2. Pern
in Print 
2. Pern
in Print Since Pern is a fictional world, a complete listing of all related books would probably be a good idea.
2a. Book list (written by McCaffrey)[Date is of 1st printing. ISBNs are from the paperback editions in my personal library, obtained from copies in local bookstores or webstore inquiries. US Publisher is Del Rey books unless otherwise noted. UK edition publisher is Corgi Books unless otherwise noted. Random House/Del Rey eBook formats include Adobe eBook, Microsoft Reader, Palm, and Gemstar]
[ISBN will transition to ISBN-13 format as data becomes available.]
The Dragonriders of Pern trilogy (Also available in a single hardcover volume through the SF book club, and trade paperback in a few bookstores).
The Harper Hall of Pern trilogy (Available as a single hardbound edition through the SF book club).
Others:
[1] Details courtesy of: Robert A. Woodward (robertaw@halcyon.com)
--- >Contains early versions of several chapters of _The White Dragon_. >Scenes are: Jaxom blowing up at the breakfast table, Jaxom at >Smithcrafthall school, Jaxom and Corana, Jaxom and the entire theft & >recovery of the Queen egg at Benden Weyr. ---
[2] Collection of McCaffrey short fiction; contains "The Smallest Dragonboy" (Originally published 1973 for Science Fiction Tales). Reportedly, the short story can also be found in Visions of Fantasy: Tales From the Masters (1989 Doubleday: ISBN 0-385-26359-7).
[3] Also includes non-Pern novel.
[4] Originally published in Analog (Aug. 1991) and included in [5] below.
[5] Contains short stories: "Survey: P.E.R.N." [6], "The Dolphins' Bell", "The Ford of Red Hanrahan", "The Second Weyr", and "Rescue Run" (ibid [4] above).
[6] Previously published as "The P.E.R.N. Survey" in Amazing Stories (Sep. 1993).
[7] Included in [5] ibid.
[8] Collection of McCaffrey short fiction. Includes novella of same title originally published (limited edition - 100 signed copies) in 1985.
[9] These are the same book under different titles. The UK edition was released first; Del Rey delayed their edition for supposedly editorial reasons. The change in title was allegedly due to concerns that the American audience wouldn't recognize a Pern book without a "Dragon" title. Thanks to Mark Haas (mhaas@onramp.net) for UK publisher data.
[10] Anthology of short novels/novellas, containing "Runner of Pern" by McCaffrey. Other authors include Terry Pratchett (Discworld), Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea), Raymond Feist (Riftwar), etc.
[11] Anthology of previously published "The Smallest Dragonboy", "The Girl Who Heard Dragons", "Runner of Pern", and the new "Ever the Twain".
[12] Omnibus collection of Dragonsdawn, Dragonseye, and Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern.
[13] Anthology of short novels/novellas, conaining "Beyond Between" by McCaffrey.
Finally, the Dragonlover's Guide to Pern (see below) contains a short story, "The Impression" depicting F'lessan's impression of Golanth from a first-person POV.
It should also be noted that this all started with the Hugo-winning novella "Weyr Search" published in October 1967 in Analog. This story (after some rewriting) now forms the first quarter of Dragonflight.
The Nebula-winning (1968) novella "Dragonrider" [serialized in Analog in '67-68(?)] makes up the second half of Dragonflight.
2b. Latest Pern book news.The paperback edition of latest Todd/Anne collaboration, Dragon Harper (not to be confused with the Crossroads Choose-Your-Path book by Jody Lyn Nye), was published in September 2008 and continues the pre-3rd Pass storyline that was started in Dragon's Kin.
Todd's latest solo book, Dragonheart was published in hardcover in November 2008. He's reportedly working on two more books to continue this story.
Anne has also apperantly been working on a new Pern book, After the Fall is Over (working title). Rumors are that a late 2008 release is planned.
2c. Suggested reading order for newcomers.Ms. McCaffrey suggests that the books be read in order of publication (i.e. start with Dragonflight and go in published order). Alternatively, she suggests starting with Dragonsong as a 'gentler' introduction, completing the Harper Hall trilogy, and then going back to Dragonflight, Dragonquest, et. al.
