| Chronicles of Pern: First Fall | |
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Parkinson cover of early US editions[lower-alpha 1] |
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| Author(s) | Anne McCaffrey |
| Cover artist | Keith Parkinson Steve Weston (UK)[lower-alpha 1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Dragonriders of Pern |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction short story collection |
| Publisher | Del Rey Books |
| Publication date | October 1993 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 306 (first US hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-345-36898-3 |
| 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 |
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall is a 1993 collection of short fiction by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. All five stories are set on the fictional planet Pern; First Fall is one of two collections in the science fantasy/science fiction series Dragonriders of Pern.[1]
Contents |
The First Fall stories are united by the setting: they span a period from before humans arrived and the first few decades of settlement in the southern continent. Generally the stories are about the relocation and reorganization of the southern colony in response to the "First Pass" of the "Red Star"—an erratic planet that periodically brings a biological menace, in the form of falling thread. The twelfth Dragonriders of Pern book, First Fall shares its early setting only with one previously published book in the series, Dragonsdawn (1988). MacCaffrey places Dragonsdawn and First Fall in a perspective of the ancient history of Pern.[lower-alpha 2]
First Fall was published simultaneously in the US and the UK, by Del Rey Books and Bantam UK, each edition with different cover art.[lower-alpha 1] As noted below, three of the five stories were previously published, two as small books.
The first and last stories show from FSP perspectives the explanation for Pern's unusual relation to the Federation of Sentient Planets: colonized, but left entirely alone for thousands of years.
The story was first published as "The P.E.R.N. Survey" in Amazing Stories, September 1993.[2] In the story, a team of FSP scientists scout a distant planet. Time is too short to resolve some mysteries, but they find it safe for human settlement, with resources to supports residents but inadequate for commercial exploitation. Their report is coded P.E.R.N.c meaning Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible, recommended for colonization.
Mariner and former starship captain Jim Tillek organizes and leads the evacuation of "Landing", the original site of the Pern colony where many people still live, most equipment and durable supplies are stored. One purpose is to take refuge from Threadfall in stone caverns of the Northern Continent, but the immediate threat is a local volcanic eruption. Lacking fuel or capacity for air transport, with few big boats, the colony must also use coastal and river craft that are not seaworthy. With the help of dolphin partners, most of the goods and almost all the people are dramatically secured.
The Dolphins' Bell provides another perspective on a major episode in Dragonsdawn, part three ("Crossing").
Years after the colony secured refuge in "Fort Hold" by expanding a cavern system on the Northern Continent, venerable animal husbandman Red Hanrahan leads the establishment of a second hold, a few days north in the same mountain range. The migrating people and livestock face the dangerous crossing of a rising river at "Red's Ford", which gives its name to the second city, as it were: Rua Atha (Irish Gaelic), later Ruatha Hold.
"The Ford of Red Hanrahan" might be titled "The Second Hold" in parallel to "The Second Weyr".
Years after the first dragon–rider couples move out of Fort Hold and establish Fort Weyr in a nearby volcanic crater, young queen dragonrider Torene leads the establishment of another draco-human community in a crater far to the north and east, the most distant habitable region. The leaders of Fort Weyr, Sorka Hanrahan and Sean Connell, authorize three new Weyrs at once, but the northeastern is first, named Benden Weyr for the Pern colony's founder and leader Admiral Paul Benden.
The action at Fort and Benden Weyrs continues Dragonsdawn by showing more of the earliest development of Pern's interspecies society.
Decades after Threadfall, a starship in the vicinity of Pern responds to an old distress beacon launched from the colony — a desperate, unofficial appeal for help by some of its dissidents. A quick survey by Lieutenant Ross Benden's party finds no sign of human habitation on the Northern Continent, where the colony has taken refuge in stone, and finds only one surviving family group in the South, at "Honshu" excavation. The corrupt Stev Kimmer dominates Honshu, and persuades Lt. Benden that they are the only survivors of the biological and geological disaster, a group small enough to evacuate entirely. The rescue is dramatically successful and scientific investigation of Thread leads the Federation to place Pern under interdict: all contact forbidden.
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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