![]() These stories take place immediately before and during the Ninth Pass, about 2500 years after landing (AL). Todd McCaffrey, writing alone or with his mother, has specialized in an early time period. Some stories feature travel between times, even across centuries. Multiple stories feature the same events from different viewpoints. ![]() The McCaffreys have published stories set in several different periods of Pern's history from initial exploration to more than 2500 years after landing (AL). That differs greatly from Pern historical order, for several reasons. Anne McCaffrey once requested reading the works in the order they were written. There are 23 Dragonriders of Pern novels and two collections of short stories through July 2012. For Pern historical order see the chronological List of Pern books. Publications by the McCaffreys This list is arranged in publication order. The lengthy time period covered by the series as a whole (over two and a half millennia) allows room for new stories and characters, explored by each new novel released by the authors. Later books deal with the initial colonization of Pern and the creation of the dragons through genetic manipulation. The riders have a telepathic bond with their dragons, formed by Impression at the dragon's hatching. The Pernese use intelligent firebreathing dragons and their riders to fight Thread. Thread is described in this series as an agent that consumes organic material at a voracious rate, including crops, animals, and any humans in its path. Thread can reach the planet Pern for about 50 Turns while the Red Star is at perihelion. The Red Star, characterized as a "Sedna-class inner Oort cloud object", has a 250 Turn (or Pernese year) elliptic orbit around its sun. The Red Star is set out to be a rogue planet in the Rukbat system. One of the main threats to Pernese civilization in the series is Thread, which is described as a mycorrhizoid spore that periodically rains down on the planet due to the orbit of the Red Star. Pernese people are described as belonging to four basic groups: Weyrfolk (including Dragonriders) who live in the Weyrs, the Holders who live in the Holds (cities, towns and farms), the crafters who live in Crafthalls (or are assigned to work their crafts in certain Holds), and the Holdless who have no permanent home (including traders, displaced Holders, and brigands). Life on Pern as presented in the novels resembles a pre-industrial society with lords, holds, harpers (musicians, entertainers, and teachers), and dragons, with the occasional examples of higher technology (like flamethrowers, telegraphs, chemical fertilizers, and powerful microscopes and telescopes).
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