This will finish this Foreigner arc. Or start another. Maybe both.
One of these days I’m going to do a different thing, but right now, this arc has been so long, covering the last year since their return—I just have to do this one.
Strange things flit through my mind, after going through the genealogy thing—it’d be interesting to do Clan of the Cave Bear MY way, vignettes of certain ancestors…
The trouble is, there are so many, once the Visigoths get going…
Ah, well, that one will likely never get done.
I did leave Ari in a bit of a quandary.
I have quite a few stories I could pick up.
I have a notion for another Foreigner short story in the meanwhile. I’m thinking about it. It would appear in fairly short order, once I figure it out.
Here’s a thought. Not wishing to offend, but most of your women are pretty scarey – Morgaine, Pyanfur, Bet Yeager, Isildi, Jago, etc. Many of them are proving that they can compete (sucessfully) with men in a world defined by men. The only one of your women I would really describe as feminine is Ninevrise, who is fairly shadowy. I would love to see you stretch yourself in a different direction and write about a real, feminine, sympathetic woman whose strength is in nurturing, endurance, understanding, nest building and providing a sense of safety and purpose. Please not an Earth Mother(!) and, given that your stories tend to be action/adventure centered it might be difficult to explore that type of character, but if you are thinking along the lines of Clan of the Cave Bear, it might be possible. Just a thought anyway.
I think probably the one closest to that is Melein (Faded Sun), or Mim,(Brothers of Earth.) They have more patience than most. I think my real problem is that I have to be patient with what I do for a living (writers don’t get a result for nearly two years: basic delayed gratification) — so writing about people being patient… I tend to give them a really big reason to be. Interesting question. I’m not at all competitive: neither, really, are people I write about. I have patience at getting to a goal…but, like, running a 7 mile race, I don’t look at the people beside me nor care about when they reach it. I care about when *I* get there…is that patient? Because I know I’m not going to beat the people who actually run; but that’s not the deal. Curious thought.
Melein is very much in the mould of Morgaine. “I’ve got this destiny, follow or go away. I will not swerve!”
I’d be happy to read ANY tale you feel like telling, and I always look forward to April and the new Foreigner, every year. But I’d also be lying if I didn’t admit that the Company Wars books and the Chanur books are my absolute favourites – thus, like Aja Jin I secretly wish for some Alliance-Union/Compact combo, a? Or – whatever happened to the Corinthian, after the story closes in Tripoint?
But don’t listen to us. Follow your heart!
I have to admit, I’ve always harbored a desperate desire for another Morgaine/Vanye adventure! I hope you enjoy wherever your fancy takes you. 🙂
Thre is another book of yours that I adore and I don’t see mentioned as often as it should be: Hunter of Worlds. Every time I read that book, I feel as though I come out of it speaking at least two new languages.
It’s also the book I suggest to any of my authors who even remotely says ‘Conglang’ for how it should be done properly in a book.
My. I think I’m going to be re-reading something as soon as I clear up even a little time. (I just restarted the Two Year Novel Cours on Forward Motion and have 175 people signed up. I’ve also just posted the last three chapters of Paid in Gold and Blood (fantasy) on my blog. The links to all the chapters are here: http://zette.blogspot.com/p/paid-in-gold-and-blood-links.html Comments would be very welcome.)
Everything is crazy here. Just crazy. But reading good fiction keeps me sane!
That point about strong female characters and femininity and nurturing —
I see that as two things: One, the personal style of the woman or girl character. Two, the needs of the situation she’s in and what role she’s in at a given time.
For example, Pyanfar and Hilfy and the other Pride crewwomen do have their feminine and nurturing sides, but those are within their culture’s ways of being womanly/feminine and nurturing/motherly/sisterly, and mostly get expressed when there’s time enough for the luxury to do so, though they’re aware of it even under duress.
Er, there’s also the question, which comes first, the femininity or the woman? Meaning, isn’t a woman feminine by definition in all she does? Is it a cultural bias that “feminine” and “girly” and “womanly” equate to certain roles and ways of expressing oneself? (And likewise about “masculine” and any case where gender roles are, by necessity or otherwise, mixed or reversed? I’m thinking there of women as leaders/commanders, men as nurturers, typical things like that. I’m also thinking of innate personality and orientation.)
This maybe comes because my grandmother was a very independent-minded lady but very girly/feminine. She was very liberated in one sense, very traditional/conservative in another, and happy that way. My mother was also independent-minded, outspoken, smart lady, good in business…and occasionally sharp-tongued when not happy. And yet she was my mom 🙂 and loved me a lot. (Hah, and I have a great deal of my mom and grandmother in me, besides what’s from my dad. Enough so that as I went into my teens and adult years, my mom and I clashed too often. I hadn’t yet made peace with or understood some things about her or me; didn’t until after she was gone, unfortunately.) Also, my dad (and his dad, I think) *liked* having a strong woman for a partner. My dad said once, he didn’t want a woman who’d just sit there and be meek and walked on. He wanted a partner and liked the challenge, wanted someone smart and capable. (No, neither mom nor dad were perfect about all that, but mostly good, better than a lot of marriages.) My dad’s dad divided the farm so each child got an equal share, instead of all to my dad, and he was raised that everyone did whatever work was needed, no “women’s” or “men’s” work. — Add into this that as I grew up, I discovered I was gay, and I had issues with this, and there are all sorts of stereotyped expectations about what it is to be a gay male. — So yes, I have perhaps a somewhat different take on the whole aspect of male and female roles in life. In any case, I’m comfortable with most of the characters in CJ’s books, the strong women make sense to me. The strong men do. That these strong men and women also have weaknesses and issues, makes perfect sense to me.
