Most Popular Books by C. J. Cherryh

Scattered about the galaxy were the time-space, gates of a vanished alien race. Long before the rise of the native civilizations, they had terrorized a hundred worlds--not from villainy but from folly. Now the task was to destroy their potency for mischief. This is the story of one such Gate.

SFWA Grand Master Cherryh returns to the Hugo-award winning Alliance-Union Universe with a thrilling entry in her far-reaching sci-fi saga. For years, the stations of the Hinder Stars, those old stations closest to Sol, have lagged behind the great megastations of the Beyond, like Pell and Cyteen. But new opportunities and fears arise when Alpha station receives news of an incoming ship with no identification. The denizens of Alpha wait anxiously for news about the outsiders, each with their own suspicions about the ship and its origins. Ross and Fallon, crew members of the Galway, believe the unidentified ship belongs to Pell and has come to investigate another massive ship docked at Alpha, The Rights of Man. Though Rights is under the command of the Earth Company, it is not quite perfected—and its true purpose is shrouded in mystery. James Robert Neihart, captain of Finity''s End—a huge faster-than-light ship flown by one of the Merchanter Families—has heard whispers of The Rights of Man and wonders at its design and purpose, especially as Sol struggles to rival the progress of the Farther Stars. Now docked at Alpha, he must convince the crews that there is more to The Rights of Man than meets the eye. Because the reasons behind the creation of The Rights of Man, and its true plans, could change everything—not just for Sol, but for the Hinder Stars and the Beyond itself.

The long-awaited sequel to the Hugo award-winning novels Cyteen and Downbelow Station. The direct sequel to Cyteen, Regenesis continues the story of Ariane Emory, Personal Replicate, the genetic clone of one of the greatest scientists humanity has ever produced, and of her search for the murderer of her progenitor-the original Ariane Emory. Murder, politics, deception, and genetic and psychological manipulation combine against a backdrop of interstellar human factions at odds to confront questions that have remained unanswered for two decades... Who killed the original Ariane Emory? And can her Personal Replicate avoid the same fate?

With the Assassins'' Guild functioning again after a year of upheaval and rebellion, Bren Cameron takes a position on the court to champion a trade agreement, but tranquility in the atevi world is transient.

All of C.J. Cherryh''s award-winning short fiction, collected in one volume for the first time... “It’s rare that I’m not working on a novel. Short stories often happen between novels. Consequently my output is fairly small. But I love the tale-telling concept, the notion that I can spin a yarn, rather than construct something architectural and precise.” So writes triple Hugo Award-winning author C.J. Cherryh in the introduction to this book, the first comprehensive collection of her independent short fiction. For though Cherryh is primarily known for her novels, it’s clear both from the more than two dozen brilliant and varied stories collected here, as well as her commentaries about them, that she loves the short forms and truly enjoys her forays into them. We welcome you to join the realms of C. J. Cherryh’s imagination, where you’ll visit: “Cassandra”—the Hugo Award-winning tale of a woman cursed with a unique, prophetic madness. “Threads of Time”—an unforgettable reminder that when you play tricks in time, Time itself may play the greatest trick on you. Sunfall—in which six mighty Earth cities laden with the grandeur of history confront their fates in the far future light of our own dying sun. And many other magical, alien, and future worlds, in a volume that incorporates all C. J. Cherryh’s previous, long-unavailable collections, individual short stories that have never been compiled before, and a never-before-published novella written specifically for this book. Board this spaceship where your tour guide is one of the most gifted and brilliant science fiction and fantasy writers, and embark on a journey fueled by the imagination of the incomparable C. J. Cherryh.

From C.J. Cherryh, one of science fiction′s greatest writers and a 3-time Hugo Award "Best Novel" winner, comes the exciting and long-awaited follow-up to Hammerfall, the second novel of the Gene Wars, now in mass market. In the second volume of "The Gene Wars," C. J. Cherryh further explores the captivating new universe where two interstellar empires, scarred by nanotechnology weaponry, hover in an uneasy detente. Perched at the edge of the galaxy, tiny Concord Station holds the balance of the universe within its carefully regulated worlds. For, created to carefully monitor the crucial desert planet below, it lies in the tenuous intersection between the territories of Earth and the alien Ondat. Marak Trin Tain has saved a planet′s people from total destruction, when the implacable ondat sent down a hammerfall to destroy the planet and keep its deadly nanoceles from changing life and evolution forever. But the regrowing planet is fragile, and a deadly cataclysm could destroy Marak--and with him, the hope for peace within the universe. Meanwhile, on Concord, an unexpected ship from Earth disrupts the uneasy truces between human and alien, and the consequences could restart the terrible Gene Wars that once destroyed most of humanity.

The Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel about a space station caught in the crosshairs of an interstellar war—perfect for fans of space opera and military science fiction! “A hell of a story.” —io9 The Beyond started with the Stations orbiting the stars nearest Earth. The Great Circle the interstellar freighters traveled was long, but not unmanageable, and the early Stations were emotionally and politically dependent on Mother Earth. The Earth Company which ran this immense operation reaped incalculable profits and influenced the affairs of nations. Then came Pell, the first station centered around a newly discovered living planet. The discovery of Pell’s World forever altered the power balance of the Beyond. Earth was no longer the anchor which kept this vast empire from coming adrift, the one living mote in a sterile universe. But Pell was just the first living planet. Then came Cyteen, and later others, and a new and frighteningly different society grew in the farther reaches of space. The importance of Earth faded and the Company reaped ever smaller profits as the economic focus of space turned outward. But the powerful Earth Fleet was sitll a presence in the Beyond, and Pell Station was to become the last stronghold in a titanic struggle between the vast, dynamic forces of the rebel Union and those who defended Earth''s last, desperate grasp for the stars.

