Talk:The Harper Hall Trilogy

The Harper Hall Trilogy Talk Page
Post whatever you want here and just talk. Addrianna818 16:18, 9 February 2007 (UTC)Addrianna818Addrianna818 16:18, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Character List
Just wondering, is a character list needed? Although....it'd be really extensive, now that I think of it. But the three books all have characters, dragons, and firelizards lists in the end, so it might make it easier to create this list. (Sorry for the horrid wording.) Applejaxs 22:00, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

The Harper Hall of Pern (omnibus)
Last hour I started a major rewrite of this article. There was no wikipedia infobox (Template:Infobox book series) for the series or sub-series "Harper Hall Trilogy".
 * ref:

Rather than any Infobox book series, I have provided Infobox book for The Harper Hall of Pern, the omnibus edition by Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club (1984 and 1997).
 * ref:

Remarkably, it's the only omnibus edition of the trilogy listed at ISFDB. --P64 (talk) 00:11, 20 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Im not sure i understand, if its part of a series shouldnt you use the series info box?Millertime246 (talk) 21:13, 9 November 2011 (UTC)
 * 21:36 and revised as anticipated three hours later
 * ref: Category:Book infobox templates
 * This article's current use of Infobox book does place The Harper Hall of Pern in Series: Dragonriders of Pern, although without a predessor or follower in the series. (Compare The Atlas of Pern.) The same template is used in the three separate articles on Harper Hall books where it places them in Series: DoP with predecessors and followers.
 * Infobox book series is a distinct infobox for series, designed for articles on series; see The Chronicles of Narnia for example. The analogy here would be "The Harper Hall Trilogy" or perhaps "Harper Hall" as a three-book series. (See also Book list for a table within the body of an article; example List of Dragonlance novels.)
 * Infobox book is designed for articles on books, and it is currently used in this article with reference to the single-volume edition of the H H trilogy.
 * Infobox short story is designed for articles on stories (singles). Currently Wikipedia has articles for none(?) of the Pern short stories, nor the novellas "Weyr Search" and "Dragonrider".
 * I have not seen any articles with two kinds of infobox, although some articles do cover a book and a series with the same title, or a story and a book with the same title, or all three(?).
 * There is no infobox in the Dragonriders of Pern article, whose title fits at least the original trilogy, the 21 books published by Ballantine/Del Rey, and the 24 books that are commonly called the DoP series today.
 * Welcome! I'm not sure precisely what you are asking. Does this help?
 * --P64 (talk) 21:36, 9 November 2011 (UTC) 01:08, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Consistency needed?
Dragonriders of Pern concerns the entire series as we know it today, 24 books by Anne or Todd McCaffrey; in other words, the three Harper Hall books originally published by Atheneum plus those 21 originally published by Ballantine Books or its Del Rey Books imprint. More generally at Wikipedia we place the Harper Hall books in the Dragonriders of Pern series without reservation.

Two sections at Talk:DoP are Talk:Dragonriders of Pern and Talk:Dragonriders of Pern (questioning whether consistency is a virtue or a vice). Some discussion may be appropriate here, specific to the Harper Hall books in possible contrast with the others.

One observation or two: These three Pern books alone are shelved as children's books at my local public library. Our library edition (Simon Pulse, 2003) does not include any science fiction prologue, or any other explanation of Pern. --P64 (talk) 21:28, 9 November 2011 (UTC)
 * The first editions Dragonsinger (1977) and Dragondrums (1979) have no prologues concerning Pern, dragons or thread. No acknowledgments. Unnumbered front pages provide dedication, map, and list of characters. The title stands alone on page 1 and the story begins on page 3. Dsinger's map is primitive: the northern continent as an island. Ddrums' map is advanced: the northern continent with indefinite wasteland toward the pole, ocean currents, and some of the southern continent. --P64 (talk) 21:37, 18 November 2011 (UTC)


 * We could state as a simple fact that these three books were published without the prologue and background information included with other books of the series. We should avoid our own interpretation of the primary sources or their presentation. I will keep a look out for any mention of this in the biographies, critical analysis etc, but I am far from reading through everything yet! --Mirokado (talk) 00:26, 19 November 2011 (UTC)