2d. Chronological order of books/storiesThis is kind of tricky, as some books depict the same events from different points of view. Here's what the consensus seems to be:
+--------------------+ Backwards
| "Survey: P.E.R.N." | ^
+--------------------+ |
+-------------+ Time
1st Pass-> | Dragonsdawn +----------------------+ |
+-------------+ "The Dolphins' Bell" | v
+----------------------+ Forwards
+----------------------------+
| "The Ford of Red Hanrahan" |
+----------------------------+
+-------------------+
| "The Second Weyr" |
+-------------------+
+--------------+
1st Int.-> | Dragonsblood |
+------+-------+
+--------------+ |
| "Rescue Run" | |
+--------------+ |
|
+-------------------+ |
| Red Star Rising | |
2nd Pass-> +-------------------+ |
|
+------------------+ |
| "Ever the Twain" | |
+------------------+ |
|
2nd Int.-> +------------+ |
+------------+ | |
| Dragon's | Dragon's | |
| Kin | Fire | |
+------------+ | |
+------------+ |
+--------+ |
| Dragon | |
| Harper | |
+--------+ |
+------+-------+
3rd Pass-> | Dragonsblood |
+--------------+
[...]
6th Pass->
+-----------+
+------------+ |
| | |
| Moreta: | |
+----------+ Dragonlady | Nerilka's |
| "Beyond | of Pern | Story |
| Between" | | |
+----------+------------+ |
6th Int.-> | |
+-----------+
[...]
8th Int->
+--------------+
| The |
+-----------+ | Masterharper |
| | +--------------+ of Pern |
+----------------+ | | | +--------------+
|"Runner of Pern"| | | | Dragonflight |
+----------------+ | | | |
9th Pass-> | | | |
| | +--------------+
| | +--------------+
| | +-------------+ Dragonsong |
| | | +--------------+
| | | Dragonquest | Dragonsinger |
| | | +--------------+
| | +-------------+
| +-------------+
| The | +------------------+
| Renegades | Dragondrums | "The Impression" |
| of Pern | +------------------+
| +-------------+
| | +---------------+
| | | "The Smallest |
| | | Dragonboy" |
| | +---------------+
+-----------+ |
| | +----------------+
| The White | | "The Girl Who |
| Dragon | | Heard Dragons" |
| | +----------------+
+-----------+ |
| |
+-----------+
| All the |
+-----------+ Weyrs |
| The | of Pern |
| Dolphins +-----------+
| of Pern |
+-----------+
+-----------+
| The Skies |
| of Pern |
+-----------+
Notes:
Horizontally connected 'boxes' indicate closely connected (i.e. same events from different points of view) stories. Boxes connected vertically indicate that the following story takes place immediately after the previous one.
The two plotlines of Dragonsblood are evenly split between the end of the 1st pass and tne start of the 3rd Pass, and is thus shown (with tenuous connection) in both times.
"Ever the Twain" does not have explicit indications of time-period, but the evidence suggests mid-to-late 2nd Pass or so.
Nerilka's Story starts 4 days before Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern.
"Runner of Pern" takes place in the spring just before the first Threadfall of the 9th Pass.
Dragonsong is shown to start previous to Dragonquest based on the timelines provided in Karen Fonstead's Atlas of Pern.
Dragonquest is shown to continue beyond the end of Dragonsinger based on the reports on Canth's healing which suggest that considerable time has elapsed since Canth's jump to the Red Star.
The White Dragon is shown to start before "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" since The Renegades of Pern indicates that the latter takes place in late autumn, while the former tends to suggest that the weather is just starting to turn cool.
2e. Pern AudiobooksThere are several audio adaptations of the assorted Pern books out in both abridged and unabridged forms. The performer, if known, is listed.
[Many thanks to MIRRIM@delphi.com and griffon@ccrtc.com for doing the legwork to obtain much of this information. Publisher is indicated by bracketed numbers; Publisher key follows the list.]
Publisher info:
2f. Other Pern materials
Anne McCaffrey: Dragonflight
Published by Eclipse Graphic Novels, March 1993.
