Downbelow Station

A copy of the 2008 edition of Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh (see image) arrived by post from Leipzig. This means that:

I will be reading Downbelow Station when I am not rereading There Will Be Time;

posts about Cherryh's novel, whether comparing it with Poul Anderson's works or discussing it more generally, might appear here.

Cherryh:

"...wanted a wider backdrop, a universe that would be consistent from book to book, a universe to satisfy all those readers that love to detect connections."

-CJ Cherryh, Downbelow Station (New York, 2008), Introduction, p. 1.

We have previously commended Poul Anderson's Technic History for its internal consistency and interconnections and have compared it with several other future history series on this score.

"No one's wholly right or ultimately evil." (ibid.)

Of the authors that we have already discussed, Poul Anderson gives sympathetic treatment to characters that he disagrees with whereas SM Stirling creates several villains who are pure evil - as well as a likeable antagonist in the Black Chamber series. No one ultimately evil? No one is evil because he is our political enemy but anyone who incites xenophobia is pretty damned evil - and morally linked to perpetrators of genocide.

Cherryh explains which stars her characters travel between and why. For a comparable discussion of astronomy in Anderson's Technic History, see here.

Finally, for now, compare these two passages:

"People ask where writers get ideas.

"Take my advice. Some cool, clear night, drive to a country place where city lights don't block your view. Turn off the car lights. Get out and look up. And see our real neighborhood." (p. 3)

"Look up. Space begins about fifty miles above your head."

-Poul Anderson, "Commentary" IN Anderson, Space Folk (New York, 1989), pp. 257-260 AT p. 258.