Alternate Realities: Three Short Novels
by C. J. Cherryh
Alliance-Union Universe: The Age of Exploration (Collections and Selections — Collection includes 1, 2), Alliance-Union Universe (Collections and Selections — Omnibus 30,31,39)
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Long out of print, these three acclaimed novels are among Cherryh's personal favorites. The Court of Camelot lives again in "Port Eternity". Invisible alien life inhabits the planet Freedom in "Wave Without a Shore". Finally, in "Voyager in Night", a human space crew's collision with an alien ship ends in death -- and rebirth.Tags
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An odd assortment of not-quite tales: I'll start with the last one [Wave Without a Shore] which I did not complete. This offering seemed . . . more like an exercise or allegory: pitting the laws of behavioral science against the philosophy of ethics, Kantian style, rather than a story. Oh and the presentation style also evoked something Ayn Rand-ish, I found particularly disturbing in our present moment (2025 for those of you who might read this later).
The other two took on the classic Cherryh themes of the unknowability of aliens. In [Voyager in the Night] a tiny mining ship with three passengers is pulled into a huge and ancient space-faring behemoth, full of . . . no longer living aliens . . . everyone a copy of the original. The show more three find themselves caught up a) in that weirdness, seeing copies of yourself and b) a battle between different copies of the same fellow, the one who pulled them in . . . because he was curious. The first story has a ship full of 'made' humans that work the ship, are servants (slaves, really) of one fabulously wealthy woman who is aboard with her husband who get sucked into a spatial anomaly and find themselves facing many questions that must be reconsidered and also a constant struggle between the methane vs oxygen breathers. Tossed into the mix is the fact that the woman chose and named the for the literary inhabitants of [La Morte D'Artur] -- a story the crew doesn't know until they get hold of a tape telling the story . . . . you can guess that Modred wasn't too happy. That was, perhaps, the best story (to me) of the lot. *** and almost a half. show less
The other two took on the classic Cherryh themes of the unknowability of aliens. In [Voyager in the Night] a tiny mining ship with three passengers is pulled into a huge and ancient space-faring behemoth, full of . . . no longer living aliens . . . everyone a copy of the original. The show more three find themselves caught up a) in that weirdness, seeing copies of yourself and b) a battle between different copies of the same fellow, the one who pulled them in . . . because he was curious. The first story has a ship full of 'made' humans that work the ship, are servants (slaves, really) of one fabulously wealthy woman who is aboard with her husband who get sucked into a spatial anomaly and find themselves facing many questions that must be reconsidered and also a constant struggle between the methane vs oxygen breathers. Tossed into the mix is the fact that the woman chose and named the for the literary inhabitants of [La Morte D'Artur] -- a story the crew doesn't know until they get hold of a tape telling the story . . . . you can guess that Modred wasn't too happy. That was, perhaps, the best story (to me) of the lot. *** and almost a half. show less
Collecting three of Cherryh's novellas into one easily carried volume, this is a great choice for any long plane or train ride. What I love most about ALTERNATE REALITIES is how different each story is from it's compatriots, thematically as well as technically.
"Port Eternity" reads almost like a fairy tale gone horribly awry. It's about identity, patterning yourself after heroes, and finding who you are in the midst of crisis.
"Wave Without a Shore" seems like a sci-fi tribute to Ayn Rand's THE FOUNTAINHEAD. An obsessive artist, a love triangle, a whole other reality that's right beneath the surface... my favorite story of the three hands down.
"Voyager in Night" has very cyberpunk connotations to me, mixed with a bit of A.C. Clarke's show more RAMA books. A.I.'s battling each other for supremacy of a system, human and clones caught in the middle. Very, very strange novella. show less
"Port Eternity" reads almost like a fairy tale gone horribly awry. It's about identity, patterning yourself after heroes, and finding who you are in the midst of crisis.
"Wave Without a Shore" seems like a sci-fi tribute to Ayn Rand's THE FOUNTAINHEAD. An obsessive artist, a love triangle, a whole other reality that's right beneath the surface... my favorite story of the three hands down.
