New Pern Books !

[Dragon Fan]

I see on Todd's site that His sister is working on a new Pern Book, Good news I say, Also after she completes it, She and Todd are to work on getting Anne's last book rewritten. New Pern stories on the horizon!

[Lily]

Wow! I look forward to it. I wonder if Gigi will keep to Anne's Pern better than Todd does? I can't read his books.

[CuriousFlit]

I still don't get what all the fuss is about concerning Todd's books. But yes, here's hoping Gigi takes us on a good journey to Pern.

[Anareth]

I hope Gigi's better at it than Todd. (What the fuss is? It's like reading really bad fan fic by a thirteen-year-old girl. Canon-following PBeM Weyrs would have rejected the plots for being too melodramatic and unbelievable.) And I'm curious what Anne's last manuscript will turn out to be like, even reworked....

[Dragon Fan]

Agreed, Todd's writings are not, Well, good. But we do have something to look forward to. We can hope Gigi will be better.

[GinnyStar]

Well she did help her mom a lot, thanks for update.

[Kath]

I'm curious, but I don't know that I'm optimistic. But who knows? It could be an awesome addition to the series!

[Dragongirl]

Cannot. Wait.

[Anneli]

am waiting - but more in hope than in expectation ��

[armourereric]

Must........Have...........closure!

[vyon]

Have you looked here?

http://www.agriphoto.nl/pma/Maps%20a...rritories.html

[vyon]

Oops! Wrong thread!

Has anyone heard any more about Gigi's book?

[GinnyStar]

Nope and WTF = What the flame is going on. What in blue blazes is going on

[Mystic]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/11019...Gigi+McCaffrey

Looks like oct 2018

[Jeslinth]

I wonder when this will be set in Pern's history.

[Eriflor]

Could be after the final Fall. Could even be the middle of the first Long Interval, when Thread failed to turn up (Threadfail?).

[SpaceCowboy]

Well now isn't this interesting and very unexpected?


https://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Code-...gigi+mccaffrey

[Dragon Fan]

New PERN book, Dragon Code, arrived today, I am about 3/4 thru rereading Great Expectations, Pip may have to go on hold for awhile.

[R'zil]

I just downloaded it for my Nook from Barnes and Noble. I won't have much time this weekend to read ( just moved last month and have a lot of projects this weekend) but I will try to make a start on it. The bit I read on the Barnes and Noble site was pretty promising.

[Dragon Fan]

Finished reading it last night, Overall I would give it an A, for effort, and a B, for Accuracy, For her first Solo ( ? ) Venture into PERN, I like that she didn't jump too deeply into trying to make it her own. Plenty of time for that. I do hope she chooses to continue writing in the world of PERN. Her writing is way more like Her Mothers than her Brothers. Thank Goodness for that, Todd's writing almost feels like he is forcing plots to progress rather than just letting it flow. And if she Would happen to check out these posts on M.O.M., Thanks, Keep on Writing !

[vyon]

I got my copy yesterday, after 8 working days, not the 10 that the book depository said it would take - that's better than one bill I had from the other side of town. It looks promising.

[R'zil]

I really enjoyed it. She did stay Canon and that is important to me. At the description of stupid my first thought was "Well that makes perfect sense" but I did have to laugh.I do think Gigi stayed a little safe here, she told a story we knew but she told it from a completely different viewpoint. We did also meet a few new characters though they are secondary characters. I do hope she will continue and expand the world of Pern for us. I agree with Dragon Fan, if Gigi ever lurks on the forums like her mother did occasionally I would like her to know that I will definitely buy the next book and look forward to it.

[R'zil]

Has anyone else read Dragon's Code? Can we get a conversation going about this book?

[CuriousFlit]

I haven't finished it yet, but two things confuse me a lot. First of all, why does it say that Piemur was sent to Southern Weyr by Master Robinton? It's been a while since I've read Dragondrums, but didn't Piemur end up in the south by accident from falling asleep in an oldtimer dragonrider's sack after stealing a firelizard egg? Second of all, why does Stupid have six legs, and why is he called a ruminant? He's a runnerbeast, which are equines bred from Earth horses. They even call them horses again in All the Weyrs of Pern after Aivas reminded them of their history.

[Blue Rider 16]

I despised Dragon's Code. It completely contradicted Piemur's whereabouts established in The Renegades of Pern. It actually made me wonder whether Gigi's increased involvement post All The Weyrs of Pern is responsible for the rise in Anne-consistencies in the later books.

[Altair]

I'm behind the times and didn't know about new books. Amazon, here I come...

