CJ Cherryh is another of my favourite authors who never seems to get the credit she deserves (aside from a large number of awards, of course). She writes both fantasy and science fiction, and is one of the few authors who makes science fiction readable for me. To me, she’s also one of the few SF authors who manage to make really alien aliens as opposed to just humans in a different skin, and who also manages to explore real human reactions to alien situations, as opposed to too much focus on techie stuff.

She specialises in a tight third-person from the point of view of a hapless but competent male lead who is wonderfully endearing in his various incarnations. While she rarely writes a female POV, her female characters are generally just as full-bodied and strong as the male characters.

Cherryh’s works are extensive and I haven’t read all of them, but they generally fall into a number of series or universes, some of which she still returns to, some of which seem done. My favourites include the Foreigner series, lead character Bren Cameron; the old Morgaine series, lead character Vanye; the Fortress series, lead characters Cefwyn and Tristan; and the Rider  series, currently only two books, the first of which (Rider at the Gate) managed to make me sincerely grieve the death of character who dies before the book opens and we never actually get to meet.

One of her most developed universes is the Alliance-Union divided universe, first introduced (I think) in Downbelow Station. The opening chapter of this book is still one of the best prologues I’ve ever read in the way it sets up the rest of the story beautifully.

I also love her way with made-up words (she has a background in, among other things, linguistics). I often find the use of artificial words scattered through a book irritating: I can see that authors want to make the point that this is a different world or reality where English is not the base language, but I look at it this way: if every other word in this supposed foreign language was translated to English, why not the words meaning chicken, coffee, or chair? If something looks like a chicken and acts like a chicken, call it a chicken and stop making me flip to the glossary.

But Cherryh has perfected the art of having something look like a chicken but act like a duck, to torture the metaphor a bit more. Her made-up words are for alien concepts, actions and objects that do not have simple English translations. And I particularly appreciate that she generally doesn’t supply a glossary – pay attention and she gives you enough to work out what the made-up word represents, rather than just blindly substituting made-up noun for English noun and slapping on a glossary (which is just pandering to laziness from both reader and author).

Her website is here.