{"product_id":"dragons-fire-isbn-9780345480293","title":"Dragon's Fire","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER \u003c\/b\u003e•\u003cb\u003e “A richly detailed story on a par with the rest of the Pern canon . . . another successful McCaffrey mother-and-son collaboration.”—\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt Natalon’s mining camp, Pellar embarks on a secret mission to discover whether the condemned criminals known as the Shunned are stealing coal. But the gifted tracker discovers that a far more treacherous plot is unfolding. A heartless thief named Tenim has realized there is profit to be made from firestone, the volatile mineral that enables the dragons of Pern to burn the lethal Thread out of the sky. When the last remaining firestone mine explodes, a desperate race begins to find a new deposit of the deadly but essential mineral. Sure enough, Tenim has a murderous plan to turn tragedy to his own advantage. Now Pellar and his new friends—the kind and gentle Halla, a child of the Shunned, and Cristov, the son of a corrupt miner—must stop Tenim. If they fail, it will mean the end for Pern and its dragonriders. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Grittier than the early parts of the series; Todd’s apparently brought a wider, more current worldview to Pern.”—\u003ci\u003eThe San Diego Union-Tribune \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“These fabled dragons still cast a spell.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ePraise for Dragon’s Kin by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Superb storytelling . . . Essential for Pern fans of all ages.”\u003cbr\u003e–Library Journal (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A guaranteed pleaser [in] one of sf’s most splendid and longest-lived sagas.”\u003cbr\u003e–Booklist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePraise for Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Todd McCaffrey does something I didn’t think anyone could do: he writes Anne McCaffrey’s Pern. . . . May the saga continue!”  \u003cbr\u003e–David Weber, author of The Shadow of Saganami\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The torch has been passed and burns more brightly than ever. . . . [Dragonsblood] fits beautifully into the existing history and style of earlier books while still breaking new ground.”\u003cbr\u003e–Publishers Weekly\u003cb\u003eAnne McCaffrey\u003c\/b\u003e, one of the world’s most popular authors, is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern® series. She was the first woman to win the two top prizes for science fiction writing, the Hugo and Nebula awards. She was also given the American Library Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement in Young Adult Fiction, was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and was named a Science Fiction Writers of America Nebula Grand Master. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1926, McCaffrey relocated to Ireland in the 1970s, where she lived in a house of her own design, named Dragonhold-Underhill. She died in 2011.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTodd McCaffrey\u003c\/b\u003e is  the bestselling author of the Pern novel Dragonsblood, as well as Dragon’s Kin, which  he co-wrote with his mother, Anne McCaffrey. A computer engineer, he currently lives  in Los Angeles. Having grown up in Ireland with the epic of the Dragonriders of Pern,  he is bursting with ideas for new stories of that world, its people, and its dragons.CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Sent from hold, sent from craft,\u003cbr\u003e    Whether old, whether daft.\u003cbr\u003e    Shunned for good into the wild—\u003cbr\u003e    Father, mother, baby child.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Harper Hall, Second Interval, After Landing (AL) 490.3\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e He’s still waving, isn’t he?” Master Zist called back for the third    time. He sat at the front of the wagon as it slowly drew away from    the Harper Hall. The last of the winter snow covered the fields on    either side of the track. Every now and then the wagon skidded as the    workbeast lost his footing on the hard-packed icy snow and struggled    to regain it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Yes, he is,” Cayla agreed, looking back out of the brightly painted    wagon at the small figure slowly diminishing in the distance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “We couldn’t bring him,” Zist said regretfully. “He’d be too obvious.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    At least, Zist thought to himself, the lad was taking it better than    he had when they’d first told him their plans.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Pellar had thrown a silent tantrum, had sprawled on the ground in the    Harper Hall’s courtyard, feet and fists hitting the ground in his    outrage. He stopped only when Carissa had started howling in sympathy    with him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “She’s crying for me, isn’t she?” he scrawled quickly on the slate    that was never far from his hands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Yes, I suppose she is,” Cayla answered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Pellar swiftly rubbed his slate clean and scrawled a new comment on    it, thrusting it under Zist’s eyes. “Are you taking her?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “We have to, she’s still nursing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “We want to know that you’re safe, here,” Cayla added.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Aren’t I part of your family?” Pellar scrawled in response, tears    streaming down his face.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Of course you are!” Zist declared vociferously. “And we need you, as    a member of our family, to stay here out of trouble.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “You are always part of our family, Pellar,” Cayla said firmly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “You’ve been part of our family since we first found you, ten Turns    ago,” Zist told him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Then why can’t I come?” Pellar scrawled on his slate, his mouth    working soundlessly in emphasis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Because we don’t know who abandoned you,” Zist told him, catching    Pellar’s chin in his hand and forcing the youngster to meet his eyes.    “It could be some who were Shunned. If you come with us and they see    you, they’ll know that we’re not Shunned.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “You could get in trouble then?” Pellar wrote. Zist nodded. Pellar    chewed his lip miserably, shoulders shaking so hard with his unvoiced    sobs that he could barely wipe his slate to write a new message.    “I’ll stay. No trouble for you.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Cayla read the note, thrust baby Carissa into Zist’s arms, and    grabbed Pellar into a firm and fierce hug.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “That’s my boy,” she said proudly, kissing the top of his head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I’ll be here when you get back,” Pellar wrote.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I promise you’ll be the first to hear us return,” Zist swore,    freeing a hand to clap the boy on the back.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “He’s stopped waving,” Cayla reported. “Oh, dear! His shoulders are    all slumped and he looks so sad.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Zist blew out a misty breath and pulled on the reins controlling the    workbeast, fighting with himself not to turn the wagon back.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Murenny promised he’d keep an eye on him,” Cayla said, noting how    the wagon had slowed. “And this was your idea.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Indeed,” Zist agreed, his shoulders slumping in turn. “I think it’s    absolutely necessary that we learn all we can about the Shunned—”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I don’t disagree with you,” Cayla interjected, lifting baby Carissa    in her arms and rocking her instinctively.