[P'ter]

I think the confusion over Piemur is that his absconding to Southern was made official by Robinton appointing him "Drum Apprentice" there.

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by Eriflor

Could be after the final Fall. Could even be the middle of the first Long Interval, when Thread failed to turn up (Threadfail?).

Actually we haven't seen Toric get his comeuppance yet, let alone whatever he's plotting with Fourth. That could be a sequel to Gigi's book.

[Eriflor]

I ordered Dragon's Code online from my local library this week --- got an e-mail today saying it had arrived, but all the libraries are closed until further notice due to COVID-19 outbreak here in British Columbia.

So then I tried to download one of the 2 E-books they say are provided free by the library system, but couldn't get either of them. Tragic.

May have to break down and subscribe to a commercial E-book. Or wait til the pandemic is over.

[vyon]

All our temporary libraries here are closed as well - the main Central Library closed a year ago because it is considered an earthquake risk. And, as a 70+ year old I am supposed to stay at home as much as possible. That isn't hard because almost everything that I normally go to during the week, including church, has stopped indefinitely. I had to watch this morning's church service this morning via facebook and chromecast. I did go out for my usual Sunday lunch with my son and daughter-in-law but instead of our usual Irish pub meal we had burgers on the park lawn in the sunshine at a place called the "Rogue and Vagabond." They rope out a part of the park then dot the place with huge beanbag cushions and little tables set into the top of rubber tyres. It's a popular music venue and a very pleasant place to eat on a sunny afternoon. Then we walked to the market for some veges - and were about to step onto the carpark before we realised what we were not seeing. Behold a totally empty carpark, except for two couples wandering around in it and looking lost. Supermarket vegetables it is, for this week, and a few more I'll be guessing.

[Eriflor]

Here in Vancouver, Canada, as a precaution against coronavirus, we're not allowed to congregate in large numbers. It started with a maximum of 250, now it's 50. And in Nova Scotia they just reduced the maximum number to 5 people. We've been advised to stay home if we don't actually need to go out, even if we haven't been in contact with the disease, and if we go out, to stay 2 metres away from anyone else. Last week there was an aerial shot of hundreds of people at a local beach, and the Provincial Health Officer was furious.

I just started re-reading Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, which also deals with an influenza pandemic and the problems of overcrowding, poor hygiene and poverty.

Eriflor.

[granath]

Re-reading Moreta seems like a good idea. Maybe Nerilka as well... But Moreta's the first Pern book I ever read and still my favorite.

[Eriflor]

I read the first four out-of-sequence:
Dragonquest
Dragonflight
Dragonsinger
Dragonsong

There was enough background in Dragonquest and Dragonsinger that I could follow the story-line without having read the first of the pair.

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by Eriflor

I ordered Dragon's Code online from my local library this week --- got an e-mail today saying it had arrived, but all the libraries are closed until further notice due to COVID-19 outbreak here in British Columbia.

So then I tried to download one of the 2 E-books they say are provided free by the library system, but couldn't get either of them. Tragic.

May have to break down and subscribe to a commercial E-book. Or wait til the pandemic is over.

The pandemic's not over yet (in BC at least) but we're in Phase 2 and the public libraries are issuing books on-hold and taking back books that were on loan before the shutdown. So I finally got my hands on Dragon's Code yesterday and finished it sometime after midnight!

I found it a pretty good read that fitted nicely into the timeline of Dragondrums and the White Dragon. We got to visit Crom (Piemur's native hold) and Nabol (under Deckter, who's been too busy for 3 turns fixing up Meron's neglect of the Hold to worry about injustices to Meron's closer relatives).

A good story that shows unexpectedly different attitudes among the Oldtimers in the South. My only complaint is that here and there Gigi doesn't seem familiar with some of the background facts. For example:

1. Stupid the runnerbeast has 2 pairs of front legs, the saddle-pad being cinched behind both pairs. (And there was a reference to a hexapod ruminant that I haven't been able to find again. Are horses ruminants?) I think only Pern's native animals have 6 limbs, and runnerbeasts were developed from horses.

2. When Piemur goes back to the Harper Hall for a meeting, I got the impression that the crafthall was part of Fort Hold, and Sylvina was definitely referred to as headwoman of Fort Hold, not the Harper Hall.

3. Bubbleberry pies instead of bubbly pies.


I think I spotted a few more minor inconsistencies but it was a quick read-through and they didn't stick in my mind, so can't have been that important. I plan to read it again before I return it.

