I picked up a book with an interesting cover from my local library: RIMRUNNERS by CJ Cherryh. I’m a sucker for a good action cover and this one is a beauty. It did not disappoint. The book was read and returned within twenty four hours.
While I was at the library dropping off the other one, I had to pick up another: TRIPOINT.
Little did I know that I had just entered the CJ Cherryh vortex.
Next up was FOREIGNER. (I must, at this point, deliver a word of thanks to Linnea Sinclair. I asked her to recommend a Cherryh book or two – she recommended, like, fourteen of them. Thanks, Linnea!)
FOREIGNER was the first in a series of nine, with another trilogy planned. I read all nine back-to-back and am now impatiently waiting the tenth. The librarians were wonderful, as the various parts of the series were scattered across different libraries in the system. They tracked them all down for me and ordered them. While waiting for the much anticipated # 10, I threw myself into The Faded Sun Trilogy. Awesome!
I needed more! Much more!
Thankfully, Ms. Cherryh is prolific and I was not reduced to squeeing “write faster, puhleeeeez” on the poor woman’s website. Next up was DOWNBELOW STATION. I thought I would die of happiness it was so damn good. Then I followed it up with HAMMERFALL.
And then it got even better with CYTEEN. Oh happy day! And I wasn’t even close to finishing all her books.
I currently have four more stand alone novels and a trilogy on my bookshelf – a Christmas present to myself. I’m spacing them out, trying not to be greedy, trying to make the pleasure last.
But is it Science Fiction Romance, you ask? Well, there is some romance, but her books are all-encompassing – revenge, politics, love, death, cruelty, adventure: pretty much you name it. She writes absolutely fascinating female characters – none of them could be described as your typical heroine, but even the most evil of them have at least one redeeming quality.
Her world-building is immaculate. Her aliens are truly alien – there is never any mistaking them for humans in dress-up. Her ships are palpable machines – they need a crew to keep them going, they break down and malfunction. Children are born and grow up on them. There is as much going on below decks as there is up on the bridge. Her space stations are cramped, claustrophobic and populated with friends, refugees, lovers, aliens, families and implacable enemies. Habitable planets are rare and much sought after and fought over.
It’s been a long time since I hunted and devoured an author’s backlist the way I am doing now. What can I say? My name is Agent Z., I’m a CJ Cherryh addict and I don’t want any twelve step program getting between me and my Cherryh.
Felicitations to the fellow Cherryh geeks. Here are a few yummy links:
Her Web site
Her Wikipedia entry
Her bibliography
And here, here, here, here, here, here, and here are a series of posts by Jo Walton over at Tor.com. They’re wonderful reading in and of themselves, as she gets into some fascinating critical analysis of Cherryh’s books.
A question: when was the last time an author so completely captured you? Who was it?
Be seeing you!
Agent Z.
11 comments:
I'd have to say it was CJ Cherryh for me, as well :) I'm waiting for Foreigner #10 to come out in paperback, because I hate having mismatched series. (Though I'll check if my library has it so I can read it greedily.) A friend gave me Fortress in the Eye of Time (a fantasy) for Christmas, then I had to get the rest of those, then Foreigner and Alliance-Union and Morgaine.... I've got one and a half (3-foot wide) shelves just for her books. Now I'm tempted to re-read the Faded Sun...
I turned my dad on to the Foreigner series, too!
Lois McMaster Bujold. Devoured her ENTIRE backlist in under four months. (and that was WITH waiting time for books at the library).
These sound intriguing but I'm wondering... do they have happy endings? I prefer not to read stuff that's too grim and doesn't end with at least a HFN.
The last author who captured me was Brandon Danderson with his "Mistborn" trilogy. I have been blown away.
I'd have to say Elizabeth Moon. I'd heard about her years ago as an author who wrote great military science fiction with strong female characters, but hadn't come across her books. Well, recently when looking for some great SF reads I searched out her name online and decided to start with the first book of her Vatta series, Trading In Danger. Once I'd read that, I purchased the rest of the series, five book in all, and recently completed the final one. Now, I've got to see what other series she has out. I am hooked!
I read RIMRUNNERS a long time ago and loved it, but I can't begin to explain why Cherryh fell off my radar. (hangs head in shame) Bad Cathy! Thanks for the reminder.
Moth - Her endings are usually upbeat, but what comes before "The End" can be extremely grim.
I'm taking notes on authors (and their backlists) recommended in this thread. Ya never know when I might need another author to obsess on. And dang, Conni, I love the idea of a shelf just for my Cherryh collection.
Thanks for another super post, Z! And I too am keeping track of the books being mentioned.
Back in the day I'd read anything by Frederik Pohl. Loved his stuff, especially the Heechee saga.
These days, I'm just planning to read it all. There are so many good stories.
You should list her blog too:
http://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore/
it is quite interesting!
David Weber is another one I always wait for - and Kevin Anderson as well.
Thanks, L2! I had meant to do a brief post about her blog and forgot. I'll add it to a future link round up. I hear she's soliciting for visitors to hang out with her there.
Thank You, L2!
Happy, happy, happy post! Am currently rereading the Chaneur Legacy series -- haven't yet read ALL of her work, but I, too, am deeply grateful she's so prolific, and Downbelow Station is next.
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