Books in the The Dragon Books series

It 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.

Pern AL 50: the geneticist Wind Blossom is nearing the end of her long life and is painfully aware that the colonists are running out of the modern technology the settlers brought with them to Pern and that they are forgetting how to use what they do have.

Of 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. But Masterharper Robinton, Menolly and Sebell had other plans for Piemur. So, whilst serving as a messanger-drum apprentice, Piemur carried out special errands for the three.

MasterSinger Merelan and Harper Petiron were a brilliant and devoted couple. After a long and difficult birth, Robinton was born to them, but from the first day Periton had no time for his son, ignoring the incredible talent he had - that of being able to speak to the dragons of Pern.

The inhabitants of Pern face a titanic struggle for survival as violent storms and erupting volcanoes herald the coming of "Thread", a deadly power which could destroy them all.

She must solve the problem of how to get sufficient numbers of dragon eggs, although her newfangled ideas, like letting green dragons mate and lay eggs to hatch new dragons, cause uproar.

When Fiona, the only surviving member of Lord Holder Bemin's family, impresses a queen dragon, she doesn't begin to realize the perils and privileges that come with her new role. As she grows into a young woman and her dragon reaches her full growth, she faces the possibility of losing her dragon to the sickness that has claimed so many others.

Kindan is an apprentice harper at the Harper Hall but he is finding the lessons very difficult and although he has his friends, Nonala, Kelsa and Verilan, he also has enemies, such as the bully Vaxoram.

Five episodes in the history of Pern, from the very first space survey recommending colonization, to the last, where the early world, its young dragon culture undetected, is condemned to be isolated in space. Anne McCaffrey has won both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Mining is fraught with danger, but fortunately the camp has a watch-wher, a creature distantly related to dragons and uniquely suited to specialized work in the dark, cold mineshafts. Then disaster strikes, leaving Kindan orphaned and the camp without a watch-wher.

Anne McCaffrey was one of the world's leading science-fiction writers, and won both the Hugo and Nebula awards as well as the Margaret A. Edwards' Lifetime Literary Achievement Award. She was deeply honoured to have been made a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 2005, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006. Born and raised in the US and of Irish extraction, she moved to Ireland in 1970 where she lived in the ¿Garden of Ireland¿, County Wicklow, until her death in 2011 at the age of eighty-five. She is the creator of the Dragonriders of Pern¿ series. Her website is www.pernhome.com.

Anne McCaffrey was one of the world's leading science-fiction writers, and won both the Hugo and Nebula awards as well as the Margaret A. Edwards' Lifetime Literary Achievement Award. She was deeply honoured to have been made a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 2005, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006. Born and raised in the US and of Irish extraction, she moved to Ireland in 1970 where she lived in the ¿Garden of Ireland¿, County Wicklow, until her death in 2011 at the age of eighty-five. She is the creator of the Dragonriders of Pern¿ series. Her website is www.pernhome.com.

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.

Although Lorana cured the dragons' sickness so many died from the disease that there are no longer enough dragons to fight the deadly Thread, and more dragons and their riders die each Threadfall. With their numbers dwindling, Lorana made the decision to fly forward in time in a desperate bid to bring dragons from the future to fight Thread.

The renegades were the misfits, the outcasts and the murderers united by Thella, Lady Holder of Telgar. They began a reign of terror as they moved from theft and murder to vicious and insane revenge.

Shortly after Fiona's return to Fort Weyr, three Turns older and wiser, her queen, Talenth, is infected with the dreaded sickness that has consumed so many of Pern's precious fire-breathing dragons.

Continues the story of Pern. A sudden squall blows up and capsizes Alemi and Readis's boat. The shipfish save them by holding the ship above water, guiding them and speaking to them. The shipfish are dolphins and Readis longs to work with them and be Pern's first dolphineer.

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 now comes a fresh and terrible catastrophe - a large cometary fragment is hurtling towards Pern and cannot be deflected.

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.

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. But the greatest promise AIVAS offered was the chance to rid Pern of Thread forever.

When Masterharper Zist takes over as Harper for Natalon's coal-mining camp, he takes with him his apprentice, the orphaned, mute Pellar, and Pellar's fire-lizard Chitter.