There is the general spoiler page for general questions.
I’m making this set of pages for more specific questions.
The rule is: do not ask or comment about a book until it has been at least a month in issue. I think that will make everybody happy re spoilers.
More A/U? Well, yay. CJ has a birthday and I get my wish.
Paul, most of us read the books out of internal chronological order because that is way they were published. The references and links between books is what makes reading them so much fun. I am sure when I read the new one it will make me reread the others to catch all of the connections.
and I know she was working on another “Fortress” book, although I have no idea about the details……then of course, she also knows I’m hoping for another Morgaine book, as well…..
After rereading Rimrunners, Hellburner and Heavy Time BEFORE rereading Downbelow Station (I hadn’t read any of the Alliance-Union books for some years), I can confirm that (for me anyway) it is best to start with Downbelow Station in order to understand the books that orbit it. Without having that background, it is really difficult to figure out what is happening and the relationships between different parties and events.
For me anyway, Downbelow Station is the best of the lot, though I really like the rather smaller Merchanter’s Luck, Finity’s End and Forty Thousand in Gehenna as well (I don’t remember Tripoint, which is next on my rereading list). I suppose I love the space-based books with a good degree of action and tension, as well as character development, most of all, and am not so interested in books about planet-based societies …
I do like the Chanur and Mri books, but though related they are somehow at a greater ‘distance’ to the above than these are to each other.
My problem will be waiting, so that I only reread the AU books once!
@Paul, I’m not a Foreigner person either (sorry cj) probably for the same reason.
Yabbut… why would you only want to reread them once?? 😉
Yabbut… why would you only want to reread the A/Us once?? 😉 CJ’s books I buy in hardback because I intend to keep them forever and re-read sequences every couple to several years.
Ah, rats! I was afraid that might happen!
🙂 Happens to me all the time (and worse things).
I do re-read them, Every two or three years I start with Downbelow Station and work my way back up to the surface from there. But if there’s a new AU book in the offing I’m going to (have to) start my normal re-read a year or so earlier and time it so that CJ’s new multi-volume history of the Fleet (I think we all heard her promise that) arrives just as I finish Cyteen.
An addition to the Fremen’s story, would be very welcome. (as well as a couple of new Cyteen stories and a Merchanter anthology. Oh, and a whole sequence to tell the complete history of the Fleet.)
☺️
Fremen?! 😮 Do you mean Mri? Fremen were in Frank Herbert’s Dune series.
Yeah…
Doh!!
Sorry about that, bit of a senior moment there; just goes to show I should reread The Faded Sun trilogy.
The idea of the Mri being in service to humanity does fascinate me, there’s a whole universe of stories in there. Not to mention what might happen when the Mri want to move on.
I have to tell a rather amusing sidelight. I got the idea for Kutath ecology when I contemplated the now-empty marine aquarium I had left—a disaster story in itself. And as I was writing it, I had never read any of Mr. Herbert’s books. I very carefully did not read them, because I wanted not to borrow any ideas accidentally—as can happen, with inspirations.
I actually did read them long after my books were out, greatly enjoyed them, and was quite chagrinned to find out that ‘Duncan’ was a character name in common.
But no worms. No sandworms. Just dusei.
Yeah, mebbe so, but Willie the Bard used Duncan before either of youse.
And as happens, my Campbells of Glenorchy grandfathers alternated Colins and Duncans by generations. You don’t know who’s who without more information. 15th GGF Duncan took part in “the last great medieval battle against a modern army” at Flodden Hill. Some say the Scots never recovered from the loss of their chieftans.
And there was me hoping got hadn’t seen that post CJ… Sorry about that.
Lol—no problem at all. I don’t know how many times I’ve been complimented on the Dragonriders series. Annie was a friend of mine, liked her a lot; but for some reason people get us confused. We did not look a bit alike. Nor is our work that similar. 😉 Frank Herbert and I at least share a name and a desert.
There’s a new Alliance-Union book (or books?) forthcoming, after the current Foreigner book? HURRAY! Wild cheering! Many thanks!
(I do still wish for more Chanur / Compact Space also, but gods-be, more A-U is number one good news!)
