# Dragonriders of Pern - Work: Book series - Date: 1967 – present - Made by: Anne McCaffrey (Author) - Houses: Ballantine Books, Del Rey Books - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dragonriders-of-pern/ > On a colony world that has forgotten its origins, telepathic dragons and the riders bonded to them at hatching burn a deadly spore called Thread out of the sky. **Why it matters:** The series that made the dragon a partner rather than a monster — and made Anne McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo for fiction and one of the first to win a Nebula. ## Quick answers **When was Dragonriders of Pern first published?** Dragonriders of Pern was first published in 1967 – present. **Who created Dragonriders of Pern?** Dragonriders of Pern was made by Anne McCaffrey (author). **Who published or developed Dragonriders of Pern?** Ballantine Books and Del Rey Books. **What kind of work is Dragonriders of Pern?** Dragonriders of Pern is a book series in the Science Fantasy tradition. **Why is Dragonriders of Pern important?** The series that made the dragon a partner rather than a monster — and made Anne McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo for fiction and one of the first to win a Nebula. ## Overview For most of fantasy's history, the [Dragon](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/dragon/) was the thing at the end of the quest — a monster to be slain, a hoard to be won. [Anne McCaffrey](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/anne-mccaffrey/)'s *Dragonriders of Pern* changed that. On the planet Pern, dragons are partners: great telepathic beasts who choose their riders at the moment of hatching and share their minds for life. Together, dragon and rider rise to burn Thread, a devouring spore that falls from the sky whenever the wandering Red Star swings close. Beginning with a novella in 1967, the series grew to more than twenty novels and made McCaffrey one of the best-loved writers of her generation. Pern sits on the border of genres. Its trappings — holds and weyrs, lords and harpers, a quasi-feudal society — are fantasy; its explanations are science fiction. It is one of the defining works of [Science Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/science-fantasy/). ## Origins McCaffrey, an American writer then living in New York State, wrote "Weyr Search" for John W. Campbell's *Analog*, where it appeared in October 1967; "Dragonrider" followed in two parts in December 1967 and January 1968. Both won major awards, and together they formed the novel *Dragonflight*, published by [Ballantine Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/ballantine-books/) in 1968. McCaffrey moved to Ireland in 1970 and continued the series from there. *Dragonquest* (1971) and *The White Dragon* (1978, from [Del Rey](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/del-rey-books/)) completed the first trilogy, while *Dragonsong* (1976), *Dragonsinger* (1977) and *Dragondrums* (1979), the Harper Hall trilogy, told young-adult stories of music and ambition in the same world. *Dragonsdawn* (1988) finally told how human colonists had arrived on Pern and bred the dragons from small native fire-lizards. From 2003 her son Todd McCaffrey co-wrote and then continued the series. ## The story *Dragonflight* opens in an age when Thread has not fallen for four hundred years, and most of Pern has come to see the dragonriders of Benden Weyr as parasites. The bronze rider F'lar, searching for a woman to Impress the hatchling of the weyr's last queen dragon, finds Lessa, the hidden heir of a conquered hold, living as a drudge and plotting revenge. Lessa bonds with the golden queen Ramoth, and when Thread returns, she and F'lar must rebuild the dragonriders' strength almost from nothing. The solution involves one of the series' great ideas: dragons can travel "between," through a cold nowhere, not only across space but across time. The later novels follow the struggle between weyrs and holds, the recovery of lost technology, and the discovery of Pern's forgotten origins. ## Reception & impact "Weyr Search" shared the first Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1968 with Philip José Farmer's "Riders of the Purple Wage," and "Dragonrider" won the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1969. McCaffrey thus became the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction and one of the first two women to win a Nebula (Kate Wilhelm's "The Planners" won Best Short Story the same year). The books became bestsellers, and McCaffrey one of the most popular writers in science fiction and fantasy. Pern also moved into games early. Epyx published a *Dragonriders of Pern* strategy game in 1983, and Ubisoft released *Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern* in 2001; repeated film and television options never reached the screen. ## Legacy McCaffrey's telepathic, bonded dragon became one of fantasy's most enduring ideas. The rider chosen by a hatchling, the mental link between beast and human, the colors and ranks of dragons, and the rigorous military culture of the weyr have echoed through decades of later fiction, down to the dragon-rider romantasy of [Rebecca Yarros](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/rebecca-yarros/)'s [Fourth Wing](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/fourth-wing/), which invites the comparison at every turn. Pern also popularized the "hidden science" setting, in which an apparently magical world turns out to be a lost colony, a device many later settings would borrow. Its fans organized themselves into fictional weyrs and, in the early 1990s, into Pern-themed online MUSHes descended from the [MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/mud/) tradition — early proof that a novelist's world could become a shared playground. ## Facts - 'Weyr Search' shared the first Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1968 with Philip José Farmer's 'Riders of the Purple Wage.' - 'Dragonrider' won the 1969 Nebula for Best Novella, making McCaffrey one of the first women to win a Nebula as well as the first to win a Hugo for fiction. - Pern's dragons are genetically engineered from native fire-lizards — the series is science fiction wearing fantasy's clothes. - Dragons teleport by going 'between' and can even travel through time. - McCaffrey moved to Ireland in 1970 and wrote most of the series from her home there, Dragonhold. - Epyx released a Dragonriders of Pern computer game in 1983; Ubisoft's Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern followed in 2001. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonriders_of_Pern) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.