Contributors: CJ, Walt, Tulrose
THE BOOKS
* Foreigner (1994) — Locus SF Award nominee, 1995
* Invader (1995) — Locus SF Award nominee, 1996
* Inheritor (1996)
* Precursor (1999)
* Defender (2001) — Locus SF Award nominee, 2002
* Explorer (2003)
* Destroyer (2005)
* Pretender (2006)
* Deliverer (2007)
* Conspirator (2009)
* Deceiver (May 2010)
* Betrayer (Jan? 2011)
* Intruder (in progress)
there’s some ‘new’ land probably along an oceanic ridge clear to the far side of the planet, and the Southern Isle below the Marid is about as large as Mospheira, which is about half the size of Australia, as I view it. Geologically speaking, the Continent is assembled out of at least 3 big pieces, former independent landmasses having rammed together from the south and east, hence the modest mountain range separating the Marid from the rest of the continent, and the really impressive range separating the East from the rest of the continent. There is no really convenient land off the East coast to encourage much beyond coast-hugging fishermen, but there is off the Marid coast, and of course there was Mospheira and Crescent Island before the humans landed, off the west.
So, yes, I have sort of an idea of geologic history as well as political history.
FOR THE FUTURE
what happened to the 6 other Taylor’s Children that Ramirez activated. They are mentioned in Precursor (I think) and that seems to be that. Do Jase and or Yolanda know who they are? Is it perhaps a secret known only by the Guild or Ogun and Sabin? Do these people even know their own background?
I checked out Betrayer at Barnes & Noble and it’s up for preorder, but it says it will be available April 2011. I hope your guess above of January is closer to right. Do you know yet?
If they say April, they mean March, and they probably know more than I do. I’d hoped for January, but they usually know.
Ah, well. I’m just finishing Deceiver and guess I will have to wait. I just LOVE these books. Am starting Fortress series next. 🙂
Thanks!
Ah, thanks to YOU for keeping me so happily entertained.
write quicker I’m getting older and make them issue it in ebook I read everything on my phone now (got a big htc hd2) perfect size for books bit large for a phone but not so long ago phones were even bigger lol
Amazon lists 5 April as release date.
Just wondering if there is a complete map of the Atevi world? There’ve been bits & pieces of maps included throughout the Foreigner series, but I’d dearly love to see a complete map of both the mainland and Mospheira. I know I’m asking for the moon here, sorry, but with every additional installment to the series I read, I find myself wanting to ‘keep track’ of events by following a complete map of the Atevi homeworld. Thanks CJ.
Is Intruder the first book in a new trilogy, and when is it due to be published? If the writing is finished, presumably it won’t be long until publication?
If it numbers c. 200pp of single-spaced typewritten text, what will be the extent of the novel in printed form (roughly)?
I have this major problem….I READ much faster than you WRITE! But – let’s see – March is now a few days old – if I start a major re-read of the entire series, will Betrayer arrive before I’m done? (say, mid-Marchish)…..
hmmm.
Or should I just hit the previous three and call that enough?
I have this mental picture of those stout buses, that traverse the rough and rude countryside and blast through hedgerows – they look something like those safari buses from Wild Kingdom, don’t they? only bigger and with better looking upholstery. Range Rovers on steroids.
“Intruder”, eh? Sounds like foreign visitors, can one hope…?
Yeah, what agricola said. 🙂
Long-time reader, first comment. I just got the paperback edition of “Deceiver” and wondered whether it was anything other than publisher error that showed DAW Fantasy on the side cover.
If it were a postage stamp—with an upside down plane—it’d be worth a mint.
I hadn’t noticed that. Sigh.
I could probably whomp up a forged Jennie for you; but no, I can’t get you a real one.
Thanks for the thought, but I’d probably just use it for mailing something.
Heresy!! I’ld send it to auction.
Ah, I just asked about Intruder on the other thread. Now I see it is the next after Betrayer. Since it’s now gone from the sidebar and another book is there, merely labeled ‘next Foreigner book’ am I assuming correctly that Intruder is in the copy edit phase? And the next Foreigner book in the sidebar is a new one after Intruder?
A clarification, if I may: is Mospheira “half the size of Australia” or “about the size of Britain without Scotland?”
