The White Dragon (novel)

Last updated

The White Dragon
TheWhiteDragon(1stEd).jpg
First hardcover edition, Whelan cover [lower-alpha 1]
Author Anne McCaffrey
Cover artist
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Dragonriders of Pern
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Ballantine Books
Publication date
June 1978
Media typePrint (hardcover & paperback)
Pages497 (first edition)
ISBN 978-0-345-27567-7 (first edition)
OCLC 3543352
813/.5/4
LC Class PZ4.M1195 Wh
PS3563.A255
Preceded by Dragonsinger  
Followed by Dragondrums  

The White Dragon is a science fantasy novel by Irish writer Anne McCaffrey. It completes the original Dragonriders trilogy in the Dragonriders of Pern series, seven years after the second book. It was first published by Del Rey Books in June 1978.

Contents

In 1987, the magazine Locus ranked The White Dragon number 23 among the 33 "All-Time Best Fantasy Novels", based on a poll of subscribers. [1]

Origins

The first part of the novel was published three years earlier as A Time When, a special publication by the New England Science Fiction Association for its annual convention Boskone in 1975, where McCaffrey was Guest of Honor. [2]

Plot summary

The White Dragon follows the coming of age story of Jaxom, the young Lord of Ruatha Hold, who had accidentally impressed the unusual white dragon Ruth in Dragonquest and Dragonsong . As Jaxom grows up, he has to deal with the difficulty of being both a Lord Holder and a dragonrider, the maturity of Ruth (who, besides being white, is a runt), his own teenage angst and desire to fight Thread on his own, and the rebellious Oldtimers, who attempt to steal a golden egg from Benden Weyr. Ruth always knows when he is and can travel through time to avert the growing political crisis. But while fighting Thread, Jaxom falls ill with a potentially deadly sickness called "Fire-Head". This leads him to recuperate in Cove Hold, and while there he discovers some of the mysteries that the Ancients, the ancestors of the Pernese, left behind, and he begins to make more sense of the past.

Awards

The White Dragon placed third for the annual Locus Award for Best Novel and it was one of five nominees for the annual Hugo Award for Best Novel. It won the Gandalf Award for Book-Length Fantasy and the Australian Ditmar Award for international fiction. [3]

The American Library Association in 1999 cited the two early Pern trilogies (Dragonriders and Harper Hall ), along with The Ship Who Sang , when McCaffrey received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "lifetime contribution in writing for teens". [4]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 The White Dragon, ISFDB lists cover artist Michael Whelan for all US editions before 1999; no one for the first UK edition; David Roe is listed for the UK paperback 15th edition.

Related Research Articles

<i>Dragonflight</i> (novel) 1968 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonflight is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the first book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. First published by Ballantine Books in July 1968, it was a fix-up of two novellas which between them had made McCaffrey the first woman writer to win a Hugo and a Nebula Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne McCaffrey</span> Irish science fiction writer (1926–2011)

Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction and the first to win a Nebula Award. Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Dragonriders of Pern is a science fantasy series written primarily by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. The series comprises 24 novels and two collections of short stories. The two novellas included in the first novel, Dragonflight, made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo Award for writing fiction as well as the first to win a Nebula Award.

The Gandalf Awards, honoring achievement in fantasy literature, were conferred by the World Science Fiction Society annually from 1974 to 1981. They were named for Gandalf the wizard, from the Middle-earth stories by J. R. R. Tolkien. The award was created and sponsored by Lin Carter and the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), an association of fantasy writers. Recipients were selected by vote of participants in the World Science Fiction Conventions according to procedures of the Hugo Awards.

<i>Dragonsong</i> 1976 science fantasy novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonsong is a science fantasy novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Released by Atheneum Books in March 1976, it was the third to appear set on the world Pern of the Dragonriders of Pern. In its time, however, Dragonsong brought the fictional planet Pern to a new publisher, editor, and target audience of young adults, and soon became the first book in the Harper Hall of Pern trilogy. The original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy with Ballantine Books was not completed until after the publication of Dragonsong and its sequel.

