Foreigner Books In Order

Publication Order of Foreigner Books

The Foreigner (series by C.J. Cherryh) is an assortment of fictional sequence stories about a fictional foreigner universe. The collection is written by multiple Hugo Award winning author of science fiction and fantasy, C. J Cherryh. Foreigner series is all about the descendants of a ship that was lost on transit on its way to find a new space station. It highlights their struggles and smiles in their endeavors to find a new home for themselves and their ultimate settlement in Arteva, a green humanoids territory.

The Foreigner has been divided in to five trilogy or sequences facets and a department of short stories. Which are also written by C. J Cherryh. The sixth trilogy is set to debut in the bookstores all over America in April 2014.

CHARACTERIZATION.

Throughout the Foreigner series, there are permanent characters and seasonal characters who have braced the Foreigner series.

First and most prominent of all is Bren Cameron who is paidhi-aji, which is a profession associated with translation duties in the Tabini court. Second, Tabini, a member of the Aiji Shejidan clan. He is the leader and the custodian of power for the Artevi.

Third, Ilisidi also known as the Aiji-dowager. She is the grandmother of Tabini. She is reputable for being denied the throne not once by twice by hasdrawad. Hasdrawad is the Artevi legislation kitchen and parliament. Fourth comes the embodiment of masculinity and a cousin to Bren, Banichi. Banichi is the Guild protector. He was assigned this honorable duty by the staff of Tabini alongside Jago.

Fifth, Jago, This Bren’s soulmate but she also juggles this and the duty of being the female hirable killer for the Guild guard. Last but not least, Cajeiri. The presumed heir of the aishidi’tat and he is also the of the famous Tabini.

PLOT.

C. J. Cherryh treats her readers to an eye-widening start to the Foreigner series with the breakdown of Phoenix, a starship belonging to the colonists. The Phoenix met an ignorable systems malfunction and ultimate failure that leaves the starship and its occupants stranded with merely nowhere to turn to. The Phoenix on this journey, was transiting colonist’s material that were to be used to extend the trade empire of interstellar of planet Earth. The occupants of this ship had no way to get home or even locate a star known as SOL which would help them get home. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere, literally!

The crew then gets lit up by the brilliant idea of trying to refuel the Phoenix, maybe, just maybe it might get them home but the not so-friendly environment of the Sun would not let them. Saying that they had minimal hitches here and there would be an understatement. All they wanted at this point was to steer their beloved Phoenix to a location that would provide them with the basics of life: food and shelter. The candle of hope that kept their dream of going home any time sooner was dying out and their dream of getting home grew fainter.

But then, they give it their obvious yet not so predictable best. They manage to give life to Phoenix and steer it to Artevi. That was the longest it could be stretched. Artevi was a far off planet crawling in its every inch with aliens and the steam-era technology. Artevi was color green and supported life.

As time passed by, the crew eventually decide to pinch themselves into reality and the set up their space station in the orbit of Artevi. But this unprecedented yet at that time very necessary action only brings tension between the colonists and the crew’s persons who view it as insubordination. Later on, the Phoenix leaves for a tour to evaluate the space regions around it. But when it takes more than the anticipated time to return, the colonists get uneasy and they choose to abandon the space station and parachute off to NASA’s Project Mercury. This took place even as the acting Pilot’s Guild proves that he can take control of the new space station but a good number of the crews persons are still dissatisfied with him and abandon the space ship.

Artevi is inhabited by dark-skinned human like creatures who give the space ship crew a hard time. They are good in mathematics and therefore calculation is like the sixth sense. Artevi occupants are not human beings and therefore the act of expressing love to another person is not a viable option. They then give the human a super hard time. Interestingly, they, the Artevis believe in loyalty, well not believe but they are beings of loyalty. They refer to it as, Man’chi which is not even to them a responsibility that comes with being an Artevi but it is a cultural obligation that hangs on your neck. This is the absolute distinguishing factor between the Artevi and the human beings.

