Dragonriders of Pern
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The Dragonriders of Pern is an extensive fantasy/science fiction series of novels and short stories primarily written by Anne McCaffrey. Since 2004, McCaffrey's son Todd McCaffrey has also published Pern novels, both in collaboration with Anne and on his own. As of July 2006, the series consists of eighteen novels or novellas and several short stories, most of which have been collected in two volumes.
The books written earlier have a fantasy slant to them (low levels of technology, firebreathing telepathic dragons, and a feudal society), however McCaffrey prefers to describe them as science fiction and stresses the scientific rationales behind the world she has created. In later written volumes the series moves towards more overt science fiction as the colonists rediscover their links to the past and develop much higher levels of technology.
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[edit] Overview
Pern at first glance appears to be a pre-industrial society with lords, holds, harpers (musicians, entertainers, and teachers), and dragons, with the occasional examples of higher technology (like flamethrowers, telegraph, chemical fertilizers, and powerful microscopes and telescopes).
Pernese people are separated into four basic groups: Weyrfolk (including Dragonriders) who live in the Weyrs, the Holders who live in the Holds (cities, towns and farms), the crafters who live in Crafthalls (or are assigned to work their crafts in certain Holds), and the Holdless who have no permanent home (including traders, displaced Holders, and brigands).
Thread is a mycorrhizoid spore that periodically rains down on the planet due to the orbit of the Red Star. The Red Star is a rogue planet in the Rukbat system. The Red Star, a Sedna-class inner Oort cloud object, has a 250 Turn (Pernese year) elliptic orbit around its sun. Thread can reach the planet Pern for about 50 Turns while the Red Star is at perihelion. Thread consumes organic material at a voracious rate, including crops, animals, and any humans in its path.
The Pernese use intelligent firebreathing dragons and their riders to fight Thread. The riders have a telepathic bond with their dragons, formed by Impression at the dragon's hatching. Later books deal with the initial colonization of Pern and the creation of the dragons through genetic manipulation. The lengthy (over two millennia) time period covered by the series as a whole gives room for new stories and characters, as the more recent novels have done.
[edit] List of Books
The series has nineteen books and counting, and while characters drop in and out of the stories the major players are repeated in most of them in smaller or lesser roles. This is partly because some of the books feature overlapping timeframes, describing the same events from different viewpoints. Furthermore, McCaffrey has published novels in several different periods of Pern's history, some centuries apart. When reading for the first time it's generally recommended to go in the order the novels were written, as the details change slightly over time. On repeat reads, a chronological order may be preferred.
The series of novels (arranged largely in order of publication) is below. Unless otherwise noted, all works follow Dragonflight chronologically and are written by Anne McCaffrey:
- Dragonflight (1968; composed in part of McCaffrey's first two Pern stories, "Weyr Search" and "Dragonrider"; takes place immediately before the Ninth Pass)
- Dragonquest (1970)
- "The Smallest Dragonboy" (1973; short story later collected in Get Off the Unicorn and A Gift of Dragons)
- Dragonsong (1976)
- Dragonsinger (1977)
- Dragondrums (1979)
- The White Dragon (1978; although published prior to Dragondrums, The White Dragon continues the adventures of certain Dragondrums characters; McCaffrey recommends reading Dragondrums first; The White Dragon incorporates McCaffrey's story "A Time When")
- Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983; both this and Nerilka's Story are set at the end of the Sixth Pass, centuries before the events in Dragonflight)
- Nerilka's Story (1986)
- "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" (1986; short story collected in both The Girl Who Heard Dragons and A Gift of Dragons)
- Dragonsdawn (1988; first in chronological order, depicts the colonization of Pern, the First Fall of Thread, the creation of the dragons, and the colonists' move north.)