Oh, I won’t even ask for hints. Something completely new? Or could it be related to Fletcher, Jeremy, and others on Finity? Or could it be to do with Sandy and the Reilly’s on Lucy / Le Cygne / other names? Or Josh Talley or Signy Mallory? Or…? — Oh, who knows? In any case, a new Alliance-Union book (or trilogy?) would be most, most wonderful!
Downbelow Station and Pride of Chanur, followed by Chanur’s Venture and Merchanter’s Luck, were the first Cherryh novels I read, and will always be favorites. I think I’m due for another reread of Finity’s End. — Andit’s been too long since I’ve rread Tripoint or Rimrunners, Heavy Time or Hellburner. Also 40K in Gehenna. Think I’m due for a spate of rereading, then.
Fun Note: auto-incorrect wanted to insist Rimrunners ought to be Rumrunners. — Never do know what a merchanter or privateer might get up to, now do ye? Right then, ye spacer lads and lasses!
….Oh, they were banned from Argo, everyone. Banned from Argo just for havin’ a little old fun….
Keeping in mind that A/U’s Sol had *just* made contact with the Compact, said new story could be humanity coming back at a better time (i.e. not in the middle of a shooting war) and trying again. I am nourishing hopes of AE2 visiting Meetpoint Station. Or maybe Alliance bringing in a caliban (hinted at in the ending of 40K in Gehenna) to try to “talk” to the knnn? Soooooo many possibilities…
Hard to imagine how Humans could fit into the Compact in any form given Stsho xenophobia… but that is an interesting line of thought (he said).
One of the main threads in the Compact stories has always been Stsho xenophobia, yet they not only coexist but trade with all the other Compact races. Given that, why such extreme reaction to little old blunt-fingered ‘oomans?
The Kif have had far more reason to object to ongoing Human presence, unless Pyanfar’s stabilizing influence has reduced their concern regarding Humans at their backside, so to speak. 😉 If Kif no longer objected to Human trade, that could really open the door. Just imagine the impact to all the Compact races of rejuve! Hani males that live twice as long in their mental and physical prime? Mekt hakiktun (sp?) staying in power longer? –> more stable political policies, perhaps? Or disruptive because those not in power have less chance, or a longer wait, to have their turn?
One thing mentioned in the Chanur books, but not really given much bandwidth in the existing books so far, (hint, hint CJ!) is how much larger a region of space A/U takes up compared to the Compact.
Yes, Compact space is very compact.
I’ve stated various stuff I’d love to see in Compact / Chanur books before, but since I’d already said that long ago, and since I’d rather not impede whatever our generous hostess might be cooking up, if she were ever cooking up a Compact / Chanur story. But there’s so much she could do with that, and more than likely, she’d come up with Something Unexpected anyway. Which is, after all, one of the reasons we like reading her books!
Since she said A/U but did not say Chanur or Compact (et al.) I am supposing, well, it’s probably something in the main A/U branch. That would be most welcome too, however.
See, my problem is, I welcome all of them: A/U, Chanur, Foreigner, the fantasies, other stories…. There are books of CJ’s I like better, but I have never read a story by her I din’t like.
Hush, now! You really don’t want to be confuddling the ideas she really does have in her head! She told you why she hadn’t read “Dune”.
well, she said she didn’t read them until AFTER the Faded Sun trilogy THEN found there was another Duncan…
Sigh, I’m going to have to go digging in boxes (all my books are currently still boxed) or find out if the library has the AU books…
I’ve just re-read ‘Tripoint’ – another great book in the Alliance/Pell group. I wondered whether anyone could answer the following questions that have been puzzling me:
1. From what is written, it seems to be implied that the Fleet person Capella notices on Pell is Mazian himself. However, the individual she meets appears to bear no physical resemblance to Mazian. He seems to be a much coarser and younger person than the one described in previous books featuring Mazian, who always seems to be a cold, but sophisticated and highly intelligent person. Is the person Cappella meets one of his lieutenants, or associates in some other way? What has happened to ‘Europe’? Does the ship that’s blown up later contain the ‘associate’ rather than Mazian?