Deep in an abandoned, shattered castle, an old man of the Old Magic muttered almost forgotten words. His purpose -- to create out of the insubstance of the air, from a shimmering of light and a fluttering of shadows. that most wonderous of spells, a Shaping. A Shaping in the form of a, young man who will be sent east on the road the old was to old to travel. To right the wrongs of a long-forgotten wizard war, and call new wars into being. Here is the long-awaited major new novel from one of the brightest stars in the fantasy and science fiction firmament.C.J.Cherryh''s haunting story of the wizard Mauryl, kingmaker for a thousand years of Men, and Tristen, fated to sow distrust between a prince and his father being. A tale as deep as legend and a intimate as love, it tells of a battle beyond Time, in which all Destiny turns on the wheel of an old man''s ambition, a young man''s innocence, and the unkept promised of a king to come.

The final volume of the Chanur saga, set in the Alliance-Union universe, featuring the alien spaceship captain Hiffy Chanur. Hiffy Chanur, once a member of her aunt''s crew on The Pride of Chanur, is now captain of her own vessel, Chanur''s Legacy. It should have been the ideal existence for Hiffy, her fondest dream fulfilled, but instead the young captain''s increasingly hard-pressed to take care of her ship''s business. So when Meetpoint''s stationmaster offers her a million credits to transport a small, mysterious, "religious" object, it seems like a golden opportunity—perhaps even too good an opportunity.... Yet despite her misgivings, Hiffy feels it''s a comission she can''t turn down. But soon she and the Legacy are caught in an ever-tightening web of intrigue. And only time will tell whether the young captain can determine who is her ally and who is her enemy in this deadly game of interstellar politics....

The ninth novel in Cherryh’s Foreigner space opera series, a groundbreaking tale of first contact and its consequences… In the aftermath of civil war, the world of the atevi is still perilously unstable. Tabini-aiji, powerful ruler of the Western Association, along with his son and heir Cajeiri, and his human paidhi, Bren Cameron, have returned to the seat of power. The usurper, Murini, has escaped to the lands of his supporters, but the danger these rebels pose is far from over. Ilisidi, Tabini''s grandmother, the aiji-dowager, has returned to her ancient castle in the East, for she has powerful ties in the lands of the rebels, and she seeks to muster whatever support for her grandson that she can from among those enemy strongholds. In his father''s tightly guarded headquarters, eight-year-old Cajeiri is horribly bored. Two years on an interstellar starship surrounded by human children have left him craving excitement. But unbeknownst to this dissatisfied youngster, he has become a target for forces bent on destroying his father''s rule and everything it stands for. Though still a child, Cajeiri embodies a unique threat to the venerable, tradition-defined lifestyle of his people. For this young boy is the first ateva youth to have lived in a human environment. And after hundreds of years of tenuous atevi-human coexistence, Cajeiri may very well be the first ateva to ever truly understand the so similar yet so dangerously different aliens who share his home planet and threaten the hidebound customs of his race. The long-running Foreigner series can also be enjoyed by more casual genre readers in sub-trilogy installments. Deliverer is the 9th Foreigner novel, and the 3rd book in the third subtrilogy.

The 2nd novel of The Hinder Stars series returns to an intergalactic corporate conflict, set in the Hugo Award–winning Alliance-Union Universe. With deft prose and complex characters, Alliance Unbound is thought-provoking science fiction that shrewdly examines the technological and sociopolitical challenges of humanity’s journey to the stars. When Cyteen opened up faster-than-light travel, it gave the technology for free to any ship that could reach it; and with that technology, it provided a map of jump-points, points of mass enabling starships to navigate hyperspace safely. The map of jump-points, however, stopped with the route to Alpha—thus excluding Sol, and Earth, and the Earth Company, whose gateway to the stars was Alpha. Cyteen knew exactly what it was doing with its gift. Sol and the EC could still reach Alpha with sub-light pusher-ships as it always had—but Sol and the Earth Company no longer had any authority in the Beyond. But Sol intends to take back control of its star-stations and stop Cyteen''s unbridled expansion, however it can. To do that, they are willing to starve Alpha and concentrate their efforts on a huge FTLer capable of carrying military force.

Within the Constellation of the Serpent, out of bounds to all spacefarers, humans live among the insect-like aliens--and one of them, a woman named Paen, is bent on a revenge that will tear apart the truce between human and alien. "Brisk pacing . . . and genuinely brilliant world-building".--ALA Booklist.

Seventeen-year-old Altair, a streetwise survivor of the canal city of Merovingen, finds and rescues a half-drowned man. Though grateful for her aid, he does not want to tell her why assassins are on his trail. Yet Altair cannot abandon him to an unequal battle.

Aiela, a world-survey officer, is abducted by the iduve, the most advanced spacefaring race in the galaxy, and is forced to serve his captors on the clanship Ashanome