- "The Impression" (1989; short story included in The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern)
- The Renegades of Pern (1989)
- All the Weyrs of Pern (1991)
- The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (1993, anthology set after Dragonsdawn)
- The Survey: P.E.R.N. (originally published in 1993 as "The P.E.R.N. Survey")
- The Dolphins' Bell (originally published in 1993)
- The Ford of Red Hanrahan
- The Second Weyr
- Rescue Run (originally published in 1992)
- The Dolphins of Pern (1994)
- Red Star Rising (1997) (called Dragonseye for US release; set at the beginning of the Second Pass)
- The Masterharper of Pern (1998; prequel to Dragonflight and the other works of the Ninth Pass)
- "Runner of Pern" (1998 novella set, like Masterharper of Pern, some time before the events of Dragonflight; collected in Legends and A Gift of Dragons)
- "Beyond Between" (1999 short story in Legends II: Short Novels By the Masters of Modern Fantasy, Robert Silverberg, ed.; presumably set after the events of Moreta)
- The Skies of Pern (2001)
- A Gift of Dragons (2002 anthology collecting previously published stories and a new story)
- "The Smallest Dragonboy" (1973)
- "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" (1986)
- "The Runner of Pern" (1998)
- "Ever the Twain" (2002 short story original to A Gift of Dragons; time period unclear)
- Dragon's Kin (2003, with Todd McCaffrey; set prior to the Third Pass)
- Dragonsblood (2005, by Todd McCaffrey; primarily set several years after Dragon's Kin)
- Dragon's Fire (July, 2006, with Todd McCaffrey)
The first appearance of the Dragonriders was in a novella entitled Weyr Search, published in 1967. This story later became the first part of Dragonflight, the first novel published. Another novella, Dragonrider was published later the same year and was also included in Dragonflight. Weyr Search won a Hugo Award and Dragonrider won a Nebula Award. Dragonquest,The White Dragon, Moreta:Dragonlady of Pern and All the Weyrs of Pern were all nominated for Hugos.
Pern Companion Books
- The Atlas of Pern by Karen Wynn Fonstad is a collection maps based upon places mentioned in Pern.
- People of Pern by Robin Wood and Anne McCaffrey is a collection of portraits of the people of Pern
- The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern by Jody Lynn Nye and Anne McCaffrey contains the short story "The Impression" as well as numerous charts and extra information about Pern.
[edit] Pern in the Comics
In 1991 Dragonflight, the first Pern book published, was released as a graphic novel by Eclipse Books of Forestville, CA. The first two graphic novels were illustrated by Lela Dowling and Fred Von Tobel, the third was by Lela Dowling and Cynthia Martin. The story was adapted by Brynne Stevens.
[edit] Music of Pern
There is an 18 track CD of music relating to the important Teaching Ballads and the work of Masterharper Robinton, made in 1998 by Anglo-Alaskan duo Tania Opland and Mike Freeman in collaboration with Anne McCaffrey at her request. "The Masterharper of Pern" project began as an idea to include written music in the book of the same name, printed on the inner faces of the cover. By the time the composers had written and auditioned the early drafts at the author's table it was clear that making the songs a reality to their creator's satisfaction was finally possible. The CD project was completed some eighteen months later and released to the universal approval of fans and the author. A second CD pertaining mainly to the work of Pern's other favourite harper, Menolly, is currently in production and due for release in 2007.
[edit] Pern on TV and the Big Screen
There have been several efforts to bring Pern to television or to the "big screen."
The first effort for a Dragonriders of Pern movie was by Alliance Atlantis. While Alliance Atlantis produced some spectacular concept art there was never any serious effort to make the step towards actually making the movie. Alliance Atlantis eventually sold their rights.
- In 2002, the WB Network and writer Ronald D. Moore (of Battlestar Galactica fame) had completed sets and casting, and were within a few days of filming. Moore had sent the pilot episode to WB for final approval. When it was returned, it was returned with so many changes to the basic structure of Pern (making it more like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer[citation needed]) that it no longer much resembled the world created by Anne McCaffrey. As a fan of the Pern series, Moore refused to continue under the changes made, and filming was cancelled and rights were returned to Anne McCaffrey.
- In May of 2006, it was announced that the rights to the entire Dragonriders of Pern series was optioned by Oscar-winning production company Copperheart Entertainment. Copperheart announced their intention to bring Pern to the big screen.
[edit] Games
There have been several games released based on the Pern series.
In 1983 Mayfair Games created a board game featuring cards with Pern characters and locations. This game is now rare and valuable to Pern collectors.
In the early 1980s an early Atari style video game was released in which the player could battle Thread and other menaces on Pern.
