Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hookup!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!usenet.ucs.indiana.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!lynx.unm.edu!vesta.unm.edu!news-user From: kogoma@unm.edu (Taki Kogoma) Newsgroups: alt.fan.pern,news.answers,alt.answers Subject: Welcome to alt.fan.pern (Semi-monthly posting) (Part 1 of 2) Followup-To: alt.fan.pern Date: 15 Apr 1994 08:44:57 -0600 Organization: Nit-Pickers for a Better Tomorow Afternoon Lines: 409 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Distribution: world Expires: 05/04/94 Message-ID: Reply-To: kogoma@unm.edu (Taki Kogoma) NNTP-Posting-Host: vesta.unm.edu Summary: Introductory material for the alt.fan.pern newsgroup Keywords: Pern FAQ Intro Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu alt.fan.pern:5339 news.answers:18084 alt.answers:2441 Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4 Archive-name: pern-intro/part1 Last-Modified: 15 Apr 94 Version: 2.2 WELCOME TO ALT.FAN.PERN! CONTENTS OF PART 1: 1. Introductory Material 1a. What is this group? 1b. Introduction to Pern 1c. Appropriate subject matter 1d. Other newsgroups of interest 1e. Common abbreviations 1f. Fan Fiction 2. Pern in Print 2a. Book List (McCaffrey-written) 2b. Suggested reading order 2c. Chronological order of books/stories 2d. 'References' 2e. Obtaining hard-to-find books (NEW) CONTENTS OF PART 2: 3. Frequently Asked Questions about Pern 3a. Pronunciation of various words/names 3b. Rider behavior during Mating flights 3c. Queen dragons and firestone 3d. Where to dragons/firelizards deficate? 3e. Who/What does Aramina hear in _Renegades of Pern_? 4. On-line Simulations of Pern 4a. Accessing Pern-type MU*s 4b. List of Pern-type MU*s 5. "Real Life" Fan Organizations Note: Starting 1 November 1992, these articles are being cross-posted to the news.answers and alt.answers newsgroups for extended expire times and archival on rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/alt.fan.pern or /pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/alt/fan/pern or /pub/usenet/news.answers/pern-intro To obtain these files (assumes UN*X environment with FTP capability): --- %ftp rtfm.mit.edu Connected to Name (rtfm.mit.edu:): [anonymous] 331 Guest login ok, send ident as password. Password: [your e-mail address] 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> [cd pub/usenet/alt.fan.pern (or) pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/alt/fan/pern (or) pub/usenet/news.answers/pern-intro] 250 CWD command successful. ftp> [get Welcome_to_alt.fan.pern_(Semi-monthly_posting)_(Part__of_2).Z] (Where is the part number. If you have chosen the pub/usenet/news.answers/pern-intro path, then just get part.) 200 PORT command successful. [Some stuff] ftp> (get any other parts you may want) ftp> quit % --- The files are UNIX-compressed but have no other encoding. =-=-=-= 1. Introductory Material === 1a. About this newsgroup. This newsgroup is dedicated to discussion of the fictional world of Pern as described in the various novels and short stories by Anne McCaffrey. Related topics include Ms. McCaffrey's other works, and several of the on-line 'virtual realities' depicting Pern (see below). === 1b. Introduction to Pern Pern is the third planet of the Rukbat system in the Sagittarius sector. It is a Colony world which has lost contact with 'Mother Earth' due to periodic attacks from an organism called 'thread' which devours all organic material it comes into contact with. To counter Thread, the Pernese - back when they still had the skills - modified an indigenous life-form to create Dragons - so named for the mythical beasts they resemble. 'Modern day' Pern has lost many of the skills originally brought with the colonists and can probably be best described as a 'pre- industrial' society. Toward the end of the series, some of the original colonists' technology is rediscovered. Alternatively, Pern is the home of Dragons, their riders, and various other people as depicted in Anne McCaffrey's _Dragonriders of Pern_ series and related books. === 1c. Appropriate subject matter As stated above, this group is primarily for the discussion of the world of Pern. A major component of this discussion revolves around the various multi-user programs that have been set up attempting to simulate Pern. The most often-discussed is 'PernMUSH', although there are several others in existence. Articles about PernMUSH or the other Pern-related simulations should have 'PernMUSH' or 'MUSH' or something similar in the subject line so that those who are not interested can filter them out via KILLfile. Note, however, that questions pertaining to the mechanics of MU*s (seeking clients, code questions, etc.) are better asked in the rec.games.mud.