C.J. Cherryh Is a Science Fiction Grandmaster

Here’s your awesome news of the week: the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have named author C.J. Cherryh the 32nd Damon Knight Grand Master, joining auspicious company that includes Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Joe Haldeman, Connie Willis, and Ursula K. Le Guin. The award, presented to a living author, is a recognition of the recipient’s collective achievements within the field.

Cherryh has written dozens of novels over the course of her long career. She got her start when she sold two novels to legendary editor Donald A. Wollheim, Gate of Ivrel (part of what became her Morgaine Stories) and Brothers of Earth in 1975. She earned immediate acclaim when Brothers of Earth was nominated for a Locus Award, and she won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1977.

Brothers of Earth begins her long-running Alliance-Union series, which takes place far in humanity’s future. The Alliance, an intergalactic merchant culture, comes into conflict with another group, the Union. The series has grown to include dozens of novels, many of which have been broken down into smaller sub-series that cover “small” story arcs. Cherryh has often said that the series can be read in any order.

Possibly the best-known “mini-arc” in the Alliance-Union universe is The Company Wars, which includes her first major hit, Downbelow Station, published in 1981 to critical acclaim and winner of the Hugo Award, as well as Merchanter’s Luck, Rimrunners, Heavy Time, Hellburner, Tripoint and Finity’s End. The series follows the lengthy, bloody conflict between the Alliance and the Union, while some of the other books focus on post-war restoration efforts.

Another series, The Era of Rappochement, contains the award-winning Cyteen, which follows a young scientist following the death of her duplicate at the hands of a trusted advisor; the larger arc considers the role of genetic manipulation and politics in the Alliance-Union universe.

The Mri Wars, also known as the Faded Suns trilogy, have been republished together in an omnibus edition. The trilogy contains Kesrith, Shon’Jir and Kutath, and takes place in the aftermath of a war between humanity and the deeply alien regul. The first book follows Nuin, a young warrior from yet another alien race, the mri, as he searches for a holy relic, allying with his sister Melein and a human named Sten Duncan. The trilogy spins out from there as Niun attempts to save his race from annihilation.

The Alliance-Union series isn’t Cherryh’s only expansive science fiction saga: her Foreigner series is equally beloved. So far, it includes six trilogies, and follows the life of Bren Cameron, a human translator enmeshed in an alien culture. Unlike the Alliance Union series, this one does follow an order.

The first novel is Foreigner, a first contact story. An exploration ship goes off course and crash lands on an alien world, and as a result, humanity must form an uneasy truce with the local alien civilization, the atevi. An assassination soon brings Bren Cameron to the atevi capitol to help defray the situation. This first arc continues with Invader and Inheritor. Cherryh has steadily added to the series almost annually; the latest installment, Tracker, the first of the sixth trilogy, arrived in bookstores in 2015, and Visitor is slated for release in April.

Cherryh has periodically jumped into fantasy as well: Her first fantasy novel, Ealdwood, arrived in 1981, followed by The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels in 1983.

When it comes to fantasy, however, she’s best known for her Fortrress series: Fortress in the Eye of Time, Fortress of Eagles, Fortress of Owls, Fortress of Dragons and Fortress of Ice. The books follow Tristen, the magical offspring created by the wizard Mauryl Gestaurien, as he comes of age and grows to understand his powers.

Over the course of her career, Cherryh has established herself as one of the most prolific writers in the genres today, and this honor from SFWA adds to her long list of accomplishments.

For her part, Cherryh was elated:

I never expected this. I’m honored to join the ranks of so many illustrious writers. I have a lot of books left to write, a lot of books I want to write, stories I want to tell. I thank my publishers, who keep me in print—I thank my agent, as well. I thank everybody, profoundly, who gives me the chance to do that. And I plan to keep the books coming.

It’s a well-deserved laurel for one of the genre’s living legends. We can’t wait to read all of the books she’s written, and all of them yet to come.