In 2001 a video game "Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern" was created by Ubisoft Entertainment for the PC and Dreamcast. This game follows a dragonrider as he Searches for girls to be candidates for Impressing a new young gold dragon and battles the "bad guys" on an adventure across Pern. The game did not sell well and was derided both by the gaming community and fans of the series for inconsistencies, poor storyline, and poor gameplay.[citation needed]
[edit] Pernese Worldview and Society
[edit] General
In the Pern series, McCaffrey attempts to portray a society caught between its attempt to build a utopian dream and a grim and inescapable reality, which from the start forced exceptionally hard choices. The creation of the Dragons such that they were bound, without true free will, to aid humanity, was certainly morally questionable — but they were also created from non-sentient beings, to preserve the lives of the sentient, and one cannot presume another solution truly existed. Pragmatism can forgive many things, and this reality is one that one often learns on Pern, where proclaimed utopian traditions fall against the reality of simple day-to-day survival.
McCaffrey does allow a more utopian and progressive outlook to win out in the end, though the future of this society could be considered somewhat in doubt. Before this occurred, however, Pernese society was largely static, and many of its functions and features are open to review as an interesting case of a utopia trying to survive in conditions where it cannot.
Another repeated theme is the preservation of ideas and the generation of myths. On Pern, knowledge and cultural practices regarding Thread must persist for 200-year Intervals (see below) — a period of time nearly as long as the United States has existed — without the immediate presence of the organism to prompt remembrance. In that time, facts can become legends and societal practices can appear to be meaningless tradition. As McCaffrey herself asks to open the first story "Weyr Search" (see below): "When is a legend legend? Why is a myth a myth? How old and disused must a fact be for it to be relegated to the category: Fairy tale?"
[edit] Social Considerations
Pernese society exhibits the usual organizational characteristics of feudalism, but shows a certain specific leaning towards utopianism which is worthy of some review to understand the series' context. The social structure on Pern is strictly divided between Hold, Hall, and Weyr, respectively comparable to the medieval triune of Nobility, Guild, and Church. The Pernese themselves consider this structure an ideal organization meant to avoid the violence and excess of their Terran ancestors. One remarkable feature of Pernese society is its stability, having lasted approximately 2,500 years with little change.
The agrarian idealism of Pern, however, is marred by the constant reality of Thread. Fighting Thread requires a considerable concentration of social resources. Suspending disbelief and focusing on the necessary supply of material to the Weyrs to sustain the dragons, and the populations (a Weyr, exceeding two thousand persons, compares to some medieval cities) leads one to conclude that a principal part of the available agricultural and industrial productions of the planet would be devoted to this quasi-war effort during the Pass, and a considerable fraction during the Interval.
Within the Weyrs, there is a highly efficient and well run system. It is run by a Weyrleader and its Weyrmate, and has a very large number of support staff.
A constant repetition of Passes and Intervals leads to the tantalizing prospect that Pernese outlook in general may be cyclical rather than progressive; this similarity with Egypt under the Pharaohs would explain the long duration and rigidity of Pernese culture. However, it has thus been speculated by some fans that the end of Thread and rapid technological progress at the end of the Ninth pass would result in severe social disruption. McCaffrey's later novels of Pern tend to explore the growing rift between traditionalism and modernism. Social change is portrayed as both desired and despised. The destruction of Thread, a goal sought after by the Dragonriders and the peoples of Pern, forces a radical rethinking of the role of dragons in a post-Thread world.
[edit] Religious Considerations
Pern created an interesting example in that it is an agrarian society portrayed without a considerable organized religion. However, the latest short story, "Beyond Between," showed that the Pernese do in fact have a highly developed belief in the afterlife, generally firming up the science fiction aspects of Pern in establishing Pernese society as a fleshed-out and agrarian construct where religion has been shown through history to provide the central social fabric. This also provides important support for the incredible exertions of the Pernese in supporting the Weyrs economically: one could speculate on the defense against Thread being cast in a holy light by the Harpers, providing a greater cohesive bond for the society. Religious considerations may explain the disdain that Pernese women have for abortion; however, it is also possible that the colonists of Pern, as a growing population, would discourage them, as they slow the spread of human life across the planet.
[edit] Economic Considerations
The Dragons are very large creatures; the largest on record, the gold queen dragon Ramoth, has been measured at forty-five feet (as large as the largest Tyrannosaurus rex ever found) in length. She would be the largest flying being, and among the largest predators, ever known. The massive amount of food which must be consumed by several thousand such creatures is staggering, particularly at the height of a Pass, when they fly against Thread at close intervals. The area of grazing land required to support nearly 4,000 dragons (and the human population of Pern) each consuming three to four cattle (or herdbeast) a week has been compared to the whole Mississippi basin with a sustainable herd.
