''Alternate Realities'' is a 2000 omnibus collection of three short

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novels by American writer author

C. J. Cherryh Carolyn Janice Cherry (born September 1, 1942), better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has written more than 80 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award-winning novels '' Downbelo ...

: ''Wave Without a Shore'' (1981), ''Port Eternity'' (1982), and ''Voyager in Night'' (1984). All three novels are set in Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe and share a common theme of people encountering and coping with a reality different from their own. The original books as well as the omnibus edition were all published by DAW Books. The novels are what Cherryh and her publisher at DAW,

Donald A. Wollheim Donald Allen Wollheim (October 1, 1914 – November 2, 1990) was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearso ...

, referred to as "magic cookie" books. Such works explore unusual themes and ideas in science fiction, and can in some sense be seen as

thought experiment A thought experiment is a hypothetical situation in which a hypothesis, theory, or principle is laid out for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. History The ancient Greek ''deiknymi'' (), or thought experiment, "was the most anci ...

s. Wollheim encouraged Cherryh to experiment in this way during the late 1970s and early 1980s because he felt that the science fiction market would support such unusual offerings at the time.Author's introduction to ''Alternate Realities''. One consequence of this approach is that the original novels were therefore short by contemporary standards, each having only approximately 90,000 words. The relative brevity of the books facilitated DAW's release of the omnibus edition in 2000.

Novels

''Port Eternity''

''Port Eternity'' is a

romantic thriller A romantic thriller is a narrative that involves elements of the romance and thriller genres. A good thriller provides entertainment by making viewers uncomfortable with moments of suspense, the heightened feeling of anxiety and fright. A thril ...

set aboard the space yacht ''Maid of Astolat'', owned by an extremely wealthy woman. She, her current lover and her cloned

Azi ''Azi'' (''Today'' in Romanian) is a Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. The paper was started in 1990. Today was also the name of a literary magazine published monthly in Romania, from March 1932 to August 1938, under the directio ...

servants live out her fantasy, each representing a figure from the world of

Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...

. However, disaster strikes when the ship hits a knot in

space-time In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three-dimensional space, three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Minkowski diagram, Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize S ...

and they are drawn into a parallel dimension. There they gravitate to a huge mass consisting of ships of various species which had been similarly trapped in the past. With no way back, they join the cobbled-together cosmopolitan society. The story takes place in the Alliance-Union universe, in Union-side space. Cherryh originally named the story ''Involutions'', because it "spirals in upon itself", but after discussing the title with her publisher, Wollheim's suggestion of ''Port Eternity'' was adopted.Author's introduction to ''Port Eternity'' in the ''Alternate Realities'' omnibus. Cherryh begins each chapter of the novel with a quote from

Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

's series of Arthurian poems ''

Idylls of the King ''Idylls of the King'', published between 1859 and 1885, is a Literature cycle, cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892; Poet Laureate from 1850) which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knig ...

''. Cherryh was interviewed in May 1996 by

Raymond H. Thompson Raymond H. Thompson is a Canadian scholar of medieval literature specializing in King Arthur and the Matter of Britain, and in the reinterpretation of this material in modern literature. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of English at Aca ...

but the interview did not get published until December 2010. Cherryh confirmed that the primary source for Port Eternity is Tennyson's ''Idylls of the King''. In the hardcover edition, the clones are mistakenly referred to as androids in the book's summary on the flaps of the dust-jacket.

''Voyager in Night''

''Voyager in Night'' is about the ''Lindy'', a small starship used for ore prospecting with a crew of three that collides with an ancient alien ship. But the crew of the alien ship are long dead; it is controlled by the ship's computers, which take the humans aboard and begin replicating and experimenting with them. The story takes place in 2355–56 in the Alliance-Union universe near the newly constructed Endeavor Station in Union space. ''Voyager in Night'' was a finalist in 1984 for a

Philip K. Dick Award The Philip K. Dick Award is an American science fiction award given annually at Norwescon and sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and (since 2005) the Philip K. Dick Trust. Named after science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, ...

. Although clearly a science fiction story, it incorporates elements of the

horror fiction Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J ...

genre.

''Wave Without a Shore''

''Wave Without a Shore'' is an example of

soft science fiction Soft science fiction, or soft SF, is a category of science fiction with two different definitions, defined in contrast to hard science fiction. It can refer to science fiction that explores the "soft" sciences (e.g. psychology, political scienc ...

and is a

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

story that takes place on the planet "Freedom" shared by humans and the alien "Ahnit" race which is native to the planet. Humans had been on Freedom for several hundred years and do not recognize the aliens, they do not see them, and instead use terms such as "invisibles" or "pilferage" when referring to the Ahnit. This idyllic life is shattered when a student confronts the situation and begins consorting with the aliens. As the protagonist begins noticing the Ahnit and even trying to speak about them, he finds, unwillingly, that he too becomes unmentionable. The story is an allegory of race/class/caste relations in modern society with the themes explored including alienation,

invisibility Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...

, and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

The Age of Exploration

''Port Eternity'' and ''Voyager in Night'' are part of C. J. Cherryh's Age of Exploration series, a collection of three science fiction novels that share a common theme, but are unrelated to each other. The other novel is ''

Cuckoo's Egg ''Cuckoo's Egg'' is a science fiction novel by American writer C. J. Cherryh, which introduces a fictional race (the Shonunin) raising a human boy. It was published by DAW Books in 1985, and there was also a limited hardcover printing by Pha ...

'' (1985).

References

Sources

* Cherryh, C. J. ''Alternate Realities'', DAW Books, 2000. * Cherryh, C. J. ''Port Eternity'', DAW Books, 1982. * Cherryh, C. J. ''Voyager in Night'', DAW Books, 1984. * Cherryh, C. J. ''Wave Without a Shore'', DAW Books, 1981. {{C. J. Cherryh Science fiction book series by C. J. Cherryh 2000 fiction books 1980s books Alliance–Union universe Novels about extraterrestrial life Books with cover art by Don Maitz DAW Books books