The Shobies' Story

The Hainish Cycle

by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Nebula Award-winning author of The Left Hand of Darkness delivers another brilliant sci-fi work. In this Hainish story, a crew of ten embark on a test flight on a starship with a new experimental star drive that would make Nearly-as-Fast-as-Light flight obsolete.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1991

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.

Reviews

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderfully strange and somewhat "trippy" story this was. It was very enjoyable, and it was fun to see a variety of cultures and people from across the series come together; Hainish, Gethenians, Terrans, Cetians, etc.
Seeing some of the tech get used on screen was rewarding as well, both the Ansible and the Churten principles played big roles here, the later of which was rather mind bending to come to a working understand of.

This is definitely a story only to be read and fully appreciated by those invested in the Hainish series as a whole though, it really won't make any sense to a newcomer.
Still, I liked it very much. Its sometimes the smaller stories like this that make me realise how much I will get from rereading this series in the future.

[Carter Boelke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like history, or the news, or even a book, a narration is only as true as the limited perspective of the essence it comes from. It is together, among others, that a more truer truth can be discerned.

[Faiza Sattar · Rating 2 out of 5]

★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
• The word is Hainish and means “making a beginning together,” or “beginning to be together,” or, used technically, “the period of time and area of space in which a group forms if it is going to form.” A honeymoon is an isyeye of two.
• Unbreathing, the ghosts flitted, shifted, in the ghost shell of a cold, dark hull floating near a world of brown fog, an unreal planet. They spoke, but there were no voices. There is no sound in vacuum, nor in nontime.
• “Do you mean,” Lidi said in a tone of deep existential disgust, “that we have to believe in it to make it work?”“You have to believe in yourself in order to act, don’t you?” Tai said. “No,” the navigator said. “Absolutely not. I don’t believe in myself. I know some things. Enough to go on.”“An analogy,” Gveter offered. “The effective action of a crew depends on the members perceiving themselves as a crew—you could call it believing in the crew, or just being it—Right? So, maybe, to churten, we—we conscious ones—maybe it depends on our consciously perceiving ourselves as…as transilient—as being in the other place—the destination?”

[Aaron White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the Hainish series, this story is LeGuin’s introduction of churten, the idea of instantaneous travel based upon perception. A crew on the spaceship Shobie are tasked with trying the first churten journey. They represent multiple human species and work hard at becoming one familial unit before they travel - something considered essential for churten to work. It does seem to work and they move instantly to a far away planet. But it becomes immediately apparent that their perception of what has happened, and what is happening, is disastrously out of sync. A fascinating idea of interstellar travel that relies on human interaction and perception. Very quantum.

[Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall an interesting, albeit confusing short story about the effects of instantaneous space travel on the minds of the crew. As the "churten drive" seems to operate on a manipulation of cause and effect, the crew reaches a state of nonexistence until they collectively decide on what actually happened, and then that happens, and they exist once more. An interesting take on space travel with heavy implications, but still placing a LeGuinean emphasis on collectivism and consensus over hierarchy. I felt a little bit lost halfway through, as characters experiencing completely different realities try to reconcile what happened.

[WadeofEarth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting short story. Le Guin tackles the idea of instantaneous travel in the Universe that she has created, where humans from the planet Hain have seeded worlds across the universe (including Earth) with humans. The basic question of the story is: what happens when you set aside space/time causality sequencing to allow instantaneous travel? This is a fascinating thought experiment with some unexpected results. If you like mind bending science fiction theory and the coupling of exceptional imagination with a mastery of language, then you will enjoy this story.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sorry, but I don’t see how this “story” makes any sense. Le Guin spends a lot of time setting up this group of 10 explorers, including 3 children, who attempt a faster-than-light experiment with very confusing results. Frankly, had this story been written by any other writer, it would have been rejected, much less been award material. But, because it’s by Le Guin, readers make it something more than the sum of what it is, and in some way, that’s maybe the point of the story, in a very odd manner.

[DinosaursAtWork · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this felt pretty much useless to me. I want short stories to move me out make me think, this was just a constant "what is she trying to get at?" The end attempts a message - this is part of Le Guins collection of stories that focus on stories/narration - but the resolution didn't feel like a payoff to me.

[Kira NenadVuletic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story with references to many planets and concepts from previous books in the cycle. Also what could be origin story of a whole new chapter for Ekumen and their exploration of space. Im very sad i wont get to read where the Ekumen might go when they figure out how churten works.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh wow oh wow. i want to live in this cool little story. so oddly comforting/big and expansive/small and close and warm. takes ur hand and says “let me show u the way, i know the scifi jargon seems scary but u will understand the things that are important.” i already want to reread it over and over

[Kinch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh yes, very nice. This did strange and lovely things to my mind.

[Abram Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my speed. Probably better if you know all these characters already, as I guess they were in Le Guin's other books.

[Lillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!

[Conor Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A team is only a team if everyone believes they are a team. What else requires belief?

[sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

my face when Nothing is safe except what we put at risk

[David Sastre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Touching.

[Aya McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

!♡!

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

First human journey of transilience!!

[Nickolas Segura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn’t know I could experience a “trip” through a reading of a book.

[HB · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★1/2

[raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the Year’s Best Science Fiction, Eighth Annual Collection

[Leonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interplanetary travel and neurological perception. Interesting concepts. LeGuin on exploration is always a worthwhile read.

[Steve LaForest · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story takes place on various planets, and is set in the far future in the Hainish universe, like most of Le Guin's SF. It features instantaneous space travel, through "Churten Theory". The story is linked to both Dancing to Ganam and A Fisherman of the inland Sea.

Spoiler Alert

The narrative concerns the crew on the first Churten Trip, who become disoriented. No wonder they are confused - it a very confusing story! The character "Shan" is also in Dancing to Ganam.

Not recommended. If you are a hard SF fan, you will be lucky if you escape without an allergic reaction.

My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.

I rated this story "C - " when I read it, which translates to 1 1/2 stars. Unfortunately, half stars are not available in Goodreads, so I have (grudgingly) rounded up to 2 stars.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.75
It's not you, it's me

[Wayfarer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably the first short story by this author I've read.

Here the focus is more on the characters and their relationship to each other than on the world itself. Sci-fi elements aren't missing, of course, but I especially liked the way the characters interacted with themselves: I really felt the crew of the Shoby was like a family.

I really liked how the hainish language is used to give more importance to some concepts, like for example... hmm ... now that I think of it, only one word was a hainish word, near the start of the story, if I remember correctly: isyeye.

The story was not bad but surely too short and I never felt really drawn in. But surely I'm more cuious about the author's other works now, and look forward to reading them.

[Wayfarer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably the first short story by this author that I have read.Here the focus is more on the characters and on their relationship to each other than on the world itself. Sci-fi elements aren't missing, of course, but I especially liked the way the characters interacted among themselves: I really felt the crew of the Shoby was just like a family.I really liked how the hainish language was used to give more importance to some concepts, even if in the end it wasn't used much in this short story. One good example of this is 'isyeye'.The story was not bad but surely too short and I never felt really drawn in. But surely now I'm more cuious about the author's other works and I'm looking forward to reading them.

[Brent Lineberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Perhaps I’m being affected by the movies I’ve watched recently, but the middle of the story had a very disorienting-horror-type feel to it.

[Gabriele · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can spend hours with this story, trying to understand the churten theory. You have to imagine that you have already reached your destination and have understood.