"Dune"! It's the start of the series, the quality decreases with each subsequent book, and falls off a cliff once the author's son gets involved. You could just read the first book and pretend that the rest don't exist, and you won't miss a lot of great fiction, in my ever-humble opinion.
Elizabeth Moon is somewhere in my to-read pile, as is Jo Walton.
Elsewhere, you asked why I liked "The Left Hand of Darkness" so much. Part of it was its consideration of identity and sexuality, and how the ambassador came to terms with his own binary assumptions around them. (Also the author's later note that if she were writing the novel now, she wouldn't use "he" as the generic pronoun.) The trek also resonated with me, in how we learn so much about ourselves and each other when we travel with someone else.
Dune: I actually have little desire to read Dune except I'm slowly working on reading every joint Hugo/Nebula winner. Plus almost everyone I know seems to have read it so the cultural knowledge would be handy. In other words, I'm perfectly happy to take your advice and only read the first one. :)
Elizabeth Moon: I read the first book for one of her space operas (Trading in Danger / Vatta's War) and enjoyed it. My friend clashfan recommended The Speed of Dark, and she usually steers me well when suggesting books. Plus Moon meets my personal challenge to read more speculative fiction by female authors.
Jo Walton: meets same challenge, plus the title I picked is a Hugo/Nebula winner, so it satisfies two challenges in one! I'm such a book geek. Is there an emoticon for a happy geek face?
Left Hand of DarknessplantgirlJanuary 7 2015, 13:58:17 UTC
Interesting. I liked the consideration of identity and sexuality, and I liked the most recent author's note (there was an earlier note in which she defended her choice). But I never felt that the ambassador came to terms his binary assumptions beyond attempting to feebly expand them.
You make a good point about the trek. I hadn't thought of it that way.
The Ann Leckie book, Ancillary Justice may also be relevant. It's a recommendation from a good friend of mine. He's spoken on WisCon panels about gender in SF, etc. I was talking to him about Left Hand and he brought up Ancillary Justice. He said it totally messed with his head, in a good way. He was an editor at a speculative fiction magazine for years, so the number of stories he's read is... very very large. I'm very intrigued to see what sort of book could completely surprise him.
Elizabeth Moon is somewhere in my to-read pile, as is Jo Walton.
Elsewhere, you asked why I liked "The Left Hand of Darkness" so much. Part of it was its consideration of identity and sexuality, and how the ambassador came to terms with his own binary assumptions around them. (Also the author's later note that if she were writing the novel now, she wouldn't use "he" as the generic pronoun.) The trek also resonated with me, in how we learn so much about ourselves and each other when we travel with someone else.
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Elizabeth Moon: I read the first book for one of her space operas (Trading in Danger / Vatta's War) and enjoyed it. My friend clashfan recommended The Speed of Dark, and she usually steers me well when suggesting books. Plus Moon meets my personal challenge to read more speculative fiction by female authors.
Jo Walton: meets same challenge, plus the title I picked is a Hugo/Nebula winner, so it satisfies two challenges in one! I'm such a book geek. Is there an emoticon for a happy geek face?
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You make a good point about the trek. I hadn't thought of it that way.
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