The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (Dragonriders of Pern Series #12)

by Anne McCaffrey

Overview

Travel back to the earliest days of Pernese history in this first-ever Dragonriders of Pern short-story collection!

Join the original survey team as they explore Pern and decide to recommend it for colonization. Share the terror of the evacuation from the Southern Continent as a flotilla of ships, aided by intelligent, talking dolphins, braves the dreadful currents of the Pernest ocean. Learn how the famous Ruatha Hold was founded, and thrill with the dragonriders as they expand into a second, then a third Weyr. And discover a secret lost in time: the rescue of some of the original colonists before the planet was cut off forever!

Building a new life on a distant world, braving the dreaded Thread that falls like silver rain from the sky only to destroy every living thing it touches, flying heroically on the wondrous dragons: The Dragonriders of Pern!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345368997
Publisher:	Random House Worlds
Publication date:	08/29/1994
Series:	Dragonriders of Pern Series , #12
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	129,443
Product dimensions:	4.21(w) x 6.77(h) x 0.87(d)
Lexile:	990L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Anne McCaffrey, one of the world’s most popular authors, is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern® series. She was the first woman to win the two top prizes for science fiction writing, the Hugo and Nebula awards. She was also given the American Library Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement in Young Adult Fiction, was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and was named a Science Fiction Writers of America Nebula Grand Master. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1926, McCaffrey relocated to Ireland in the 1970s, where she lived in a house of her own design, named Dragonhold-Underhill. She died in 2011.

Read an Excerpt

It’s the third planet we want in this pernicious system,” Castor said in a totally jaundiced tone, his eyes fixed on the viewscreen. “How’s the hairpin calc going, Shavva?”
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall"
by .
Copyright © 1994 Anne McCaffrey.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

A quarter century after Dragonflight , the novel that introduced the vastly popular dragon planet of Pern, McCaffrey details the difficult yet exhilarating early years of the Pernese settlers in five highly readable tales. Trouble starts early when the original landing site is threatened by volcanic action, forcing the human settlers to ring ``The Dolphin's Bell'' in a plea for help from the intelligent sea mammals who migrated with them from Earth. Then there is the First Fall of the devastating Thread which leads colonists to the security of Rua Atha (Ruatha Hold) in ``The Ford of Red Hanarahan,'' while ``The Second Weyr'' recounts the creation of two new Weyrs to accommodate the growing population of dragons and riders who are essential to the colony's survival. The book begins and ends with the human federation, with the initial survey of Pern and, in the odd final tale called ``Rescue Run,'' with the story of how the planet was abandoned when a small Federation expedition, responding to a distress message sent by Pern during the First Fall, finds only 11 colonists led by a madman. Told of the Thread and convinced that these are the only survivors, the rescuers recommend that Pern and the entire system be interdicted. This collection will provide some answers long awaited by avid Pern fans. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

From the initial reports of the survey team that discovers Rukbat's third planet (``The Survey: P.E.R.N.'') to the official banning of the planet to space travel (``Rescue Run''), these five original stories by the author of the popular Pern series offer a glimpse into the early history of the world of ``thread'' and Dragonriders. McCaffrey's unadorned prose allows characters and plot to take center stage. Anticipate a demand for this title. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/93.

Library Journal

With the five pieces in this first Pern short story collection, McCaffrey offers a delightful fillip for her legion of fans eager to learn everything there is to know about the planet Pern and its inhabitants. Here, we accompany the original survey team, which labels the planet P.E.R.N. (parallel Earth, resources negligible) suitable for colonization. We also experience the desperate, dolphin-assisted exodus by sea from the Southern Continent in the face of volcanic eruptions; the founding of the fabled Ruatha Hold under the leadership of Red Hanrahan; and the establishment of Benden Weyr to ease the crowding at Fort's Weyr as well as the selection of its Weyrleader. The concluding story, "Rescue Run," which originally appeared in "Analog", is a curious sidepiece set some 50 years after the original colonists reported a successful landing; it involves the rescue of a handful of the original settlers and the interdiction of Pern's system--effectively cutting it off from the rest of humanity. The writing is vintage McCaffrey, and readers will appreciate the filling in of gaps in Pernese history; a timeline covering the first 20 years is included.

Sally Estes