#cjcherryh — Public Fediverse posts

I heard earlier today that C. J. Cherryh is officially retiring from writing... so let me share a couple of my favorites of hers.

Pride of Chanur. This blew my mind the first time through -- I hadn't encountered another book from solely the alien point of view. (This may be an influence on my writing.)

Fortress in the Eye of Time. Slow, pensive, and atmospheric epic fantasy. More gradual discovery, mystery, and politics than battles.

#books #fantasy #scifi #cjcherryh

Sad news today: C.J. Cherryh has announced that there will be no more books from her: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1F27iFDAzo/

I've greatly enjoyed all her works, and even the recent "Hinder Stars" (collaboratively written with her longtime partner Jane Fancher) show an ability to build a tense, engaging narrative out of what is essentially an economic mystery.

Her works engage with "the other" in a way that insists thinking beings don't necessary all think alike, while also showing an optimistic view of human adaptability and versatility.

One of my favorite stories about Cherryh's work comes from a different author, Jo Walton, who has talked about playing Elite with her partner and imagining themselves as a Family on a trading ship, splitting the economic and navigation responsibilities between the pair of them.

Her impact and output have been immense, and I'm glad we get to keep her for a while longer, even if "the body of work is what it is."

#ScienceFiction #CJCherryh

C J Cherryh says she will not be writing any more fiction. She's had a lot of health issues and she's in her eighties, so I expected it was coming, but I still hoped for another book, as you do. I am just glad she is well enough to tell us herself.

Now seems a good time for a reread--Alliance universe? Atevi? Mri? Chanur? They are all so twisty and good.

#CJCherryh #ScienceFiction

Zuletzt beendetes Fantasy Buch: "Storm Season - Thieves World #4" - High stakes für die Diebeswelt, da immer mehr die Götter sich direkt einmischen. Verstehe dass das einer UB Kollegin zuviel war, aber mir gefällt es weil die Entwicklung in sich stimmig bleibt. #ThievesWorld #RobertLynnAsprin #CJCherryh #JanetMorris #DianaLPaxson #LynnAbbey #AndrewJOffutt #Fantasyromane #Amreading

I've been struggling with my sci-fi book for quite some time now, mostly because I couldn't come up with interesting/believable alien civilizations.

I found an old article written by one of my favorite writers, CJ Cherryh, that's really helped. She talks about designing the planet first, and then writing how life would evolve based on the conditions of the sun and the planet.

Fascinating stuff, and you can read it here (pg 24)

https://fanac.org/fanzines/Spang_Blah/Spang_Blah15-finder-1977-Aut_US.pdf

#scifi #writing #cjcherryh

I'm finally ready to revisit #DoctorWho: Battlefield this weekend on #CRRRRS #UK #SFFH #Podcast. Sorry it took so long, but these things take an absolute age to write up. Below: #Morgaine, oops, sorry, Queen #Bavmorda from #Willow, oops, sorry, the time-travelling warrior from #CJCherryh's series. Comments? Yes, that's what I thought. Why do I even bother? You know what? I changed my mind, I'm not that sorry it's late. So there.

I'm finally ready to revisit #DoctorWho: Battlefield this weekend on #CRRRRS #UK #SFFH #Podcast. Sorry it took so long, but these things take an absolute age to write up. Below: #Morgaine, oops, sorry, Queen #Bavmorda from #Willow, oops, sorry, the time-travelling warrior from #CJCherryh's series. Comments? Yes, that's what I thought. Why do I even bother? You know what? I changed my mind, I'm not that sorry it's late. So there.

I'm finally ready to revisit #DoctorWho: Battlefield this weekend on #CRRRRS #UK #SFFH #Podcast. Sorry it took so long, but these things take an absolute age to write up. Below: #Morgaine, oops, sorry, Queen #Bavmorda from #Willow, oops, sorry, the time-travelling warrior from #CJCherryh's series. Comments? Yes, that's what I thought. Why do I even bother? You know what? I changed my mind, I'm not that sorry it's late. So there.

I'm finally ready to revisit #DoctorWho: Battlefield this weekend on #CRRRRS #UK #SFFH #Podcast. Sorry it took so long, but these things take an absolute age to write up. Below: #Morgaine, oops, sorry, Queen #Bavmorda from #Willow, oops, sorry, the time-travelling warrior from #CJCherryh's series. Comments? Yes, that's what I thought. Why do I even bother? You know what? I changed my mind, I'm not that sorry it's late. So there.

