View source for To Ride Pegasus

{{Short description|1973 collection of science fiction stories by Anne McCaffrey}}
{{Infobox book
<!-- |italic title = (see above) -->
| name             = To Ride Pegasus
| image            = File:ToRidePegasus.jpg
| caption          = First edition
| author           = [[Anne McCaffrey]]
| illustrator      = 
| cover_artist     = [[Gene Szafran]]<ref>[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?51798 isfdb]</ref>
| country          = United States
| language         = English
| series           = <!--Pegasus; at ISFDB, Talents Universe -->
| subject          = 
| genre            = [[Science fiction]]
| publisher        = [[Ballantine Books]]
| pub_date         = August 1973
| media_type       = Print (paperback)
| pages            = 243 pp
| isbn             = 0-345-23417-0
| oclc             = 440120697
| dewey            = 
| congress         = 
| preceded_by      = 
| followed_by      = <!--Pegasus in Flight (1990) -->
}}

'''''To Ride Pegasus''''' is a collection of four [[science fiction]] stories by American writer [[Anne McCaffrey]], published by [[Ballantine Books]] in 1973 and later under its [[Del Rey Books|Del Rey imprint]].<ref name=talents>
{{isfdb series|700|The Talents Universe}} ('''ISFDB'''). Retrieved 2011-08-01.</ref> "To Ride Pegasus" is also the title of the [[novella]], the first  of the four stories that was original to the collection.<ref>
{{isfdb contents|51798|To Ride Pegasus |first edition}}. Retrieved 2011-10-27.</ref><ref name=story>
Anne McCaffrey (1973). ''To Ride Pegasus''. New York: Ballantine. 11th printing, December 1985. Pages 1–56.</ref>

''To Ride Pegasus'' originates the fictional premise of the Talents universe, the setting for seven novels published 1990 to 2000: two more "Pegasus" books and five "Tower and Hive" books.<ref name=talents /> All eight books feature so-called Talents, people with [[psionic]] powers such as [[empathy]], [[telepathy]], [[teleportation]], [[telekinesis]], [[clairvoyance]], [[precognition]], and the ability to find what is lost ('finders').

[[Pegasus]] is a symbol for Talent, early adopted by Henry Darrow: "You'd see a lot from the back of a winged horse ..." (p.&nbsp;11). "When you ride the winged horse, you can't dismount. ... We'll find our bridle, I think, with time and training and more practice at riding".<ref name=page12/>

==Novella==
The novella "To Ride Pegasus" is a prequel to the three previously published stories. It explains the fortunate scientific discovery of psionic powers and the earliest establishment of the Talents in human society, in [[New York metropolitan area|Greater New York]] late during the 20th century (in the future depicted, the conurbation spreading from [[New Jersey]] to [[Manhattan]] gets named "Jerhattan"). The 'precog' Henry Darrow does not avoid his own foreseen automobile accident. In the hospital, a talented nurse notices his unusual [[electroencephalography|electroencephalograph (EEG)]] recordings and they complete the discovery together (as well as fall in love and get married). Darrow recognizes the crucial breakthrough:
<blockquote>Now we can prove parapsychic powers exist and who has them. We can discredit the charlatans and clowns who've given the rest of us a bad name. The real Talents will be registered with the Center and we'll have graphs to prove they've had valid Incidents. The Center will supply them with the specialized jobs that utilize their Talents.<ref name=page12>''To Ride Pegasus'', page 12.
</ref></blockquote>
Darrow turns from high-price consultation about the future (astrology) to his lifework, setting the Talents surely on the way to a personally respected, legally protected, and highly paid status. Important early tasks are demonstration of scientific validity and detectability, private fund-raising, and creation of a coordinating and protective institution.

Darrow comes to direct the nonprofit North American Center for Parapsychic Talents. In his lifetime the Center identifies many Talents and begins to train them and place them in appropriate jobs. It secures a sheltered but conveniently located headquarters: a research, public relations, and residential campus. Darrow recognizes his successor as Director. He envisions crucial steps in the [[professionalization]] of Talents but their achievement is left to the future.<ref name=story />

==Collection==
* "To Ride Pegasus", original to the collection (August 1973)<ref name=talents />
* "A Womanly Talent", ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Analog]]'', February 1969<ref name=talents />
* "Apple", ''Crime Prevention in the 30th Century'', ed. Hans Stefan Santesson, [[Walker & Co.]], 1969<ref name=talents />
* "A Bridle for Pegasus", ''Analog'', July 1973<ref name=talents />

The three older stories feature the center and its community of resident Talents, under Darrow's successor Daffyd op Owen.<ref>
At the beginning of the second story, its formal name is the "East American Parapsychological Research and Training Center". ''To Ride Pegasus'', page 59.</ref> Each one features particular Talents, active or latent, within or without the community, but the big picture is the continuing establishment of Talents in society by internal reform, social education, and legislation. Owen, his staff, and public officials are important players and the stories' emphasis is about recruitment, training, registration, public education, professional ethics and liability.

