Les premiers pionniers sont arrivés sur la planète Pern accompagnés de dauphins à l'intelligence génétiquement accrue. Mais au fil des décennies, les hommes ont fini par les oublier et les reléguant au rang de légendes.
Les jeunes Readis et Alemi font leur rencontre lors d'une partie de pêche en haute mer. Les dauphins les sauvent d'une tempête, et... leur parlent !
Commence alors une fantastique aventure, celle de la reprise de contact entre les deux espèces...
Le jeune Jaxom est le seigneur du Fort de Ruatha. Sa décision de conférer l'Empreinte à Ruth, le dragon blanc deux fois plus petit que ses frères, entraîne critiques et moqueries. La condition des chevaliers-dragons tend à perdre de son prestige face aux nouvelles armes de destruction des Fils. Le Continent Méridional, où les hommes avaient fondé leurs premiers établissements sur Pern avant d'émigrer vers le Nord, concentre les désirs de tous.
La planète Ballybran, hérissée de formidables chaînes de montagnes, est le rendez-vous des chanteurs crystal. Ils y cherchent le crystal noir (qui assure une communication instantanée entre les mondes) et n'ont pas d'autre assurance que d'y trouver les spores (qui à terme leur feront perdre la mémoire).
Killashandra Ree croyait qu'elle résoudrait ses problèmes en venant sur Ballydran. Hélas, elle a perdu son filon de crystal noir ; et elle souffre du mal du crystal à en devenir folle.
Alors, elle repart. La planète Ophteria demande du crystal blanc pour réparer un orgue à sensations unique dans tout l'univers ; et justement elle a ce qu'il faut. Mais surtout son départ peut sauver l'homme qu'elle aime... et par la même occasion, pourquoi pas, lui faire rencontrer quelqu'un d'autre. Dans les grands espaces galactiques, les solitaires ont toujours leur chance.
Menolly est une jeune fille passionnée de musique. Petiron, le harpiste du Fort, la laisse chanter en secret les grands poèmes dans lesquels se transmet la tradition de la planète, que seuls les hommes sont censés interpréter. Mais, çà la mort du vieux maître, les parents de Menolly croient le moment venu de la remettre dans le droit chemin. Elle fuit alors dans le désert, malgré la menace des Fils...
L'épidémie ravage toujours la planète Pern, tous les habitants se mobilisent pour affronter la catastrophe. Seul le seigneur Tolocamp de Fort refuse de porter secours à ses voisins. Nerilka décide d'aller à l'encontre de son père et s'enfuit jusqu'au Fort de Ruatha, où le Seigneur Alessan prépare le précieux sérum qui sauvera les malades.
Quatre fois par millénaire, la planète Pern est menacée par la chute des Fils qui brûlent tout sur leur passage. Les chevaliers-dragons s'envolent, prévenus par le chant des Harpistes, et brûlent les envahisseurs avant que ceux-ci n'atteignent le sol. Les Harpistes ont un rôle défensif essentiel, ils tiennent la chronique, préparent l'avenir et, le jour venu, annoncent la pluie mortelle.
Mais un temps vient où les Fils ne tombent pas. Le cycle multiséculaire est déréglé et beaucoup espèrent qu'ils ne tomberont plus jamais.
Et voici qu'un garçon naît dans l'Atelier des Harpistes. Il s'appelle Robinton et il a le don de parler avec tous les dragons...
They are the Caradynes, who for over 200 years have bred and trained horses of the finest caliber on Coernanagh. But all is not idyllic at hearth and home. Catriona, the youngest child, longs to ride her family's big jumpers and show horses. Her father Michael, recognizes her gift, but her mother hates the very idea. All is in a stalemate until Lady Selina Healy enters their lives, and provides for Catriona and her father a stunning example of how the reins of power can be held by a glorious, fearless woman.
From the Paperback edition.
