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.