Early in C. J. Cherryh's _Invader_ (sequel to _Foreigner_), is a scene in which a young translator/diplomat is exhausted, in agony from surgery on a broken shoulder, under the influence of painkillers which are maximally disorienting and mindclouding but minimally pain-reducing, and has been out of the information loop for several days during a planetary political crisis. In that state, he's unexpectedly forced to translate highly touchy information to a group of highly touchy aliens, knowing all the while that he has no clue what exactly is going on, but if he does the wrong thing (and getting one word wrong... or right... could be that wrong thing) he could set off a planetary war and kill everyone he knows.
That scene, even more than the excruciating, thirty-some page lost-in-a-blizzard sequence in _Cloud's Rider_, struck me as containing all of Cherryh's favorite themes, character types, and situations, all cranked up to maximum intensity.
What other scenes in other books contain the essence of an author in miniature, so that you could hand that excerpt over to a reader and say, "Here, this is what Cherryh (Banks, Bujold, Brust, Bull, etc) is all about"?
Rachel Brown wrote: > What other scenes in other books contain the essence of an author in > miniature, so that you could hand that excerpt over to a reader and > say, "Here, this is what Cherryh (Banks, Bujold, Brust, Bull, etc) is > all about"?
I've always thought the line "I will not trade souls with that bullet-ridden lich in the madhouse!" summed up HP Lovecraft quite well. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gareth Wilson Christchurch New Zealand ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In article <9884ad1c.0111091037.c34e...@posting.google.com>,
Rachel Brown <rphoen...@mediaone.net> wrote: >What other scenes in other books contain the essence of an author in >miniature, so that you could hand that excerpt over to a reader and >say, "Here, this is what Cherryh (Banks, Bujold, Brust, Bull, etc) is >all about"?
Hmmm. An interesting feature of Bujold's Vorkosigan books is the great lines. In previous line-identification contests, numerous Bujold lines have been thrown out. They are all instantly identifiable, being extremely memorable and usually hilarious, in the context of the novels. None of them were in the least spoily, however.
The point is, she is particularly good at accumulating complexity. (Then she fires off witty lines that trigger large numbers of associations in her reader's brains.) I'm not sure if any short excerpt would convey this---it seems like an intrinsically holistic characteristic.
Actually Cherryh also accumulates complexity (although I haven't read a large fraction of her oeuvre by any means). However, her accumulation of *situational* complexity tends to run more exclusively into putting people in impossible situations, which is perhaps more easily conveyed, as by the example you gave. That is, her "testing to destruction" doesn't seem as leavened and/or restrained by a sense of humor as Bujold's is.
At the moment what comes to mind is the banquet scene in _A Civil Campaign_ (perhaps because that's the last book of hers I've read). But to hand that one scene to someone, or even to try to describe it, would be criminal. It is intricately and essentially interconnected with large portions of the preceding text. (Bujold says she writes the novels as standalones or at most pairs, but I read them in order and I'm glad I did.)
To put it succinctly, Bujold stimulates a lot of her readers' dendrites.
> What other scenes in other books contain the essence of an author in > miniature, so that you could hand that excerpt over to a reader and > say, "Here, this is what Cherryh (Banks, Bujold, Brust, Bull, etc) is > all about"?
> Rachel
Well, I kind of like all those Roger Zelazny episodes where some modern-outlook rational guy (no female leads come to mind), either battle-hardened or university-educated or both, confronts magic or an advanced technology indistinguishable therefrom with an open mind, a clear eye, a ready wit and an eye to how the phenomenon can be exploited.
To pick one, there's the guy in _Changeling_ who is dumped in a magic castle and has to figure it out.
On Fri, 9 Nov 2001 21:51:04 +0000 (UTC), da...@math.berkeley.edu
(Ruchira Datta) wrote: >In article <9884ad1c.0111091037.c34e...@posting.google.com>, >Rachel Brown <rphoen...@mediaone.net> wrote: >>What other scenes in other books contain the essence of an author in >>miniature, so that you could hand that excerpt over to a reader and >>say, "Here, this is what Cherryh (Banks, Bujold, Brust, Bull, etc) is >>all about"? [snip] >At the moment what comes to mind is the banquet scene in _A Civil >Campaign_ (perhaps because that's the last book of hers I've read). >But to hand that one scene to someone, or even to try to describe it, >would be criminal. It is intricately and essentially interconnected with >large portions of the preceding text. (Bujold says she writes the >novels as standalones or at most pairs, but I read them in order and >I'm glad I did.)
