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Oct. 1st, 2002 10:43 am
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One thing that has always annoyed me in fiction is the cliche of the man comfortable in an "alien" culture. Lots of people think that moving to China or Japan would be incredibly simple if you knew the language, and only a little harder if you didn't.
Nonsense.
Every culture has little variances you need to know to survive, and no matter how fluent you are, the first few months or even years are going to be hard until you can not only converse, but think and dream in the language, until you have the nuances of the culture built into your very cells. And even then, according to those I know who've done it, there are moments of terror and nonfunctioning that will occur from time to time where you can't think or speak in either language. And once you're comfortable there, going home is a lot harder.
Of course, here on Earth, that's not quite as big a problem as it will be in the future on alien worlds. At least here, everyone's human, and there are some things basic to our species. But once we start walking among other species, things are going to be hard for those first pioneers.
Enter the Ateva series by veteran author C.J. Cherryh, a series of five novels (with a sixth on the way) that really delves into the problems and joys of this kind of inter-species interface.
In Foreigner, we're introduced to the world of the Ateva. Bren Cameran, the Paidhi (translator) to the Atevi who populate most of a world far in our future, is the only human allowed off the island of Mospheira, the human colony. Completely fluent in the Atevi's language, fully stocked with information on their culture, he must nevertheless find ways of dealing with a culture that has no word for "friend" and doesn't understand human emotion any more than humans understand Ateva thought processes.
In Invader, the starship that had left humans on the Ateva world returns, and the resulting political stresses threaten to tear not only the Atevi government, but the world, apart. Now Bren has to dodge factions of both the Atevi and the Mospheirans as he tries desperately to insure the survival of both species.
In Inheritor, the returned ship has sent Jase Graham to the surface to learn from Bren how to interact with the Atevi so he can be the ship's own paidhi. But splintering factions among the Associations mean soon Bren will have to make a choice that will strand him forever among Aliens. And Jase's prescence is only making it more difficult to be both human and paidhi.
Precursor and Defender continue the story, but I shan't give synopses, as they'd only confuse those not familiar with Atevi concepts and the story so far. The sixth and (apparently) final novel, Explorer, will be released in November 2002.
Give these books a shot. If you like strong SF that's more on the intelligent side than shoot-em-ups (though the Nine know I like those, too!), then you'll like this.
Amazon Links!
Foreigner
Invader
Inheritor
Precursor
Defender
Explorer
Nonsense.
Every culture has little variances you need to know to survive, and no matter how fluent you are, the first few months or even years are going to be hard until you can not only converse, but think and dream in the language, until you have the nuances of the culture built into your very cells. And even then, according to those I know who've done it, there are moments of terror and nonfunctioning that will occur from time to time where you can't think or speak in either language. And once you're comfortable there, going home is a lot harder.
Of course, here on Earth, that's not quite as big a problem as it will be in the future on alien worlds. At least here, everyone's human, and there are some things basic to our species. But once we start walking among other species, things are going to be hard for those first pioneers.
Enter the Ateva series by veteran author C.J. Cherryh, a series of five novels (with a sixth on the way) that really delves into the problems and joys of this kind of inter-species interface.
In Foreigner, we're introduced to the world of the Ateva. Bren Cameran, the Paidhi (translator) to the Atevi who populate most of a world far in our future, is the only human allowed off the island of Mospheira, the human colony. Completely fluent in the Atevi's language, fully stocked with information on their culture, he must nevertheless find ways of dealing with a culture that has no word for "friend" and doesn't understand human emotion any more than humans understand Ateva thought processes.
In Invader, the starship that had left humans on the Ateva world returns, and the resulting political stresses threaten to tear not only the Atevi government, but the world, apart. Now Bren has to dodge factions of both the Atevi and the Mospheirans as he tries desperately to insure the survival of both species.
In Inheritor, the returned ship has sent Jase Graham to the surface to learn from Bren how to interact with the Atevi so he can be the ship's own paidhi. But splintering factions among the Associations mean soon Bren will have to make a choice that will strand him forever among Aliens. And Jase's prescence is only making it more difficult to be both human and paidhi.
Precursor and Defender continue the story, but I shan't give synopses, as they'd only confuse those not familiar with Atevi concepts and the story so far. The sixth and (apparently) final novel, Explorer, will be released in November 2002.
Give these books a shot. If you like strong SF that's more on the intelligent side than shoot-em-ups (though the Nine know I like those, too!), then you'll like this.
Amazon Links!
Foreigner
Invader
Inheritor
Precursor
Defender
Explorer
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