But I do take the point that maybe a more feminine/girly, nurturing female character or two…or perhaps some less traditional male characters too… might be… not so much a new, untried direction, since I think they’re already there in your books… but perhaps it might be a challenge of degree or quality/nuance of characterization?
Also, for what it’s worth, each reread of the Chanur books shows more of the quiet discussion on gender role themes in there. It doesn’t seem to be a preachy or even a major theme, but it’s there, and I like the shades of meaning in it.
(And in Foreigner, well, Ilisidi rocks! LOL.)
As always I would like the answer to the question “Where is Mazian?” To me that is a running theme from Heavy Time/Hellburner through Merchanter’s Luck even into Cyteen. We kinda know where he is up and down the timeline but he hasn’t told us his story yet.
In a completely unrelated note, I really enjoyed the Latin lessons on your website. Any chance there will be more?
Oh, my. I SHOULD. I’ve officially given up reworking the old transparencies. I just need to scan them and get them up.
If you keep on writing things, I’ll keep on enjoying them. However, if people are making a list of their favourite sequel fantasies, I’ll add the Caith and Dubhain stories to it as well (though we got a new edit and compilation of those recently!). 🙂
Shoot, I’d LIKE more Foreigner books, but I’ll take whatever! 🙂
I recently reread a whole swathe of Alliance/Union books, and it was like snuggling up in a comfortable warm blanket with steaming coffee. I really would like to see more in that universe, although I appreciate this is not a democracy. 😉
On a related note, is Regenesis ever likely to be available as an ebook? I would love to support CJ by buying it direct from here, but after shipping to the UK it’s $25 for a paperback, and I don’t really have room for any more books in my flat anyway.
On the prehistory note, this article is more about scientific illiteracy, but perhaps notes an opportunity.
http://news.yahoo.com/neanderthal-cloning-chatter-highlights-scientific-illiteracy-051317850.html
The idea BGrandrath mentioned to learn about Mazian is something that didn’t occur to me, but I quite like. And Ari/Cyteen folk in general!
Oh, I also LOVE your short story collection. I’ve given copies to several people over the years.
I’ve been reading your books for many years and love them all. I expect it’s difficult to go back to things that you haven’t revisited in many years, but I did adore Hunter of Worlds and would love to read more about those characters.
Otherwise, more Fortress books would be just wonderful.
Working for a writer, I know how annoying it can be to get sequel requests, so take it with a grain of salt, but yeah…count me among those who would love to see the Chanur books hook up with Alliance/Union in a more epic way than they’re currently connected.
Still, what I care about most is always the characters…I’d love to see Hilfy and Hallan meet Capella and Tom. For some reason I love the “people who are conscious during jump” concept. I’ve often wondered why I like it so much, since the restriction that normally you can’t be conscious during jump is something you made up in the first place, but there you go. Also, I really don’t know how close to parallel the timelines of the Chanur books and Tripoint are; they may not be contemporaries at all!
So exciting! And as much as I crave a new Foreigner book (well, I almost always do that, when I’m not reading one at the moment;) ), I would like to see for example what happeded after the end of The Cuckoo’s egg…
But write whatever pleases you the most 🙂
And…Hooray for the Foreigner short story!
BlueCatShip, I thank you for your post because you’ve pointed out something that I often feel like screaming to the world: The words “strong” and “feminine” are not opposites, nor mutually exclusive. So, yay for female characters who are fully-formed beings; not “just” feminine, not “just” nurturing, not “just” kick-ass tough, but all of these at once. 😉 The difference lies in the degree, and in the expression, of those (and other) qualities.
Thanks, SilverGlass. 🙂
On the idea of the Compact meeting Alliance/Union, I’m mixed. The Compact is such a good story-canvas it can stand on its own. Though at some point, I’d expect some gods-be unlikely thing would happen (natural or species-made) and one or more species would get mixed up in things again. Humans meddle, as River Tam noted. Other species are wont to meddle also. My own preference leans toward stories (more than one book? :: puppy-dog-eyes :: ) set in the Compact, exploring hani and the other species more. — But I would not say no to whatever ker Cherryh has up her sleeve regarding this. So much room in that corner of the galaxy for stories! Not that I’m, y’know, biased, fanboy and all that…. 😉 :angel:
As others have said — We fans may have stories we’d like to see, or more of certain books. — But if you really get down to it, if asked, we’d want more of every book and new stuff besides. LOL. Greedy readers! And most of us motivated enough to post here would be thrilled simply to have more Cherryh books to read, whatever you choose to write.
Besides, it has to be what CJC likes, or you won’t be writing it. 😉 This is fine, as it guarantees another good read for us fans, and definite sales.
I would vote for a new Chanur first and then possibly a new Alliance-Union…but…
I haven’t read everything yet! Heh.
But Chanur was my first series introducing me to your wonderful worlds…Pyanfur holds a special little spot in my heart 🙂
I’d say the continuation of Ari’s story is first on my list of sequels.
Then I’d like to know what happened with the characters of Tripoint. It ended with a lot of intriguing questions unanswered.
Anything Alliance/Union would be nice.
While I really like the books about Bren, the story has now become a bit too large for me. Add to that that every book is only part of a large story, not a full story in itself, and you have to read tree books to get one full part of the whole story.
Anyway, I’m grateful that you are still writing.
Write something that you enjoy.
ericf