#also irish travellers as actual characters.. somewhat stereotypical but they're among the first dragon riders

[sanctus-ingenium]

Ooo!! What's the dragonriders of pern???

NOT to contest the claim of trekkies everywhere, but Anne McCaffrey of Dragonriders Of Pern fame invented sex pollen and omegaverse in the 60s. Whether or not this is a good thing is up for interpretation

Dragonriders of Pern is a series of sci-fi novels that started in the 60s about human settlers on the planet of Pern who live in a pre-industrial era. Every few hundred years, their planet comes under fire from Thread, an invasive rainfall shed by a nearby dwarf planet that destroys all organic matter it touches. To fight Thread, humans have genetically engineered dragons which breathe fire to burn the Thread before it harms anyone. The series starts during an unusually long lull between Threadfalls, and in the centuries people have neglected their dragon riders and dragons to the point where when Thread does inevitably fall again, they are completely unequipped to fight it. Nearly all common dragon riding genre tropes originate from Pern!! Anne McCaffrey was the blueprint. I adore this series, but my favourite part is how as the series go on, the characters slowly uncover the truth that they are aliens in this world, dig up ancient technology, learn to use it, and progress as a society. The genre shift from fantasy to sci-fi is one of my favourite things to experience and, as the reader, slowly realising the forgotten truths that the characters themselves are unaware of is great. In this regard, a big inspiration for my Siren setting.

The series contains scenes of sexual assault and a weird adult/minor love story so I can't in good conscience recommend it without pointing this out. It should be considered a product of its time and approached with a critical lens. It was also one of the first books I ever read with normalised gay side characters and gay sex (not any of the main characters) so that was cool. For anyone wondering my fave is obviously F'nor.