message 0519

• Where to start when reading C.J. Cherryh's books
• Were the Hani careless in their first contact with humans?
• Impressions on Tully's learning

>Date: Sun, 12 Sep 93 02:06:18 PST
>From: dac@prolix.apana.org.au (Andrew Clayton)
>Subject: C. J. CherryhList

:>Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1993 11:44:44 EDT
:>From: davis@licre.ludwig.edu.au
:>Subject: cherryhlist
:
:The Chanur series was the first Cherryh I ever read.  It was an 
:overwhelming experience in many senses of the word.  I enjoyed it 

I'm on a Cherryh jag too.  Started _Downbelow Station_, couldn't
get into it [shame!], and picked up the sequel to _Heavy Time_ --
_Hellburner_.  

_Hellburner_ proved to be intense, much better than Heavy, and
as well as dealing with Ben, Meg, Dekker and Abouje (?sp), it
also showed Graff, Porey, Keo and other fleet members back when
the Union/Companny war was only just starting.  Downbelow was set
after this, but had some of the same characters.  After finishing
H, I went back and finished Downbelow -- and entered my question
into r.a.sf-written about Mallory's percieved backdown.  

Just finished re-reading _The Pride of Chanur_, which is a
replacement copy for one I lent out years ago, and never got
back.  I've decided to continue, and I've got Venture/Kif/
Homecoming sitting in my bedside bookshelf, ready to be
re-devoured.  One of my all time favourites.

:plan was to finish this in time for my birthday when I expect to get a copy 
:of _Chanur's Legacy_, now in paperback in Australia!!

Where?  I have been looking, half heartedly, but haven't espied
it.  Only in hardcover.

Onno Meyer writes: 

> Thinking about the human/hani first contact, I was surprised about the
> carelessness of the hani. They gave food and medicine to an alien without
> a second thought. 

That threw me too; I guess that Pyanfar didn't have much choice
-- there obviously was no chance of computer files listing dietry
and medicinal effects on Humans.

> centuries. The same applies to Tully: he sniffed at the cup of water
> they gave him. Well, maybe he had no choice but to try.

Precisely.

She wrote about how carefully he tasted food before eating it.

I was surprised when I read how much of the Hani language Tully
had 'learned' with the Mahen learning machine, in _The Pride of
Chanur_.  I recall (and I'm coming up to it soon) how much effort
he puts in later with language tapes, during the Venture...
series.  I suppose that's the spoken version of the language.

Something that tickles me, as a compunerdy type, is the detail
about computer modules - nav, com, defense modules, all vying for
(I assume) memory.  Qool.

Enough waffle. Got, A?

Dac
--
David Andrew Clayton.  // _l _  _ AmigaUUCP v1.16D  Phone +61 6 290 2215
Canberra, Australia. \X/ (_](_l(_ dac@prolix.apana.org.au