* hierarchy rather than here. At times, the traffic about PernMUSH seems to dominate this newsgroup. Generally, complaining about it is counterproductive and a good way to spark a flame-war. If you, the reader, wish to discuss something that is not presently being addressed in the group, by all means start the discussion yourself. === 1d. Other newsgroups of interest rec.arts.sf.written: The primary discussion group for Speculative Fiction in general. Please remember to indicate the author or title in the Subject: line. alt.fan.dragons: Discussion of dragons of all types - mythological, fictional, etc. === 1e. Common abbreviations For those of you new to the net, there are quite a few abbreviations in use here on Usenet that may be unfamiliar. Here is a short list of the more frequently seen. IMO "In My Opinion" IMHO "In My Humble/Honest Opinion" BTW "By The Way" OTOH "On The Other Hand" A grin ;-), :-), :), etc. A 'smiley' face - look at it sideways. Used to indicate humor and/or sarcasm. ROTFL "Rolling On The Floor, Laughing". (There are several variants on this.) And now some specific to alt.fan.pern: MU* Indicative of any of the family of MUD/MUSH/etc. NC PernMUSH (Which covers the Northern Continent during the 10th pass) SC SouConMUSH (Which contains the complementary Southern Continent for the same time period as NC) IC MU*-speak for 'In Character' - meaning behavior that the MU* characters would engage in. OOC MU*-speak for 'Out of Character' - Usually applying to information/behavior that the *player* of a MU* character knows/performs that the character would not, logically, be able to take advantage of. DLG _The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern_ See 'Pern in Print' below.) D1, D2, D3 The three books comprising the _Dragonriders of Pern_ trilogy. (_Dragonflight_, _Dragonquest_, and _The White Dragons_ respectively) H1, H2, H3 The three books comprising the _Harper Hall of Pern_ trilogy. (_Dragonsong_, _Dragonsinger_, and _Dragondrums_ respectively) [The above two sets are my personal shorthand, but I'm not the only one using them ;-) -Quirk] AtWoP, ATWOP, etc. _All the Weyrs of Pern_ CoP _The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall_ === 1f. Fan fiction NOTE: The following applies to fan fiction posted to the net. I do not have (nor do I desire) the authority to prevent any quasi/illegal acts on this newsgroup. The following is presented for informational purposes. You may heed or ignore as you wish, but I deny all responsibility for any legal problems you may encounter. (Also note that PernMUSH, SouConMUSH, Harpers' Tale MOO and DragonsFire MOO have McCaffrey's blessing to exist. I am uncertain about the status of the other MU*s.) [Thanks to "Chris Croughton" for getting the following.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 08-Oct-92 11:39 BST Sb: InterNet Pern rules Fm: Anne McCaffrey [CIS number deleted] The rules are that my characters may be referred to but not used. BUT there can be no adventure/stories set on Pern at all!!!!! That's infringing on my copyright and can bear heavy penalities - particularly right now when there's a film deal (yet another) which has bought and paid for the right to use the material - which, I fear, e-mail users have not. On CIS, I have asked people to limit Pern material to a discussion of their persona and dragons, fire-lizards, etc., in a diarist form. Fanzines have slightly more latitude as the zine is usually mailed only to members so that's limited publication, and a due copyright notice is included. As there is no such protection on electronic mail, we authors have to be insistent on these safeguards. I know this can be confusing since Paramount and Star Trek are handled differently, but that's the point: they are, and have been. Individual themes and characters of s-f/fantasy novels are not. And such indiscriminate usage of our characters, worlds, and concepts on a *public* media like electronic mail constitute copyright infringement AND, which many fans disregard, is ACTIONABLE! Both the e-mail company AND the person. My publishers are most insistent on that point! So it's to safeguard the interested e-mail user that I make these very strong, and perhaps unpalatable points. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Chris' commentary:] To repeat - it's *not* Anne who forbids this: it's her publishers - and they are NOT required to tell her of any such actions which they may be undertaking. The first she will probably know of it is when someone tells her, having heard over the net... [End commentary.] =-=-=-= 2. Pern in Print Since Pern is a fictional world, a complete listing of all related books would probably be a good idea. === 2a. Book list (written by McCaffrey) [Date of 1st printing in parentheses. ISBNs are from the editions in my personal library or obtained from copies in local bookstores. Publisher is Del Rey Books unless otherwise noted.] The _Dragonriders of Pern_ trilogy (Also available in a single hardcover volume through the SF book club, and trade paperback in a few bookstores). _Dragonflight_ (July 1968. ISBN: 0-345-33546-5) _Dragonquest_ (May 1971. ISBN: 0-345-33508-2) _The White Dragon_ (June 1978. ISBN: 0-345-31336-4) _The Dragonriders of Pern_ (Trade Paperback - ISBN: 0-345-34024-8) The _Harper Hall of Pern_ trilogy (Available as a single hardbound copy through the SF book club). _Dragonsong_ (March 1976. Bantam Books - ISBN: 0-553-12044-1) _Dragonsinger_ (February 1977. Bantam Books - ISBN: 0-533-11835-8) _Dragondrums_ (March 1979. Bantam Books - ISBN: 0-553-20722-9) Others: _Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern_ (November 1983. ISBN: 0-345-29873-X) _Nerilka's Story_ (March 1986. ISBN: 0-345-33949-5) _Dragonsdawn_ (November 1988. ISBN: 0-345-36286-1) _The Renegades of Pern_ (November 1990. ISBN: 0-345-36933-5) _All the Weyrs of Pern_ (December 1991. ISBN: 0-345-36893-2) _Rescue Run_ [1] (Science Fiction Book Club Hardcover) _The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall_ [2] (October 1993. *ISBN: 0-345-36898-3) _The Dolphins' Bell_ [4] (Science Fiction Book Club Hardcover) _The Girl Who Heard (May 1994. *ISBN: 0-312-93173-5) Dragons_ [5] [* ISBN is for Hardcover edition.] [1] Originally published in _Analog_ (Aug. 1991) [2] Contains short stories: "Survey: P.E.R.N."