C. J. Cherryh
Overview
Carolyn Janice Cherry better known by the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 C. J. Cherryh, is a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 author. She has written more than 60 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...

 winning novels Downbelow Station
Downbelow Station
Downbelow Station is a science fiction novel written by C. J. Cherryh and published in 1981 by DAW Books. It won the Hugo Award in 1982, was shortlisted for a Locus Award that same year, and was named by Locus Magazine as one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all time in 1987.The book is set...

(1981) and Cyteen
Cyteen
Cyteen is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel by C. J. Cherryh set in her Alliance-Union universe. The murder of a major Union politician and scientist has deep, long-lasting repercussions....

(1988), both set in her Alliance-Union universe
Alliance-Union universe
The Alliance-Union universe is a fictional universe created by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It is the setting for an epic future history series extending from the 21st century out into the far future....

.

Cherryh appended a silent "h" to her real name because her first editor, Donald A. Wollheim
Donald A. Wollheim
Donald Allen Wollheim 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....

, felt that "Cherry" sounded too much like a romance
Romance novel
The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...

 writer.
Quotations

"Trade isn't about goods. Trade is about information. Goods sit in the warehouse until information moves them."

Chanur's Legacy|Chanur's Legacy (1992)

"For me the purest and truest art in the world is science fiction."

The Collected Short Fiction of C. J. Cherryh|The Collected Short Fiction of C. J. Cherryh (2004) – from the introduction to "Visible Light"

"Poisoning rarely happens in a well-managed kitchen."

Foreigner Universe|Pretender (2005)

 
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