GENERAL MESSAGE BOARD QUESTIONS

"Shejidan" is the name of the capitol city of an alien species called the Atevi.  The atevi are found in Cherryh's Foreigner Universe novels.  This series happens to be my favorite series by CJC, hence the name Shejidan for the site.  It is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable:  SHEH - zhee - dahn.  (The first "e" is short.  The "j" is soft, as in the French pronunciation.  The final "a" is pronounced as in the word "father".)

Which Cherryh books belong to which series?

I have a list of all C.J. Cherryh novels on my Big Book List page.  They are organized chronologically by series. 

Which Cherryh book should I read first if I've never read anything by her before?

This question is one of the most frequently asked and also one of the most difficult to answer.  It really depends on what you like.  I usually recommend books based on what the potential reader is interested in and how easily accessible a title is.  The following series or books ought to be relatively easy to find.  For information on each series, please check out the Featured Sites page (once I get them up online, that is). 
 

If you want sci-fi with plenty of action:  The Pride of Chanur  begins a series featuring the Hani, a catlike race of aliens.  This series emphasizes swashblucking action and offers a wide variety of odd alien species. 

If you like First Contact type stories with a lot of anthropological sci-fi and strong character development, try Foreigner.  This series features one of my favorite alien species ever, the atevi.  One particularly fascinating aspect of their culture is the legalization of assassination. 

If you're interested in the social and biological sciences or political intrigue among manipulative geniuses, try the Hugo award winning novel Cyteen.  A good introduction to CJC's vast Alliance-Union universe.  A bit of a difficult read at first, but well worth the effort. 

If you like stories set in stark backgrounds with characters who adhere to a warrior's code,  try The Morgaine Saga or The Faded Sun novels.  They are two of Cherryh's earliest series, and many fans became hooked on her novels because of these.

If you like high fantasy with the requisite wizards, kings, and castles, try The Fortress in the Eye of Time and its sequels.  A fantasy epic CJC style isn't quite like many of the Tolkien imitations out there. 

If you're still not sure, you can always come to our message boards where the regulars will be happy to flood you with recommendations of their personal favorites!

Where can I find out-of-print Cherryh books?

If you can't find it at Amazon, try Powell's.com or Abe.com.

Who runs this site?

I'd like to think that I do.  Although, erm, that may not truly be the case.  My on-line alias is CKTC (Curiosity Killed This Cat), or CK, for short.  I have no ties or connections whatsoever to the Goddess.  I am just a rabid fan of her work. 

May I link to Shejidan from my own website?

By all means, please do!  I'd be grateful if you spread the word!  One of these days, I might even come up with some nice buttons or something....

Here they are, quoted directly from one of my own posts:

Greetings newbies and lurkers. Welcome to this board! Shejidan is a board covering general sci-fi, and more specifically, author C.J. Cherryh. (But don't feel shy if you aren't into either of those. There are plenty of general forums, and several of our staunch regulars hang out only in those forums.)

The rules here are simple and few.
 

1. Respect others. This means no flaming or subtly hurtful comments. You'll see some of us making fun of each other, sure. But it's 'cause we're regulars and know each other well. Any teasing is done in fun only and is never intentionally malicious. Arguing and debating are fine, btw. As long as they don't degenerate into name calling.

2. No obscenities, no porn. You'll note I didn't say no profanity. Swear words in moderation and in appropriate context only are tolerated though not encouraged. I'm guilty of swearing myself sometimes, but for the most part, please keep it clean. It's simple courtesy. And besides, this board is sometimes viewed by children.

3. No rude spamming, pyramid scams, or chain letters, etc. Spamming is okay if you do it in the correct forum (the Recommend a Cool Site forum.) If you accidentally spam in the wrong forum, we will move it into the right one. If you do it again, we will delete the post. Be sure it's polite. Pyramid scams and chain letters are a definite NO.

