Julie E. Czerneda

[Rob B]

Has anybody read this relatively prolific Canadian Science Fiction writer?.

I haven’t read anything by Ms. Czernada, but she’s one of those authors who has rattled off 13 novels in just over a decade, which is pretty impressive in and of itself.

 

[Raule]

Funny you should ask... very recently bought Reap the Wild Wind, and am in the middle of reading it now. I haven't read anything by her before, but was aware of her as a SF author with a background in biology and thought she might be interesting to try. I thought this might make as good an entry point as any since it was available in my local bookstore. So far, am enjoying it. Writing is engaging, direct and economical, without being too technical or overwhelming and clips along at a nice pace. Alien cultures are different without being too far out there and weird (in other words, they feel realistically different, not preposterously weird, or weird for the effect of creating them that way, if you know what I mean)... the world building, social structure, biology and ecology are all important elements of the story.

 

[Rob B]

Hi Raule

Glad to see somebody here is reading here. There's a crop of authors, Czerneda included, who have quietly published a nice chunk of novels and I never see chatter about them here at SFFWorld.*

I recall when I was in the Science Fiction Book Club that one of her titles, I think Company of Others being a main selection. Again, many years ago, but the memory for some reason stuck. Maybe it was the Cz at the beginning of her name.

*we all know the true measure of success as an author is for your work to be discussed here at SFFWorld**

**or not

Later Edit:

As I was tagging this thread, an older thread came up which didn't seem to turn up in the search I did before creating this thread.

 

[suciul]

I read and enjoyed the first series Thousands Words for Stranger and 2 sequels - romantic space opera with powerful mind-readers, intrigue, secret societies, a memory-less girl which (well that would be spoiling)

Her second trilogy with shape shifters was more of a hit and miss; I read it and enjoyed parts, but overall I was disappointed, I thought it went too much into pulp, costume humans and all

The new series never clicked for me so for now I stopped reading her work

 

[beniowa]

I have a couple of her first books, but I've never gotten around to them. One of these days I will.

 

[Michigan]

I read, a long time ago, Thousand Words For Stranger and it's sequel, didn't realize there is a 3rd. At least i'm pretty sure that's the one I read, like I said it's been awhile and it didn't leave much of an impression which is why I haven't picked up anything else by her. I'm not a huge fan of female authors and this definitely had that feel.

 

[suciul]

I read, a long time ago, Thousand Words For Stranger and it's sequel, didn't realize there is a 3rd. At least i'm pretty sure that's the one I read, like I said it's been awhile and it didn't leave much of an impression which is why I haven't picked up anything else by her. I'm not a huge fan of female authors and this definitely had that feel.

Trade the Stars is the name of the 3rd from the Clan series (the pseudo-humans with telepathic powers and powerful women); it seems there will be a sequel series which I may read.

Essen's cycle (shapeshifters) is Behold the Eye and 2 more and it seems there will be a sequel too, but that I dropped off

Not a fan of prequels so I have not tried Stratification 1 (pre-Clan), though I may at some point.

The rest (Company of Others and Species Imperative) never interested me, but I loved the Clan series as mentioned, romantic sf at a time when such was scarce.

 

[Raule]

I'm liking Reap the Wild Wind (#1 of the Stratification series, prequel to Trade Pact trilogy). I was in the mood for a nice piece of anthropological SF with some social world building in a foreign world, different aliens, a well thought out depiction of how humanoids and truly alien creatures might interact and live with one another, etc. There's nothing about it that wows me, but it's the sort of book I was looking for and is very satisfying on that level. I'll look for the rest of this series and the Trade Pact books.

I think A Thousand Words for Stranger is a great title for grabbing your attention.

 

[Aurian]

For someone new to her, what is a good series/book to start off with?
Are they all trilogies?

 

[KatG]

A lot of her works are connected to/in the same universe of the world she created in A Thousand Words for Stranger, so that's probably the best one to start with.

 

[Aurian]

My library didn`t have it, but I will keep it in mind for my next Amazon package

I did find Survival and Reap the Wild Wind, so I can see if I like her style!

 

[David Boultbee]

I've just started reading some of her works and I've really enjoyed them.

I like a Thousand Words for Stranger but I found the ending a bit disappointing.