The crew of shipbred technicians sent to the planet Ireta were prepared for a routine mission to catalog flora and fauna and search for new energy sources. Kai and his beautiful coleader Varian, the best xenob-vet in the business, followed all the standard procedures, but the result of their investigations was totally unexpected.
When their rescue ship mysteriously disappears, they suddenly find themselves surrounded by giant swamp creatures, deadly predators, and terrifying dinosaurs. And a curious change begins to come over many of the crew members-a mutinous change that will lead all of them, in one way or another, into the primitive darkness of a future world that holds many mysteries yet to be revealed. . . .
So begins Anne McCaffrey's exciting adventures Dinosaur Planet and Dinosaur Planet Survivors-together in one thrilling volume for the first time!
Perfect for diehard fans as well as readers discovering McCaffrey for the first time, this dazzling new volume features three classic novels from the early years of Pern-Dragonsdawn, Dragonseye, and Moreta.
The spectacular planet Pern seems a paradise to its new colonists-until unimaginable terror turns it into hell. Suddenly deadly spores are falling like silver threads from the sky, destroying everyone and everything they touch. Pern is in mortal danger. The only thing that can stop the Thread is the fire from Pern's flying dragons. Now, the colonists must join forces with the dragons to burn the Thread before the parasite devours any and all organic life-and turns lush Pern into a barren wasteland.
On Dragonwings traces the story of the early generations on Pern. From the colonists who first created the fire-breathing dragons for protection, through the rise of the dragonriders, these three novels set readers on a daring quest to protect a beautiful and extraordinary planet.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
MasterSinger Merelan and Harper Petiron were a brilliant and devoted couple. Merelan was the most outstanding soprano ever heard on Pern, and was often the only one who could master Petiron's technically accomplished compositions. When, after a long and difficult birth, Robinton was born to them, it should have been the culmination of a unique partnership.But Petiron, almost from the first day, had no time for his son, refusing to see the incredible talent the boy possessed, ignoring his achievements and maintaining a strict and disapproving vigilance over him at all times.Carefully, secretly, the Harper Hall took over, training the greatest talent Pern had ever seen - a talent that was more than just musical, for Robinton was able to talk to the dragons of Pern.As constant sadness beset his personal life, so a startling career sent him like a meteor through the Holds and Weyrs of Pern until, as MasterHarper, he became part of the great plan to rescue Lessa from the brutal rule of Holder Fax - Lessa, who was to be the saviour of the dragons of Pern.
A spellbinding legend of PernOf all the young singers at the Harperhall of Pern, Piemur was the one chosen for the leading role at Lord Groghe's Gather...and then his voice broke. Suddenly his whole future at Harperhall became uncertain. But Masterharper Robinton, Menolly and Sebell had other plans for Piemur. They were sure that his quick wits and discretion could be used to keep a check on the troublesome Oldtimers and their strange traffic in fire lizards. So, whilst serving as a messanger-drum apprentice, Piemur carried out special errands for the three. And it was on one such errand that he realized his wildest dreams.Anne McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College, majoring in Slavonic Languages and Literatures. A prolific bestselling author, she is best known for her handling of broad themes and the worlds of her imagination, particularly in her tales of the Talents and the novels about the Dragonriders of Pern. Anne McCaffrey lives in a house of her own design, Dragonhold-Underhill, in County Wicklow, Ireland. Visit the author's website at www.annemccaffrey.net
Doona was a jewel of a planet -- a pastoral paradise with rivers, lakes, mountains and seas. The Hrrubans needed it to revitalise their decadent race, to give it back something of the old pioneering spirit. The Terrans needed it as an overspill from the hysterical crowding of Earth, a place to breathe and move without restrictions.So they both sent a colonising party -- and they both began to think of Doona as Home. And then one day the smooth-skinned, two-legged mammal known as Man came face to face with the furry, four-pawed mammal known as Hrruban...
