Volume II of The Dragonriders of Pern®, the legendary series by award-winning author Anne McCaffrey
Since Lessa and Ramoth, her golden queen dragon, traveled into the past to bring forward a small army of dragons and riders to save their world from deadly alien spores, fear and desperation have spread across the land. But while the dragonriders struggle with threats both otherworldly and human, a young rider named F’nor and his...

“[McCaffrey is the] master of the well-told tale.”—Chicago Sun-Times
As long as the people of Pern could remember, the Holds had protected them from Thread, the deadly silver strands that fell from the sky. In exchange for sanctuary in the huge stone fortresses, the people tithed to their Lord Holders, who in turn supported the dragonriders, Pern’s greatest weapon against Thread. But not everyone on Pern was...

Anne McCaffrey draws the reader back in time to an earlier Pern to tell the story of one of Pern’s great and true heroines.
An air of pleasant anticipation hung so thickly over the Halls, Holds and Weyrs of Pern that it had affected even the businesslike ways of Moreta, the Weyrwoman of Fort Weyr, where her dragon, Queen Orlith, would soon clutch. 
Then without warning, a runnerbeast fell ill. Soon myriads of holders, craftsmen,...

On the planet Pern, after her father forbids her to indulge in music in any way, fifteen-year-old Menolly, runs away and takes shelter with the planet's fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her.

"I must find my own kind!"Found as an infant drifting in space, Acorna, the Unicorn Girl, has become a young woman. She still has her tiny, translucent horn, and her "funny" feet and hands. And, she still has her miraculous ability to make plants grow and heal human sickness.

But Acorna has strange dreams of a gentle folk who mind-speak by touching horns. With her "Uncle" Calum, one of the three grizzled asteroid prospectors who

...

“[Anne] McCaffrey here adds yet another dimension to her colorful and vivid saga by focusing on the attractive dolphins and their highly believable society.”—Publishers Weekly
When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize Pern’s oceans while their human partners settled the vast continents. But then disaster

...

"Something's Alive In There!" She was just a little girl, with a tiny horn in the center of her forehead, funny-looking feet, beautiful silver hair, and several curious powers: the ability to purify air and water, make plants grow, and heal scars and broken bones. A trio of grizzled prospectors found her drifting in an escape pod amid the asteroids, adopted her, and took her to the bandit planet Kezdet, a place where no questions are asked and the...

Filled with adventure and wonder, the third Acorna novel continues the enthralling saga of the beautiful, brave, and kindhearted Unicorn Girl.
"Welcome Home, Linyaari Child!"
With the help of her "uncles" and the thousands of humans who love and admire her, Acorna has found her true people, the peaceful, telepathic Linyaari. But Acorna still has much to do before she can enjoy her new home. The legendary resting place of the lost Linyaari...

After the death of wise old Mangan, the Regent of Esphania, many of the regent's skills and qualities seem to have been transferred to his beautiful and intelligent cat, Niffy, who at once attaches herself to the new ruler, Prince Jamas. When the king of a neighboring kingdom seems keen to forge an alliance with Jamas by allowing the prince to marry his niece, the real danger is Yasmin, the wicked queen wife, who poisons everyone she dislikes or suspects...

From Anne McCaffrey comes a collection of captivating short stories that focuses on everything from spaceship adventure and shifting time-storms to ghosts and romance. The title story, set in the world of the Dragonriders of Pern series, tells of Aramina, a teenage girl who hears dragons and is relentlessly pursued for her ability. Aramina's mother fears losing her daughter completely to the life of a dragonrider, but McCaffrey has another fate in...