[1] In the interview taped in Orlando, Florida, at the World Science Fiction Convention in September, 1992, C.J. Cherryh discusses her background, her opinions on war and feminism, and the deliberation that went into the creation of the Station Universe, and Signy Mallory. Since this was a wide-ranging discussion, I have included only those parts that seemed relevant to this article, reordered to fit the requirements of linear logic that the written form requires, and I have inserted Ms. Cherryh's comments where they seem most appropriate in the ongoing structure of the article. Where necessary, I have eliminated the false starts and hesitations common to speech that, again, seem awkward in the written form. In no way, however, have I edited any portion of the conversation to modify or misrepresent the views of the speaker.

I cannot express my gratitude strongly enough for the two hours Ms. Cherryh gave me for this interview. At World Conventions most professional science fiction writers, including Ms. Cherryh, have frenetically over-booked schedules of panels, readings, interviews, and discussions with editors and publishers, and two hours is a gracious gift indeed.

[2] Jump is an unexplained process which allows spaceships to pass from certain places in real space to certain other places, generally defined by some gravity mass, faster than light can travel. Jump produces a distortion in perception such that most humans require tranquilizing drugs for travel.

[3] Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time, New York, Knopf, 1976. The original allusion, of course, is to Bronte's Jane Eyre, used to telling effect as the title by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Yale University Press, 1979.

[4] See, for example, Sarah Lefanu, Feminism and Science Fiction, Bloomington, In., Indiana University Press, 1989 or Marleen Barr, Lost in Space, Chapel Hill, U. No. Carolina Press, 1993.

[5] C.L. Moore, Jirel of Joiry, New York, Ace Books, 1977. The book is a collection of novellas originally published in Weird Tales between 1934 and 1939.

[6] Elizabeth Moon, Panel Discussion, Balticon, Cockeysville, Md., 1992.

[7] Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon, Sassinak Volume 1: The Planet Pirates, New York, Baen Publishing Enterprises, 1990. There have been several more books about this character as well.

[8] Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor, Riverdale, NY, Baen Publishing Enterprises, 1986, and The Warrior's Apprentice, same publisher and year, for example.

[9] S.N. Lewitt, Cyberstealth, New York, Ace Books, 1989, and Dancing Vac, New York, Ace Books, 1990.

[10] While much of science fiction has come of age, some writers, including some women, prefer not to deal directly with sex in their books. Women writers give varied reasons for this, among them a concern for young readers and/or an interest in other issues of importance to women.

[11] New York, Ballantine Books, 1976.

[12] Joe and Gay Haldeman, personal interview, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October, 1993, and computer bulletin board communication, GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange), December, 1993.

[13] C.J. Cherryh, Personal Interview, Magicon (World Science Fiction Convention), Orlando, Fla. October, 1992.

[14] Here I draw a distinction between those writers who use science fiction as a mind experiment to explore issues of technology and culture, and those whose works apply the trappings of technology to adventures that could rightly take place in any action genre--the "space opera."

[15]C.J. Cherryh, interview, Orlando Florida, 1992.

[16]C.J. Cherryh, "Goodbye Star Wars, Hello Alley-Oop," Inside Science Fiction, Sharon Jarvis, ed., New York, Frederick Unger Publishing Co., Inc. 1985.

[17]Camille Bacon-Smith, Enterprising Women, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.

[18] Downbelow Station, p. 8. The term "Beyond" refers to that area of space beyond the space stations of Earth's own planetary system.

[19] Gehenna first appears in print in the novel Forty Thousand in Gehenna, New York, 1986, which describes how the azi colonists (manufactured clones, in this case bred for lower order service) develop self will and adapt to the strange ecology of the planet Gehenna. The events of this book are later referenced in Cyteen, New York, Warner Books, 1988.

[20] C.J. Cherryh, Heavy Time, New York, Warner Books, 1991.

[21] C.J. Cherryh, Merchanter's Luck, New York, Daw Books, 1982.

[22] C.J. Cherryh, Cyteen, New York, Popular Library, 1988, published in three volumes subtitled The Rebirth, The Betrayal, and The Vindication.

[23] C.J. Cherryh, Hellburner, New York, Warner Books, 1992.

[24] C.J. Cherryh, Downbelow Station, New York, Daw Books, 1981.

[25] Mercedes Lackey (words), Leslie Fish (music), "Signy Mallory," Magic, Moondust and Melancholy, El Cerrito, Ca., Firebird Arts and Music, Inc., 1989. Performed by Heather Alexander.

[26] Downbelow Station, pp.408-409.

[27] Downbelow Station, p.344.

[28] C.J. Cherryh, Downbelow Station, New York, Daw Books, Inc. 1981.

[29] Interview, Orlando Fla., 1992.

[30] Carolyn G. Heilbrun, Reinventing Womanhood, New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1979. p.16.

[31] Downbelow Station, p.167.

[32] Downbelow Station, p.346.

[33] Downbelow Station, p.181-2.

[34] Downbelow Station, p.346.

[35] Downbelow Station, p.353.

[36] Downbelow Station, p. 395.

[37] Ibid. p.395.

[38] Cherryh, Interview 1992.

[39] Downbelow Station, p.22.

[40] Ibid.

[41] Downbelow Station, p. 148.

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Copyright © 2002 Camille Bacon-Smith. All rights reserved