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...
Lors de la fête d'intronisation d'Alessan, seigneur du Fort de Ruatha, on amène en cadeau une étrange bête : un félin. Mais cet animal est malade et va contaminer les habitants de Pern.
Les chevaliers-dragons représentent leur dernier espoir.
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
Here are five gripping episodes of early Pern -- from the very first space survey recommending colonisation, to the last, where the early world, its young dragon culture undetected, is condemned to be isolated in space.Here is the saga of the mass evacuation from the volcanic southern continent, an entire group of people moved across the dangerous seas, guarded and guided by a flotilla of dolphins. Here, too, is the story of the creation of Ruatha Hold -- a mammoth undertaking in the early days of Pern.And here is one of the most fascinating dragon tales ever written by Anne McCaffrey, when Fort Weyr was the only weyr, and when dragonriders and dragons were overcrowded to danger point. As the news broke of three fresh weyrs to be established, a young girl, Torene, came to realize that her dragon could be the next Queen of the newly formed Benden Weyr.
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.
For two hundred years there had been peace on Pern - but now the signs were ominous. Violent weather storms and erupting volcanos heralded the coming of the second Pass of Thread, when the red planet would rain down its horrifying harvest which destroyed every living organism on the face of Pern. No human or dragon or animal or plant was safe from the hideous death inflicted by Thread.Weyrs and Holds tried to prepare, but they had serious problems. Over the generations much of the old technology had been lost. AIVAS, the giant information bank, was buried under tons of volcanic ash, and valuable and skilled men and women had succumbed to disease and old age, taking with them the knowledge of a great civilization.They had to prepare as best they could, training the great flights of dragons and ensuring that the Lord Holders did their part by protecting their people in every possible way. Only Lord Chalkin, Holder of Bitra, refused to co-operate. He did not believe in Threadfall. It was a plot of the Weyrs to gain ascendancy over the Holds. He would do nothing to protect Bitra or its people. The Lord Holders and Weyrleaders were of one accord. Chalkin must be impeached and removed from his lands if the planet was to be made safe.
As a small boy, Readis Lilcamp is rescued by the 'shipfish' when he and his uncle Alemi are caught in a sudden squall beyond Paradise River Hold. AIVAS confirms that the big fish are called dolphins, part of the original settlers of Pern. On Earth they had been partnered with men, having learned to speak intelligible words.Readis, his Uncle Alemi and bronze Gadareth's rider, T'lion of Eastern Hold, are determined to restore the 'doll fins' to their rightful place in the ecology of Pern...and the partnership of men.Meanwhile, the fight to rid Pern of the terrible nightmare of Thread is still all consuming. While Lord Jaxom, F'lar and his dragonriders struggle to implement AIVAS' instructions, other challenges are issued and answered, including one which threatens young T'lion in the shape of his older brother, a brown rider, who harbours a deep grudge. And Readis must win his parents' consent to his association with the 'sea dragons of Pern' - the bottlenose dolphins.
A science fiction classic from a master of the genreWhen AIVAS -- the Artificial Intelligence Voice Address System -- was first discovered at Landing, the entire planet of Pern was awed at the knowledge it divulged. All the history of the people of Pern was there. Dragonholders, Lord Holders and Craftmasters crowded into the tiny inner room to learn the secrets of their beginnings. Ana AIVAS had other gifts to offer -- stored information of old crafts that had been forgotten, of medicine, music and technology.Bu the greatest promise AIVAS offered was the chance to rid Pern of Thread forever. All the great ones of Pern began the long and arduous task of learning just how to operate the incredible plan -- a plan of such daring and epic proportions that both dragons and riders would be put at risk.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
A new age is dawning on Pern, for since the dragons have changed the orbit of the Red Star, the horrors of Threadfall will soon be a thing of the past. But even as the dragon riders are trying to decide what their future role will be, further dangers are beginning to emerge, as those calling themselves the Abominators plot together to destroy all the learning that has been discovered from the records of the Old Ones.Their first vicious assault is on the Healer Halls - irrevocable damage is done and it is obvious that this is a worldwide movement with a dangerous mind leading those who would destroy all of the new knowledge.And now comes a fresh and terrible catastrophe - a large cometary fragment is hurtling towards Pern and cannot be deflected. Everyone - dragons, riders, holders and craftsmen - must stand by to perform a giant rescue operation.As F'lessan, son of Lessa and F'lar, plays his heroic part in the events that follow, he is helped by Tai, his new weyrmate. But it is the dragons, bronze Golanth and the brilliant green Zaranth, who will provide the solution to the dangers of the skies.
Nerilka's StoryIt was in Moreta's time -- a time of legend, of heroic valor, of terrible Threadfall and the Great Plague that devastated both Holders and Dragonfolk. For Lady Nerilka of Fort Hold, the tragedy was twofold, for with the death of her mother and her sister, her father's mistress took possession of the Hold. Angry and betrayed, Nerilka decided to escape and, as Pern seethed in turmoil, she began her perilous journey to Ruatha, Lord Alessan and an unknown destiny.A gripping tale in Anne McCaffrey's world-famous Chronicles of Pern.The CoeluraWhen the Lady Caissa was told by her exalted sire to enter into an heir-contract with Cavernus Gustin she was appalled. For although Gustin was genetically sound he was vain, pompous and intellectually inept. But Caissa's father was determined there should be a union -- he had his own privately plotted plans for such a match. And a few hours later Caissa began to suspect what they were. On a private flight over the forbidden areas of the North, she was alerted by a distress signal -- and there discovered a stranger who said his name was Murell -- a man surrounded by coelura, the incredible rainbow creatures whose very brilliance threatened their extinction. It was the coelura her father wanted. And Murell was determined to save them.
Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense was the body-heir of Lady Rezalla and, as such, was the heiress of one of the First Families on Vega III. But even as a child she eschewed the formalities of her aristocratic background and was happiest in her father's shipyard. By the time she was in her twenties she was the designer of the most advanced space yacht in the galaxy, and was owner of the Rondymense shipyards.It was on a test of her Mark 5 prototype that things went wrong. In an empty space field, suitable for test runs, she was suddenly confronted with the boiling white pout of a wormhole, was sucked in, only to be thrown out into an unknown dimension of space. She was not the first. As she explored this new, unfamiliar section of the universe she found traces of ships that had been marooned over many centuries.Not knowing if she would ever return to the world she knew, Nimisha chose to land on 'Erewhon' - fascinating, terrifying, beautiful and frightening - and inhabited not only by three survivors of a previous Vegan ship but by something else...
