Do not get into this page if you are trying to read a book. This is for after you’ve read it. Likewise follow the custom of putting a subject and then dropping down a number of lines to make it possible for a reader to duck out if they don’t want the information yet.
I will answer questions about pronunciation, etc, all the little questions I’m normally asked. I won’t discuss things that disturb my creative process, like where I’m going or such. You can theorize among yourselves.
Hello,
This is my first post. First some praise of course…
My Aunt and her wife, a librarian, set me toward your works just over a year ago. I have always been a SciFi fan but sacrificed a lot of pleasure reading during college and was looking for what to start back into pleasure reading when I was steered toward you, CJ. It’s been an explosive relaunch of pleasure reading for sure. Must have read over 20 works to your credit since May of ’08.
Regarding my questions for this posting…
I’m trying to understand your ideas and application of n-space tech in the Foreigner series. If those concepts were consistent as well, or if you later revised them to suit a purpose.
From the start of reading your Foreigner series (Having already read a bit of the A/U series) I had noticed differences in the concepts of n-space transit tech. However, as I got to the second story arc in the Foreigner series, I had to look back into the initial scenes of the first book.
In the first book, you depicted the application of the n-space tech to be quite similar to the tech in the A/U universe; pilots in both needed to have chemical adjustment to retain some/full/any awareness in n-space transit. I assumed that that meant human passengers in the Foreigner universe wouldn’t experience n-space transit like in A/U. You also mentioned the bridge crew of the Phoenix had nutri-pack setups and depicted them having a bit of a re-coup period after re-entry from n-space.
However, in the second story arc, the bridge of the Phoenix and n-space transit tech is depicted differently. It seems passengers only experience a mental numbing in n-space and only require chemical adjustment to counter-act that. Or is there more to that, especially with the adjustment.
My other (major) question…
What exactly happened to the Phoenix to make it lost? A reoccurring theme in the depicted application of you n-space concepts is that there is a discernible, some-what-approximate-parallel-linearity-ish relationship to directional transit of real-space compared to n-space (effected in slight degrees from “lumpy space”). So if they weren’t that far off a straight line… how can they get so lost. Even an approximation from a projected cone of their transit could point to possible galaxies for them to have been lost to if something were to have increased their transit speed.
Perhaps my sought realism of the tech just limit the dream and story. However I had been taken in so quickly by your work for how realistically you present your worlds. I’d be grateful if you’d share your concepts app of n-space tech and how your app of it a bit more with the board.
Thank you, CJ. Only two hours before getting on here did I finish Conspirator. I love your work, as it has encouraged my creativity and wandering research as well. Looking forward to putting the release date of your next “Bren book” on my calendar.
Lol—well, basically, I had written the first part of Foreigner only as an exercise for ‘me’, and the story originally started with Bren in the bedroom, but my editor tacked that on.
To keep my editors (2 different companies) from feuding with me in the middle, I diverged the technology. The contracts specified which universe what was in, and I didn’t want WWIII over the fine points. So I increasingly diverged the tech. 😉
Another question about the Rusalka series… did you mean for Chernevog to be associated with the Russian god Chernobog, or is that merely coincidence? If it’s deliberate, you might want to mention it in the notes for the story, since a lot of people aren’t up on Russian folklore.
hehe, we need a thread where we can request short stories! 🙂 I want a continuation of Tripoint. Where were they going at the end? 😀 Need a Tripoint duology, or … a book of short stories. Lessee…
Where Tom and Saby and Capella were going at the end of Tripoint. What had Fleet discovered? Gehenna? or a whole new world/storyline?
Pyanfar heads for Earth but happens and winds up visiting Pell instead and meeting Alliance by accident… or Union.
What happens with Hallam?
🙂
er.. insert +plotstuff just before happens. 😛
I remember running a ‘Traveller’ campaign based in the Alliance / Union universe. It was a thing of beauty 🙂
Wayspooled – page up a bit and I think you’ll see we already started lobbying for a Tripoint sequel. And I don’t think it can be Gehenna – I can’t remember the dates, but when Alliance rediscovered Gehenna (quite a bit after the events in Tripoint) there was no sign of the Fleet, nor were they around when Union planted the original spoiler colony.
(My condolences on your recent loss)
My question today is one triggered by an earlier comment you made in this thread that no Atevi were willing to go live among the humans. Yet of course Bren’s ability to think and act — to almost become — an Atevi are what enables his success in the role. There is a thematic similarity there with many of your other characters as they encounter and adapt to alien species. A few relevant analogues:
Sten Duncan – Mri
Sten’s Boss – Regul
Raen a Sul Meth-Maren – Majat
Kurt Morgan – Nemet
Thorn – Shonunin
Rarely do alien species try to adapt themselves to the human reality they encounter; it is almost always the other way around in your writing. Adaptive-friendly humans are generally portrayed positively in your worlds (Elai, Bren, John DeFranco, Sam Merrit, Procyon, etc.) whereas those who oppose adaptation are generally presented as antagonists. Wave Without a Shore (the novel) is an extreme example of this.