Australia/2 = 7,617,930/2 = 3,808,965 km^2
Great Britain-Scotland = 229,848-78,772 = 151,076 km^2
Not to quibble, nadiin… but the humans would doubtless notice the difference between 1 and 27 of them per square kilometer!
I’ve been working on piecing the existing maps together, and I’d like to know how close I’ve come. My efforts are here: http://shejidan.wikia.com/wiki/Maps
I don’t have the island off the coast of the Marid, or Crescent Island. (How large is Crescent Island, anyway?) I also need to add mountains between the Marid and the rest of the West.
One other question I’d like to know the answer to– where are the Nisebi? They’re mentioned in Foreigner as a source of processed meat (despite being in the tropics, which seems an odd place for such a habit to develop and persist), but we never hear about them again.
Excellent. The continent is nearly a monocontinent, so it has rotten weather in the middle. You need some mountains to the east of the Marid: rough terrain there.
Crescent Island, so named for its shape, lies south of Mospheira, a good sail away, and about 1/4 its size. Mospheira is mountainous in its center.
South of the monocontinent is the Southern Island, which is due south of the Marid, at some separation, and answering somewhat to Australia’s situation: its southern side verges on the polar ocean. It was the center of Marid culture until the tsunami blitzed the cities of the north coast. This means you’ve got a plate boundary between the Southern Island and the rest of the continent, and probably old plate boundaries (locked) up in the monocontinent, which are going to yield occasional earthquakes. Mmmmmm, I’m going to have to research the Nisebi, but south coast or even Southern Island is possible. And some meat comes from the center of the continent.
Thanks for the extra hints. I’ll work on adding Crescent Island and Southern Island. If you have any other snippets or sketches to share, I’d love to work with them. (Fascinating information about the Marid culture on Southern Island. When did the tsunami happen, relative to the formation of the aishidi’tat?)
Mountains to the east of the Marid… between the Marid and Shejidan? East or west of the river system east of the Marid? Does that same range also separate the Marid from Dalaigi?
I have four references to the Nisebi, all in Foreigner:
“Mospheira traded with the tropics, with the Nisebi, down south, for processed meat, preserved meat, which didn’t have to be sliced thin enough to admit daylight– a commerce which Tabini-aiji called disgraceful, and which Bren had reluctantly promised to try to discourage, the paidhi being obliged to exert bidirectional ifnluence, although without any veto power over human habits.” (Second chapter of Book Three)
“If Tabini’s government went unstable, and the network of atevi Associations shifted its sencter of gravity, say, eastward and deeply inland, where there was never that easy familiarity with humans, where ethnic and historical differences between Ragi and Nisebi and Meduriin could find only humans more different and more suspect than they found each other.” (Same chapter)
“Reciprocally, there’d never been anything an aiji of Tabini’s house had asked that humans hadn’t done, or given, or tried to comply with, since the War of the Landing itself, right down to his current paper regarding processed meat, which tried… tried to explain to Mospheira that commercialization of meat production was deeply offensive to Ragi, no matter that Nisebi saw nothing wrong with it and were willing to sell.” (Third chapter of Book Three)
“Nisebi — province that allows processed meat” (Glossary)
While we’re on the subject of groups mentioned once and never heard from again, will we ever learn more about the dahemidei, the believers in the midei heresy? Jago tells Bren about them in Foreigner, but they aren’t mentioned in any of the subsequent books.
Regarding the southeastern part of the continent– you’ve mentioned geologic disruption as well as swamp. Is there a terrestrial location you have in mind that might be similar? I’m also having a little trouble picturing the stepped descent from the Bergid mountains to the east coast– how far do the steppes extend, before the Kadenamar Plain takes over?
I’m trying to restrain my curiosity about open plot threads, but I figure the layout of the continent is somewhat fair game. 😉
If it’s not too much to ask, could you supply a Glossary of the Words and meanings? Such as Ranking in the Social Structure, the belief system, the numbers. I’m enjoying the whole Foreigner series of what I can find but hard to find the definitions of the words, perhaps I started the series halfway through because I liked the artwork on one of the covers I believe it was a Micheal Whelan cover.
In case you were interested. Here is the link to my Ragi language site. It was done under the supervision of CJ herself; no need to think I have no right to this or anything.
http://strengthofthehills.tripod.com/hanilanguageandculturepage/id13.html
So is Peacemaker a Bren book or is it a different project?
kiloecho, Peacemaker is a Bren book.