Scary thought I had today....

[conuly]

In popular sci-fi, humans are often the driving force behind the universe. Monsters and supernatural beings that have destroyed hundreds of sentient species will realize that they're "rather attached to those strange humans". Humans will repeatedly conquer invincible foes, and triumph against insurmountable odds. Often, you see otherwise intelligent people reverting to saying "as the humans say" to express a concept instead of "as the bariaga say" or even using a term from their own culture. The Q put the Enterprise on trial for "humanity's crimes" even when many people on the ship weren't human - nobody else mattered.

In short, humans are the marysues of the universe.

Just kill me now.

Comments

Re: *pimp hat*

[conuly]

Are they the only migraine condition for the heroes? Because that's not much better.

Re: *pimp hat*

[azarias.livejournal.com]

No. Mostly it's internal politics in a trade compact causing it. The humans were just used as an excuse, though there's the very valid notion that the discovery of an entirely new, space-faring species would lead to squabbling over trade rights and renegotiation of treaties.

Basically, you have Pyanfar Chanur and her crew, who are prosperous hani merchants -- hani being one of four oxygen-breathing species and seven (or six, depending on who you ask) total species of the Compact, all of whom are out for themselves and most of whom are politely hostile with one another. One day in port in the middle of a successful trade run, this thing gets aboard The Pride due to Pyanfar not waking up on the paranoid side of the bed that morning. It's big, smelly, funny-shaped, and makes weird noises, and Pyanfar just about shoots it in the head until she realizes that it's writing numbers (on the floor, in its own blood, which is a cool scene). She proceeds on the cautious assumption that it's at least semi-sentient, and trouble ensues because there are kif involved, and hani hate kif while kif see hani as a meal waiting to happen.

Re: *pimp hat*

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

You just gave me warm fuzzy rabid flashbacks of my childhood, because my parents read that book to me before I could even read =D I should go find it and read it now.

Re: *pimp hat*

[l33tminion]

Yet another book for the list...

Re: *pimp hat*

[azarias.livejournal.com]

Go ahead and add any Cherryh s.f. written before the mid 1990s. I find her fantasy generally weak, and her newer s.f. has that "written for profit" quality of recycled themes and so-so writing (though her so-so writing is also better than most of what's on the market). Her earlier s.f. that I've read so far is uniformly grand.

The Pride has sequels, but the novel is complete whether you read them or not; it's also tangentially related to her Alliance/Union novels, if you want to find out just what the humans are up to in their own space. The characters in The Pride (even the human, really) don't know what's going on there, either, and don't care much, so it's fine if you don't.