Slashdot Mirror

The world's best author. Her words flow like video for me, they're so descriptive.

C. J. Cherryh's website

Did a quick find and didn't see her name, but she's a fantastic author. She's written more sci-fi that I enjoy than all the other female scifi authors I've found so far put together. I suggest starting with the Chanur cycle, which is four books long (the first three are available in one volume.) Also quite excellent is the Morgaine cycle, which is also sci-fi, and also four books IIRC. She's one of my favorite authors and has been since I was in Junior High or so.

multiple plot lines that can be read in any order based on what books you read after the first 3 (Chronicles). Name one other serial novel with that feature.


maybe I'm mistaking what you mean here, but .. CJ Cherryh's Company Wars/Merchanter/Union novels.

Read in any order (though perhaps its a good idea to read the earliest half before the later half), each is stand-alone, but all build on the central universe definition - even taking the same events and portraying them from opposing viewpoints. Highly recommended.

Yeah, Cherryh is fanatastic. Cyteen (helped me understand myself and my son (asperger's syndrome (high functioning autism)), Chanur, Cuckoo's Egg, The Faded Sun, Foreiner, Hammerfall, Tri Point...

Her fantasy is great too: The Goblin Mirror, Rusalka and Morgain (wow:). There's more, that's just what I've read.

To me, Cherryh isn't so much about the technology (though every now and then it creaps into the story) but more about the people (human or not, maybe especially not:) and the environment.

She also has a webiste

Actually, I'm not too sure about Vinge yet, having only just discovered him, but so far he's incredible.

HTH!

Actually, the artifical womb story reminded me of the Azi in CJ Cherry's books, like Cyteen and 40,000 in Ghenna.

Scary shit if you really stop to think about it. You could give birth entire species once you develop the technology far enough. Instead of having colony ships filled with people, animals, etc., you could have one filled with frozen genetic material (sperm and ova), ready to be thawed out and grown at the other end...

Or you could make a few hundred clones of Hitler in some underground lab in South America...

• Disclaimer:

Hal is definitely one of the most pure of hard-SF writers. Partly that's a result of the time when he began, partly (or mostly) that's a result of that fact that he simply and truely loves science and thought experiments.

If you're looking for extensive character development and truely alien psychologies, read C. J. Cherryh. If you're looking for really interesting thought experiments, especially about bizarre planetary environments (and their effects on biology and ecosystems), read Hal Clement.

Mission of Gravity is old, but good. He's written quite a few since then (with one small series that were not hard-SF - Eye of the Needle), and has been a regular at SF conventions for many years. He's also one of the nicer people I've met, and always has a smile on it seems.