Aliette de Bodard‘s acclaimed THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE is now available in a new Turkish edition! Published by İthaki Yayınları (under their Kapsül imprint) as ÇAY USTASI İLE DEDEKTİV, here’s the synopsis…
De Bodard Vietnam kültüründen esinlenen inandırıcı, cesur bir dünya kuruyor, zorlayıcı motivasyonları ve kışkırtıcı geçmişleriyle karakterleri ise Sör Arthur Conan Doyle’un karakterlerini akla getiriyor: Holmes eksantrik bir akademisyen, Watson ise huysuz bir gemizihin.
Xuya Evreni’nde, sürgündeki âlimler ve güçlü aileler tarafından yönetilen galaktik bir imparatorlukta insan ve yük taşıyan canlı gemizihinler, Saçılmış İnciler Kuşağı’ndaki habitatları birbirine bağlayan yegâne bağdır. İnsan ve gemizihin avatarlarının birbirine karıştığı, fiziksel ve sanal gerçekliklerin üst üste bindiği akışkan bir toplumdur karşımıza çıkan.
Travmatik bir kazanın ardından terhis edilen nakliye gemisi Gölgenin Çocuğu, uzay yolcularının rahatı için zihin değiştirici çaylar demleyerek geçimini sağlamaya çalışır. Eksantrik Long Chau ise bilimsel araştırması için uzay boşluğunda bir ceset bulmak ister. Long Chau ofisine girdiğinde, Gölgenin Çocuğu’nu tatsız ama kolay bir görev bekler ta ki buldukları cesedin cinayete kurban gittiği ortaya çıkana kadar. Olayın derinliklerine indikçe, Gölgenin Çocuğu soruşturmanın Long Chau’nun karanlık geçmişine ve yıldızların arasında yatan dayanılmaz boşluğa işaret ettiğini görecektir.
Çay Ustası ile Dedektif, bilimkurgu ve polisiyenin harika bir birleşimi.
The novella is published in North America by Subterranean Press, and is available in the UK and elsewhere via JABberwocky. Here’s the English-language synopsis…
Welcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families, and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars. In this fluid society, human and mindship avatars mingle in corridors and in function rooms, and physical and virtual realities overlap, the appearance of environments easily modified and adapted to interlocutors or current mood.
A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow’s Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow’s Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow’s Child with her.
As they dig deep into the victim’s past, The Shadow’s Child realises that the investigation points to Long Chau’s own murky past–and, ultimately, to the dark and unbearable void that lies between the stars…
Here are just a few of the fantastic reviews that THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE has received so far…
‘A science-fictional ode to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, where the Holmes figure is a sharp and biting disgraced aristocratic scholar with a solid core of empathy, and the Watson-figure is a mindship with post-traumatic stress disorder from her war experiences… This is a measured, almost stately story, right up until a conclusion that explodes in fast-paced tension. It preserves the empathy and the intensity of the original Sherlockian stories, while being told in de Bodard’s sharp prose and modern style. The worldbuilding… sparkles. The characters have presence: they’re individual and compelling. And it ends it a way that recalls the original Holmes and Watson, while being perfectly appropriate to itself.’ — Tor.com
‘De Bodard revisits her far-future Xuya universe setting with this gripping novella about damaged characters driven to search for the truth… De Bodard constructs a convincingly gritty setting and a pair of unique characters with provocative histories and compelling motivations. The story works as well as both science fiction and murder mystery, exploring a future where pride, guilt, and mercy are not solely the province of humans.’ — Publishers Weekly
‘As a classical blend of far-future SF and traditional murder mystery, THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE should satisfy readers unfamiliar with the Xuya universe, but at the same time it’s an intriguing introduction to that universe, much of which seems to lie just outside the borders of this entertaining tale.’ — Locus (Gary K. Wolfe)
‘De Bodard’s world building glitters, and her characters are deeply compelling… It becomes clear early on that THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE is strongly influenced by, if not directly based upon, the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s measured, almost stately, up until the conclusion, where the tension explodes into high gear. It preserves the empathy and the intensity of the original Sherlockian stories, while being told in de Bodard’s cut-glass prose and inimitable modern style. This is a really satisfying story, deeply invested in choosing to do the right thing – and in the importance of kindness. I strongly recommend it.’ — Locus (Liz Bourke)
‘[A] delicate, gender-bent recasting of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in the far future of her Xuya universe, the gorgeously mannered space opera setting of celebrated novellas… a window onto a beautifully developed world that widens the meaning of space opera, one that centers on Chinese and Vietnamese cultures and customs instead of Western military conventions, and is all the more welcome for it.’ — New York Times
‘An astonishing Holmesian mystery, in which Holmes is a woman and Watson is a spaceship. It is everything I wanted it to be. Tea, space, and mysteries within mysteries.’ — Mary Robinette Kowal
‘This slim volume packs a visceral punch. Absorbing prose pulls readers into the dark, frigid space between stars, where ships can fail, physically and emotionally, as easily as people… this novella offers sf fans an imaginative read.’ — Library Journal (Starred Review)
de Bodard’s latest novel is THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Locus Award Finalist, and also on the long-list for the BSFA Award for Best Novel. It is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in North America by JABberwocky.