They had called the planet Botany, after the old penal colony on earth. For that is what they were - prisoners and dissidents from other worlds whom the hated Catteni had banished to an empty planet - or what they thought was an empty planet.Kris Bjornsen and her fellow slaves had survived very well - and one reason was that amongst their number was Zainal, a high ranking Catteni who was as trapped on Botany as they were. Zainal knew the Catteni ways and the Catteni technology, and he had plans for fighting back. For, as he explained, the Catteni too were victims - subject to the mighty and terrifying Eosi race who used the Catteni as a galactic police force - and also used them in more grisly and horrifying ways.And over Zainal's daring and secret plans, over the surveying expeditions and the exploration of the strange hidden valleys, hung a further mystery - to whom did Botany really belong? Who had created the giant grain sheds - the mammoth machinery that tilled the great fields? The new inhabitants of Botany called them the 'Farmers' - and waited for the day they would come to harvest their crops.And when that happened, the refugees were awed into silence - for the Farmers were greater than anything the universe had ever seen.
The survival technique of the Hivers was terrifying -- and brilliant. Their huge Sphere ships, controlled by the Many Mind of ten to sixteen queens, surged out into space. When an appropriate planet was found, the Hivers destroyed any and every variety of indigenous life, the queens propagated, and when the new world was full, more ships were sent out. the colonization was repeated until no planet, no species, least of all Man and Mrdini, was safe.The furry and courageous Mrdini had fought the Hivers for centuries, many dying bravely in an attempt to save their own worlds. Now Mrdini and Man combined to form the Alliance -- and Humankind had their own weapons to offer -- the power and might of the Talents who could not only communicate silently with each other, but could project cargoes, ships and themselves across the deeps of space.The four children of Damia -- Laria, Thian, Rojer and Zara -- were Primes amongst the Talents, and all their skills were desperately needed, for the Hivers' terrible Sphere ships were still thrusting through space, unfathomable, impenetrable, and carrying death in their labyrinthine depths.
There was a sudden stench of a dead sea creature. There was the sudden horror of a huge black shape closing over her. There was nothing...Then there were pieces of memory, isolated fragments that were so horrible her mind refused to accept them. Intense heat and shivering cold; excruciating pain; dismembered pieces of the human body. Sawn bones and searing screams.And when she awoke she found she was in a world that was not earth, and with a face and body that were not her own. She had become a Restoree...
The brain was perfect, the tiny, crippled body useless. So technology rescued the brain and put it in an environment that conditioned it to live in a different kind of body - a spaceship. Here the human mind, more subtle, infinitely more complex than any computer ever devised, could be linked to the massive and delicate strengths, the total recall, and the incredible speeds of space. But the brain behind the ship was entirely feminine - a complex, loving, strong, weak, gentle savage - a personality, all-woman, called Helva...
Lord Artos is on a historic quest - to search out the finest black horses ever known to man. He has vowed to drive the invading Saxons out of Britain, and he needs big, strong, powerful horses to carry his army into battle. Galwyn, a young Roman-Celt, leaps at the chance to accompany the group, little guessing the adventure ahead of him - or the price he will have to pay for his loyalty...
Another Turn, and the deadly silver Threads began falling again. So the bold dragonriders took to the skies and their magnificent dragons swirled and swooped in space, belching flames that destroyed the shimmering strands before they reached the ground. But F'lar knew he had to find a better way to protect the peoples and lands of Pern, and he had to find it before the rebellious Oldtimers could breed any more dissent...before his brother F'nor would be foolhardy enough to launch another suicide mission...and before the mercurial fire lizards could cause even more trouble. Anne McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College, majoring in Slavonic Languages and Literatures. A prolific bestselling author, she is best known for her handling of broad themes and the worlds of her imagination, particularly in her tales of the Talents and the novels about the Dragonriders of Pern. Anne McCaffrey lives in a house of her own design, Dragonhold-Underhill, in County Wicklow, Ireland. Visit the author's website at www.annemccaffrey.net
Every two hundred years or so, shimmering Threads fall from space, raining death and black ruin on Pern. The great dragons of Pern hurl themselves through the beleagured skies, flaming tongues of fire to destroy deadly Thread and save the Planet. But it was not Threadfall that made young Menolly unhappy. It was her father who betrayed her ambition to be a Harper, who thwarted her love of music. Menolly had no choice but to run away. When, suddenly, she came upon a group of fire lizards, wild and smaller relatives of the fire-breathing dragons, she let her music swirl around them. She taught nine of them to sing. Suddenly Menolly was no longer alone -- she was Mistress of Music and Ward of the dazzling fire dragons.
