#SciFiMonth 2023 week 2: Ann McCaffery

• Author: Ann McCaffery
  
• Title: Dragonflight –  320 pg (1968)
  
• Genre: Science fiction
• Structure  – Anthology of four novellas:
  1. Weyr Search (97 pg)
     
  2. Dragonflight (66 pg)
     
  3. Dust Fall (80 pg)
  4. The Cold Between (78 pg)

The #SciFiMonth challenge is hosted by

• imyril @ There’s Always Room For One More
• Lisa @ Dear Geek Place
• Annemieke @ A Dance With Books
• Mayri @ Book Forager

Conclusion:

1. I try, and try to embrace Science Fiction/Fantasy but fail to
2. become a fan of this genre.
3. My brain is not wired for science fiction books.
4. The book is well written and has a strong plot.
5. Ms McCaffery has injected the novel with moments of
6. warmth and tenderness between Lessa, her lover F’lar and of
7. course with her beloved dragon, Remoth.
8. If you want to read an interesting SciFi book…try this one.
9. I’ve made some notes that may help you to grasp the book
10. when you start reading.
11. Will I read more books by Anne McCaffery?
12. No, I don’t think so…this was enough SciFi for me this year.

Quickscan:

1. This is the best I could find via Amazon.c0m
2. …that helps me start the book.
3. On a beautiful world called Pern, an ancient way of life is about to come under attack.
4. Lessa is an outcast survivor—her parents murdered, her birthright stolen.
5. She is a strong young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge.
6. But when an ancient threat to Pern reemerges.
7. Lessa will rise—upon the back of a great dragon.
8. She shares a telepathic bond  with the drageon more intimate than any human connection.
9. Together, dragon and rider will fly . . . and Pern will be changed forever.

1. WIKI  PERN Fandom website
2. I COULD NOT have read this book
3. without the “famdom website for Pern”.
4. I had to look up so many things mentioned in the book!

1. Part 1 Weyr Search
2. It is actually a novella by Anne McCaffery.
3. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for
4. fiction Best Novella, Weyr Search, 1968.
5. Story was perfect: hook, rising action, major turning point and an
6. enemy so evil that it deserve sdestruction.

1. Part 2 Dragonflight (66 pg)
2. This section describes 3 stand-offs:
3. the holders (town leaders) vs Weyrman, F’lar
4. commander R’gul vs F’lar, the new seat op power
5. Lessa, Weyrwoman vs F’lar
6. ….to prove to him she is a force to be reckoned with!

1. Dust Fall (80 pg)
2. Lessa and F’lar calculat when the threads will start falling.
3. They must make plans to battle this menace!
4. “Like rider, like dragon. BEST QUOTE

• The Cold Between (78 pg)
  
• ‘By the Egg, it’s die slow, doing nothing, or die quick, trying.
• We’re dragonmen, aren’t we, bred to fight the Threads?
• Let’s go hunting …
• As they prepare to fight the threads
• F’lar makes a promise to one day pursue Thread to the Red Star itself.

1. Lessa  is chosen as rider for the  queen dragon
2. Ramoth – QUEEN BABY DRAGON!
3. A permanent telepathic bond  (impression) would form
4. between  the dragon Ramoth
5. ….and her  new rider Lessa.

Notes:

Social classes:

1. Weyrfolk (including Dragonriders) who live in Weyrs,
2. Holders who rule Holds (cities, towns and farms),
3. Crafters – guildsmen
4. the Holdless who have no permanent home (including traders, displaced Holders, and brigands).
5. The Pernese live in a pre-industrial society, with lords, holds, harpers and dragons 

5 types of dragons:

1. Gold, which were the large Queen dragons, were the only females allowed to breed & lay eggs.
2. Bronze, which were the largest males & were the only 1s who mated with the queens.
3. Brown & blue, the 2nd & 3rd-largest males. And finally, the
4. Greens, the smallest females.

Map of the planet Pern

1. Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011)
2. was an Irish writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series.
3. Anne McCaffrey was among the most successful writers in the entire field of science fiction.
4. In a career that spanned over forty years,
5. she wrote more than thirty novels and many shorter works of fiction.
6. Ann McCaffery became the first woman to win a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award
7. She earned the SFWA’s accolade of “Grand Master of SF.”
8. SFWA = Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.