The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
Encyclopedia
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
.
(1988). From the perspective of series readers, Dragonsdawn and First Fall were explorations of ancient history.
First Fall was published at once in the US and the UK, with different cover art, by Del Rey Books
and Bantam UK, two imprints of Random House. 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.
A team of FSP scientists scouts 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.
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born Irish writer, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Over the course of her 46 year career she won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award...
. All five stories are set on the fictional planet Pern
Pern
Pern is a fictional planet created by Anne McCaffrey for the Dragonriders of Pern series of fantasy and science fiction books. It is said to be "Rukbat 3", the third planet in orbit around the star Rukbat, counting outward....
; First Fall is one of two collections in the science fantasy
Science fantasy
Science fantasy is a mixed genre within speculative fiction drawing elements from both science fiction and fantasy. Although in some terms of its portrayal in recent media products it can be defined as instead of being a mixed genre of science fiction and fantasy it is instead a mixing of the...
/science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series Dragonriders of Pern
Dragonriders of Pern
Dragonriders of Pern is a science fiction series written primarily by the late American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. The series comprises 22 novels and several short...
.
The Collection
The First Fall stories are united by their setting prior to human settlement on Pern and during its first few decades. Mainly, they feature the relocation and reorganization of the colony in response to the "First Pass" of the "Red Star", an erratic planet that periodically brings a biological menace from space. The twelfth Dragonriders of Pern book, First Fall shares its early setting only with one previously published book in the series, DragonsdawnDragonsdawn
Dragonsdawn is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It was the ninth book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey. It was first published in 1989...
(1988). From the perspective of series readers, Dragonsdawn and First Fall were explorations of ancient history.
First Fall was published at once in the US and the UK, with different cover art, by Del Rey Books
Del Rey Books
Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn since 1998, by Bertelsmann AG. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It specializes in science fiction and fantasy...
and Bantam UK, two imprints of Random House. 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 Survey: P.E.R.N.
- Published as "The P.E.R.N. Survey" in Amazing StoriesAmazing StoriesAmazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
, September 1993
A team of FSP scientists scouts 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.
The Dolphins' Bell
- Published two months earlier as a 157-page Wildside PressWildside PressWildside Press is an independent publishing company located in Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1989 by John Gregory and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limited editions, it has broadened out somewhat since then, both...
book (1993)
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
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
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").
The Ford of Red Hanrahan
- Original to the collection
Years after the colony secured refuge in "Fort Hold" by expanding a cavern system on the Northern Continent, venerable animal husbandman
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
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
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
), later Ruatha Hold.
"The Ford of Red Hanrahan" might be titled "The Second Hold" in parallel to "The Second Weyr".
The Second Weyr
- Original to the collection
Years after the first dragon–rider couples move out of Fort Hold and establish Fort Weyr in a nearby volcanic crater
Volcanic crater
A volcanic crater is a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a basin, circular in form within which occurs a vent from which magma erupts as gases, lava, and ejecta. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth...
, 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.
Rescue Run
- Published two years earlier as a 126-page Wildside PressWildside PressWildside Press is an independent publishing company located in Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1989 by John Gregory and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limited editions, it has broadened out somewhat since then, both...
book (1991) and also in AnalogAnalog Science Fiction and FactAnalog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...
, August 1991
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.