* "A Womanly Talent", ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Analog]]'', February 1969. The campaign to win professional immunity for Talents is underway with a comprehensive [[Bill (proposed law)|Bill]] under consideration by a committee of the [[US Senate]]. The story at the Center features a young husband and wife who soon win permission to reproduce. Lajos is a precog specialist in fires; he is employed privately by the insurance industry and works with the center to prevent or mitigate public disasters. Ruth's talent is barely detectable and unknown in nature.
* "Apple", ''Crime Prevention in the 30th Century'', ed. Hans Stefan Santesson, [[Walker & Co.]], 1969. The Bill providing comprehensive legal protection for Talents is now expected to pass in a few weeks. The story at the Center concerns a theft by teleportation from a Manhattan department store window, which is undeniably the work of some unknown Talent. Relations between the Center and Law Enforcement are strained at best and a public relations disaster may be incipient.
* "A Bridle for Pegasus", ''Analog'', July 1973. Ethnic tension is high in Greater New York and a summer of strife is feared. The story at the Center concerns another wild Talent, a musical performer unaware of her ability to manipulate the emotions of a crowd. She might be registered and trained by the center, or recruited by the leader of one ethnic faction, or even kidnapped.

==Series==
During the 1990s McCaffrey made ''To Ride Pegasus'' the first book in a series that is otherwise set after greater psionic talents have been discovered or developed and their employment has become vital. ''Pegasus in Flight'' (1990) and its sequel ''Pegasus in Space'' show how the Talents enabled human society to extend beyond planet Earth, primarily by assisting space transportation and communication. ''The Rowan'' (1990) takes up the Talents and the author's second published story, "The Lady in the Tower" (1959), to initiate the Tower and Hive subseries. Essentially, the title character, the Rowan, is both a Talent and the lady in the tower.<ref>
Introducing ''Pegasus in Space'' ten years later, McCaffrey observed that she felt constrained to keep the "people and places" and the "original premises" of the 1959 story, in both the "Pegasus" and "Rowan/Tower and Hive" series. 
<br/>• Anne McCaffrey (2000). ''Pegasus in Space''. New York: Del Rey. Acknowledgments.
</ref> The books feature three generations of the most powerful Talents when human society is far-flung in the galaxy and interacts with alien interstellar species.

The [[Internet Speculative Fiction Database]] catalogues "The Talents Universe" in two subseries.<ref name=talents />

'''Talents'''
* ''To Ride Pegasus'' (1973) {{ISBN|0-345-33603-8}} — collection of stories from 1969 and 1973
* ''[[Pegasus in Flight]]'' (1990) {{ISBN|0-345-36897-5}}
* ''[[Pegasus in Space]]'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-345-43467-6}}

'''Tower and Hive'''
: "The Lady in the Tower", ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', Apr 1959
: "A Meeting of Minds", ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', Jan 1969
* ''[[The Rowan]]'' (1990) {{ISBN|0-441-73576-2}} — partly based on the 1959 "Lady"
* ''[[Damia (novel)|Damia]]'' (1991) {{ISBN|0-441-13556-0}} – partly based on the 1969 "Meeting"
* ''[[Damia's Children]]'' (1993) {{ISBN|0-441-00007-X}}
* ''[[Lyon's Pride]]'' (1994) {{ISBN|0-441-00141-6}}
* ''[[The Tower and the Hive]]'' (1999) {{ISBN|0-441-00720-1}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* {{isfdb title|97984}}
* {{isfdb series|700|The Talents Universe}}

{{Talent stories}}
{{Anne McCaffrey}}

[[Category:To Ride Pegasus| ]]
[[Category:1973 short story collections]]
[[Category:Novels by Anne McCaffrey]]
[[Category:Science fiction short story collections]]
[[Category:Ballantine Books books]]
[[Category:Fictional telepaths]]