The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin, a science fiction book

Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club

THE TELLING
by
URSULA K. LE GUIN

The Telling
book in the Hainish sequence, universe of the Ekumen

Harcourt hardcover - copyright 2000
264 pages (left)

Ace trade paperback - 2001 edition
cover art by Victor Stabin
246 pages (right)

From the back cover of the trade paperback:
Once a culturally rich world, the planet Aka has been utterly transformed by technology. Records of the past have been destroyed, and citizens are strictly monitored. But an official observer from Earth named Sutty has learned of a group of outcasts who live in the wilderness. They still believe in the ancient ways and still practice its lost religion -- the Telling. Intrigued by their beliefs, Sutty joins them on a sacred pilgrimage into the mountains. . . and into the dangerous terrain of her own heart, mind, and soul.

Read for group discussion on May 19, 2004

RATINGS:
How we each rated this book

Dan	-	Amy	-	10 Wow! Don't miss it 8-9 Highly recommended 7 Recommended 5-6 Mild recommendation 3-4 Take your chances 1-2 Below average; skip it 0 Get out the flamethrower! U Unfinishable or unreadable - Skipped or no rating given
Cheri	-	Barb	-
Aaron	8	Cynthia	-
Jackie	8	Ron	8.5
Christine	6.5	Deb	6
Mike	4	Stephanie	6

Aaron's Commentary Ursula K. Le Guin - The Telling

Aaron wrote a review of the hardcover edition of his book, long before we chose to make it a book club selection. His favorable review of The Telling is out on our book review site, Fantastic Reviews.

Fantastic Reviews - Aaron's book review of The Telling

Our book group has also read the following books by Ursula K. Le Guin:
-- The Lathe of Heaven in July 1994
-- The Left Hand of Darkness in March 1995
-- The Earthsea "trilogy" in July 1998
-- The Dispossessed in July 2001

Bibliography:
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929- )is an important US writer of science fiction and fantasy.

Awards
1972 Newbery Honor Book for The Tombs of Atuan
1969 Nebula Award for novel for The Lefthand of Darkness
1970 Hugo Award for novel for The Lefthand of Darkness
1973 Hugo Award for novella "The Word for World is Forest"
1974 Nebula Award for novel for The Dispossessed
1974 Nebula Award for short story "The Day Before the Revolution"
1974 Hugo Award for short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
1975 Hugo Award for novel The Dispossessed
1988 Hugo Award for novelette "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight"
1988 World Fantasy Award for novella "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight"
1990 Nebula Award for novel Tehanu
1995 Nebula Award for novelette "Solitude"
1995 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement
1996 Retrospective Tiptree Award for The Left Hand of Darkness
1995 Tiptree Award for "The Matter of Seggri"
1997 Tiptree Award for "Mountain Ways"
2002 World Fantasy Award for novel The Other Wind
2005 PEN Center USA Children's literature award for Gifts

A Wizard of Earthsea was awarded the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Excellence in 1969. The Tombs of Atuan was an Newbery honor book. The Farthest Shore was the National Book Award Winner for Children's Books in 1973.

Earthsea series
Le Guin's Earthsea fantasy books are A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1970), The Farthest Shore (1972), Tehanu (1990), Tales from Earthsea (collection of 5 stories, 2001), and The Other Wind (2001). The novella "Dragonfly" in the anthology Legends (1998) is a prequel to the novel The Other Wind (2001).

Hainish series
Many of Le Guin's early works are science fiction set in the Hainish universe, where descendants of people from the planet Hain inhabit the Galaxy. The series, which spans 2500 years of future history and features the interstellar Ekemen, includes the books Rocannon's World (1966), Planet of Exile (1966), City of Illusions (1967), The Lefthand of Darkness (1969), The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974), and The Telling (2000).

Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995) is comprised of four Hainish connected novellas. "Vaster than Empires and More Slow" (1971) and "The Word for World is Forest' (1972) are other novellas of the Hainish sequence. Six out of the eight stories in the collection The Birthday of the World and Other Stories (2002, includes "The Matter of Seggri" and "Solitude") are set in the Hanish worlds of the Ekumen.

Orsinia books
Orisinan Tales (1976) and Malafrena (1979) are fantasies set in the 19th century in a fictional European country.

Annals of the Western Shore YA series:
--Gifts (2004)
--Voices (2006)
--Powers (2007)

Other works
The Lathe of Heaven (1971) is a classic SF novel of alternate worlds and the problems of playing God. In it a man's dreams can create alternative realities. The Lathe of Heaven was made into a PBS made-for-TV movie in 1980 starring Bruce Davison, Kevin Conway, and Margaret Avery. It was remade in 2002 with James Caan, Lukas Haas, Lisa Bonet, and David Strathairn. (See the 1980 film - webmaster recommendation).

Always Coming Home (1985) explored the matriarchal society of the Kesh through prose, verse, drawings, and music.

A Very Long Way from Anywhere Else (1976) is a short young adult novel. The Beginning Place (1980, also titled Threshold) is a young adult fantasy in which two adolescents pass through to another world.

The Eye of the Heron (1983) is SF.

The Hugo winning novella "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" (1973) is a tale about the cost of the good life, a moral lesson about the funding of Utopia.

Lavinia (2008) is a novel set in ancient Italy based on character in The Aeneid.

Le Guin has also written number of other works -- essays, poetry, and prose -- including some for children. This is a incomplete list, a sample of a few of these, there are more. Sixty Odd (1999) contains 69 poems. Dancing at the Edge of the World (1989) is non-fiction, essays and reviews. The Catwings series - Catwings (1988), Catwings Return (1989), Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings (1994), and Jane on Her Own (1999) - are children's fantasies. Tom Mouse (2002) is a children's picture book.

Short fiction collections
Le Guin's short fiction is collected in The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975), Orisinan Tales (1976), The Compass Rose (1982), Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences (1987), Searoad: Chronicles of Klatsand (1991, mainstream stories), A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994), Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995), Unlocking the Air and Other Stories (1996), Tales from Earthsea (2001), The Birthday of the World and Other Stories (2002), and Changing Planes (2003).

Links:
Aaron's book review of The Telling on Fantastic Reviews
Our book club's page for The Earthsea Trilogy
Our book club's page for The Dispossessed
official web site of author Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin - Wikipedia
Strange Horizons: Review of The Telling
Salon.com people | Ursula K. Le Guin
Science Fiction Weekly Interview
The Telling by Ursula K Le Guin - an infinity plus review

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