Tag: SF

Fair Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (2022)

Through my involvement in The Heinlein Society I have become a regular attendee at Balticon, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society’s annual SF convention.  BSFS and THS award the “Heinlein Award” and the 2025 winner was Sharon Lee.  Before the con I had only read one of Sharon’s books and was vaguely aware of the Liaden Universe that her and her husband & cowriter created and populated.

At the con, I picked up Fair  Trade to be able to have Sharon inscribe it.  I read it this week and it’s an intriguing story with two main plot threads.  I didn’t realize it was the third book of an arc, but I was able to pick up the gist of earlier pertinent action.

I enjoyed the similarity of the Loopers/Traders/Liaden to some of the customs in Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy. What I did not enjoy was finishing the book with several dangling plot threads and finding out there was not a “next book in the arc” yet published.  Steve Miller died in 2024, so it’s not really clear on what stories will be told in the Liaden Universe henceforth.

I’m glad I read this to get a better sense of Sharon & Steve’s writing, and a signed copy from Sharon is a nice memory of meeting her, but I would caution to read other parts of the Liaden Universe instead of this one for now.

The “Seafort Saga” on Audiobook (Audible)

I started listening to book one (Midshipman’s Hope) in November 2024 and finished with book seven (Children of Hope) at the end of September 2025.  These are long books, between eighteen and twenty-four hours.  Vikas Adam narrated five books, Jed Drummond one, and Josh Hurley also just one.  Truth be told, they all had flaws that irritated me. Adam had several grating pronunciations that Hurley also used.  All mispronounced words; Drummond had the fewest.

The “Seafort Saga” is one of my favorite novel series, but I have to admit that it was extremely painful to listen to at times.  You just want to slap the characters for being prideful or for adhering to the very strict moral code that the space Naval Service adheres to.

Even though it would lengthen them even more, I would love to hear at least the first three redone as “full cast” audios with multiple voices.  There were times that the narrators just weren’t up to the varied voices and book five (Voices of Hope) that deals with ‘transpops’ (think New Yorkers with a degraded slang speech) almost gave me a headache at times to listen to.

I have mixed feelings about this set. I acquired each book over time with months of getting Audible deals, so it didn’t cost me a lot, but I wish it could be done by a better studio.

JT with David Feintuch 1998

Meeting David Feintuch at BucConeer (56th WorldCon and my first) in 1998 was an amazing afternoon that cemented my love of SF fandom. I just wish the audiobooks left him a better legacy.

 

The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (2025)

This is the seventh book in Scalzi’s most well-known series that started with Old Man’s War.  You don’t have to have read from the beginning to read this book, but you will miss out on some of the context.  (Plus, the other six books are worth it.) Last I heard, there will be a Netflix series based on OMW coming out sometime…it may have been delayed.

If you’ve never read a John Scalzi book before, you will either like his style or not.  Almost everything he’s written in the last few years is in a very conversational style, and there is a high “snark” quotient in many of those conversations.  I find his work to be a very ‘easy’ read in that they can be read quickly.  This is not to say he skimps on character or world-building if it’s necessary.  I found myself very interested in the character named “Ran” who is of the Obin race in this book.

Scalzi took a lot of time off of writing in the OMW universe. I respect that he wanted a good story to tell before coming back to it, and I think he told it.  I hope we’re not done completely with the cast of characters he’s created.