Predictably, the two races go into war! It is their cross-culture understanding that leads to this war that is repetitively referred to as The War of the Landing. A couple surprises unfold during this war, as we all know one entity in any war must loose and the other side must win. The Artevi lost! Even with their technological advancement which quickly prompts the Artevi to abandon the Mospheira Island which in order for the human colonists to set up their enclave. Then comes the rules where only one human, the interpreter, is allowed to reside among the Artevi. He is referred to as the paidhi. Sounds fancy, but he is only limited to learn one language of the Artevi. Meaning that all the sending and receiving of thoughts in form of ideas to and from the Artevi by the humans can only be via a single medium.

All is well at Mospheira. So as part of the Landing treaty that helped stop the war, the Artevi were to transfer their technology to the humans in ways that were agreeable to both ends of the treaty. This was done so the humans could study the technology of the Artevi. Hence the creation of dictionaries so that the next coming paidhis would not have to bow down in amazement to the sophistication of the Artevi technology.

200 years later, the protagonist, Bren Cameroon returns to the orbit. This is unknown to the other occupants of the once crushed Artevi. Of course Mospehira is peaceful and the humans there are happy with themselves. The rest of the books in the Foreigner series are all about the relations between Bren Cameroon, Tabini who is the pact leader of the most dominant Artevi which makes Tabini strategically the supreme ruler of the Artevi government.

TRILOGY ARCS.

The Foreigner series contains fifteen books with two short stories. In their publication order include: Foreigner – (1994), Invader – (1995), Inheritor – (1996), Precursor – (1999), Defender – (2001), Explorer – (2002), Destroyer – (2005), Pretender – (2006), Deliverer – (2007), Conspirator – (2009), Deceiver – (2010), Betrayer – (2011), Intruder – (2011), Protector – (2013), Peacemaker – (2014),Tracker(April 2015) and the two short stories which are Deliberations – (2012) and Invitations – (2013).

ARTWORK.

It is worth noting that the cover art of the Foreigner series maintains a trademark and signature look since its birth in 1994. It is also worth noting that the cover art has been done by many different art work cover specialists who work closely with C.J Cherryh to ensure it maintains its trademark look.

Every cover page up to the present day depicts Bren Cameron who is the main character in the series and is always alongside a single or more Artevi characters. This is as symbolic as it can get. Jago is also featured on most Foreigner series art work cover for visual emphasis purposes of letting the avid followers of the Foreigner series know that Bren Cameroon is never alone and he fights the fights of his soulmate too.

ADAPTATIONS.

An audio drama for the Foreigner series was set to take place in April 2013 with their budget estimate going as high as $250,000. The award winning dramatist Jak Sable who works for Audio Cinema Entertainment has adapted the production and alongside C. J. Cherryh has hired actors like Gin Hammond who is an award holder for the Helen Hayes Award. She is set to play the role of Jago and Wolf Wednesday will play Bren Cameroon and Ilisidi will be played by singer and actress, Jane Cater. No more actors have been assigned the rest of the roles but Jak is closely working on the Foreigner series with C. J. Cherryh to ensure the complete success of the set to be six hour production.

AWARDS AND FAN RECEPTION.

Three books from the Foreigner series have been shortlisted for the highly esteemed Locus Award. Foreigner was shortlisted for the Locus Award in 1995. A year later in 1996, the Invader got shortlisted for a Locus Award and finally another Foreigner series, defender got shortlisted for yet another Locus Award in 2002.

2 Responses to “Foreigner”

1. Kim Bailey: 10 months ago

   A tremendous series. It just doesn’t quit! Where other series would have petered out in exhaustion, this one is still going strong and enjoyably so! The main characters are like family now. (But don’t mess with Jago!) Favourite line: “This is my girlfriend and she’s armed to the teeth!” Yep. Brings inter-species relationships to a whole new level! Magnificent!!!

   Reply
2. Lajeanne Leveton: 6 years ago

   A really wonderful sf series!

   Reply