I'm finally ready to revisit #DoctorWho: Battlefield this weekend on #CRRRRS #UK #SFFH #Podcast. Sorry it took so long, but these things take an absolute age to write up. Below: #Morgaine, oops, sorry, Queen #Bavmorda from #Willow, oops, sorry, the time-travelling warrior from #CJCherryh's series. Comments? Yes, that's what I thought. Why do I even bother? You know what? I changed my mind, I'm not that sorry it's late. So there.

GATE OF IVREL (1975)
Acrylic and Oil on Canvas Board - 17" x 18"

The context for this commission—quite possibly lost in the long arc of our careers—was as C.J. Cherryh’s debut novel. It was a unique assignment coming in the first year of my career when I was almost exclusively paired with well established authors. 1/4

#fantasy #illustration #morgaine #cjcherryh #dawbooks

GATE OF IVREL (1975)
Acrylic and Oil on Canvas Board - 17" x 18"

The context for this commission—quite possibly lost in the long arc of our careers—was as C.J. Cherryh’s debut novel. It was a unique assignment coming in the first year of my career when I was almost exclusively paired with well established authors. 1/4

#fantasy #illustration #morgaine #cjcherryh #dawbooks

GATE OF IVREL (1975)
Acrylic and Oil on Canvas Board - 17" x 18"

The context for this commission—quite possibly lost in the long arc of our careers—was as C.J. Cherryh’s debut novel. It was a unique assignment coming in the first year of my career when I was almost exclusively paired with well established authors. 1/4

#fantasy #illustration #morgaine #cjcherryh #dawbooks

GATE OF IVREL (1975)
Acrylic and Oil on Canvas Board - 17" x 18"

The context for this commission—quite possibly lost in the long arc of our careers—was as C.J. Cherryh’s debut novel. It was a unique assignment coming in the first year of my career when I was almost exclusively paired with well established authors. 1/4

#fantasy #illustration #morgaine #cjcherryh #dawbooks

CHANUR’S BREAKOUT (1991)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30” X 22”

An opportunity to paint C.J. Cherryh’s catlike Hani was always welcome. I was fortunate to have done several covers for this popular series, yet for CHANUR’S LEGACY I came up with more new concepts than ever before. 1/5

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #illustration #cjcherryh #hani #chanur #dawbooks

CHANUR’S BREAKOUT (1991)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30” X 22”

An opportunity to paint C.J. Cherryh’s catlike Hani was always welcome. I was fortunate to have done several covers for this popular series, yet for CHANUR’S LEGACY I came up with more new concepts than ever before. 1/5

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #illustration #cjcherryh #hani #chanur #dawbooks

CHANUR’S BREAKOUT (1991)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30” X 22”

An opportunity to paint C.J. Cherryh’s catlike Hani was always welcome. I was fortunate to have done several covers for this popular series, yet for CHANUR’S LEGACY I came up with more new concepts than ever before. 1/5

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #illustration #cjcherryh #hani #chanur #dawbooks

CHANUR’S BREAKOUT (1991)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30” X 22”

An opportunity to paint C.J. Cherryh’s catlike Hani was always welcome. I was fortunate to have done several covers for this popular series, yet for CHANUR’S LEGACY I came up with more new concepts than ever before. 1/5

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #illustration #cjcherryh #hani #chanur #dawbooks

I've finished: Foreigner by C. J. Cherryh

Until lately I was unaware of C. J. Cherryh's work. She is one of those authors I missed out on before the internet made buying books internationally practical.

So you could say I finally popped my cherry :^).

Foreigner is dated in some ways but as usual it is the women authors that do better over time as they tend to deal with more progressive ideas.

Cherryh breaks expectations as she makes the human colony the threatened side in a fragile peace accord with the local aliens.

Bren Cameron is the Paidhi, a human ambassador to the Atevi.

While capable, Bren isn't a competence porn protagonist. He is out of his depth for most of the novel and only comes through by the skin of his teeth.

We follow Bren's account of events, keeping us confused until things start to come together.

I understand things are clearer in the subsequent novels. I was glad to experience Foreigner without any spoilers.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/23ae3070-0c88-4571-b1b2-5ba56dd69d90

@bookstodon @audiobooks #ScienceFiction #CJCherryh #bookstodon #AudioBooks

EXILE'S GATE (1987)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 32" x 20"

The fourth and last of my Morgaine covers for C.J. Cherryh. The first was for her debut novel Gate of Ivrel, and this assignment came over a decade later.

