Last updated: Wednesday, August 19, 1998
Nimisha's Ship...
The Pern CD is now available!
What Annie said...
Interview with Annie in Times newspaper
The next Pern book...
No more fanfiction Weyrs - for a while at least
Latest news on the Pern TV series
Anne McCaffrey's latest book has hit the shelves.
Nimisha's Ship is the tale of an aristocratic woman, Lady Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense, who takes control of her family's shipyards following her father's death. However, when she is stranded light years from home after a test flight goes awry, Lord Vestin seizes the opportunity to take over the shipyards himself. His only problem is Nimisha's daughter...
The Masterharper of Pern CD, by Tania Opland and Mike Freeman, is now completed and available to buy.
The original idea for the music was to have it published in Masterharper. Unfortunately, that fell through but since then, the concept developed from a handful of tunes to a full 50-minute CD.
Opland and Freeman say: "The music draws on many cultures and eras, and features a wide range of stringed, wind and percussion instruments, vocals, and beautiful production."
It contains eighteen tracks, including The Duty Song, Fighting Thread Round, Robinton’s First Whistle Tune, The Question Song, Plains of Telgar, Firelizard, Red Star Passes, March of the Wings, Lessa’s Ride.
The CD costs 19 US dollars, 26 Canadian dollars, 14 UK pounds or 15 Irish punts, including postage and packing.
For details of how to order, visit http://members.aol.com/opland.
My copy arrived a week ago and hasn't been out of my CD player since!
Well, I was lucky enough to be able to get to the Anne McCaffrey signing in Manchester - which turned out to be a talk as well as a signing! And Annie was able to tell us about loads of upcoming Pern things...
First, there will be a lifesize firelizard available at some point in the not-too-distant future. These little critters will be implanted with a microchip and, the first time you speak to it, it will tell you its name and ask you for yours. After that, it will only speak to you!
Secondly, the Pern TV series looks as if it's going to be rather good. I admit, I was a little dubious at first but after hearing what Annie had to say, most of my fears have been laid to rest. She will be writing the bible for the series, as well as being very involved with designing the actual dragons. The cast will be unknowns - possibly Japanese/Chinese actors for Lessa and F'lar - although Annie is hoping what happened with Whoopi Goldberg and Star Trek will happen with Pern.
Readers of the UK's Times newspaper on Saturday will have spotted a fascinating interview with the dragonlady.
It gives much more of an insight into Ms McCaffrey than many interviews around as it also delves slightly into the more painful aspects of her life.
For example, I had no idea that she had chosen to move to Ireland simply because it has an excellent education system.
Anyway, even if you missed the paper edition or you don't live in the UK, don't despair. There is an online version of the interview at the Times website.
The next Pern book will be called Dragon's Sight.
Written and compiled by Anne McCaffrey's son, Todd, it will be "a look behind the scenes at the creation and development of Pern over the years of the series's publication."
It is scheduled for US publication by Del Rey in January of 1999.
Meanwhile, Annie herself is said to be working on "something completely different" for publication later the same year. A treatise about Monty Python, perchance? *grin*
I'm sure you're aware that Ms McCaffrey has sold the gaming rights for Pern to Grolier Interactive, which means they are the people to contact if you want to establish a new fanfiction Weyr.
However, at present they are planning on establishing a webring of all authorised sites and are therefore not allowing any more Weyrs.
Bummer, I know, but let's all stay legal.
As soon as I hear the situation has changed, I'll post it here.
Canadian TV company Atlantis announced at the beginning of April that they are to produce a Dragonriders of Pern TV series.
The show is described as a 'sci-fi action hour' and will combine live action with sophisticated digital effects and animation.
It is planned to be syndicated in the US and Canada, although there is no word yet on whether one of the British channels, terrestrial, satellite or cable, is interested.
Atlantis, who also produce Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, say: "We see Anne McCaffrey's 'Dragonriders of Pern' as a terrific opportunity to create a long-lasting series with significant franchise quality that can translate to other media."
Like, say, books? *grin*
Seriously, they seem very committed and keen on the idea of the television series. The question is whether current Pern fans will be as keen. I have a feeling that, even if the series doesn't fit the feel of the books, it will still be enjoyable.
And if it leads to other people discovering Pern, it's all for the best.
The full press release is available at http://www.atlantis.ca/RELEASES/ACI98-17.HTML