Then there's the aftermath of the banquet scene in which a character (Aral) fires off a two-word line ("Which one?") which is superficially funny, but which carries three large, meaty books full of emotional resonance behind it.
--Craig
-- David Collins from Burnley: 70K pounds Luke Weaver from Spurs: 500K pounds Matthew Etherington from Grasshoppers-Zurich: 1.2M pounds Leyton Orient 1-0 St. Mirren in the 2003 UEFA Cup Final: Priceless
> What other scenes in other books contain the essence of an author in > miniature, so that you could hand that excerpt over to a reader and > say, "Here, this is what Cherryh (Banks, Bujold, Brust, Bull, etc) is > all about"?
I've always viewed the first chapter of _Dragon_[1] as the essence of Brust, or at least of Vlad.
[1] Still available from Tor at http://www.tor.com/sampleDragon.html (though it may go away soon; it's already been replaced on the sample chapter list by _Issola_).
<kgaert...@worldnet.att.net> wrote: >[1] Still available from Tor at http://www.tor.com/sampleDragon.html >(though it may go away soon; it's already been replaced on the sample >chapter list by _Issola_).
Which by the way is different from the sample of _Issola_ found at Amazon.com. -- Martin This is not a sig.
Daniel Upton is the narrator, and the guy who says "I will not change souls with that bullet-ridden lich in the madhouse."
Edward Derby is the victim on whose behalf Upton empties a revolver into the thing's head. He is already dead by the time the thing becomes bullet-ridden.
>Daniel Upton is the narrator, and the guy who says >"I will not change souls with that bullet-ridden lich in the >madhouse."
>Edward Derby is the victim on whose behalf Upton empties a revolver >into the thing's head. He is already dead by the time the thing >becomes bullet-ridden.
Whoops! You're correct, I switched names somehow writing my post down! -- Sincerely Yours, Jordan --
>>In article <9884ad1c.0111091037.c34e...@posting.google.com>, >>Rachel Brown <rphoen...@mediaone.net> wrote: >>>What other scenes in other books contain the essence of an author in >>>miniature, so that you could hand that excerpt over to a reader and >>>say, "Here, this is what Cherryh (Banks, Bujold, Brust, Bull, etc) is >>>all about"? >[snip] >>At the moment what comes to mind is the banquet scene in _A Civil >>Campaign_ (perhaps because that's the last book of hers I've read). >>But to hand that one scene to someone, or even to try to describe it, >>would be criminal. It is intricately and essentially interconnected with >>large portions of the preceding text. (Bujold says she writes the >>novels as standalones or at most pairs, but I read them in order and >>I'm glad I did.)
>Then there's the aftermath of the banquet scene in which a character >(Aral) fires off a two-word line ("Which one?") which is superficially >funny, but which carries three large, meaty books full of emotional >resonance behind it.
> Early in C. J. Cherryh's _Invader_ (sequel to _Foreigner_), is a scene > in which a young translator/diplomat is exhausted, in agony from > surgery on a broken shoulder, under the influence of painkillers which > are maximally disorienting and mindclouding but minimally > pain-reducing, and has been out of the information loop for several > days during a planetary political crisis. In that state, he's > unexpectedly forced to translate highly touchy information to a group > of highly touchy aliens, knowing all the while that he has no clue > what exactly is going on, but if he does the wrong thing (and getting > one word wrong... or right... could be that wrong thing) he could set > off a planetary war and kill everyone he knows.
> That scene, even more than the excruciating, thirty-some page > lost-in-a-blizzard sequence in _Cloud's Rider_, struck me as > containing all of Cherryh's favorite themes, character types, and > situations, all cranked up to maximum intensity.
And people wonder why I don't read the works of Cherryh. The real problem is either the lack of humor, or that I don't trust her to pull things out in the end. In the situation above, she could very well have the planetary war set off just to make a point.
