A collection of 15 stories. In one, the Earth plunges back in time to different historical periods, in another, a girl communicates by telepathy with dragons. By the author of All the Weyrs of Pern.

With the discovery of Aivas, the artificial intelligence hidden for centuries in Pern's southern continent, the residents of the third planet of the sun called Rukbat have learned how to end the threat posed by the periodic fall of Thread from the erratic red star that orbits the planet. Despite the abundance of rediscovered knowledge, new dangers and old fears surface, forcing Dragonriders, Holders, and Craftmasters all to reconsider their purpose...

After freeing themselves from the alien Catteni who had enslaved them, Kris Bjornsen, renegade Catteni Zainal, and their comrades on the planet Botany struggle to establish their new role in the universe, seeking to exchange the planet's vast natural resources for Earth's technology as they set out to decide what kind of world they will become. When Kris Bjornsen and her fellow slaves were dumped on an uninhabited planet by the alien Catteni overlords,...

It's been two-hundred years since the deadly Thread fell like rain upon Pern, devouring everything in its path. No one alive remembers that first horrific onslaught and no one believes in its return--except for the dragonriders. For two centuries they have been practicing and training, passing down from generation to generation the formidable Threadfighting techniques. Now the ominous signs are appearing: the violent winter storms and volcanic eruptions...

In a triumphant career spanning more than thirty years, Anne McCaffrey has won the acclaim of critics, the devotion of millions of fans, and awards too numerous to mention. Her bestselling Dragonriders of Pern "RM" series is counted among the masterpieces of modern science fiction, a work whose popularity continues to grow as new generations of readers discover the literary magic only Anne McCaffrey can provide. Now that magic is back, displayed as...

With the dragons of Pern dying and the only person who can save them long dead, the grieving dragon riders find clues in the lyrics of an ancient ballad to long forgotten knowledge and secrets hidden somewhere in Benden Weyr. In Dragon's Kin, best selling author Anne McCaffrey did the unthinkable: for the first time ever, she invited another writer to join her in the skies of her most famous fictional creation, that writer was her son, Todd McCaffrey....