I recently came upon Aliette's book, The Tea Master and the Detective, which i very much enjoyed, and, as i mentioned in that review, i was going to be reading more from Aliette in the future.

So off i went to Aliette's website to find out more about The Universe of Xuya, and so began my hunt to track down each of these stories from years ago and hopefully read them all in chronological order.   Before beginning to read, or listen to, these books, it is best to go to that page and have a good read through the background to Xuya and bring yourself up to speed with how everything is in this alternative past/future that Aliette has created.

And so in The Jaguar House, in Shadow we begin our Xuya journey.   This story was originally printed in Asimov’s, July 2010 edition, and if you feel inclined i'm sure you can go and buy a second hand copy at your usual second hand places.   Or, instead, you could simply listen to the audio book at StarShipSofa.

If you want to skip all the intro stuff just skip through to 23:58, where the story begins.   The narration is by Morag Edwards and it is absolutely delightful and gives the story a wonderful other worldly quality.   Admittedly, i listened to this in bed, in the pitch dark with the speaker just above my head, and i fully recommend everyone in the whole wide world giving this a go.

Even if you're not into doing the whole Xuya thing, this is delightful audio book that is soooo well worth a listen simply for its own sake.

I shall now hunt down some more Xuya books and report back as soon as. ( )

Read three short stories in the Universe of Xuya this one set in 1986 and 2 more at the start of the space age.

Somewhere in the 21st-22nd century:
-events of “Starsong” (Asimov’s, July 2012). The events in “Starsong” are the inciting incident that leads to the development of Minds.
-events of “Shipbirth” (Asimov’s, February 2011)

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This story is the first in a series, as you can see here and on the author's website, here. You can download or read it for free on the author's website; click here.

As far as I know, there have - unfortunately - not been any anthologies with all or most stories assembled.

As the author's written on her website: "Xuya is a recurring universe in my alternate histories: the premise is that China discovered the Americas before the West, and that this led to a global Asian domination of the globe rather than the Western one–and to a space age dominated by Confucian powers (Chinese and Vietnamese galactic empires)."

This first story is set in Mexica, revolves around a Revered Speaker, who has ultimate power. Many Houses have fallen, save for one: The Jaguar House. Not everyone likes how the RS rules, especially not our main characters Onalli and Xochitl. The first is more careful than the other, who is (severely) punished for her sins, so to speak. Onalli wants to get her out, free her. Tecipiani, their former friend, has become Head of the House and has taken the role really seriously.

All in all, de Bodard did a good job (friendship , betrayal, political and military conflicts, ...), though not everything is revealed. It's a short story, after all. Maybe, when one reads the other stories, more will be clarified and understood.

So far, so good. If and when I'll read (some of) the other stories, remains to be seen. But again, having the stories in book-format would be a better and more convenient solution, in my humble opinion.

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This story made me think very hard about the nature of sacrifice and what I would do for my friends. ( )

A few comments on this story and the wider Xuya universe can be found here. ( )