I've also read Beholders Eye and really enjoyed the shape shifting concept. I found it interesting how the shape that one was in affected one's perceptions and attitudes. Very intriguing novel but I haven't read the rest of the series yet.

Also just finished Species #1 - Survival I think it is. Again a very strong novel, lots of character development and a good story woven through it.

I haven't ready anything beyond the first book in any of her series so I can't comment on how well she keeps the story going but I have enjoyed all 3 books I've read so far and will definitely add her to my list of authors to look for a the bookstore.

 

[FitzChivalry]

By sheer chance i ordered In The Company of Others yesterday, i didn't see this thread before.
I will let you know what i think.

 

[Raule]

I finished the Stratification trilogy this week (books are: Reap the Wild Wind, Riders of the Storm, and the new one, A Rift in the Sky). I really enjoyed these, so am now reading the Trade Pact trilogy (in the chronology, this one follows the great grandchildren of the characters in Stratification). I'm currently in the middle of the first one, A Thousand Words for Stranger. I think what makes these so enjoyable are the characters, the chemistry she develops between them, and the various cultural and ecological elements that are explored between the various species. Not mind-blowing SF, but good books to get lost in, briskly paced once you get into them, with a lot of adventure and mystery as well. Looks like Czerneda will be writing a follow-on to the Trade Pact trilogy called Reunification, so there will be more Clan Chronicles to look forward to down the road.

 

[FitzChivalry]

I finished In The Company of Others today, and i can say that i was greatly disappointed with this book.
I could sum it in three words: Boring as hell.
The main premise was interesting, the Quill were these harmless little organisms that made people to feel good, but suddenly they got crazy and all the humans that lived on planets that had Quill on them, died. So what happened to the Quill? what are their nature? that's the interesting questions i had while reading the book, and what interested me the most.
Sadly, out of like 560 pages, only 50 deal directly with those questions, the rest of the book is slow moving "action" sequences between various human factions that i didn't care about, or silly implausible and to some degree embarassing romantic parts, that i cared even less about. In order to get to the interesting parts about the Quill, i had to skimm through hundreds of pages at time, it was very boring and tiresome.
I doubt i'll read any more Czerneda in the future.

 

[Raule]

I finished the three books in the Trade Pact trilogy and enjoyed them. These are more in the rousing adventure mold than serious, heavy hitting SF. I really liked Czerneda's sense of humor which shines through in these (the alien creatures, the Drapsk, in particular, are a hoot). I think those who read and enjoyed Trade Pact would like Stratification. I'm now looking forward to Czerneda's follow-up to Trade Pact which will be called Reunification (not sure if it will be a duology or a trilogy). Czerneda states in her author's note to the last book of Stratfication, "you ain't seen nothing yet," so she must have great plans for the series going forward. Reunification will take up some time after Trade Pact leaves off, continuing the story of Jason and Sira (or that's my understanding).

 

[Expendable]

She's a really good writer, I've read most of her books. Interesting characters, good stories.

Fitz, In the Company of Others is not so much about the Quill, more about what can happen when you bring foreign animals into a new environment; think Dutch Elm disease, or the Rabbit Fence in Australia. Or man to distant alien worlds.

 

[FitzChivalry]

She's a really good writer, I've read most of her books. Interesting characters, good stories.

Fitz, In the Company of Others is not so much about the Quill, more about what can happen when you bring foreign animals into a new environment; think Dutch Elm disease, or the Rabbit Fence in Australia. Or man to distant alien worlds.

If it wasn't about the Quill it wouldn't have been SF, it would have been a book about rabbits or toads in Australia. It is about the Quill, who didn't really ruin the local environment, they killed humans. It's more about how totally alien and impossible to understand aliens can be.
And good thing too, because if it was about rabbits in Australia, it would have been even more boring.

 

[Pellinore]

I've read her Species Imperative trilogy. I found it very interesting. Her background in biology provides a unique take on SF. Perhaps in the vein of Speaker For the Dead- providing a detailed biological backdrop for a species is fairly uncommon in my SF reading experience.

 

[B5B7]

I have read A Thousand Word for Stranger (yeah, great title). It's okay, but I found the ending to be a bit disappointing. Not particularly memorable, and a bit 'Mills and Boonish'.