marion white

Teenage Aramina has the unusual ability to hear dragons. Her keen perception causes dismay to her mother, who fears Aramina will desert her family and commit to living the life of a dragonrider. In the land of Pern, Aramina's family is known as the "holdless," nomads who roam the land to hide from bandits. Aramina must find a way to exploit her unique talent without sacrificing the family she loves.

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 mind for her young heroine.

For generations, the dragonriders had dedicated their lives to fighting Thread, the dreaded spores that periodically rained from the sky to ravage the land. On the backs of their magnificent telepathic dragons they flew to flame the deadly stuff out of the air before it could reach the planet's surface. But the greatest dream of the dragonriders was to find a way to eradicate Thread completely, so that never again would their beloved Pern be threatened with destruction.