Think Galactic: 40,000 in Gehenna

Perhaps the least-bad
of the cover illustrations.

So it's no secret: C.J. Cherryh is one of my favorite authors, and I've read, re-read, and written about her work pretty extensively. Thus, I felt a little trepidation leading up to the last Think Galactic meeting-- not everyone is a fan of Cherryh's style, and as the book-suggester (and lover) I was worried about how the group would receive it. Then, I started reading "40,000 in Gehenna" (1983) for the nth time, and forgot all my fears, because it's really an excellent novel, rich in themes and ideas. We had a great discussion about it, ranging all over the place.

"Gehenna" is a great example of "future history SF". Rather than following a particular character or plot, the novel instead explores a place and situation over a good deal of time--in this case, the founding, foundering, and evolution of the Gehenna colony over about three centuries. It's set within Cherryh's large, consistent, but not very series-based "Alliance-Union" universe. Union's settlement of Gehenna, composed primarily of the cloned "azi" workers, is designed to fail--but Union doesn't account for the intrusion of the supposedly non-intelligent native life, the pseudo-reptilian calibans. When the planet is ceded to the Alliance government, they find human cultures that have developed in strange directions. That's just a rough synopsis, and there are likely to be SPOILERS BELOW:

Chicago Nerds: A Natural History of Dragons

This past Monday night, the Chicago Nerd Social Club discussed Marie Brennan's "A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent" (2013) at our usual spot at Filter Cafe. It was a pretty fun, light read, with correspondingly light discussion; nonetheless there may be SPOILERS BELOW:

Blackstone F&SF: Dragon Keeper

Last night I ventured south to attend the Blackstone Library Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Club's discussion of "Dragon Keeper" (2009) by Robin Hobb. Blackstone is a beautiful library--marble, dark timber, brass--that in some difficult-to-describe way also looks like it might be haunted. Delightful.

A good book-club!  A lot of long-time fans and readers, with lots of discussion, argument, and comparison to other works. Much to my liking. Possible spoilers below...