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 The FSFS Newsletter is written by FSFS members covering everything Fantasy and Sci-Fi |
The "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" welcomes you to  Welcome to the December edition of the Newsletter. Written by members of the "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" for all of Writing.Com, this month we are focusing on Winter Festivities. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Winter for Us Old Folks 3. Article on the Worlds of C.J. Cherryh 4. Advertisements 5. Vote  Appologies for the late Newsletter this month. We were supposed to have a guest editor, but unfortunately, they had to pull out. But I say better late than never, so here we go!  It’s a case of “Remember When?” For aren’t we all getting older and time seems to be gaining an edge on us? Christmas seems to be more and more about electronics and what sort of presents everyone gets. I remember a time when we didn’t have much, it was just my parents, my brother and I. My folks brought us up in a Christian home, which to us meant the focus of Christmas was the birth of our Savior. We joined church Christmas musicals and either sang or acted our hearts out. We gathered for a Christmas dinner, even if it was only a Hamburger Helper meal and celebrated family. Dad was in the Navy and we often traveled across the country. The best winter I remember was when we visited some friends of his whose large family had gathered together for the holidays. Picture, if you will, the classic farmhouse with the large wooden table and bench seats in the dining area. In the kitchen all the mothers cooking everything from the turkey to mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. The only bathroom was an outhouse at least 30 paces away from the main house. All the kids were told to go outside to play in the snow. You can imagine how that turned out. The coolest thing about this trip was the family lived not far from a cave system. A few hours before dinner we all got together to do a little bit of spelunking. The entrance to the cave was huge and we only went perhaps 100 yards in, but the adults seemed to have perverse fun in teasing us kids there were bats which would, at any moment, come flying out. There were no presents, no electronics (they weren’t invented yet). There was just family, friends, good food and bad jokes (not kidding on that one). Recently, I was listening to Family Life Radio and they were asking listeners about traditions they started for their families during the Christmas holidays. The best one I heard was the mother had challenged her children to catch each other doing something good. Also, the young boys had gotten some 2x4’s and made a manger to put by the tree. And they made it a part of the tradition that they would put some hay in the manger as they told about those good things in preparation of the birth of Christ. Then on Christmas Eve the baby Jesus would be placed in the manger. How cool is that? I often wonder how our world would be if parents promoted more actions in their children such as “catching each other doing good things”. We don’t have to believe the same things in order to have the same values. My hope for all of us this season is that someday this will be realized.  I was looking forward to being at Philcon and seeing best-selling author C.J. Cherryh. When I received the schedule of my panels, I was pleased to see that, though, I was (unsurprisingly) not on a panel with her. I was on a panel about her work, promoted as offering new readers suggestions on which of her books they should begin with. First thing I did before coming to Philcon was pluck a couple of her books off my shelf. Apparently, the moderator of the panel, Oz Drummond, had a similar thought. However, she decided to basically bring one entire shelf of C.J.’s book—just those related to the Alliance-Union. In other words, she brought about ten times what I did. (I wonder if she sought to get them all autographed? That was the plan with my two.) There were five of us on the panel, Oz, who is comptroller of SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America), moderated, plus Bruce Dykes, Robert C. Roman, Devra Langsam, and myself. We were each asked which of her works we first read. For me it was Hunter of Worlds, when I was fourteen years old. I had joined the Science Fiction Book Club, where I did my best to buy as many two-in-ones and trilogies in one volume as I could. It also meant I was buying every one of C.J.’s books they ever offered. I brought with me Serpent’s Reach, and Robert practically grabbed it out of my hand, saying, “I couldn’t remember the title, but that's the cover of the first one I read!” Bruce, well, he stumbled onto Merovagan Nights, a shared world, that after her writing the first book in the series became at least seven anthologies that C.J. edited, where she welcomed a number of new authors to the field. So, here’s what I’ve accepted as “fact” about her work. All her books (about sixty at this point) are set in the same universe. Oz stated that according to C.J. her Foreigner Series is actually not part of that universe. From my perspective, it looks awfully like it and I can pretty much overlay it, based on how I’ve read it. C.J. has also written some fantasy, so I’ve had a tougher time justifying her Books of Morgain, who seems elvin to me, and feature star gates that must be destroyed with a sword tipped by a sort of black hole/bit of a star gate as being sci fi. Oz pointed out that C.J.’s said it is part of her sci fi universe. After all, science looking like magic is a common enough theme. Which brings me to our group’s discussion of themes. C.J. captured a lot of people’s imagination (I think Oz put it on the order of “Blowing her mind” and she didn’t seem the only one to feel that way) by turning our perceptions on their head. For example, a theme of her work revolves around what’s it mean to be human, what’s it mean to be alien—or simply “other.” She often approaches a story by throwing a person into a situation they were totally unprepared for. In the Pride of Chanur, the story features a star freighter’s all female cat-like crew, who discover this practically hairless, clearly male, creature which snuck into the ship hold at a starport. That he can speak their enemy’s language and can affect the balance of power in the star systems controlled by the six races trading at the port (many of which they can barely communicate with since they are so diverse), demonstrates just how “other” C.J. can turn our perceptions. I’ve always liked the fact that the space cats don’t travel with males of their specifies because they are too unstable. But that’s my love of irony, too. One of the other things we remarked on was that C.J.’s stories are never just “black or white.” Robert termed it as their being, let me paraphrase here, “a brilliant black color.” They can be rather startling and really make you think. Devra commented some have been known to make her head hurt, which she apparently loves, because she reads C.J. Cherryh's work a lot. When asked which books do we suggest someone start with, I suggested either The Pride of Chanur Series or Down Below Station (which are easy to relate to from a human perspective—yes, that sounds odd, but it’s true). Down Below Station is an incredibly beautiful story with all the best elements, including little furry aliens who need to be protected from the rest of the human race. That novel begins the Union-Alliance novels. Robert and Deena love the Foreigner Series (apparently as much as I do) and Oz had not read it yet (having only read about forty of C.J.’s sixty novels). Oz will be, if you haven’t, check it out, because as ever, C.J.’s themes and world building are spectacular and, well, inspired me to write my novels. So that, my friends, is your introduction to the Worlds of C.J. Cherryh. So, if you're looking for a good book for the holidays and haven't discovered C.J. Cherryh's work, welcome to an amazing author. "Article on the Worlds of C.J. Cherryh" by Highmage - D.H. Aire 
The December round of Three Prompts is open unti the 31st December 11:59pm. Use one or more of the three festive prompts to inspire a story and win big prizes!
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An FSFS-only forum to discuss writing mechanics.
The FSFS Review Board is open! All WdC members can view the list on the group homepage, "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" . FSFS Members can view the list from the homepage, Review Board page and the Hub. To post on the board you need to review at least one other item on the list.
If you are not already a member and are interested in fantasy and science fiction writing, please read through the group homepage and apply using the application form. The only pre-requisite is that you have a fantasy or science fiction item in your portfolio. If you want to advertise in the FSFS Newsletter please contact me, Matt Bird MSci (Hons) AMRSC   .Vote I am pleased to announce that "About Book Design 101" by Highmage - D.H. Aire won Best Submission for "November 2016" . Highmage - D.H. Aire has won an FSFS merit badge!As there were only 2 articles this month, there will not be a vote. Thank you to all the members who submitted articles to the Newsletter. If you submitted an article that wasn't included, don't be offended. I can only fit so much in the Newsletter. Please submit it again when I send the call out for articles. Please comment on this Newsletter if you enjoyed it, or if you have any suggestions for future editions. |
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