Guild of Xenolinguists
The galaxy-wide Guild of Xenolinguists handles all cross-cultural communications by sending agents abroad to learn new languages and program translation computers. The travails of novice linguists animate these 11 stories as they face much more than simple translation work, taking on alien parasites and viruses, a mysterious and violent star-faring race, dolphin instructors, and large tyrant ants. As cultures and languages collide, first contact quickly becomes a matter of morality,...
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The galaxy-wide Guild of Xenolinguists handles all cross-cultural communications by sending agents abroad to learn new languages and program translation computers. The travails of novice linguists animate these 11 stories as they face much more than simple translation work, taking on alien parasites and viruses, a mysterious and violent star-faring race, dolphin instructors, and large tyrant ants. As cultures and languages collide, first contact quickly becomes a matter of morality, galactic politics, death, and war.Publishers WeeklyNebula-winner Finch's many fans as well as SF readers who have yet to encounter her work will welcome this collection of 10 short stories and a novella that showcase her unique contribution to the genre. Making excellent use of her graduate work in linguistics, Finch creates the Guild of Xenolinguists (later called lingsters), a formal organization devoted to translating the languages of other worlds. Much as Asimov did with the Three Laws of Robotics, Finch creatively examines the conflicts stemming from adherence to the guild's strict rules. The stories span a wide range, from "First Was the Word," a brief tale setting the stage for the development of the guild, to the moving "A World Waiting" and "A Flight of Words," which present their protagonists with morally difficult situations-tortured prisoners, conflicting religious beliefs, abortion-that hold significant contemporary resonance. A thoughtful foreword by New Wave luminary Ian Watson and an engaging afterword by Finch (Birds) discuss the linguistic theories that underlie the fiction. (Sept.)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Foreword Ian Watson ixFirst Was the Word 3A Flight of Words 32A World Waiting 49The Roaring Ground 70No Brighter Glory 84Out of the Mouths 109Stranger Than Imagination Can 133Babel Interface 153The Naked Face of God 171Communion of Minds 189Reading the Bones 210Afterword: Berlitz in Outer Space 774
\ Publishers WeeklyNebula-winner Finch's many fans as well as SF readers who have yet to encounter her work will welcome this collection of 10 short stories and a novella that showcase her unique contribution to the genre. Making excellent use of her graduate work in linguistics, Finch creates the Guild of Xenolinguists (later called lingsters), a formal organization devoted to translating the languages of other worlds. Much as Asimov did with the Three Laws of Robotics, Finch creatively examines the conflicts stemming from adherence to the guild's strict rules. The stories span a wide range, from "First Was the Word," a brief tale setting the stage for the development of the guild, to the moving "A World Waiting" and "A Flight of Words," which present their protagonists with morally difficult situations-tortured prisoners, conflicting religious beliefs, abortion-that hold significant contemporary resonance. A thoughtful foreword by New Wave luminary Ian Watson and an engaging afterword by Finch (Birds) discuss the linguistic theories that underlie the fiction. (Sept.)\ Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information\ \
