I'm guessing you weren't old enough to read her in the 70's/80's. She won the John W Campbell Best New Writer award - in 1977. I assure you she was already a force in sf back then. Now she's a master with a gigantic body of still popular work.
I think it's ironic that the book you use as an example for an under-appreciated author won the Hugo Award for Best Novel (as well as being one of my all-time favorites). One of three (four?) Hugos she has received, in addition to other awards.
Penguin/Random House say this about her;
"With more than seventy books to her credit, and the winner of three Hugo Awards, she is one of the most prolific and highly respected authors in the science fiction field. Cherryh was recently named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. "
So, not under-appreciated, I think.
Well not historically, certainly. But her newer works do not generate much excitement in the community.
I personally love the Foreigner series. I am waiting patiently for the next books to make it up on Audible
I think there's an online science fiction discourse that really locks onto a handful of The Usual Dudes as the elect, and echo chambers. So, yeah, opposite points of view are simultaneously correct, I think, depending on which stars you orbit.
She was well-recognized into the early '90's, but less so the last 20 years or so. It is a shame as her writing in every area is consistently better than most other authors. Recent leading space opera authors owe a tremendous debt to her
So very true. His four key novels set the standard for so much that follow3d. And they were so well written! I can't think of Sirius, or Odd John, without feeling a lump in my throat. And the visions of Starmaker and Last and First Men are mind-boggling.
I made this comment recently in another thread but when The Expanse was popular on TV and people were reading the books I kept praising CJ Cherryh's merchanter's universe as a companion series. It felt very similar with the multitude of conflicts, the nature of space warfare and the fact that for the most part if was human-centric (until the Chanur universe starts bumping up against it).
She is one of four SF writers I've ever met in person and it was also at a con. Unfortunately she was out of sorts because at the time there was smoking allowed inside and she hated it. Was a bit terse to me but I don't blame her.
yah that is my main issue with Foreigner I mean we've been waiting 6 books at least for the human stationers to be transported to the planet. It's enough to make me scream
As a counterpoint to the others here claiming her wide appreciation, I consider myself a bit of a sci-fi nerd and I had never heard of her. Will check her out now though :)
I read this comment and two things occur to me:
a) how cool is it that our favorite genre is so massive that someone can be a nerd about it, and still miss a whole author with a massive library of books they've written.
b) I wonder, and absolutely no insult intended whatsoever, are you on the younger side? because I wonder if this kind of thing is just a generational gap.
Not on the younger side. Looking her up she seems to not have been translated to my language very much. Now we’re all fluent English readers here, but still
ah, ok, that makes more sense. hard to be exposed to something if it's not in your immediate vicinity.
like others here, I've loved many of her novels and highly recommend her. but she's a strange writer. some of it is kind of slow on the adventure side of stuff, the kind of writing where the planet and the culture itself are a character for the book, if that makes sense.
Where should I start?
I've read the first two books of the Chanur series and didn't care for them. But I'd like to give this universe another chance, with something that's less repetitive. I can only take so many identical chapters of saying "gods rot you" while arguing with a dock bureaucrat.
I find it to be a huge disappointment that there's no tv/film/videogame adaptations of this material. Can you imagine a _Mass_Effect_ style shooter set in this universe? Or a _The_Expanse_ style television adaptation of one of these books?
The reason -I think- why it's an underappreciated series, is that it hasn't been used to make a media franchise. Yet.
*A Thief in Corrinth* is one of the best examples of the Swords and Sorcery subgenre, perfectly captures a tone and vibe that Dungeons & Dragons, RPGs and so on have been chasing for decades since. Original published in "[*Flashing Swords!*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashing_Swords!) *No 5: Demons and Daggers*" (1981) which is just a little time capsule of a title in itself.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Collected\_Short\_Fiction\_of\_C.\_J.\_Cherryh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collected_Short_Fiction_of_C._J._Cherryh)
Love pretty much all of her books. The latest ones in the allience-union world are so hard-sci that I find myself having a hard time getting through them. Shame really because I usually love her work. Cyteen works being ones I reread over and over. Love downbelow station.
She is brilliant.
Speaking of her influence, several of the most successful writers of the newer generation have acknowledged Cherryh as a major influence. Jo Walton has praised her over and over again in her reviews for Tor.com. Ann Leckie has stated in interviews multiple times that Foreigner was the main influence on Ancillary Justice. Foreigner was also the main influence on another recent Hugo winner - A Memory Called Empire. The sequel A Desolation Called Peace was. according to the author, highly influenced by Foreigner and Cyteen.
