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Having read the Coldfire trilogy but nothing of Pern except one short story in Legends, I’m now curious what that inspiration is.Right, this is really making me want to do a bit of a read/post through of the Coldfire trilogy in Chat, because it really feels like it draws inspiration from another backstory part of Pern to the one you mentioned.
Having read the Coldfire trilogy but nothing of Pern except one short story in Legends, I’m now curious what that inspiration is.
That's actually the one where I gave up part way in and stopped reading the series, so it makes sense I wasn't aware of that.The one that most blew out the continuity for me was Masterharper of Pern.
Such things as no female harpers and Queen riders, amongst others, were completely changed.
You didn't miss much. It's the one that I can't reread.That's actually the one where I gave up part way in and stopped reading the series, so it makes sense I wasn't aware of that.
Harper trilogy is how I was introduced to her work (and possibly Sci-Fi as a genre). I think I read the second one (Dragonsong?) first (as you do). Probably a better introduction to the series than Dragonflight (certainly less rape-y).I've read most of the series multiple times (starting with Dragonsdawn because that's the one my parents had, something of a recurring theme with me and prequels), and they were some of my favourite books as a teenager. But I've never gotten around to the Harper trilogy, and honestly I don't feel like I'm missing much.
I did wonder but I couldn't find anything saying one way or the other.I'm not sure if the early editions of Weyr Search / Dragonflight etc. had the this-is-a-colony intro.
It certainly made it a lot more interesting IMO if so.I seem to recall a discussion several years back where it was indicated that the intro was added later - McCaffery had started with the aim of a fantasy series, and pulled it into soft sci-fi later on.
It was possibly on rec.arts.sf.written, but I can't remember the full details.
On the other hand, I may have been wrong about the intro: see https://www.tor.com/2019/02/27/the-fantasy-roots-of-pern-dragonflight-part-one/ (especially comment 26) for discussion.It certainly made it a lot more interesting IMO if so.