message 0104

• Interview with C.J. Cherryh in Locus

>From: nancy ott <ott@ansoft.com>
>Subject: Re: cherryhlist
>Date: Fri, 2 Apr 93 13:11:42 EST

For those who haven't read it, here's a synopsis of the interview with
Cherryh in January's Locus.  The article was pretty short (a little
over a page) and didn't go into a lot of depth on any of this stuff.

1. She's almost finished with a "First Contact with aliens" - type
novel for DAW.  It seems to be tangentially related to the
Union-Alliance books, and does not yet have a title.  The story
involves a human colony on a planet with somewhat hostile aliens that
are culturally incompatible with humans.  The humans are gradually
turning over their technology to the aliens -- primarily to keep from
being massacred! -- and the book focuses on the contacts/tensions
between the two groups (including a "whodunit" plot).

2. She has finished a fantasy novel for DelRey, which is currently
titled "Faery in Shadow."  It's set in Scotland in the mythical past;
one of the characters is (as she put it) "a pooka with an attitude."

3. She described how the cover of Chanur's Legacy related to the
novel.  Because she was running behind on writing, she told Michael
Whelan to paint whatever he wanted; she'd write it into the book.
Whelan painted the hani in a laser battle, which she had not
originally planned to put into the story (weapons where supposed to be
banned from the docks).  She managed to work the scene in after all.
(Yeah, weapons are banned, but ... !!!)

4. "Hellburner" may be the last of the early Company War books.  She
hasn't decided yet whether to do a Merchanter novel or something set
further down the road.  She mentioned that she'd like to do a novel
set after Cyteen, and is considering starting a completely new
universe.

5. Miscellaneous: her health is improving (she's finally overcoming
some problems stemming from a bicycling accident about 10 years ago);
she likes the current publishing trend for long novels because that's
the way she works best; she also describes her views on writing
fantasy and SF in terms of language, characters, etc. -- which sums up
some of the differences between her SF and fantasy work.


_________________________________________________________________
nancy ott      |  The way I must enter leads through darkness
               |  To darkness.
ott@ansoft.com |
               |                - Shikibu
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