ISBN: 0-06-105003-2
Several Pern-related "Reference Books" have been published. The most frequently mentioned on this newsgroup are:
[Additional note from: "Michael Short" (mike@mail.robinwood.com)
-- Robin's husband.]
------
Photoprints of F'lar, Lessa, Menolly and Sebell are available. 11"x14" prints go for $35 + S&H. Large-fomat (18"x24") run $150 + S&H.
Robin's address is:
Robin Wood
3319 Greenfield Road #102
Dearborn, MI 48120
877-ROBINWOod (877-762-6494) [*]
- or -
(734) 729-4281
http://www.robinwood.com/
[*] Personal Toll-free number: Please let Michael or Robin know that
it was used when calling.
------
2nd ed.: Mar 1997, Del Rey Books
0-345-41274-5 (Softcover)
Considered by many to be
Todd McCaffrey's biography of his mother.
Jody Lynn Nye has also written two 'Choose your path' books set on Pern under the (now defunct) 'Crossroads' line from TOR books.
There have also been two games published:
Mayfair games has since gone out of business.
The game mechanics involve two books which show pictures from the POV of each rider. Each player selects a maneuver and goes to a look-up page where the combination of that maneuver and the other player's choice determines the next view. (Very similar to the "Ace of Aces" WW I dogfighting game also from Nova.)
Contact address is:
Nova Games Designs, Inc.
P.O. box 1178
Manchester, CT 06040
In August 2001, UbiSoft released the Pern PC game that Grolier Interactive (UK) had been developing. It appears to be more an adventure game/interactive story than a traditional Computer Role-Playing game as initially reported. It is sent toward the end of the 7th Pass.
Epyx released a "Dragonriders of Pern" game for the C-64, Atari 8-bit, and Apple ][ around 1984. Second-hand reports inidcate that it was generally similar to the above-listed board game, but with occasional arcade-style threadfighting sequences. Inquiries to the appropriate comp.*.games newsgroup may prove useful to those looking for used copies of it.
NOTE: There is a IBM-PC Dragonriders game floating around on BBSs and the net. Regarding this item, Justin Bradford jbradford@cctr.umkc.edu informed this newsgroup:
>The computer game "The Dragonriders of Pern" by Everlasting Software is >not authorized by Anne McCaffrey and should not be player, uploaded, >downloaded, or distributed. We uploaded this game to an Internet FTP >site without understanding that it was a copyright and trademark >infringement and were contacted by her attorneys. We want >to apologize to Anne McCaffrey, and to urge all of her fans >to help eliminate this game from the Internet.
Michael Whelan (cover artist for most of the Del Rey Pern books) has a web page located at:
http://www.glassonion.comIn addition to his Pern cover art, Whelan has done sevreal other McCaffrey covers, not to mention work for many other authors.
In conjunction with the publication of _Masterharper of Pern_, Ms. McCaffrey asked Tania Opland and Mike Freeman to produce music based on her Pernese verses.
The project grew to something rather larger than anticipated, and the result is a 50-minute CD. A brief description and ordering infomration may be found at:
http://members.aol.com/Opland/perncd.htm
2g. Obtaining hard-to-find books.As noted above, several books are available only through the Science Fiction Book Club. This book club provides a good selection of recent releases (albeit somewhat delayed) and classic SF in 'special edition' hardcovers and trade-paperbacks. The membership deal is something along the lines of "Must buy 4 books in the first year". Almost all of Ms. McCaffrey's SF works can be ordered in one form or another.
Advertisments can be found in most of the usual Science Fiction and Gaming magazines (e.g. Analog, Dragon, etc.) or they can be contacted at:
The Science Fiction Book Club
6550 East 30th Street
PO Box 6369
Indianapolis, IN 46209-9492
They also have a webpage (as of 7 Sep 96, still a little buggy here and there.) located at:
This page is the on-line equivalent of their introductory advertisment; the on-line catalog does not include very many McCaffrey titles. However, members should be able to use the page to order any book from the SF Universe catalog that is sent out annually.
Note to non-US readers: I am informed that the club also extends to Canada, but it is doubtful that it goes anywhere else. Readers in Europe, Asia, etc. will most likely have to arrange a special order with your local booksellers.
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