Invitations

Foreigner #0.4

by C.J. Cherryh

Every story has a beginning. Every friendship has a meeting. Every job has a first day. This is Bren's.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks

ebook

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Currently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.

Reviews

[Gergana · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Invitations" is probably the best place to start - it's short, it's humorous , it's a great introduction to the world and a few of the characters and it gives a better idea of what the series is all about than the first 20% of the first book.
On top of everything, the story gives us a better explanation of what Bren's role is in the atevi society and how he managed to fit in and even make "associations" with his atevi staff.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This shorter story was fun! Much more in the usual voice of the series. Bren's first days at his job :-)

[Samantha (AK) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bren's first day as paidhi!

The contextual background infodump in the first section is clunky, but everything after that is wonderful. 23-year old Bren has so very much to learn here, and is somewhere between nervous and optimistic about it all. It's a great bit of short fiction with several moments for small laughter. Very glad I was able to get it from Closed Circle.

[Rob Hermanowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of two (so far) short stories that C.J. Cherryh has written set in her epic "Foreigner" space opera. While not absolutely essential, it does provide a nice introduction to Bren Cameron's first days as paidhi, a sort of translator/diplomate between the alien humans and the native atevi. This story lays some early groundwork for important points to be explored in much more detail in later novels.

[CdnBookLover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story! It certainly fills in some information gaps very nicely. :)

Be aware that the two short stories, Deliberations and Invitations are not numbered by internal chronological order. Deliberations ends with Tabini claiming his place as the Aiji. Invitations takes place when Bren Cameron becomes Paidhi-aiji after Tabini kicks out Wilson, who was paidhi to Tabini's father.

[Leif · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know what I would enjoy? A whole book of these interstertial tales in the Foreigner world - moments of obvious importance that just didn't fit into the novels proper, or which require a different cast. That, I would read in a heartbeat. This took 20 minutes, but it was all pleasure.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting short story about Bren's first day. Adds details to an outstanding series.
I thought the book was longer as it said "20 minutes left in book" at the end of the story, but that was just promos padding the length.
Typos: five misplaced periods and commas, a confusing line ("...reports, to go either direction...").

[Tonya Nardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story from the Foreigner series, which is one of my all-time favorite works. I found this by accident the other night and it’s a terrific addition for me, covering Bren’s first day on the job and first encounter with Tabini.

[Linda Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

We get to see the change over from Wilson to Bren in the paidhi's office. It's his first day on the job and the atevi are testing him. Having already come to know the characters involved in this story, it was a wonderfully fun read.

[Krista D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great story about Bren first meeting Tabini. I've always thought Wilson was a bit of a dick, but wow, Wilson absolutely hated his job and the Atevi.

Great story, and a great introduction to the series.

[Yuli Michaeili · Rating 4 out of 5]

אוף. קצר מדי.
איך שאני אוהבת את העולם הזה

[Samu · Rating 4 out of 5]

82/100.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice peek into the very beginning of Bren's story. Only complain is how short it is - would love to see that first Tea!!

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice. As always, I want more. But very nice.

[Jessica Lerbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always cool to get insight into characters from before the first time we met them; this is Bren on his first day in his new job!

[Cc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bern’s first days on the job

[Janika Puolitaival · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bren Cameron's first day in mainland and first meeting with Tabini-aiji, ruler of greater part of the Atevi world. Only human allowed to mainland. This was interesting to read, since in Foreigner novels Bren Cameron is such a skilled diplomat - here he is wondering what to do. And first meeting with Tabini shows glimpses of future: two sharp individuals challenging each other constantly in every level. Short novel but worth 5USD for Foreigner readers.

[Pickyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable short story about Bren's first day and first meeting with Tabini'aiji.