Cover illustration for EXILE'S GATE by C.J. Cherryh (DAW)

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/exiles-gate/

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #morgaine #dawbooks

EXILE'S GATE (1987)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 32" x 20"

The fourth and last of my Morgaine covers for C.J. Cherryh. The first was for her debut novel Gate of Ivrel, and this assignment came over a decade later.

Cover illustration for EXILE'S GATE by C.J. Cherryh (DAW)

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/exiles-gate/

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #morgaine #dawbooks

EXILE'S GATE (1987)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 32" x 20"

The fourth and last of my Morgaine covers for C.J. Cherryh. The first was for her debut novel Gate of Ivrel, and this assignment came over a decade later.

Cover illustration for EXILE'S GATE by C.J. Cherryh (DAW)

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/exiles-gate/

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #morgaine #dawbooks

EXILE'S GATE (1987)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 32" x 20"

The fourth and last of my Morgaine covers for C.J. Cherryh. The first was for her debut novel Gate of Ivrel, and this assignment came over a decade later.

Cover illustration for EXILE'S GATE by C.J. Cherryh (DAW)

https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/exiles-gate/

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #morgaine #dawbooks

WELL OF SHIUAN (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite - 24" X 17"

One of the most intriguing aspects to the character Morgaine created by C.J. Cherryh is her spell-sword. 1/3

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #morgaine

WELL OF SHIUAN (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite - 24" X 17"

One of the most intriguing aspects to the character Morgaine created by C.J. Cherryh is her spell-sword. 1/3

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #morgaine

WELL OF SHIUAN (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite - 24" X 17"

One of the most intriguing aspects to the character Morgaine created by C.J. Cherryh is her spell-sword. 1/3

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #morgaine

WELL OF SHIUAN (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite - 24" X 17"

One of the most intriguing aspects to the character Morgaine created by C.J. Cherryh is her spell-sword. 1/3

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #morgaine

"I detest a man that won't know any #gravy he doesn't imminently have to."

#CJCherryh

#HashtagGames

#GravyAFamousSong

@golgaloth @futurebird

One thing I like in #CJCherryh's "Serpent's Reach" was the idea that each majat (space ant) was an individual, but each time two majat meet they "take taste", i.e. exchange saliva, which updates their memories to be identical.

#vendredilecture avec Les Champs de la Lune, de Catherine Dufour qui s'annonce vraiment bien.

Pour la suite, #crackage sur une ancienne série de SF / Fantasy de C.J. Cherryh: Le Cycle de Morgane, trouvée sur ABE Books. Ma PaL est maintenant à 1m42...

via #wikipedia

"Ce cycle explore un thème inédit de la Science-fiction sous une approche Heroïc-Fantasy : Comment empêcher que l'Humanité ne disparaisse dans un paradoxe temporel, comme l'ont fait les deux espèces ayant découvert le voyage spatio-temporel avant elle ?

Un groupe s'est consacré à la fermeture des « Portes » émaillant les restes de l'empire stellaire Qjal. Universellement détestés, les Qjals sont une espèce presque éteinte. Les mondes qu'ils ont colonisés ou fait pousser se sont effondrés avec eux, retournant à une organisation médiévale. Mais les très rares Qjals restants y ont survécu en volant les corps d'un seigneur local après l'autre.

Quand commence le premier tome, l'un d'eux vient d'anéantir quatre des cinq derniers fermeurs de Porte et toute la chevalerie du continent. Seule survivante d'une armée énorme, Morgane est maintenant traitée en sorcière et en traîtresse par les clans guerriers qui ont survécu. Aux abois, elle n'échappe à ses poursuivants qu'en faisant un bond dans le temps à travers une Porte.

Vanye est le fils bâtard d'un seigneur de ces clans. Banni pour avoir tué son demi-frère en légitime défense, il est devenu un Illin (une sorte de Ronin) obligé d'offrir pour un an la vassalité la plus abjecte à tout seigneur qui le réquisitionne. Sa route croise Morgane au moment où elle réapparaît. Les sagas des bardes ne laissent aucun doute sur qui elle est et ce qu'elle a fait 100 ans plus tôt… ainsi que sur ses droits seigneuriaux.

Elle doit continuer sa mission à n'importe quel prix. Pour ce faire, elle a besoin de quelqu'un comprenant le monde moyenâgeux et assez fiable pour veiller sur son repos. Deux sens du devoir se télescopent."