"Voyager in Night" has very cyberpunk connotations to me, mixed with a bit of A.C. Clarke's show more RAMA books. A.I.'s battling each other for supremacy of a system, human and clones caught in the middle. Very, very strange novella. show less
I read Port Eternity some years back, and when I picked this up in the thrift store it was Wave Without a Shore that caught my attention, so that's where I started. I love the concept of the 'invisible' aliens, whose presence so offends humans' sensibilities that they refuse to acknowledge them no matter how inconvenient.
I just wish... hmm. So often fiction portrays this inevitable descent into murder and societal mayhem and then a convenient rebuilding and... perhaps I'm in a mood because on the one hand things don't get rebuilt so easily, and on the other it's awfully convenient to the narrative that things descend there anyway; the more mundane (in my society) reality of the dysfunction carrying on being... functionally dysfunctional show more is not nearly so cathartic, but I kind of want to see it being addressed sometime. Or maybe I don't really because it'd be too grim; I just want someone to come up with a solution I know doesn't really exist because I want my own society to be fixed already. So yeah, that. show less
I just wish... hmm. So often fiction portrays this inevitable descent into murder and societal mayhem and then a convenient rebuilding and... perhaps I'm in a mood because on the one hand things don't get rebuilt so easily, and on the other it's awfully convenient to the narrative that things descend there anyway; the more mundane (in my society) reality of the dysfunction carrying on being... functionally dysfunctional show more is not nearly so cathartic, but I kind of want to see it being addressed sometime. Or maybe I don't really because it'd be too grim; I just want someone to come up with a solution I know doesn't really exist because I want my own society to be fixed already. So yeah, that. show less
This is a collection of three short novels, "Port Eternity," "Wave Without a Shore," and "Voyager in Night." The first concerns a wealthy woman's pleasure ship, staffed by androids that she has named for characters from Arthurian legend. The ship becomes lost in an unknown region of space; this crisis affects both the humans and the androids, who have varying degrees of knowledge about the story their names are drawn from. This knowledge sometimes informs their actions and interactions. "Voyager in Night" concerns a small mining ship manned by a woman, her brother, and her husband; they have an encounter with an alien ship that contains intelligences both powerful and strange; their lives are changed forever. In "Wave Without a Shore," show more an isolated planet named Freedom is home to Herrin Law, an artist whose conception of reality is challenged by his experiences. I enjoyed the first two stories more than the third, which featured a cast of characters almost impossible to like or care about (at least until near the end, when Herrin undergoes drastic changes in his life that reshape his worldview). Though these stories are interesting and thought-provoking, ultimately they are less engaging than the bulk of Cherryh's work, and I'd be inclined to recommend almost any other of her works before this one. show less
As with all Cherry there is a lot of thinking and talking and almost mundane activity. But it builds and builds and makes you think while culminating in some very significant action.
Three novellas, long short stories or short novels, all nominally set in the Aliance/Union timeline but somewhat distant from the events described in the main books.
Port Eternity: Lady Dela, rich owner and descendant of founders of a new planet travels at her whim with her collection of azi. Although there is no Arthur, her servants have all been raised without their knowledge in an Authurian tradition. The story is told from the POV of the gentle maid Elaine, and takes place onboard Dela's ship as they depart with her newest lover Griffin. An accident in jump strands them at a strange location and once the azi recieve an arthurian tape, their behaviors start to become more man-born when faced with danger.
The most obviously Union based show more story of the three it drags a bit in places, because Elaine spends a lot of time carrying or tidying, over all I find it charming take on a future arthurian legend.
Voyager in the night: One of CJCs strangest stories! Rafe and Jillian Murray with Paul Gains are start-up merchanters around the new Endevour station. They get caught up in the deep when a bogey drops in on them, and take sides in an internal disspute amoungst the crew, is the captain, disagrees [] is agressive and ((())) is mad. ... Works remarkably well and the "names" do make sense later on. Requires some concentration but provokes deep thoughts concerning the strengths of understanding your weaknesses.
