C.J. Cherryh's The Fading Sun: Kesrith (1978) has been with me since high school. My best friend, Steve - the first person I gamed with - read the entire Fading Sun trilogy back then. He really liked its narrative about the Kel, a dying race of honorable space mercenaries, and their dog-bear (sehlat?) companions. I finished Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit last month; Lee's faction of black-clad warriors is also called the Kel. This can't be a coincidence.
The Fading Sun: Kesrith is one of the books I am reading for Vintage Science Fiction Month this January.
I'm a huge Cherryh fan. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Clash! Maybe 10 years ago at Wiscon, I was fortunate to sit in on a wide-ranging one-man panel by a huge Cherryh fan. It was done by someone who was a kid who grew up on her street, whose mom made an introduction! This is my third Cherryh novel (I've read "Pride of Chanur" and Gate of Ivrel) so I have a LOT ahead of me!
DeleteOh man, I loved this trilogy! It would make such a great game setting...
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! It was an influence on Strange Stars for sure, but I have been thinking a lot about both Traveller and Diaspora as I read it. I have less than 60 pages to go, and should finish it by the end of the month, but I have to get Everfair finished by tomorrow for a reading group!
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