Miam, ça fait envie!
#CJCherryh #ScienceFiction #Fantasy

FOREIGNER (1994)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board

Two hundred years ago, a spaceship dropped out of hyperspace at the wrong destination. The human colonists find the planet below inhabited by a race advanced only to the level of steam-engine technology. 1/4

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh

@reginasbread

Let me introduce you to Pyanfar Chanur, hard-boiled middle-aged merchant captain in CJ Cherryh’s wonderful Chanur series in her Alliance-Union Universe. When human contact threatens to destabilize the multi species trade Compact her felinoid Haan belong to, she finds herself taking on leadership no one had expected.

Start with ‘Pride of Chanur’.

Cherryh is a Grand Master of Science Fiction, a 3 time Hugo award winner. Many of her books are from the perspective of characters adjacent to major events.

@MichaelWhelan did the wonderful cover.

https://mastodon.art/@MichaelWhelan/113991483402844392

#SciFi #Fiction #Bookstodon #CJCherryh #WomenWriters #WomenInSciFi #ScienceFiction

THE PRIDE OF CHANUR (1981)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 24" x 17"

The book that introduced the Hani to the world. In C.J. Cherryh's first novel in this series, the cat-like aliens find the human stowaway on their ship. 1/4

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh

@TheresaReason

If you haven’t read anything by Grand Master CJ Cherryh, would highly recommend checking her out.

She’s prolific and has written in a wide range of subgenres. Rereading her books is my usual starting point when I’m unwell.

Her two best novel Hugo winners are massive books - Downbelow Station and Cyteen. But she also wrote many of the short novels that were the norm in the late 1970s and early 80s.

Hard Military SF, political crises, diplomatic complexities horror, fantasy, found family and multigenerational saga are all represented across the scope of her writing.

Both Arkady Martin and Ann Leckie acknowledge her influence on their work. The author of The Expanse should.

#Bookstodon #ScienceFiction #CJCherryh

@sundogplanets

Many critics have argued that multiple Hugo winner CJ Cherryh writes the most alien and credible aliens in science fiction.

So, super surprised not to see her represented.

She also has books on artificial human populations as well as intentional and unintentional adaptations of humans to cohabit with aliens.

There are newer authors that may match that but if you haven’t read Cherryh, strongly recommend checking her out.

[Also as an aside because The Expanse has come up in this thread, the world building in that series owes a great deal to Cherryh’s Alliance-Union Universe, especially the Company Wars period - right down to the Belters and their tattoos, but also the broader conflict between colonies, corporations, scientific research stations and merchant ships.]

Several of her books would be suitable for your course.

1] Chanur series, starting with ‘Pride of Chanur’ addresses the upheaval when a trade compact of diverse species -- feline, primate, reptile and even methane-breathers — comes into contact with humanity.

2] ‘40,000 in Gehenna’ a multigenerational of a failed colony on a planet with a very different kind of animal intelligence/sentience.

3] Downbelow Station [1982 Hugo] is a large canvas novel at the end of a war, centered on action on a planet Downbelow in the Tau Ceti system, its station. The indigenous population is one of the affected parties.

4] Serpents Reach - involves sentient antlike hive species under threat and the humans adapted to live with them.

5] Cukoo’s Egg in which an apparently human child, with no knowledge of his origins, is raised by aliens.

6] her Foreigner series is more diplomatic/political in focus, but the setting is an isolated colony of lost humans that settled on the planet of another sentient species with very different biological imperatives.

#ScienceFiction #CJCherryh

CHANUR'S HOMECOMING (1986)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" X 18"

This is one of my all-time favorite cover paintings. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #hani

CHANUR'S HOMECOMING (1986)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" X 18"

This is one of my all-time favorite cover paintings. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #hani

CHANUR'S HOMECOMING (1986)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" X 18"

This is one of my all-time favorite cover paintings. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #hani

CHANUR'S HOMECOMING (1986)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" X 18"

This is one of my all-time favorite cover paintings. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #hani

CHANUR'S HOMECOMING (1986)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" X 18"

This is one of my all-time favorite cover paintings. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh #hani

@maxthefox CJ Cherryh’s ‘Forge of Heaven’ (2004) might fit what you’re looking for.

It’s a sequel, hundreds of years later, to a very different book ‘Hammerfall’. It stands on its own however.

Transhumanism is in there, alongside biological catastrophe, and intermixing of genetics originating in very different planetary environments.

