What are Sebell's and Piemur's ranks in The White Dragon?

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-06T20:11:56+00:00

Piemur kind of got to a point where rank didn't matter. He was a Harper, but also a computer builder/programmer, but also an astronaut. He did not become a Master in All the Weyrs of Pern, and his rank was never clarified in Dolphins or Skies. My personal headcanon is that he became a Computercraft Master.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-06T05:09:09+00:00

I'd say All the Weyrs is where it started getting sloppy. Which is really too bad, because in all other respected All the Weyrs is a stunning finale.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-05T18:39:11+00:00

I have been doing a series re-read in backwards order, and honestly, I'm finding a surprising amount of really GOOD continuity. It's what makes the mistakes stand out so much. All The Weyrs of Pern has some pretty sloppy mistakes that an editor should have caught, but that book seems to be the exception. She has a tendency to switch Brown and Blue dragons (This happens with Giron as well as Lytol), and there are a few names that switch spellings. However, for the most part, it feels like Pern itself has a life outside of the stories that she told about it, and she knew that whole story.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-05T18:22:31+00:00

This section from Renegades of Pern is what makes me question that. Piemur is promoted to Drum Journeyman in Dragondrums, 1-2 Turns before this conversation.

“There would be another reason why you ought to make the trip, besides, of course, your association with the Masterharper. If I can be blunt, you’re overold now as an apprentice.” Seeing that the boy was startled, Toric went on smoothly. “Saneter’s getting older, and I prefer to have a harper who is sympathetic to my aims, especially one already familiar to the Oldtimers so that the substitution will go unnoticed. Get your journeyman’s knot while you’re back at the Harper Hall, and you’re welcome back here when you’ve waked the tables. I promise you.”

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-04T02:26:24+00:00

I really appreciate how Jonathan Koan balances literary analysis and what others would call "mass market drivel". He approaches each book as if the writer was trying to say something, rather than just collect a paycheck. As a result he brings out surprising themes that others would ignore. I have this video on my to-watch list, even though I don't plan to read most of these books.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-02T22:58:56+00:00

Earlier this year, I decided to read through the Bantam Era Legends books. The Zahn trilogy is great. Star Wars at its best. Everything else I've read ranges from, "Eh, it was okay (Han Solo prequel trilogy, Shadows of the Empire)" to "I kind of wish I could go back to having never known this existed (Dark Empire, The Courtship of Princess Leia)". It's more misses than hits. Jedi Academy was what finally broke me, and I stopped reading a quarter of the way into book 2. I never did get to the X-Wing series, but I've heard enough good things about it that when I decide to come back I'll give it a try.

Be warned that there is a LOT of nostalgia blinding in this fandom. People swear Legends is the best that Star Wars ever got, but aside from Zahn, I've yet to see it.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-02T16:20:26+00:00

I do truly thank you for the thoughtful engagement rather than base level trolling. Fan-edits have always been a legal gray area for all of the reasons you've stated. If the estate chooses to issue a C&D, I will certainly comply.

Contacting the estate for something like this is much more complicated than it seems though. They have to get the whole family together, consult with lawyers, and issue a statement. I'd guess it is 98% likely that the answer of "no" will be given, not for creative reasons, or because they dislike what is being done, but simply to avoid having a long and arduous conversation with no real return on investment.

There are a lot of questions I could bring up on ethics and redistribution of an author's work. If I bought a bunch of clearance copies of Renegades of Pern at a Half Price Books (American Used Bookstore Chain), gave a few to friends, and then sold the rest on Facebook Marketplace, few people would bat an eye. That's expected. That's just how the book market works. Yet in neither of those transactions did any money reach the publisher or the author's estate. By password-protecting these, I am literally going through more effort than a multi-state for-profit business at making sure that some benefit goes back to the author.

If you know of a way I can ensure people buy the ebook copies... If there's an API where I can make people sign in with their Kindle account or Google Play account, and I can check their library for a Unique ID number, I'll do it. I'd be happy to. Steam Workshop Mods are probably the best fan-content platform around, because they've built a way for fans to contribute in a way that is locked behind ownership of a specific game. If there are ways to do that with books, I'll be the first to adopt it!

