After graduation, she taught Latin and ancient history in public schools before embarking on a career as a writer with the successful publication of her first novel,
Gate of Ivrel, in 1976. Working within both the science fiction and fantasy genres, she has become a prolific writer of both novels and short fiction for teenagers and adults, and has also edited several collections of short stories by other writers.
Cherryh frames each of her novels within a very complicated alien civilization. Setting the stage for her readers involves laying a complex groundwork that includes such things as language, topography, social customs and structures, and psychology. Within each of her fictional worlds, she examines two recurring themes, according to Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor Susan Wells: "the theme of absolute power, especially when such power is held by a woman, and the theme of culture as a force shaping the whole of life." Each of these themes are addressed in Gate of Ivrel, the first volume in Cherryh's multi-volume "Morgaine" series. In the novel, the lady Morgaine helps a group of fellow humans who are working to close "the gates," an interplanetary teleportation network that is slowly destabilizing human worlds.
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