The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall

Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
First edition cover
Author	Anne McCaffrey
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Dragonriders of Pern
Genre(s)	Science fiction
Publisher	Del Rey
Publication date	October 1993
Media type	Print
Pages	306
ISBN	978-0-345-36898-0
OCLC Number	27814162
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 20
LC Classification	PS3563.A255 C47 1993
Preceded by	All the Weyrs of Pern
Followed by	The Dolphins of Pern

Chronicles of Pern: First Fall is the first collection of short stories completely about Pern. Written by Anne McCaffrey, it was first published in 1993.

Three of the short stories were previously published elsewhere, while two were first published in this collection. A second anthology, A Gift of Dragons, was published in 2002.

Contents

• The Survey: P.E.R.N. (originally published as "The P.E.R.N. Survey" in Amazing September 1993, and in book form)^[1]

A team of scientists scouts a planet for colonization potential, and labels it "P.E.R.N." (Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible), noting the overlapping circles and lack of higher lifeforms which later colonists would come to know as the telltale signs of Thread.

• The Dolphins' Bell (originally published in 1993)

Mariner and starship captain Jim Tillek organizes and leads the evacuation of Pern's Southern Continent to Fort Hold in the North, aided by the intelligent dolphins and one particular dolphiner along the way. (Runs contemporaneously with the conclusion of the novel Dragonsdawn)

• The Ford of Red Hanrahan

Red Hanrahan (father of dragonrider Sorka Hanrahan) leaves Fort Hold, some years after the start of Threadfall, and founds the new Hold at Rua Atha ("Red's Ford"), which would later become the 'Ruatha Hold" of the Ninth Pass.

• The Second Weyr

Young queenrider Torene influences Weyrleaders Sean Connell and Sorka Hanrahan to allow the founding of several new Weyrs; she later mates with M'hall (Mihall/Michael Connell), the Weyrleaders' son (the custom of "shortening" dragonriders' names is also explained here) and the two become the first Weyrleaders of the newly-founded Benden Weyr.

• Rescue Run (originally published in Analog v111 #10, August 1991, and in book form)^[2]

Craven colonist Stev Kimmer, having taken over the Honshu stakehold in the South, manages to convince a rescue party led by Lieutenant Ross Benden - nephew of the Admiral - that his group are the only eleven humans left alive. Fooled by the lack of power visible from the North (as fifty years have gone by and already the level of technology used has dropped), Benden removes Kimmer and his party from the planet (not without difficulty, as Kimmer is treacherous and greedy), and places Pern under interdict, forbidding any humans from travelling there lest they spread Thread to other systems.

References