Wave without a Shore: definetly the most accessible of the tales, with little conection to Alliance/Union universe. Merrin Law is a Master of Arts, Waden Jenks a Master of Politics, on a world founded by philosophers. Who's Art is the greatest? who's reallity superceeds the other? When Outsiders arrive, the matter is put to the test, with results that shock both parties.
Altogether the stories work well exploring the weaknesses of being human in various ways, and helping they help define your strengths. not the most captivating of CJCs works but still very deep with much to think about. show less
Port Eternity: Lady Dela, rich owner and descendant of founders of a new planet travels at her whim with her collection of azi. Although there is no Arthur, her servants have all been raised without their knowledge in an Authurian tradition. The story is told from the POV of the gentle maid Elaine, and takes place onboard Dela's ship as they depart with her newest lover Griffin. An accident in jump strands them at a strange location and once the azi recieve an arthurian tape, their behaviors start to become more man-born when faced with danger.
The most obviously Union based show more story of the three it drags a bit in places, because Elaine spends a lot of time carrying or tidying, over all I find it charming take on a future arthurian legend.
Voyager in the night: One of CJCs strangest stories! Rafe and Jillian Murray with Paul Gains are start-up merchanters around the new Endevour station. They get caught up in the deep when a bogey drops in on them, and take sides in an internal disspute amoungst the crew, is the captain, disagrees [] is agressive and ((())) is mad. ... Works remarkably well and the "names" do make sense later on. Requires some concentration but provokes deep thoughts concerning the strengths of understanding your weaknesses.
Wave without a Shore: definetly the most accessible of the tales, with little conection to Alliance/Union universe. Merrin Law is a Master of Arts, Waden Jenks a Master of Politics, on a world founded by philosophers. Who's Art is the greatest? who's reallity superceeds the other? When Outsiders arrive, the matter is put to the test, with results that shock both parties.
Altogether the stories work well exploring the weaknesses of being human in various ways, and helping they help define your strengths. not the most captivating of CJCs works but still very deep with much to think about. show less
Despite my adoration of C. J. Cherryh, I found little of this early work to be compelling.
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A multiple award-winning author of more than thirty novels, C. J. Cherryh received her B.A. in Latin from the University of Oklahoma, and then went on to earn a M.A. in Classics from Johns Hopkins University. Cherryh's novels, including Tripoint, Cyteen, and The Pride of Chanur, are famous for their knife-edge suspense and complex, realistic show more characters. Cherryh won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1977. She was also awarded the Hugo Award for her short story Cassandra in 1979, and the novels Downbelow Station in 1982 and Cyteen in 1989. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Series
Alliance-Union Universe: The Age of Exploration
3 works (Collections and Selections — Collection includes 1, 2)
Alliance-Union Universe
39 works (Collections and Selections — Omnibus 30,31,39)
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DAW Book Collectors (1168)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Alternate Realities: Three Short Novels
- Original publication date
- 2000-12; 1982-10 (Port Eternity) (Port Eternity); 1984-04 (Voyager in night) (Voyager in night); 1981-08 (Wave without a shore) (Wave without a shore)
- People/Characters
- Dela Kirn; Griffin; Elaine (azi); Gawain (azi); Lancelot du Lac (azi); Lynette (azi) (show all 9); Modred (azi); Percivale (azi); Vivien (azi)
- Important places
- Maid of Astolat (spaceship)
- First words
- She was a beautiful ship, the Maid of Astolat, beautiful in the way ships can be when cost means nothing, and money certainly meant nothing except the comfort and the pleasure of my lady Dela Kirn. (Port Eternity)
1,000,000 rise of terrene hominids. (Voyager in night)
Freedom was one of those places honest ships avoided, a pleasant world of a pleasant star, but lacking a station at which ships could dock, and by reason of its location on the limb's sparse edge, inconvenient for ships on fi... (show all)xed schedules. (Wave without a shore) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And whenever the call goes out, echoing clear and brazen through the air, we take up our arms again and go. (Port Eternity)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The spec shivered, adding up those years. (Voyager in night)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Herrin left him there, walked away with Sbi and the others, trusting that Waden would follow, in his own time. (Wave without a shore)
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