When Menolly, daughter of Yanus Sea Holder, arrived at the Harper Craft Hall, she came in style, aboard a huge bronze dragon, followed by her nine fire lizards. The Masterharper of Pern, aware of her unique skills, had chosen her as his only girl apprentice. But the holdless girl had first to overcome many heartaches in this strange new life. Two things sustained her -' her devoted lizards, a subject on which she was fitted to instruct her Masters -' and the music... music of compelling beauty, music-making where at last she was accepted. In the Great Hall, Menolly could fulfil her destiny.Anne McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College, majoring in Slavonic Languages and Literatures. A prolific bestselling author, she is best known for her handling of broad themes and the worlds of her imagination, particularly in her tales of the Talents and the novels about the Dragonriders of Pern. Anne McCaffrey lives in a house of her own design, Dragonhold-Underhill, in County Wicklow, Ireland. Visit the author's website at www.annemccaffrey.net
Never had there been as close a bonding as the one that existed between the young Lord Jaxom and his extraordinary white dragon, Ruth. Pure white and incredibly agile, Ruth possessed remarkable qualities. Not only could he communicate with the iridescent, fluttering fire lizards, but he could fly. Back in time to any WHEN with unfailing accuracy. Nearly everyone else on Pern thought Ruth was a runt who would never amount to anything, but Jaxom knew his dragon was special. In secret they trained to fight against the burning threads from the Red Planet, to fly Back in time as well as Between, and finally their close and special union was to result in the most startling and breathtaking discovery of all... THE WHITE DRAGON is one of the most unforgettable episodes in Anne McCaffrey's world-famous Chronicles of Pern.
Some fourteen hundred turns after men first came to Pern rode Moreta, on her great golden dragon, Orlith. It was towards the end of the Pass of the Red Star -- a time when every living creature on Pern was threatened by Threadfall -- when the courage and daring of dragons and their riders was all that kept the planet from extinction. And then, at the height of the battle against Thread, came a new and terrible evil.Moreta, in one last superhuman endeavour, was to save her people, and become the greatest legend of dragonlore until the end of time.
In the beginning, before Thread, before the Dragons, before the Holds and the Weyrs and the elite Dragonriders of Pern, was just the great ships gliding through space with nearly six thousand colonists prepared to tackle the mighty task of beginning a new world on a strange planet.It was a jewel of a planet, with rivers and seas and mountains, and breathable air and growing things. Then came the terror. The strange, unidentifiable circles in the grass suddenly revealed a meaning, and every living thing was at risk. Many died -- a horrible and consuming death. All resources, every man, woman and child had to fight the terrible nightmare of Thread.But a new creature was about to save the planet. From the delicate fire lizards a new life was born -- a new symbiosis between man and beast.
They were misfits, the outcasts, the murderers without Hold or Crafthall. Some were resentful, some sought vengeance, but it was not until Thella, Lady Holder of Telgar, began to weld them together into a terrifying and brilliantly evil clan that they became the Renegades of Pern. it was a time of great turmoil on the planet. The pass of the Red Star had brought a new terrible reign of Threadfall, and in the southern Hold, Toric was carving out an enormous empire for himself from lands as yet uncharted. And as the times of trouble grew, so did the ravages of Thella and her band, turning from theft to murder to vicious and insane revenge.Jayge Lilcamp, the young and roving trader, was one of the first to fall foul of the renegades, and as he saw what Thella had done to his family and his wagon train he began to seek his own revenge, a revenge which grew into a determination to destroy the most evil woman on Pern.
