * "The Ford of Red Hanrahan"
  • * "The Second Weyr"
  • * "Rescue Run"
  • The Dolphins of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
  • Red Star Rising, by Anne McCaffrey
  • The Masterharper of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
  • The Skies of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
  • A Gift of Dragons, by Anne McCaffrey
  • * "The Smallest Dragonboy", by Anne McCaffrey
  • * "The Girl Who Heard Dragons", by Anne McCaffrey
  • * "Runner of Pern", by Anne McCaffrey
  • * "Ever the Twain"
  • "Beyond Between"
"On Dragonwings", an omnibus containing Dragonsdawn, Dragonseye and Moreta, was published in 2003.

Books by Todd McCaffrey or both

Since 2003, Anne McCaffrey and her middle child Todd McCaffrey have developed the history immediately before and during the Third Pass, about 500 Turns after landing :
  • Dragon's Kin
  • Dragonsblood
  • Dragon's Fire
  • Dragon Harper
  • Dragonheart
  • Dragongirl
  • Dragon's Time
  • ''Sky Dragons''

    Book by Gigi McCaffrey

  • ''Dragon's Code''

    Books in progress

  • After the Fall is Over – the only work set after the Ninth Pass in "New Era Pern", the latest in Pern historical order, this book may be finished by her children.

    Awards

"Weyr Search" won the inaugural Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1968 and "Dragonrider" won the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1969. Dragonquest, The White Dragon, Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern and All the Weyrs of Pern were among the five annual finalists for the best novel Hugo Award.
YearAwardCategoryRecipientResult
19681967 Nebula AwardsBest Novella"Weyr Search"Nomitated
19681968 Hugo AwardsBest Novella"Weyr Search"Won
19691968 Nebula AwardsBest Novella"Dragonrider"Won
19691969 Hugo AwardsBest Novella"Dragonrider"Nomitated
19721972 Hugo AwardsBest NovelDragonquestNomitated
19721972 Locus AwardsBest NovelDragonquest
19781978 Locus AwardsBest SF NovelDragonsinger
19791979 Hugo AwardsBest NovelThe White DragonNomitated
19791979 Locus AwardsBest NovelThe White Dragon
19791979 Ditmar AwardsBest International FictionThe White DragonWon
19791979 Gandalf AwardsBest Book-Length FantasyThe White DragonWon
19801980 Locus AwardsBest SF NovelDragondrums
19801980 Ditmar AwardsBest International FictionDragondrumsNomitated
19841984 Hugo AwardsBest NovelMoreta: Dragonlady of PernNomitated
19841984 Locus AwardsBest SF NovelMoreta: Dragonlady of Pern
19871987 Locus PollBest All-Time Fantasy NovelDragonflight
19891989 John W. Campbell Memorial AwardBest SF NovelDragonsdawn
19891989 Locus AwardsBest SF NovelDragonsdawn
19921992 Hugo AwardsBest NovelAll the Weyrs of PernNomitated
19921992 Locus AwardsBest SF NovelAll the Weyrs of Pern
19941994 Locus AwardsBest CollectionThe Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
19951995 Locus AwardsBest CollectionThe Girl Who Heard Dragons
19951995 Locus AwardsBest SF NovelThe Dolphins of Pern
19961996 Seiun AwardsBest Translated Long FormThe Renegades of PernNomitated
20022002 Seiun AwardsBest Translated Long FormAll the Weyrs of PernNomitated

Other works

Gamebooks and companion books

  • The Atlas of Pern by Karen Wynn Fonstad. – authorized "Pernography" including annotated maps; illustrated descriptions of Weyrs, Holds, and Halls; chronologies; and more.
  • Dragonharper, gamebook by Jody Lynn Nye
  • Dragonfire, gamebook by Jody Lynn Nye
  • People of Pern by Robin Wood and Anne McCaffrey. – portraits and other illustrations
  • The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern by Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey.. Second edition 1997, – Pern geography, society, flora, fauna, etc., including information not in the previously published fiction.