Ruocchio, Christopher
Entry updated 27 February 2023. Tagged: Author.
(? - ) US editor and author whose Sun Eater sequence beginning with Empire of Silence (2018) and Howling Dark (2019) ambitiously invokes former versions of the long-breathed dynastic epic set in the context of the Galactic Empire. Earlier writers and their work conspicuously addressed include Gordon R Dickson, whose Dorsai series features a central protagonist with similar skills and family-romance complications; Frank Herbert, whose Dune series provides examples of worldbuilding in the context of galaxy-spanning commerce; and Gene Wolfe, the narrative structure and tone of whose Book of the New Sun is intricately assimilated within the coils of Ruocchio's narrative, which is couched Severian-like as a confessional manuscript published at some future time with scholarly addenda, including a glossary of obscure terms (some of them, like "anagnost" or "myrmidon" or "scholiast", familiar to readers of Wolfe's Book); Ruocchio's first-person narrator, avoiding the chance he may become a torturer, also undertakes a lengthy hegira (see Planetary Romance) before assuming his autarchical role. The overall story involves a complex centuries-long war between Homo sapiens and the Alien Cielcin, loathed for their anthropophagy (see Xenobiology), but (as typical in epics of this sort) far more complexly worthy of respect than might have been expected, including several sequences competently enacting Military SF topoi.. The style of the tale – perhaps rather ponderously emulous of Wolfe's immediately recognizable use of archaic terms to convey thematic and narrative abysses – promises much, as did the timbre of earlier epics whose relationship to their models is similarly close, like David Zindell's Neverness (1988) and Robin Hobb's Farseer sequence. If it is sustained, Ruocchio's sequence may stand comparison with some of its predecessors.
His work as editor includes an Original Anthology, Star Destroyers (anth 2018) with Tony Daniel. [JC]
Christopher Ruocchio
born
works
series
Sun Eater
- Empire of Silence (New York: DAW Books, 2018) [Sun Eater: hb/Sam Weber]
- Howling Dark (New York: DAW Books, 2019) [Sun Eater: hb/Sam Weber]
- Demon in White (New York: DAW Books, 2020) [Sun Eater: hb/Kieran Yanner]
- Kingdoms of Death (New York: DAW Books, 2022) [Sun Eater: hb/]
- The Lesser Devil and Other Stories (no place found: Anderida Books, 2021) [coll: Sun Eater: hb/Kieran Yanner]
- Ashes of Man (New York: DAW Books, 2022) [Sun Eater: hb/Kieran Yanner]
- Queen Amid Ashes and Other Stories (no place found: Anderida Books, 2022) [coll: Sun Eater: hb/Kieran Yanner]
works as editor
- Star Destroyers (New York: Baen Books, 2018) with Tony Daniel [anth: pb/Kurt Miller]
- World Breakers (New York: Baen Books, 2021) with Tony Daniel [anth: pb/Dominic Harman]
- Space Pioneers (New York: Baen Books, 2018) with Hank Davis [anth: pb/Bob Eggleton]
- Overruled! (New York: Baen Books, 2020) with Hank Davis [anth: pb/Tom Kidd]
- Cosmic Corsairs (New York: Baen Books, 2020) with Hank Davis [anth: pb/Tom Kidd]
- Sword and Planet (New York: Baen Books, 2021) [anth: pb/Kieran Yanner]
- Time Troopers (New York: Baen Books, 2022) with Hank Davis [anth: pb/]
- Worlds Long Lost (New York: Baen Books, 2022) with Sean W Korsgaard [anth: pb/Bob Eggleton]
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