#ScienceFiction #CJCherryh #Bookstodon

GATE OF IVREL (1975)
Acrylic and Oil on Canvas Board - 17" x 18"

The context for this commission—quite possibly lost in the long arc of our careers—was as C.J. Cherryh's debut novel. 1/3

#fantasy #fantasyart #sff #illustration #cjcherryh

@corujosilva @HippieScubaSteve

I posed this question to another fandom contact here recently: have you read CJ Cherryh’s Alliance-Union universe books and, if you have and have also read The Expanse books, what do you think?

I love the television adaptation of The Expanse and consider to be some of the best scifi television ever.

But my partner and I DNFd the first books - I didn’t finish Leviathan Wakes and my partner checked out on the second book. We found them too derivative, and I took exception to what seemed to be direct lifts of social conflict in human space expansion, especially with Belters, from CJ Cherryh’s excellent books Heavy Time and Hellburner (sold as an omnibus under the title ‘Devil to the Belt’.)

While I generally don’t mind scifi tropes being revisited by different authors, and am always interested in new voices and perspectives, it grated that two male authors were getting and continue to receive a lot of hype credit for something that a woman mapped out in popular and critically acclaimed novels twenty years earlier. (The protomolecule seems a lift from Star Trek’s protomatter, especially as developed in the Vanguard novels, but that seemed less objectionable.)

As context, Cherryh is a woman science fiction writer, with multiple Hugos. (Her publisher asked her to use her initials and add a H to the end of her family name so as not to appear feminine.) She’s also in a long term committed relationship with Jane Fancher who has become her coauthor in recent years. Despite the critical acclaim she was subjected to controversy and backlash by male writers when she won her first Hugo for ‘Downbelow Station’ in 1982. It’s not clear why her books haven’t been adapted for streaming television but they would be natural candidates.

Now, with others reminding me that sci-fi often retells the same stories, I am wondering if it’s worth my time to give The Expanse books a second chance. I suppose am looking for someone who’s read both Cherryh’s series and The Expanse to share their perspective on why it’s worth another attempt.

#TheExpanse #CJCherryh #AllianceUnionUniverse #ScienceFiction #Scifi

Do other people go back and reread the endings of books they've just finished reading? Like, after the mad gallop to the grand finale, I need to go back and savor the machinations, and most importantly, the character interaction I was reading too breathlessly to absorb.

So yeah, finished reading CJ Cherryh's Regenesis today. Won't reread a lot of it, but maybe 50 pages or so of the end.

I'd really love to see these characters a few years down their road, but if they are competent there won't be a breakneck catastrophe to to avert, and then you don't have much of a story. Sigh.

#bookstodon
#CJCherryh
#SFF

@not_gagarin

Looking forward to hearing your take on it!

#CJCherryh #Bookstodon #HugoAwards #SpaceOpera

Finally making time to read this while on holiday.

#CJCherryh #books

@astralcomputing

CJ Cherryh remains one of my favourite, always-buy science fiction authors. Best wishes for health and long life to her!

Can only enthusiastically recommend for others to give her work a try if they have not yet done so. She deserves all the hype that arguably lesser cishet male authors of her generation continue to garner.

As the Hugo-winner for 1982, ‘Downbelow Station’ was the book that introduced me to her work and remains one of the best entry points. It was on the 1987 Locus list of top 50 all time science fiction.

Can’t imagine dropping a few hundred on a book to keep never-read in a collector’s dust jacket though.:packetcat_wink:

I do though wish that the 1980s and 90s fashion for leather-bound releases of major SFF books was still a regular thing. (I certainly was too much of a poor student to indulge then.) I’d even just welcome hard cover reprint editions of her earlier books printed on acid-free paper to replace my crumbling paperbacks.

Folio Society has branched out to luxury editions of Dune and classic Marvel and DC Comic omnibuses. But no Cherryh, it’s a shame.

#ScienceFiction #Bookstodon #CJCherryh #SF #SciFi #LGBTQBookstodon #LGBTQAuthors #PhysicalMedia

20 books that have had an impact on who you are. One book a day for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just book covers (don't forget the alt text).

9/20

#20Books20Days #Bookstodon #Books #SciFi #Fantasy #CJCherryh #Morgaine

20 books that have had an impact on who you are. One book a day for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just book covers (don't forget the alt text).

9/20

#20Books20Days #Bookstodon #Books #SciFi #Fantasy #CJCherryh #Morgaine