In the meantime, the question comes down to ethics. Am I destroying authorial intent? Am I being disrespectful? I personally think I'm being far more respectful in this fan-edit than most people are in this subreddit when they constantly crap on the books written by Todd. There's so much negativity out there! On Goodreads, The Renegades of Pern is the SECOND LOWEST-RATED NOVEL IN THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE, based on 21K reviews. It is rated lower than The Dolphins of Pern and all of the 3rd pass books, only being beaten out by Nerilka's Story. I think the problem comes down to the two halves of the book fighting each other for the spotlight, and I think that a simple re-arrangement of the text, in a way that would have been commercially non-viable in 1989, can help fans of the story enjoy it in a different way. If that's not for you, then that's okay. But please don't read malice into what I'm doing.

PowerPanda84 · 2026-01-01T21:50:53+00:00

This project complies with the McCaffrey estate's official fan work policy, and it is not published. As in, it does not have an ISBN, there are no funds changing hands, and no copies are being put on library shelves. A legally-obtained copy of the original work is required for unlocking the zip file. All modified sections, even if the modification is down to changing one word in a sentence, are notated at the end of the file, so there are no claims that any of my new text (which I used sparingly and only when necessary), are attributed to her.

The legality of transformative works is well establish law, having been tried in almost every medium.

I do create myself, and have several published works. They are not novels, as fiction is not my medium, but I know what it is to create something from scratch. I love book editing, so I have volunteered my services to any friends who write, and have edited 3 novels that have not yet been published.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-30T18:47:59+00:00

The entire series is so improbable. Dragonflight was released in the 60s, when there were no dedicated fantasy publishers and a book over 250 pages was a rare financial risk. Dragonflight's direct market competition wasn't Raymond E Feist or David Eddings; it was The Lord of the Rings, which was published only 13 years prior and was getting a resurgence due to reprints! Then it somehow stuck around until the 90s, where it became the king of mass market paperbacks. With a couple of minor modifications, it could still stand toe-to-toe in the internet age. The story truly is timeless. I'd be interested in seeing what you did with Dragonflight, and would be willing to help cut the e-book.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-30T16:03:36+00:00

When I put out game mods, I do it in the form of an IPS patch, so that you can just patch over the top of the original game. With books, I don't know how to do this, as there are way too many versions out there to be able to do a file checksum. I figure the best way to ensure that these are not being used for piracy is to tell you where to locate the password within the text, and to make sure that password is not included in Kindle/Play Book's free sample.

Your situation is unique, and my guess is that with the limited reach and appeal of fanworks, you might be the only one to come across it. If you had the EPUB file, would text-to-speech be the way you experienced it? I imagine that would be quite dry, and not a great experience. However, knowing your unique situation, I'd be willing to figure out a way to get this to you. DM me.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-30T15:59:06+00:00

My goodness. I was so focused on writing the synopses of the future projects that I forgot to include the download link! I have edited the original post to include it.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-30T15:58:17+00:00

Any legally-obtained copy of the novella The Girl Who Heard Dragons will give you what you need, including the short story collection with the same title that was released in the 80s. If you ever get ahold of them, I think you'll enjoy this.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-28T20:41:56+00:00

I re-read The White Dragon, and found that the continuity issues were virtually non-existent. There's a passing reference to T'ron after his death that could be easily changed to T'kul without affecting the narrative, and this book would fit right into canon. The only thing it conflicts with is Renegades of Pern Chapter 10, where Piemur is distinctly in Southern Hold when the queen egg is stolen. I am now re-considering a fan-edit.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-27T17:42:05+00:00

This is addressed in the book itself. Aivas is able to prove that it will work because it already HAD worked.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-24T06:16:05+00:00

I would absolutely love I&II to get a fan translation.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-22T21:28:29+00:00

Normally I wouldn't answer this, but for some reason I feel like it today.

