The Smallest Dragonboy

Anne McCaffrey is one of science fiction’s most popular authors. She was Grandmaster of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and received several prestigious awards, including her induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, the Margaret A. Edwards Award for writing for teenagers, and the Golden Pen Award. In 1968, she was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction, and she became the first woman to win the Nebula Award the following year.

“The Smallest Dragonboy” is a middle grade short story set on Pern, a planet that is besieged approximately every 250 years by Thread, deadly silver spores that rain down from the Red Star and devour any organic material that is in their path. To combat Thread, fire-breathing dragons “Impress” upon hopeful dragonriders and fly out during Threadfall, reducing the spores to harmless ash. The story is set in the same universe as McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series, which began in 1967. The series comprises a total of 24 novels and two collections of short stories. McCaffrey died in 2011, at age 85, after suffering a stroke. Following her death, one additional Pern novel was published: Dragon’s Code (2018), written by her daughter, Gigi McCaffrey.