Showing results by author "Anne McCaffrey" in All Categories

The Weyrs are full again, with old and new riders taking to the skies to fight Thread once again. But all is not well across Pern - the Oldtimers are struggling to adapt to the changes their centuries-long absence has brought and F'Lar and Lessa must carefully balance their conservative ways against those of their allies in the Crafts and Halls. As new technology makes the Red Star appear closer than ever, F'Lar's brother F'Nor starts to look for ways to rid Pern of Thread once and for all...but at what risk?

The rediscovery of AIVAS stunned the whole planet of PERN - it's announcement that it could eliminate thread for good would change the world forever. PERN has been turned upside down by the knowledge that AIVAS has shared, revolutionising medicine, music and technology. Against the backdrop of...

There has never been a dragon quite like Ruth - he's small, agile, able to communicate with fire lizards and has an uncanny ability to know exactly when he is. His bond with the young Lord Holder Jaxom is uniquely strong thanks to their unlikely connection and the fact that nearly everybody else on Pern thought the diminutive dragon wouldn't survive to adulthood. With Jaxom set to inherit control of his Hold, the pair is banned from fighting Thread, their flying time strictly limited at the insistence of the Weyrleaders and Lord Holders.

When the voice of Piemur, an apprentice at Harper Hall, changes, he has to leave the companionship of Master Shonagar behind. But his disappointment is soon replaced by a new challenge. He is to enter the service of the Master Harper himself as a rider of dragons. Soon, he embarks on a dangerous mission to the Southern Hold. The future of Pern hangs on his success.

Dragonsong is the spellbinding tale of Menolly of Half Circle Hold, a brave young girl who flees her seaside village and discovers the legendary fire lizards of Pern. All her life, Menolly has longed to learn the ancient secrets of the Harpers, the master musicians of Harper Hall. When her stern father denies her the chance to make her dream come true, Menolly runs away from home. Hiding in a cave by the sea, she finds nine magical fire lizards who join her on a breathtaking journey to Harper Hall.

Menolly has returned home and entered the Harper Hall. But her entry into the Hall proves the beginning of more troubles, and the Master Harper gives her a difficult time because she is a girl. As Menolly begins to despair, she finds help in the shape of nine bright allies.

Life in the Harper Hall is busy for best friends Kindan, Nonala, and Kelsa. As the only female apprentices, Nonala and Kelsa are the butt of jokes and easy targets for the bully Vaxoram and his cronies. But when Kindan springs to Kelsa's defense, he winds up in a fight for his life against the older, bigger Vaxoram - a fight that will lead to a surprising friendship. Then fate intervenes in the form of a virulent plague as fast-spreading as it is deadly.

Pellar is an orphan taken in by Masterharper Zist. Though born mute, Pellar is a gifted tracker, and when Zist sets off to take over as harper for Natalon's coal-mining camp, Pellar - along with his fire-lizard, Chitter - joins him on a secret mission of his own: to find out if reported thefts of coal are the work of the Shunned, criminals condemned to a life of wandering and hardship.

The exhilarating adventures of Anne McCaffrey's bestselling Crystal Singer series continue with Killashandra, a story that mixes interplanetary political intrigue with passionate romance. In this installment, Killashandra Ree's crystal claim has been exhausted, forcing her to take a new assignment and leave her new lover back on their native Ballybran.

Like every other citizen of the Federation of Sentient Planets, Lunzie Mespil believed that no harm would come to her, but when the planet pirates attack the space liner on which she is a passenger, she might have to suffer more than just inconvenience.

Killashandra Ree has spent ten grueling years in musical training, anticipating interstellar celebrity as a vocal soloist. She is young, beautiful—and still without prospects. After learning that a flaw in her voice will prevent her from singing lead, she hears of the mysterious Heptite Guild on the planet Ballybran, where the fabled Black Crystal is found. Mining this strange form of crystal is a dangerous occupation but to Killa, the risks are acceptable. Remarkably, her adaptation to crystal mining is unusually easy. The problem is—few people who land on Ballybran ever leave.

For the first time in more than three years, best-selling authors Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey have teamed up again to do what they do best: add another chapter to the Dragonriders of Pern. Even though Lorana cured the plague that was killing the dragons of Pern, sacrificing her queen dragon in the process, the effects of the disease were so devastating that there are no longer enough dragons available to fight the fall of deadly Thread. And as the situation grows more dire, a pregnant Lorana decides that she must take drastic steps in the quest for help.

Killashandra, one of the most gifted singers on Ballybran, is drawn like a magnet to the song of crystal. In order to work with crystal, singers are infected with a symbiotic life form that heals them and gives them near eternal life—but slowly destroys their memories. Since crystal singing brings Killashandra ecstasy, she doesn't mind the initial small annoyances of memory loss. What she hadn't counted on was the loneliness she felt when her heart still remembered what her mind had forgotten—the names of her friends and lovers.

Sassinak was 12 when the raiders came. That made her just the right age: old enough to be used, young enough to be broken. Or so the slavers thought. But Sassy turned out to be a little different from your typical slave girl. Maybe it was her unusual physical strength. Maybe it was her friendship with the captured Fleet crewman. Maybe it was her spirit. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t let her resign herself to the life of a slave. She bided her time, watched for her moment. Finally it came, and she escaped. But that was only the beginning for Sassinak.

Leadership of these dragons and riders falls to Xhinna, female rider of a blue dragon, who must earn the respect of all who follow her and solve the problem of how to get sufficient numbers of dragon eggs, all while protecting her people and baby dragons from the predators, and worse, traitors!

As the Weyrs and Holds prepare for the first pass since the loss of Landing and the knowledge of their ancestors, one Lord Holder is refusing to co-operate - denying the existing in thread and damning his people to ignorance and, ultimately, death.

Pern has always had its fair share of holdless misfits - some unlucky, some misfits and some bent on revenge. It isn't until the rise of Thella, Lady Holder of Telgar that they unite and name themselves the Renegades of Pern. With Threadfall at its height and ambitious Holders turning hungry...

When humanity first arrived on PERN the hold of the Colony Ship Bahrain held twenty five dolphins who would be used to populate the seas of the new world. Generations later their descendants would prove vital to the world's survival. When Readis and his uncle are saved by a pod of 'shipfish' he...

Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible, recommended for colonisation. Before Thread, Dragons and Holds the Yokohama, Bahrain and Buenos Airies, three mighty colony ships from earth, delivered nearly six thousand colonist to their green, beautiful new home. But just as the settlers started to adapt to their new home the world would change forever with the arrival of an unknown terror from the skies - the first thread falls that would consume everything in their part.

The end of Thread brings a dawning of a new age to Pern, but the joy of fresh beginnings is short lived. The rise of a luddite movement, calling themselves the Abominators, threatens the planet's hard-won peace and risks the loss of AIVA and the Old One's lessons. As Weyr, hall and hold struggle...