Is this a deliberate point you are making about human intelligence and adaptability? Or does it simply reflect a philosophical preference for open-mindedness and flexibility on your part? Or perhaps I’m reading more into this than is really there. Heh, it must be odd to you that people spend so much time pondering such things about your writing!
It’s actually a comment: one of the persistent traits that bridges gaps in human history is what we call the Stockholm Syndrome. I think it’s survival-positive. This has operated no few times to create personal relationships between warring parties, was formalized into the European concept of hostages, operated in China, and various other places. It is one reason why we haven’t wiped each other out.
As far as the lack of aliens in human society goes, the reader will identify far more readily with a human in an alien environment than vice-versa. It would be incredibly difficult to portray things from an alien point of view. The closest I can think of is Skukkuk trying to fit into the Hani crew in the Chanur books, and even then we get it from Py’s viewpoint, with her suppositions about Kif psych.
I think you’re right in that CJ’s characters may reflect her own personality to a certain extent.
Ms Cherryh – who is your favourite character, and they are they anything like your good self? Are you Ilisidi or Bet? Or Mallory?
But, in all honesty – isn’t Py an alien? Personally I view the existence of Tully mainly as a way to say that what defines ‘humanity’ is open for debate…
Ask me on any given day, and it’s subject to change. 😉
Ms. Cherryh
As I’ve said, your creation of characters with depth, personality and humanity sets you far apart from any other writer I have read. I don’t know how you are able to do it, but I wish I could 🙂
I’m wondering — what inspired the creation of Meg and Sal from Heavy Time/Hellburner? Were they based upon people that you have met?
I kinda picture Meg as tall and slender, and Sal a bit shorter and stockier. If I were an artist, I’d have no problem drawing them. As I have no artistic skill, they end up looking like Abott and Costello.
I hope to see them in future works. If not, please give them my well wishes 🙂
Walt
I will. Thank you.
Hi Bulsifer!
Yes, but let’s be honest, Py isn’t very alien for an alien! We can identify with her drives and ambitions quite easily, and the hani social structure is pretty familiar from wildlife documentaries (Pride of Chanur – geddit?)
The Mahen are more alien – their society operates on rules we find hard to fathom. And the kif don’t really have a society at all.
I like Meg and Sal too. At one point I wondered if some combination of rejuv and ship-time meant that Meg was Capella (similar speech patterns plus Megs claim to be able to feel where the Sun was) but Ms C shot me down on that one years ago. I’d love to know what happened to them beyond the accepted fact that they ended up on Norway.
Spider, I agree on Meg an Sal. But, to the point – doesn’t we find the Hani similar to us because we WANT to? I think at least the mahendo’sat as similar to us (or dissimilar) as the hani, if we stay in that part of space… The kif and the stsho we know less about but if any of those had been the centerpoint/main pov we would certainly have empathised with any of them as well – they are less similar to the hani than they are to humans, whatever human is.
We get to learn a lot more about the hani, and theirs is the perspective the story is told from, is all the difference. IMHO.
Would like to hear some reflection on this from the creator of these most splendid species!
Even if it’s just a ‘HA!’
😉
Busifer
That’s an interesting thought about Meg and Capella. Seems that they came from a similar cultural background — being that the old crews from the original fleet, like Meg and Sal came from the belt and used Rabspeak — maybe the ‘newer’ recruits to the fleet would end up speaking and acting the same way, picking up speech patterns from their crewmates.
A funny thought comes to mind: my stepdaughter is Chinese and when she came to the States, her english was pretty basic. She spoke english with chinese sentence structure. Now she’s been in the US for almost five years and is talking like a typical American youngster. Not too long ago she told me that she wanted faster internet because “what we have now really, really sucks!”
I just had to laugh 🙂
Ha. ;
You have before you in a tunnel (a la well-known Trek episode) a heaving black lump of alien protoplasm that has been wreaking havoc on your crew and scaring the daylights out of everybody. It’s a monster. It has no rationale.
Then you see a nest of eggs.
The creature moves between you and them.
Now you have a very different feeling about this monster. It’s a mother. It’s doing what mothers do.
The change is in us. The creature is doing what it has done all along.
😀
And – thanks!
Is it possible to see aliens through anything but human-colored lenses? To me, the real question, or fascination, with aliens is how they help define what it means to be human. The Stockholm Syndrome phenomenon CJ mentioned I’ve always imagined like a movie trailer voice-over, “There is always one who will go out to the unknown…..” Actually I believe there are many who would go out, and I like that about humans. It gives me hope sometimes.
CJ, I didn’t see any audiobooks by you on Amazon.com and I was wondering if anyone is ever likely to make one or if the alien languages embedded in the stories makes it unfeasible. I don’t have any experience with audiobooks, I was just curious.
I want to see someone try to pronounce <>’s name!
I actually have done readings from Voyager in Night. I had a water glass, a knife, and various other noise-makers, and it was a trip trying to remember which was which.
There’s been a pirate audiobook, but no real ones.
Oh, I’d really REALLY like some real ones. I love to listen to old favourites when I need to relax or when travelling… Maybe another thing for Closed Circle? I’d DEFINITELY buy whichever title was available (even if I secretly wish for Chanur, for some reason).