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Thread will come again soon enough, and what then?” Zist went on,    repeating his reasons needlessly. “If there are enough Shunned,    what’s to stop them from overwhelming a hold or craft hall?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Cayla didn’t have to say a word to make her opinion of that clear;    she’d said enough before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Well, even if they don’t, what will they do when Thread comes    again?” Zist asked reflectively. “It’s not right to condemn them all    to a death no one on Pern should ever experience.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I know, love, I know,” Cayla said soothingly, recognizing that her    mate was working himself into another passionate discourse. She knew    from past discussions how vivid the image of Thread, falling    mindlessly from the sky, devouring all life, searing all flesh, was    engrained in Zist’s mind from his reading. “We’ve discussed this,    Murenny’s discussed this, and that’s why we’re here in this wagon,    dressed like the Shunned—”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Do you think we should put an ‘S’ on your head, too?” Master Zist    asked, pointing to the purple-blue mark on his forehead.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “No,” Cayla said in a tone that brooked no argument. “And you’d best    be right about how to get that mark off.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “It’s not proper bluebush ink,” Zist reminded her. The sap of the    bluebush, used for marking the Shunned, was indelible and permanently    stained skin. “Some pinesap, lots of hot water and soap, and it’ll    come off.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “So you’ve said,” Cayla remarked, sounding no more convinced.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    In front, Zist noticed that the workbeast was slowing and flicked the    reins to encourage it back to a faster walk.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Well, I’m glad you’re with me,” Zist told Cayla, after satisfying    himself that they were moving fast enough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I’m glad that we left Pellar behind,” Cayla said. “Ten Turns is too    young to see the sights we expect.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Indeed,” Zist agreed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Carissa’s so little that she’ll remember none of it,” Cayla    continued, half to answer Zist’s unspoken thought, half to answer her    own fears.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “There’ll be children among the Shunned,” Zist remarked. “That’s part    of what makes it so wrong.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Yes,” Cayla agreed. She flicked a wisp of her honey-blond hair back    behind her ear and continued rocking little Carissa. Then she looked    back again. “He’s gone now.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “We’ll be back in less than half a Turn,” Zist said after a moment of    thoughtful silence. “He’ll be all right.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I hope he’ll forgive us,” Cayla said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Zist took the coast road south, toward Hold Gar, Southern Boll Hold,    and warmer weather. He and Cayla had guessed that the warmer climes    would attract the Shunned, who would find the harsh winters of the    north harder to survive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The road was still snow-covered and never more than a pair of ruts    running down along the coastline. Even in the protected enclosure of    the wagon, Cayla wrapped herself up tightly and nuzzled little    Carissa close to her side to keep them both warm. In front, perched    on the rattling bench seat, Zist had a thick wher-hide blanket spread    over his knees and layers of warm thick-knit Tillek sweaters, the    same as those used by the Tillek sailors because they kept out the    worst of the wet and cold even at sea. Even so, Zist was chilled to    the bone every evening when they halted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    They were both relieved when they finally came upon the outskirts of    Hold Gar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Their reception by the holders was sharp and unpleasant.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Go away!” shrieked the first old woman whose cothold they had    stopped at, hoping to barter for food. “Would you have me Shunned, too?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    She hurried them on their way by throwing stones and setting her dogs    on them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Go back north and freeze! We’re hardworking folk down here,” she    yelled after them. “You won’t find any handouts.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Zist shared a shaken look with Cayla who busily tried to comfort a    bawling Carissa.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As they neared the next hold, Cayla glanced quickly at the “S” on    Zist’s forehead. “Maybe I should go by myself,” she suggested.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Bring the baby,” Zist agreed. “I’ll tend the beast.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Carissa returned later, smiling and carrying a sack full of goods.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “They cost more than they should,” she said when she handed the bag    to Zist. “The lady fed us, though, and had fresh milk for Carissa.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Two days later they came upon a wagon by the side of the road. It had    been burned down to the wheels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Zist halted. He went to the wreck, crawled around and through it, and    came back thirty minutes later, his face grim.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “They were caught while they were sleeping,” he told Cayla.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “How do you know it wasn’t an accident with a lantern?” Cayla asked.    While holders used glows, the Shunned had to make do with what they    could scrounge, and that often meant candles or lanterns.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I’d rather not say,” he replied grimly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I suppose we should keep a watch at nights,” Cayla said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Maybe we should turn back,” Zist said. “This is beginning to seem    more dangerous than I’d feared.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Perhaps this is what happened to Moran.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Perhaps,” Zist agreed, his face going pale. With a sour look, he    gestured to the burned wreck. “There has to be a better way to deal    with the Shunned.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “We don’t know what happened here. We know that some were Shunned for    murder. After being Shunned, what would stop them from murdering    again?” Cayla responded. “Perhaps we’re only seeing justice done.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “No,” Zist said, shaking his head firmly. “That was a wagon much like    ours.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Cayla realized from what he’d left unsaid that the occupants of the    wagon were much like them, too—a man, woman, and child.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “We should move on before we attract attention,” she said firmly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I’d like you to keep watch from the back of the wagon,” Zist said by    way of agreement.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Of course.”A new novel of Pern New York Times bestseller","brand":"Del Rey","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299719467237,"sku":"NP9780345480293","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780345480293.jpg?v=1767725650","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/dragons-fire-isbn-9780345480293","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}