<i>Dragondrums</i> 1979 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragondrums is a young adult science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Published by Atheneum Books in 1979, it was the sixth to appear in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey.

<i>Legends</i> (anthology) 1998 anthology of fantasy novellas

Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy is a 1998 anthology of 11 novellas by a number of English-language fantasy authors, edited by Robert Silverberg. All the stories were original to the collection, and set in the authors' established fictional worlds. The anthology won a Locus Award for Best Anthology in 1999. Its science fiction equivalent, Far Horizons, followed in 1999.

<i>Dragonquest</i> 1971 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonquest is a science fantasy novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the sequel to Dragonflight, set seven years later and the second book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. Dragonquest was first published by Ballantine Books in May 1971.

<i>All the Weyrs of Pern</i> 1991 novel by Anne McCaffrey

All the Weyrs of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Published in 1991, it is the eleventh book in the Dragonriders of Pern series.

<i>Dragonsinger</i> 1977 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonsinger is a young adult science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Published by Atheneum Books in 1977, it was the fourth to appear in the Dragonriders of Pern series written by Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey.

<i>The Ship Who Sang</i> 1969 novel by Anne McCaffrey

The Ship Who Sang (1969) is a science fiction novel by American writer Anne McCaffrey, a fix-up of five stories published 1961 to 1969. It is also the title of the 1961 novelette which is the first of these stories. The series started by the book, the "Brain & Brawn Ship series", is sometimes called the "Ship Who Sang series".

<i>The Dolphins of Pern</i> 1994 novel by Anne McCaffrey

The Dolphins of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the thirteenth book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey.

<i>Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern</i> 1983 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the seventh book in the Dragonriders of Pern series.

<i>Dragonsdawn</i> 1988 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonsdawn is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is ninth book in the Dragonriders of Pern series, but chronologically it takes place before any of the other books. It was published in 1988, by Del Rey in the United States and Bantam in the United Kingdom. UK editions have had various subtitles: Dragonsdawn: The First Chronicles of the Colony of Pern, Dragonsdawn: The earliest legend of Pern.

<i>The Renegades of Pern</i> 1989 novel by Anne McCaffrey

The Renegades of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the tenth book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. It was first published in 1989.

<i>The Harper Hall Trilogy</i> Science fiction novel series by Anne McCaffrey

The Harper Hall trilogy is a series of three science fiction novels by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. They are part of the Dragonriders of Pern series as it is known today, 26 books by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey or daughter Gigi McCaffrey as of 2018. They were published by Atheneum Books in 1976, 1977, and 1979, alongside the Dragonriders of Pern series. Omnibus editions of the two trilogies were published by the Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club in 1978 and 1984, titled The Dragonriders of Pern and The Harper Hall of Pern respectively.

<i>Dragongirl</i> 2010 novel by Todd McCaffrey

Dragongirl is a science fiction novel by Todd McCaffrey in the Dragonriders of Pern series that his mother Anne McCaffrey initiated in 1967. Published in 2010, it is the sequel to Dragonheart and third with Todd as sole author.

This is a list of works by American science fiction and fantasy author Anne McCaffrey, including some cowritten with others or written by close collaborators.

References

  1. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1987 Locus All-time Poll". Locus. Retrieved 12 October 2011. Originally published in the monthly Locus , August 1987.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  2. "A Time When by Anne McCaffrey". NESFA Press. Retrieved 8 February 2007.
  3. "McCaffrey, Anne". Locus Index to SF Awards. Retrieved 9 October 2011. The Locus was voted by Locus magazine readers, the Hugo and Gandalf at the annual World Science Fiction Convention, and the Ditmar at the annual Australian convention.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  4. "1999 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winners". Young Adult Library Services Association. American Library Association. Retrieved 14 November 2011.[ permanent dead link ]

Citations