The economic strain on an agrarian society by the dragons is thus nearly unsustainable, and can only grow worse when the requirements of the sedentary and usually luxuriously-sustained Weyrfolk are included. However, Pern has been able to meet this strain during each Pass successfully, though the Ninth Pass saw considerable discontent, and a full record of all passes has not yet been provided.
During the Second Long Interval (a time when the Red Star failed to pass close enough to the planet to bring the incursion of Thread) before the Ninth Pass, however, unpopularity with the only remaining inhabited Weyr, Benden Weyr, had grown to such a point that the Holders were willing to risk combat on highly disadvantageous terms to end the tithe of materials which traditionally supported the Weyrs. This is a further suggestion of the general strain and potential unpopularity of the severe burden inflicted by the Weyrs — a burden that ultimately remains entirely necessary until the end of the Ninth Pass.
The Pernese economy, based upon the Mark, appears to be a command economy. The Mark is made of wood, a fiat currency, and has no inherent value; prices across Pern are fixed by a yearly meeting of Traders, Craftmasters, and Lord Holders, suggesting an attempt to either maximize economic gain with slim margins from the tithe, or direct price-fixing in support of the quasi-war effort which the Pernese economy might generally be said to resemble during the Pass. Unsurprisingly, many Pernese individuals resort to barter in the face of such economic tactics.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Fandom
Pern fandom consists of a large variety of fan communities. The largest part of fandom is made up by clubs that allow their members to 'play' Pern by creating original characters within the setting of Anne McCaffrey's world. To avoid conflicts with Pern canon and trademarks, each club typically chooses a particular location and timeline as a unique setting different from Anne McCaffrey's established history of Pern. Most commonly, clubs are named for the main Weyr chosen as playing location.
Historically, the first clubs started out publishing printed fanzines containing fanfiction and artwork. With the advent of the internet, clubs using online technology such as roleplay via chat or email (PBeM) became popular. Text-based online virtual reality games, primarily MUSH and MUCK variants such as PernMUSH, have modeled Pern since the early 1990s. In the mid-90s, stringent rules were placed on the creation of new clubs and the governance of existing clubs. For example, no new fan-created MU* games were allowed while the game rights were licenced to Ubisoft for the development of the Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern computer game (released in 2001).
In November 2004, Anne McCaffrey relaxed her fandom rules significantly and allowed Pernese fanfiction to be posted freely throughout the Internet. Soon after, fanfiction sites such as FanFiction.Net started offering the opportunity to post and read fanfiction based on Anne McCaffrey's works. The relaxing of the rules also resulted in the appearance of message board-based games as another popular club type. Fan sites no longer require approval and are not bound to the formerly strict canon rules, resulting in fan clubs testing out alternatives such as new dragon colors or off-Pern scenarios.
From 2000 until 2005, Anne McCaffrey's website offered a popular discussion forum and chat (The Kitchen Table) for fans to interact with each other and with the author. After its discontinuation in January 2005, several fan-organized discussion forums have taken its place as an outlet for fan activity.
Offline, the largest Pern fan gathering is WeyrFest, held yearly at Dragon*Con since 1992. Over the last few years, Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey were frequent attendees at WeyrFest, offering fans a chance to meet the authors in person.
| The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey | |
|---|---|
| The Dragonriders of Pern trilogy | Dragonflight | Dragonquest | The White Dragon |
| The Harper Hall trilogy | Dragonsong | Dragonsinger | Dragondrums |
| Other novels | Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern | Nerilka's Story | Dragonsdawn | Renegades of Pern | All the Weyrs of Pern |
| The Dolphins of Pern | Dragonseye | The Masterharper of Pern | The Skies of Pern | |
| Short Story Collections | The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall | A Gift of Dragons |
| Novels by Todd McCaffrey | Dragon's Kin | Dragonsblood | Dragon's Fire |
[edit] External links
- Official Anne McCaffrey Site
- Pern Museum and Archives
- Dragonriders of Pern - science fiction or fantasy debate
- The Dragonriders of Pern Spot on Fanpop - news, links, forums, videos
