Reviews 54 - Resurgence by C. J. Cherryh

Reviews 54

Resurgence by C. J. Cherryh 

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As you've noticed, I've been reviewing books set in series, many times starting later in a series than Book 1.

With some series (like my own Sime~Gen, for example) it doesn't matter where in the sequence of published books you start.  For others, like the Foreigner Series by C. J. Cherryh, it does make a difference, but sometimes not too much difference.

Cherryh has been telling one, long, continuous story of a single human's life-experience.

This tight focus on the personal and professional issues and advancing problems, each more complex and difficult, dangerous and with higher stakes than the last, gives the feeling of being swept along in a single "novel."

There is an envelope plot, and an ever widening view of the main character's universe.

It also deals with the way an adult human might be "assimilated" into a non-human culture.

For example, when Bren Cameron (the Hero of this series), visits his hometown of his home human culture, he is considered to have somehow acquired an emotionless, unsmiling, un-frowning, inscrutable facial expression.  He, himself has to consciously remind himself to let his feelings show on his face, as part of speaking his native language.

That was in the book immediately previous to RESURGENCE.

https://www.amazon.com/Resurgence-Foreigner-Book-20-Cherryh-ebook/dp/B07RPJLXBS/

Now, in Resurgence (Book 20 in the series), Bren Cameron is back among the non-humans (where he feels more confident, grounded, oriented) and something has changed.

Previously, Cherryh pretty much left facial expressions out of communication with the Atevi, the non-humans, but in this book all of a sudden, Atevi emote with facial expressions and are utterly transparent to Bren's eye.  They see and interpret him, and he sees and interprets them (we don't know what inaccuracies might be embedded in these non-verbal transactions yet).

If Resurgence is your first book about Bren Cameron and the Atevi, you won't notice this shift at all.  It's a perfectly readable book, and just as with any stand-alone novel, the characters have a past that affects their present and a future that goes on beyond the end of the book.

That "happily ever after" ending we all love is a future that goes beyond the end of the book.  It gives the reader a sense that it isn't over.

C. J. Cherryh has structured this series as a series of trilogies.  There is a series envelope plot - Bren Cameron's life story and the historical importance his departure from tradition (and even the law governing his people and his appointed office).  And then each trilogy advances that series plot one step, while filling in a detailed tapestry of the background, making commentary on human nature, and expanding knowledge of the galaxy.

Resurgence is the middle book of such a trilogy, and as such really doesn't seem like a great place to start reading the series.  It starts right after the end of the previous book, with Bren on a boat arriving at the Atevi port near his residence on the Atevi side of the strait -- the other side being the island ceded to humans.

In the previous book, he left the human port on this boat.

So this is a continuous story -- and now we find out many things that Bren missed while he was away. The other viewpoint character is the young prince who is being groomed by his father to be the ruler of the Atevi.  He has matured since we last followed him.  In this volume, he deliberately refrains from messing up the affairs of his father, Bren, his mother, uncle, great-grandmother, etc who are busy rescuing the world from the brink of disaster.

But this youngster also has human youngsters for dear friends, and is plotting to have them over as guests at Bren's house (which has its own boat dock).

There is no overt Romance in this series, though the larger fate of civilizations is shaped by human/human and human/non-human Relationship.

The romance writer should study series like this to work up a comparable universe where Romance is explored, explained, utilized (maybe weaponized), exploited, analyzed, disproven, and proven.

This is the kind of series, with rich and detailed background, that could become the blockbuster production that explains to those who don't believe in the Happily Ever After, where they have made their cognitive error, and why it's worth their while to correct that mistaken belief.

Previous discussions of C. J. Cherryh include 12 posts on this blog. Here are a few of those.

https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2017/07/reviews-32-cj-cherryh-and-gini-koch-in.html

https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2019/05/theme-worldbuilding-integration-part-20.html

https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2016/07/reviews-27-foreigner-series-by-c-j.html

https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2016/08/alien-sexuality-part-two-what-is-life.html

I have the next book, Foreigner Book 21, DIVERGENCE on Kindle order for Sept. 2020.
https://www.amazon.com/Divergence-Foreigner-Book-21-Cherryh-ebook/dp/B084M68XBB/


Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Polly Wants A Cracker, or The Issue of Trust in Romantic Science Fiction

The past few posts, such as Barbara Karmazin’s most recent one on alien sex, has raised a number of very interesting questions (an ideas) for writers and reader of romantic science fiction. Jacqueline Lichtenberg—here on this blog as well—has often referred to the RSF/SFR genre as “intimate adventure” and in viewing these posts, the reasons why that label is so apt can become clear.