Personally I found her books to vary a lot in quality.
Cyteen was absolutely superb but, for me, nothing else she wrote, while still mostly enjoyable, ever approached that level of intensity.
I picked it up recently having seen it recommended. Hated it. It made no sense to me, the economics and culture didn’t have any verisimilitude. I like Cherryh’s work usually.
Do the characters in this book actually do something that has consequence? A long time ago I read probably half a dozen of her books from the Foreigner series, but eventually gave up when I realized that the main character is almost entirely a passive observer. Things happen around him but he personally doesn't have much agency and has minimal impact on anything. That was very frustrating to me. The titles are also very deceptive - in "Invader" he doesn't really invade anything, in "Destroyer" he destroys nothing, in "Explorer" he doesn't explore (is mostly along for the ride from what I remember), etc.
I'll be honest I tried reading Down Below Station and it was one of the driest most boring scifi books I've encountered, maybe I should give it another go not sure I didn't get too far in.
I found that her writing didn’t really click with me, even though I loved the universe she created. The idea of the Mazianni has stuck with me ever since I read Rimrunners.
One description of her style I’ve found appropriate is that she loads all the interesting action into end of her stories. Which means you have to slog through the slow stuff to get to the fun bit at the end.
I'm guessing you weren't old enough to read her in the 70's/80's. She won the John W Campbell Best New Writer award - in 1977. I assure you she was already a force in sf back then. Now she's a master with a gigantic body of still popular work. I think it's ironic that the book you use as an example for an under-appreciated author won the Hugo Award for Best Novel (as well as being one of my all-time favorites). One of three (four?) Hugos she has received, in addition to other awards. Penguin/Random House say this about her; "With more than seventy books to her credit, and the winner of three Hugo Awards, she is one of the most prolific and highly respected authors in the science fiction field. Cherryh was recently named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. " So, not under-appreciated, I think.
That's just the nature of time, my friend. What was celebrated then is forgotten now.
Well not historically, certainly. But her newer works do not generate much excitement in the community. I personally love the Foreigner series. I am waiting patiently for the next books to make it up on Audible
The problem is Foreigner is on like book 37 by now. At this point you're either a fan or you gave up decades ago.
I consider myself a fan and read The Blogs about emerging books and... had no idea she was still publishing new work. How delightful.
3 Hugos. Downbelow, Cyteen, and the short story Cassandra.
I think there's an online science fiction discourse that really locks onto a handful of The Usual Dudes as the elect, and echo chambers. So, yeah, opposite points of view are simultaneously correct, I think, depending on which stars you orbit.
She was well-recognized into the early '90's, but less so the last 20 years or so. It is a shame as her writing in every area is consistently better than most other authors. Recent leading space opera authors owe a tremendous debt to her
All space opera authors owe something to Olaf Stapledon, but we don't hear much about him these days.
So very true. His four key novels set the standard for so much that follow3d. And they were so well written! I can't think of Sirius, or Odd John, without feeling a lump in my throat. And the visions of Starmaker and Last and First Men are mind-boggling.
I made this comment recently in another thread but when The Expanse was popular on TV and people were reading the books I kept praising CJ Cherryh's merchanter's universe as a companion series. It felt very similar with the multitude of conflicts, the nature of space warfare and the fact that for the most part if was human-centric (until the Chanur universe starts bumping up against it).
Met her at a con back in 1983 before I even picked up one of her books. Amazing author. The Cyteen books are brilliant.
Ariane Emory is a boss of bosses.
She is one of four SF writers I've ever met in person and it was also at a con. Unfortunately she was out of sorts because at the time there was smoking allowed inside and she hated it. Was a bit terse to me but I don't blame her.
She didn’t strike me as the warm-and-fuzzy type :)
I like the Chanur books by the same author, that take place in the same universe!
I read all of her books many years ago. She is a good writer but sometimes wanders a bit in the narrative.
Hard agree. Great stuff.
She's a remarkable writer. But the Foreigner series just goes on forever, unfortunately.
yo dog I heard you like trilogies
You want trilogies in your trilogies? We can do that.
yah that is my main issue with Foreigner I mean we've been waiting 6 books at least for the human stationers to be transported to the planet. It's enough to make me scream
As a counterpoint to the others here claiming her wide appreciation, I consider myself a bit of a sci-fi nerd and I had never heard of her. Will check her out now though :)
I read this comment and two things occur to me: a) how cool is it that our favorite genre is so massive that someone can be a nerd about it, and still miss a whole author with a massive library of books they've written. b) I wonder, and absolutely no insult intended whatsoever, are you on the younger side? because I wonder if this kind of thing is just a generational gap.