2. Where does ‘Corinthian’ end up going at the end? Does it go into human space at all, or an offshoot of it?
It is frustrating not knowing the answers to these questions, so I’d really like to know other people’s opinions on this (I may just be being thick)…
The site barfed the first time I tried to post this (comment on my (lack of) writing style, perhaps?), so apologies if it shows up twice.
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Sapphire, it’s been a while since I last re-read Tripoint, but I never felt that this character (didn’t Capella call him ‘Patrick’?) was supposed to be Mazian. He is without question Mazianni, but not the old man himself.
It seems to me that Patrick must be aboard the freighter that gets blown away, since Capella is worried that they will be able to follow Corinthian, even in hyperspace (which they end up doing). How else than his ability to, like Capella, stay awake during Jump?
We do not know where they end up–we leave Corinthian partway through a string of Jumps which leads off in a new and, to them, unknown direction. There’s a green world at the end of that route, because Capella says there are leaves there. That means trees, or at least a shrubbery. 😀
Since there’s no mention of aliens, this must not be another back route into the Compact! :-O
Thank you for the response, Jcrow. I thought I might have missed something, hence my query. 🙂
I would be a bit disappointed if it was ‘Patrick’ who was blown away – he is a compelling character!
Interesting to speculate where ‘Corinthian’ ended up. Perhaps we’ll find out some day. I like the Hawkins trio – and Tink.
Oh, I thought ‘Mazian’s’ Christian name was ‘Patrick’. Now I’ve confused myself. 🙁
Conrad.
@Sapphire, authors always leave a few loose threads they can pick up in a sequel, deliberately I suppose. Best not to complain, eh? 😉
Thank you, Paul – but I wasn’t complaining, merely hoping that someone could answer my queries!
I don’t know whether people are aware of this site, I only just came across it.
http://alliance-union.wikia.com/
I’ve only looked at a couple of pages but it seems quite good.
It looks as if it could benefit from some care and feeding – if anyone else is interested in updating it (I’ll probably be doing a bit)
Mike
CJ, speaking of A/U novels and such, I thought you had given Google a cease-and-desist order a while back regarding them putting your books online? Downbelow Station is present en complet at books.google.com. Since I am at work, I wanted to verify my increasingly-bad memory regarding Mazian’s first name, so decided to take the direct approach and Googled “mazian’s first name”. First hit was the whole damn book! (as happens, I had it right).
Stinky bastards!
And thank you again, Jcrow – it was indeed ‘Conrad’. That part of my query has now been clarified in my absent-minded, over-full brain of limited capacity (I read both Downbelow Station and Merchanter’s Luck only a couple of months ago!). 🙂
relayed that to DAW.
The Company War Board Game contains an article, by CJ, on The Company War. Does anyone know if it’s available anywhere?
Mike
It’s defunct, but some of that info is going to be in the new book, perhaps as an appendix. One of the really fun bits is incorporating new astronomy into the old stuff, which still works without major fuss—I picked my stars fairly carefully. And they are real stars.
That sounds fantastic. Are you able to say whether the new book will be set within the Alliance/Merchanter/Fleet world, or would you rather keep that quiet for now? For me, it has always been the space-based books that have worked the best (those images of ships ‘rolling around in the dark’ you create!). My love of Science Fiction as a child began with such books – simple but powerful works from the Golden Age by people like the early Clarke, Heinlein, Andre Norton and James White – and has stayed with me. Perhaps they have that sense of wonder that I’m always looking for, and which is lacking (for me) in standard novels. Of course, the CJ books are more complex and include far deeper characterisation of the protagonists, but nonetheless they contain the elements of SF that I am so addicted to.
Thanks 🙂 I’ll look forward to it.
Mike
What’s this I see when I check this site? Alliance Rising: could it be that this will be another fabulous title dealing with the Alliance world? It’s probably my favourite of CJ’s ‘worlds’, since my preference is for ‘hard SF’ with great tension, action, characters and stories. Is it possible to have a little information about this, if it is indeed what I think it is, like the date of publication, for example?
I just finished The Faded Sun and something occurred to me about half way through that stuck in my head: Duncan is Azi isn’t he?