Essence of Author
Rachel Brown
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
Gareth Wilson
> 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jordan S. Bassior
>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.
And, if you believe Peter Cannon ...
SPOILERS
*
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*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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*
*
... Derby wound up doing so, anyway, in the end.
--
Sincerely Yours,
Jordan
--
Ruchira Datta
Rachel Brown <rpho...@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.
Ruchira Datta
da...@math.berkeley.edu
Robert Carnegie
...
> 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.
Craig S. Richardson
(Ruchira Datta) wrote:
>In article <9884ad1c.0111...@posting.google.com>,
>Rachel Brown <rpho...@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
Konrad Gaertner
>
> 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_).
--KG
Martin Soederstroem
<kgae...@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.
Paul David John Andinach
I think you may be confused.
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.
Paul
--
The Pink Pedanther
Jordan S. Bassior
>I think you may be confused.
>
>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!
Ruchira Datta
Craig S. Richardson <crichar...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>On Fri, 9 Nov 2001 21:51:04 +0000 (UTC), da...@math.berkeley.edu
>(Ruchira Datta) wrote:
>
>>In article <9884ad1c.0111...@posting.google.com>,
>>Rachel Brown <rpho...@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
Yes, that's a perfect example.
Of course, then there's the one-word example:
"Shopping!"
Ruchira Datta
da...@math.berkeley.edu
Mark Reichert
news:9884ad1c.0111...@posting.google.com...
> 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.