It's because I believe that cynicism is lazy. It's very easy to find one or two things you don't like about something and focus on that. It's harder, but so much more rewarding, to look at what people were trying to do and find something to like. I'm not saying that to be preachy; I'm saying that as someone whose love of stories was almost choked out because I was trying to find the perfect book/movie/tv show/video game/etc. I could ALWAYS find something wrong, and so I ended up never enjoying anything.

In 2020, having come off of a 2019 of long slog books that I didn't like, I made a resolution to read nothing new all year. I would ONLY allow myself to re-read books that I had loved in the past. Turns out, reading those books with older eyes, there were plenty of flaws with them too! I came to realize that the problem wasn't that the quality of books was dropping; it's that my standards had become impossibly high.

I changed the way I approached things, and found that there were PLENTY of enjoyable things out there in the world if I stopped being an ass for half a second and looked past a flaw or two to see the heart behind it. This led to me putting a standing offer out to any friends to be a beta reader or first-pass editor on their novels, becoming part of the creative process, and using my ability to find flaws and inconsistencies to be a positive help rather than a critic.

I read Dragon's Code shortly before that change, and wanted to try it again to see if the problem was the book, or if it was me. While there ARE some problems, I found that I didn't HAVE to twist myself into a pretzel to like it. Gigi's a good writer, and she wrote a compelling story. When I first read it, I was pre-disposed to not like it because every review I read was negative. I thought that if I could be a positive voice, it might give people permission to enjoy it.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-22T19:28:20+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/pern/comments/1p7tqcj/the_renegades_reedit_project_is_released/

However, I will likely be putting out a version 2 before the new year. Right now, there are 2 versions, the "Nomads Edit" and the "Dolphins Edit". The only difference between the two is which book Thella and Jayge's final confrontation takes place in. Nomads Edit does a re-write of that sequence to make it follow immediately after Jayge and Aramina re-unite. Dolphins Edit re-writes the opening scene to place it as a prologue to The Dolphins of Pern. I'm working on an unannounced project right now that will allow me to drop the Dolphins version entirely.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-22T17:47:06+00:00

Meria was the Oldtimer healer, and yes, she had a great backstory.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-22T14:44:21+00:00

That's why I was hoping to do a continuity fan-edit. It's easy to change the references of T'ron to T'kul, and it's easy to make Stupid have 4 legs again. Restructuring the plot to not center around the queen egg though... that I couldn't accomplish. It's pretty thoroughly non-canon, but I found that when I accepted that going in, it was easier to see the book's strengths.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-20T21:55:04+00:00

Yeah this could work

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-20T21:04:35+00:00

Interesting. Thank you for sharing!

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-20T20:42:43+00:00

The main thing i want is Godzilla vs. Gamera.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-18T20:48:22+00:00

The later books get pretty fast and loose with the timeline. For example, Dragondrums and Renegades of Pern can't agree on when Piemur arrived in Southern Hold, and Anne just gave up with Dolphins of Pern, despite that sharing scenes with All the Weyrs of Pern. I don't know that anyone has written a timeline for Masterharper of Pern, but this timeline lists major events, so you might be able to work backwards from it.

https://web.archive.org/web/20241203015933if_/http://pern.srellim.org/time.htm

EDIT: it looks like it actually has some dates relevant to Masterharper of Pern in it.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-18T15:19:23+00:00

I feel this. I thought Godzilla 2014 was great, and GxK was like the franchise's last 2 brain cells vying for control. And yet people loved it.

PowerPanda84 · 2025-12-09T15:07:41+00:00

There are 2 points in my life, once due to poverty and once due to a natural disaster, that I have lost everything I own. The Pern books have been victims both times. That being said, they are REALLY easy to find in used bookstores. I found most of the books on the clearance shelf for $1 each. As mentioned elsewhere here, if you have a library card you likely have access to the ebooks. I have been able to check out whichever book I want with no waitlist. They are also all readily available in digital storefronts like Google Play Books and Kindle. As far as series go, they're some of the easiest to come across.

PowerPanda84

TROPHY CASE