Space Opera Fans discussion

The June 2021 Themed Pick is The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh. The theme is Female Leader. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt toothed and blunt-fingered, Tully was the sole surviving member of his company -- a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown -- and he was a prisoner of his discoverer/ captors the sadistic, treacherous kif, until his escape onto the hani ship The Pride of Chanur.

Little did he know when he threw himself upon the mercy of The Pride and her crew that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself. For the information this fugitive held could be the ruin or glory of any of the species at Meetpoint Station.

This was a Themed pick in 2018, for the Traders theme. That discussion thread is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I have read this several times, with the most recent being a few months ago. While I won’t reread it again so soon after my last reading, I do look forward to the discussion.

I also have read this several times (probably three), but it's been a while. I will try to read it again, but it might not be immediately, since I've got several other books going.

I named my cat Tully, and my catamaran Hilfy. Nuff said.

LOL

I just finished my reread of this. Actually, on this reading, I was a little disappointed. Still enjoyed it, but I was less forgiving of some flaws. Here is my review.

Just finished and I loved it. It must have been really foreword thinking when newly released, regarding gender norms and tribalism - fighting stereotypes is something great about sci-fi and soace opera.
I also really admire how alien the aliens are, not just different types of oxygen breathing bipeds, and the non human POV.

Clueless sci-fi noob: “Are there gay spacecats in this book?” 🌈 🐱

Trike wrote: "Clueless sci-fi noob: “Are there gay spacecats in this book?” 🌈 🐱"

No. It was first published in 1981.

Betsy wrote: "Trike wrote: "Clueless sci-fi noob: “Are there gay spacecats in this book?” 🌈 🐱"

No. It was first published in 1981."

Back then I think the only type of fiction to have gay characters was one that had little literary merit and the writers of which had never heard the term "coherent plot".

I was joshing, because Pride Month and I had been seeing lots of silliness on Twitter this week by confused kids, but there were lots of gay characters in SFF books back in the day.

The Space Opera novel by R.M. Meluch Sovereign is a good example, and it was published in 1979. The New Wave likewise has plenty of LGTBQ representation.

I know at least one gay character pops up Haldeman’s Forever War.

C. John wrote: "I know at least one gay character pops up Haldeman’s Forever War."

Actually quite a few. (view spoiler)[Almost the entire human race, in fact. To combat overpopulation, Earth’s government promotes homosexuality as a cure. So Mandella’s entire platoon is gay, and they refer to him as “the old pervert”, despite the fact he is physically only a few years older than them but due to time dilation he is centuries out of touch. (hide spoiler)] That book is endlessly fascinating.

I think the part that impressed me the most about this book is the organized system they have for learning a new language that then becomes a translator. That is clearly something required when a new batch of aliens appears but most books either have a handwavium universal translator or make up the process on the fly with a lot of pointing.