We're a friendly bunch at Shejidan.  What can I say?  We like to offer tea to newbies.  (Smiling innocently.)  Oh, and it's also a reference to an incident in the Foreigner novels in which the protagonist encounters some atevi tea that doesn't quite agree with him.  Ahem, but our tea at Shejidan is absolutely safe.  No one's complained yet!

What's with all the salad references?

Again, it's from the Foreigner novels.  (There are a lot of Foreigner fans at the board, in case you hadn't noticed.)  The alien species in Foreigner, the atevi, do not have a word in their vocabulary for "like" or "love" when it comes to dealing with other people.  The closest word they have for "like" is a word that is often used to refer to certain foods that one prefers.  The main character, Bren, is human.  If Bren likes an atevi, he calls that person a salad because there is no better word he can use.  Still confused?  Never mind then.  Let's just say if someone calls you a salad, they're really saying that they like you.  It's a good thing.  Trust me.

What is the Assassin's Guild, and why can't I get access to it?

At Shejidan, the  moderators who help me run the message board are called Guild Assassins.  (Yet another Foreigner novel reference.)  The Assassin's Guild forum is a private forum where we basically have our meetings.  We mostly discuss how to improve the board.

What does the title (such as Mecheita, Atevi Citizen, Bujavid Security, etc.) under my user name mean?

Every registered user gets a generic title under their name.  The titles are based on the number of posts you've made at the board.  They change automatically when you've reached a certain number of posts. 
 

Mecheita = unregistered users and those who didn't log-in
Greetings, I'm new. = your 1st registered post
Atevi Citizen = 2-100 posts
Bujavid Security = 101 - 500 posts
Senior Bujavid Security = 501 - 1000
Veteran Bujavid Security = 1001 - 2000
Hasdrawad Member = 2001 - 3000
Tashrid Member = 3001 or more posts

Guild Assassin = board moderator
Paidhi Aiji = board administrator
Cherryh Pit Aiji = board administrator and owner (me)

Sure.  Just ask me.  (Even if you're a newbie.  No need to be shy.)

Who are all you people?

For a list of the regulars at the board, click here.  To find out more about us, I'm afraid you'll have to come to the board and see for yourself.  Heh.

I've never posted at a message board before.  Where do I even begin?

If you are a complete newbie and don't even know what a message board is, the best way to learn is to lurk (or visit one without actually participating) for a while and try to get a feel for it.  Horrible explanation, isn't it?  Heehee.  Let me try to explain.

First, a message board is not a chat room.  It is not live or instant chat.  It's just a website where you can leave messages or respond to other people's messages.  Conversations often stretch across days or even weeks.  In my opinion, it's more relaxing than a chat room since you have time to think of your responses and post them at your leisure. 

At ezboards (the company I use for Shejidan's boards) certain terminology is used.  A single reply by a person is called a post.  Several posts strung together form a thread, or a conversation.  A thread usually consists of one topic, and the first post in the thread usually indicates what the topic is about.  Several topics/threads form one forum.  Several topic-specific forums make up one message board.  If you click on the link in the menu that leads to our message board, you will arrive on the main page which lists all the forums of the board.  The first forum on the page, The Cherryh Grove, focuses on CJC related topics only. 

Is registration required to participate at the board?

Nope, you don't have to register to post at our boards.  You can simply click on the Add Reply or New Topic buttons and post a message as a guest.

How do I get a picture under my name?

First, you have to be registered.  Then ezboard's help page explains it well. 

Where can I store images on the web for free?

Frankly, I'm not sure.  There used to be several places that you could store images online, but there are fewer and fewer nowadays.  If you can't find a server, and if you're a regular at the Shejidan board, you can store a small image on my site if you wish.  Just ask me.  Whatever you do, please do not link to an image on some poor stranger's site.  There's this little thing called bandwidth theft that many newbies aren't aware of....

Abbreviations such as LOL, BTW, PML, etc.  What do they all stand for?
This page at cknow.com  explains it all.  There are plenty of other sites that list acronyms and abbreviations, but for some reason, I rather liked the URL of this one....