The posts to date have for the most part explored the arena of human and alien in a first encounter or first contact situation.

But where do the stories—and the characters—go when aliens are not so alien?

Let me digress a moment and talk about parrots. (Yes, I’m tired, behind deadline and packing for Archon but bear with me, I will make sense eventually). It’s been my experience that most humans are uncomfortable with large birds. Sharp claws, large beaks and fluttering wings make us a bit timid. Children who willing stick their fingers through the bars around a kitten’s or puppy’s cage at the pet store stand with hands behind their backs in front of the parrot’s cage. “CAUTION: HE BITES” is often tacked to the cage.

The reason parrots bite are many but very often come down to two things. One, a finger thrust into their view is looked upon as potential food (based on instinct, which is why you always offer a parrot a fist, not a finger). More likely, though, is the fact that a parrot’s beak is used as a third foot. This is something most (non-parrot) people don’t realize and something I’ve learned after many years of being owned by feathered friends.
You put your hand into the parrot’s cage. He leans his head down and latches firmly on to your arm with his beak. NOT to bite (but he will if you jerk your hand away) but to steady himself so he can climb on.

It’s the jerking-away reaction that causes the bite, you see. The fear by the human who doesn’t understand the parrot’s methodology and mind set.

Since being owned by a variety of large and small parrots (that's our Amazon, Bird, above), my husband and I often now find ourselves being feathered-friend rescuers, for the simple reason we’re not afraid to approach any kind of bird or parrot. We understand a bit more about them—and their beaks. We’ve handled injured egrets, baby terns, seagulls, Muscovy ducks, lovebirds and cockatiels. We understand the beak, like a human’s hand, is primarily for grasping. It can, like the hand, also injure. But we don’t come into the situation with that mindset.

Which brings me back to alien sex, or romantic adventures with someone who is not a Terran of the human variety.

What if the aliens in your novel aren’t totally alien? What if they’re like parrots? Not feathered, though I wouldn’t rule that out. But what if they’re just another species or race that shares some of the same breathing space your human characters do, but without complete familiarity?
We’re very aware of birds in our environment on this planet. But most of us have no information or experience in interacting with them.

Think of Chewie in Star Wars. Han Solo—a human—was definitely very at ease with Chewie. There was no perceived human-parrot reaction (ie: I’ve seen you but I don’t really understand you). I don’t know if in Lucas’s universe there are any human-Wookiee couples, but given Han’s comfort level with Chewie, it wouldn’t surprise me. (And the image here is from fabulous artist Dave Dorman's site.)

I structured Ren, the gilled Stolorth in my Gabriel’s Ghost, more on the parrot mold. Chaz Bergren, the female human protagonist, knew of Stolorths and had seen many in her life but never really knew one. She knew what she’d been taught about Stolorths. She knew what others said about Stolorths. But until life (and my plot) threw her in close contact with Ren, Stolorths were—for all their visibility in her existence—still “other.” Alien. Extending your hand could as likely get your bit, as not.

Part of Chaz’s growth in the book was her replacing Ren’s “alien” label with one of “person.” Someone she was capable of understanding and trusting. And Ren was not the love interest in the plot (for those of you who haven’t read the book). But Chaz’s extension of trust to Ren paralleled and mirrored (and foreshadowed) the issues she had with Sully (the love interest and male protagonist).

And it turns out, of course, that Sully is far more “alien” than she suspected. A parrot in human clothing, if you will.

Captain Tasha “Sass” Sebastian also faced that issue (gee, you think it’s one I like?) in Games of Command. Branden Kel-Paten was a bio-cybe, a man/machine construct, his human familiarity now blurred by the knowledge of his cybernetic augmentations. Like me yet not like me. A known unknown. “Can I trust him?” was a huge issue for Sass even though Kel-Paten’s very “alien” qualities were created by humans.

Can we trust an alien of our own making?

One of the reasons I so enjoy C.J. Cherryh’s FOREIGNER series is that—excerpt for the first book—her aliens are a known alien to the human, Bren Cameron. Differences and lack of full information about each other are acknowledged and the extension of trust has begun. We’ve learned that a finger may get bit but a closed fist can tolerate the pressure of the (potentially injurious) beak.

That’s Lesson One and I think it’s a big lesson. Not that “You’re so totally different and alien that all I can do is react in fear” but “You’re different and alien but we have some commonalities, I’m learning some of your ways and looking forward to exploring more.”

The exploring more is the reason I write what I write.


~Linnea
http://www.linneasinclair.com/