I think I read all Todd's Pern books once, but only re-read 2 of them (and that was mainly so I could follow the story-line of the rest). Too many cute kids saving the planet!

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by Blue Rider 16

I despised Dragon's Code. It completely contradicted Piemur's whereabouts established in The Renegades of Pern. It actually made me wonder whether Gigi's increased involvement post All The Weyrs of Pern is responsible for the rise in Anne-consistencies in the later books.

I found Renegades of Pern to be inconsistent with a lot of the timeline of the other books, and tend to ignore it. Masterharper of Pern is also annoying from this point of view, though both stories are interesting in themselves.

Dragon's Code fits in nicely with Dragondrums and TWD as long as you ignore Renegades. And you don't get a lot of repetition of the events of these 2 stories from a different POV --- new events (except for egg-theft), new story, new view of the Oldtimers.

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by Eriflor

I just started re-reading Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, which also deals with an influenza pandemic and the problems of overcrowding, poor hygiene and poverty.

Eriflor.

Also read Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe). It's about the Bubonic plague outbreak in London, 1665.

Local government set up many recommendations similar to those for COVID-19. Quarantine was draconian --- if somebody in a house was known to have the plague, the house would be locked up with the residents inside and a watchman outside, until anyone who had the disease had died. (The watchman or a willing neighbour could be sent to buy food and other supplies for the inhabitants.)

They didn't know it was carried by rat-fleas, and killed any pet cats and dogs that were found roaming. Luckily the great Fire of London broke out the following year and wiped out the rats and fleas.

[Eriflor]

Dragon's Code was published in 2018. Does anyone know if Gigi is working on another DoP story?

Toric and Fourth still need to be thwarted.

[P'ter]

One of the methods they used in 1665 to try to dispel the plague was to fire blank cannon along the banks of the Thames. Incidentally, most rats can outrun a fire.

The army tried the same sort of thing in WW1 against poison gas. They'd light fuses attached to cardboard boxes of explosive and throw them at the approaching gas.

[Eriflor]

Those minor inconsistencies I mentioned:

P.83 in the Del Rey version:
Piemur goes from Fort Hold to Fort Weyr via a tunnel --- just a few minutes' run.
Note: In DragonHarper of Pern, they have an initiation test for new apprentices requiring them to spend a night alone in the (abandoned) Weyr. There is a long hill road between Hold and Weyr, but it would take too long for them to get there and back on foot in time for breakfast, and there are tunnel snakes and other hazards. Shonagar and two other senior apprentices take Robinton (and the rest, on different nights) on runner-back via a tunnel through the Hold into the next valley, across the valley and "up the winding road that led to Fort Weyr". Definitely not just a few minutes' run.

P.86: It turns out there's an unexpected Threadfall so J'on can't take him to Nabol. Piemur goes back down again and is sitting having a cup of klah in "Fort's main Hall" (?) when a young lad from the Weyr drops by to say J'on is ready to take Piemur to Nabol, so he jogs back up the tunnel to the Weyr (now if J'on is ready to go, why wouldn't he just fly down to the Harper Hall to pick him up?). Anyway, having reached the Weyr Bowl he looks around for J'on and spots him --- at the far end of the Bowl. Isn't that about a mile away?

-----------
P. 85: Fort's Star Stones:
When the dragons rise to meet Thread, it says they streamed "up above the huge Star Stones of Fort, said to be the largest on Pern."

All the Star Stones were constructed the same day according to the same design, with the top of the Finger Rock set at a height where an average adult could place his chin on it and see the Red Star through the Eye Rock, on the Winter Solstice if a Pass was about to start (see Dragonseye). No reason for the Fort Star Stoned to be any bigger than the rest.

--------------
P. 134: Mikay impresses Nimath, the dragonet from the stolen egg.
Not an inconsistency as far as I know, but were these names ever mentioned in the novels?

-----------
P. 142: Master Shonagar is in the dining hall, and on p. 144 it says "Shonagar almost never stayed in the hall for long after the evening meal."

In Dragonsinger Piemur tells Menolly that Shonagar "never goes out of the concert hall. He sleeps in a little room at the back. Don't think he could climb steps anyway. He's too fat."

--------------
P.144 Piemur and Menolly are both referred to as apprentices, whereas at this point they're both journeymen.


Minor inconsistencies, as I said.
A bigger one would be: after Piemur and Sebell found their way out of the cellars, having been drugged, beaten and kidnapped, why didn't they go straight to Lord Deckter and tell him what his relatives had done and were planning to do? [not to give away any major plot turns]

[P'ter]

The stolen egg was a queen: the whole point of the theft.