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No specific reason to discuss the connections other than fun speculation. I suspect CJ and Jane have plenty to do without taking this on, although a fun short piece or two would be very entertaining.
That said .... In Foreigner, the Phoenix accident is a "point error". Perhaps a singularity of some sort. We can infer that gates are related to singularities, or at least that singularities can effect them; Changeling being a "key" of sorts to close gates.
The original Phoenix story was that they were lost, couldn't find even references such as quasars (this could be taken as going to a different universe, or to a much different time). That plot background seems to have gone by the wayside in more recent books. I don't mind that sort of continuity break if it serves the storyline well. Maybe somebody changed the timeline. /runs/
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I was thinking in a more morbid line of thought, though. Perhaps CJC wants to wrap everything up and not leave a bunch of things hanging as Frank Herbert did with Dune, unpublished books, notes left for possible books, etc. Of course, Frank had personal issues that prevented him from continuing with the series, and those issues were very understandable, especially losing Beverly.
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joekc6nlx wrote:
I was thinking in a more morbid line of thought, though. Perhaps CJC wants to wrap everything up and not leave a bunch of things hanging as Frank Herbert did with Dune, unpublished books, notes left for possible books, etc. Of course, Frank had personal issues that prevented him from continuing with the series, and those issues were very understandable, especially losing Beverly.
Not morbid, just realistic, she is just about 80 after all. Teaming with Jane is probably lengthening her writing career. That's good. Alliance Rising "felt like" a CJ book, although not a major one. The next Foreigner book, done by both of them, is one I'm looking forward to more than usual. I hope Jane gets a POV character of her own.
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I like the idea of Jane getting a particular character. Human or Atevi?
The gates idea would work but why? I'm happy with a multiverse where the two universes are there but don't interact. A short story or two would be fun. Maybe when Bren is an old old man, an Atevi math genius comes up with a better understanding of jumps. Humans develop a new jump drive without quite understanding the math and jump into the Alliance/Union Universe with no way home.
Last edited by scenario_dave (11/27/2021 10:36 pm)
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I'm guessing that some interaction between the ateva and A/U characters is wanted by some readers? This may be heresy, but I am kinda tired of the Atevi in general and want some other stories. I'm glad of the new A/U novels that have just been written, personally.
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I do like the thought experiment notion of the qual gates being used as a possible solution to perhaps span parallel universe branes, but I don't want to actually see it employed just to service various fanfic scenarios.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
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Surtac wrote:
I do like the thought experiment notion of the qual gates being used as a possible solution to perhaps span parallel universe branes, but I don't want to actually see it employed just to service various fanfic scenarios.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
I agree. I like it as an interesting proposition. But I'm quite satisfied to leave them as entirely separate universes and stories.
That said, I do remember the jolt of excitement in - Cyteen was it? - where there's mention of Chanur. Yes Cyteen, I actually found Surtac's references on tapatalk!
"Sol had explored the other side of space and got its fingers burned dangerously. Eetees with a complex culture and an isolationist sentiment."
and
"the discovery of a well-developed alien region on the far side of Sol. Sol, sternly rebuffed by the alien Compact, turned back toward human space"
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Yes! Exactly! Jolt of excitement is precisely the right term to describe the discovery of a new clue, a new thread of connection between the books or a new understanding of a shared context.
This is what I love so much about A/U as a reader - knowing, because She has told us, that they are written as individual stories told out of sequence from a shared common history. There is a joy for me in reading those stories and seeing glimpses of that overall history and then stitching them together in my own mind.
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HRHSpence wrote:
I'm guessing that some interaction between the ateva and A/U characters is wanted by some readers? This may be heresy, but I am kinda tired of the Atevi in general and want some other stories. I'm glad of the new A/U novels that have just been written, personally.
I'm wondering how poor Vanye would react to space travel, azi, and the various other worlds of the A/U stories......
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I have recently begun reading the Morgaine Cycle, a series that I now regret waiting so long to start. At the beginning of the books, a short reference is made to the Alliance science bureau's writings about the gates. Late in the story, a short appearance is made by one of Vanye's distant relatives, Nhi Bren. Vanye kills him in combat, all within the same page that Bren is first named. Although not specifically stated, it is implied that Bren's body disappears with many of his fellows into the void of Morgaine's sword.
I now firmly believe that when people die in the Alliance universe, their souls are not just cast into the void or pass on to what their religions believe. I think those souls are passed on into the universes of other publishers! This is the only connection I need.