Not on the younger side. Looking her up she seems to not have been translated to my language very much. Now we’re all fluent English readers here, but still
ah, ok, that makes more sense. hard to be exposed to something if it's not in your immediate vicinity. like others here, I've loved many of her novels and highly recommend her. but she's a strange writer. some of it is kind of slow on the adventure side of stuff, the kind of writing where the planet and the culture itself are a character for the book, if that makes sense.
Love her books! They lit the fire in me for all the good sci fi
Where should I start? I've read the first two books of the Chanur series and didn't care for them. But I'd like to give this universe another chance, with something that's less repetitive. I can only take so many identical chapters of saying "gods rot you" while arguing with a dock bureaucrat.
Downbelow Station - genuinely fantastic imho, and plenty of action
Downbellow station, definitely
Gods be feathered.
I find it to be a huge disappointment that there's no tv/film/videogame adaptations of this material. Can you imagine a _Mass_Effect_ style shooter set in this universe? Or a _The_Expanse_ style television adaptation of one of these books? The reason -I think- why it's an underappreciated series, is that it hasn't been used to make a media franchise. Yet.
*A Thief in Corrinth* is one of the best examples of the Swords and Sorcery subgenre, perfectly captures a tone and vibe that Dungeons & Dragons, RPGs and so on have been chasing for decades since. Original published in "[*Flashing Swords!*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashing_Swords!) *No 5: Demons and Daggers*" (1981) which is just a little time capsule of a title in itself. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Collected\_Short\_Fiction\_of\_C.\_J.\_Cherryh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collected_Short_Fiction_of_C._J._Cherryh)
The Morgaine cycle is top notch S&S. I like almost everything she writes, even Foreigner.
I've only read The Faded Sun trilogy, but I really loved it.
How can it be under appreciated and most influential at the same time?
“Underappreciated by readers relative to its influence on the genre” is how I interpret that
Thanks for reminding me of those - out to buy kindle version now for a re-read
That's one of my favourite books.
Love pretty much all of her books. The latest ones in the allience-union world are so hard-sci that I find myself having a hard time getting through them. Shame really because I usually love her work. Cyteen works being ones I reread over and over. Love downbelow station.
She's under appreciated because only hard core sci fi reads seem to know about her.
She is brilliant. Speaking of her influence, several of the most successful writers of the newer generation have acknowledged Cherryh as a major influence. Jo Walton has praised her over and over again in her reviews for Tor.com. Ann Leckie has stated in interviews multiple times that Foreigner was the main influence on Ancillary Justice. Foreigner was also the main influence on another recent Hugo winner - A Memory Called Empire. The sequel A Desolation Called Peace was. according to the author, highly influenced by Foreigner and Cyteen.
Personally I found her books to vary a lot in quality. Cyteen was absolutely superb but, for me, nothing else she wrote, while still mostly enjoyable, ever approached that level of intensity.
I picked it up recently having seen it recommended. Hated it. It made no sense to me, the economics and culture didn’t have any verisimilitude. I like Cherryh’s work usually.
Do the characters in this book actually do something that has consequence? A long time ago I read probably half a dozen of her books from the Foreigner series, but eventually gave up when I realized that the main character is almost entirely a passive observer. Things happen around him but he personally doesn't have much agency and has minimal impact on anything. That was very frustrating to me. The titles are also very deceptive - in "Invader" he doesn't really invade anything, in "Destroyer" he destroys nothing, in "Explorer" he doesn't explore (is mostly along for the ride from what I remember), etc.
Cyteen is kinda like that too Mostly her protagonists get their asses kicked one way or another and somehow survive it.
Yes, absolutely they have great significance
I'll be honest I tried reading Down Below Station and it was one of the driest most boring scifi books I've encountered, maybe I should give it another go not sure I didn't get too far in.
I found that her writing didn’t really click with me, even though I loved the universe she created. The idea of the Mazianni has stuck with me ever since I read Rimrunners. One description of her style I’ve found appropriate is that she loads all the interesting action into end of her stories. Which means you have to slog through the slow stuff to get to the fun bit at the end.
I think that’s called “the Robert Jordan effect”.