[3], "The Dolphins' Bell", "The Ford of Red Hanrahan", "The Second Weyr", and "Rescue Run" (ibid [1] above). [3] Previously published as "The P.E.R.N. Survey" in _Amazing Stories_ (Sep. 1993). [4] Included in [2] ibid. [5] Originally published (limited edition - 100 signed copies) in 1985. Additionally, there is a short story and a limited-release novella. "The Smallest Dragonboy" (Pub 1973, found in _Get off the Unicorn_) Finally, the _Dragonlover's Guide to Pern_ (see below) contains a short story, "The Impression" depicting F'lessan's impression of Golanth from a first-person POV. It should also be noted that this all started with the Hugo-winning novella: "Weyr Search" published in October 1967 in _Analog_. This story now forms the first quarter of _Dragonflight_. === 2b. Suggested reading order for newcomers. Ms. McCaffrey suggests that the books be read in order of publication (i.e. start with _Dragonflight_ and go in published order). Alternatively, she suggests starting with _Dragonsong_ as a 'gentler' introduction, completing the Harper Hall trilogy, and then going back to _Dragonflight_, _Dragonquest_, et. al. === 2c. Chronological order of books/stories This is kinda tricky, as some books depict the same events from different points of view. Here's what the concensus seems to be: [Thanks to jsbell@acs.ucalgary.ca (Joshua Sean Bell) for concocting the original version of the following. Additions by the editor.] +--------------------+ Backwards | "Survey: P.E.R.N." | ^ +--------------------+ | +--------------+ Time | Dragonsdawn +----------------------+ | +--------------+ "The Dolphins' Bell" | v +----------------------+ Forwards +----------------------------+ | "The Ford of Red Hanrahan" | +----------------------------+ +-------------------+ | "The Second Weyr" | +-------------------+ +--------------+ | "Rescue Run" | +--------------+ +--------+-----------------+ | Moreta | Nerilka's Story | +--------+-----------------+ +-----------+ +--------------+ | | | Dragonflight | | | +---------------+ +--------------+ | | | "The Smallest | | | +--------------+ | | | Dragonboy" | | Dragonquest | | Dragonsong | | | +---------------+ | | | Dragonsinger | | Renegades | +----------------+ +--------------+ +--------------+ | of | | "The Girl Who | +--------------+ | Pern | | Heard Dragons" | | Dragondrums | | | +----------------+ +--------------+ | | +------------------+ | | | The White Dragon | | | +------------------+ | | +-----------+-----------+ | | | All the Weyrs of Pern | | | +-----------------------+ === 2d. References. Several Pern-related "Reference Books" have been published. The most frequently mentioned on this newsgroup are: _The Atlas of Pern_ by Karen Fonstead (Out of print, but still available if you look around for it. The Science Fiction Book Club apparently still has copies in stock.) _The People of Pern_ with sketches/paintings by Robin Wood, text by McCaffrey. [1988, Donning Publishing. ISBN: 0-89865-635-4 hardcover 0-89865-751-2 softcover Recently reported to be out of print. Copies available from The Science Fiction Book Club.] (Actually, more of a 'photo album' for the major characters.) [Additional note from: "Stephanie M. Clarkson-Aines" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robin also sells beautiful prints of many of the pictures in the book (I have Menolly and Sebell in my bedroom :), for $30 US. Prints are signed by Robin and run in editions of 250. Robin's address is: Robin Wood 15529 Longmeadow Dearborn, MI 48120 (313) 441-3704 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern*_ by Jody Lyn Nye with Anne McCaffrey [November 1989. ISBN: 0-345-35424-9 (Hardcover)] (Considered by many to be *the* reference work on Pern...aside from the books themselves. Others have noted internal contradictions as well as conflicts with the published material and therefore do not consider it particularly authoritative.) [* Frequently abbreviated as 'DLG'.] === 2e. Obtaining hard-to-find books. As noted above, many books are available only through the Science Fiction Book Club. This book club provides a good selection of recent releases (albeit somewhat delayed) and classic SF in 'special edition' hardcovers and trade-paperbacks. The membership deal is something along the lines of "Buy 4 books in the first year". Almost all of Ms. McCaffrey's works can be ordered in one form or another. Advertisments can be found in most of the usual Science Fiction and Gaming magazines (e.g. _Analog_, _Dragon_, etc.) or they can be contacted at: The Science Fiction Book Club 6550 East 30th Street PO Box 6369 Indianapolis, IN 46209-9492 -- Capt. Gym Z. Quirk | "I'll get a life when someone (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) | demonstrates that it would be kogoma@unm.edu | superior to what I have now." Veteran of the '91 sf-lovers re-org. | -- Gym Quirk