Amazon.com Review
Whether you love Bujold's
A Civil Campaign, McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, or classics like
The Prisoner of Zenda, you owe it to yourself to grab
Partners in Necessity. You'll see why Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have gained devoted fans since the first three Liaden novels (collected here) first appeared; they helped bring the series back with the publication of
Plan B 11 years after its debut. This is swashbuckling space opera at its finest, a blend of adventure, romance, humor, and terrific world building.
Meet Priscilla Delacroix y Mendoza, betrayed and stranded on a backward world by the Liaden trader she served as cargo master. Fortunately, another Liaden ship, Dutiful Passage, makes orbit and she applies for work. The captain, Shan yos'Galen, also has accounts to settle with Priscilla's former employers, and "among Liadens, revenge is something of an art form." Conflict of Honors is their story. In Agent of Change, Val Con yos'Phelium, Shan's cousin and foster brother, comes to the aid of Miri Robertson, former mercenary and bodyguard, who's being hunted by an interstellar crime cartel. Once a First-in Scout, he's become a spy for Liad, programmed to play the odds ruthlessly. He's just committed a murder. They flee together, aided by Edger, an alien shaped like a turtle. His "four-hundred pound bottle-green frame" is impressive to the Clans of Men, as are the beautiful, deadly knives of his people. He's considered a bit hasty by colleagues, but his appreciation of music is keen and he regards Val Con as a brother. In Carpe Diem, the stories of Val Con and Miri, and Shan and Priscilla come together and the story of Clan Korval, to which Shan and Val Con belong, unfolds further.
Once you've sampled Lee and Miller's Liaden Universe, you'll be delighted that Plan B and Pilot's Choice are available now, with I Dare still to come. Join SF and fantasy writers from Anne McCaffrey to Barry Longyear in badgering them for more. --Nona Vero
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Sharon Lee
Sharon Lee was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1952. She graduated high school in 1970, attended University of Maryland Baltimore County as a mild-mannered night student while simultaneously cutting a fearsome swath through the secretarial field by day.
In 1978, she decided life was too tame and predictable and left her plush job as administrative aide to the Dean of the University of Maryland's School of Social Work and Community Planning. Shortly thereafter, she engineered her first adventure by opening a genre bookstore, using the money from her retirement fund as her seed.
After Book Castle went bankrupt, she worked a series of odd and odder jobs, the most memorable of which was delivering tractor trailers, though selling cider at the Baltimore City Sunday Farmer's Market was fun, too. On the odder side, she was an advertising copy writer, both in-house and freelance. Presently, she is executive director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.
Since her first professional sale, in 1980, Sharon's professional output has included reviews, features, short stories; TV, radio and print ads, as well as her contribution to the Liaden Universe.
She and Steve Miller married in 1980. In 1988 they migrated to Maine, where they can be found to this day, sharing life with four stalwart cats and a large cast of characters..
Steve Miller
Steve Miller was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1950. He graduated high school in 1968, attended University of Maryland Baltimore County a couple times, where he was news editor of the campus newspaper, The Retriever, active in the chess club and founding president of the Infinity Circle, the school's first science fiction club. In between bouts of being a student, he was curator of the Albin O. Kuhn Library's science fiction collection.
In no particular order he has been a reviewer—of music, of books and of typewriters—a reporter, an editor, a professional chess tournament director, a librarian, an editor, a sysop, an editor and a resource specialist for a statewide electronic bulletin board system.
In 1973 he attended the Clarion West Writing Workshop in Seattle.
Since his first publication in 1968, Steve has accumulated credits in well over 100 newspapers, magazines and journals. In addition to reviews and poetry, Steve's professional output has included short stories, TV and radio commercials, greeting cards, as well as his contribution to the Liaden Universe.
He and Sharon Lee married in 1980. In 1988 they migrated to Maine, where they can be found to this day, sharing life with four stalwart cats and a large cast of characters.
