The Liaden Universe Re-Read will begin tomorrow, on Thursday, July 18.
Phase 1 Schedule
- 18/7 – “Dragon Tide”
- 19/7 – “Necessary Evils”
- 20/7 – Crystal Soldier
- 21/8 – Crystal Dragon
- 27/9 – “Eleutherios”
- 28/9 – “Where the Goddess Sends”
- 29/9 – “A Spell for the Lost”
- 30/9 – “The Wine of Memory”
- 1/10 – Balance of Trade
- 10/11 – Trade Secret
Please feel free to post a comment introducing yourself. Who are you? How did you come to the Liaden Universe? Have you read all the stories before, or will some of them be new to you?
Hello, hello. I’m Paul, and this is my re-read. (But I hope not just mine.)
The Liaden Universe was, if memory serves, one of several excellent things to which I was introduced by Hypatia, the book recommendation engine at the late lamented Alexandria Digital Literature web site. I started with Partners in Necessity, the omnibus of the first three novels published by the late lamented Meisha Merlin (and came to a grinding halt halfway through Carpe Diem because my copy had pages 609-656 twice and 657-704 not at all – so if you have a copy with the inverse problem, do please get in touch). I have continued to keep up with the series through Meisha Merlin and subsequently through Baen, which I’m very pleased to note shows no sign of joining the ranks of the late lamented.
I have read all the stories to be covered in this re-read, with the obvious exception of Trade Secret. Which is why it’s a re-read, if you’ll excuse the truism. If you’re going to be reading any of these (with the obvious exception) for the first time, please sing out, especially if you have strong views about spoilers; otherwise I’m probably just going to say whatever it comes into my head to say about each story, and that’s likely to include remarks about how things tie into other things that come later chronologically.
I read the books and chapbooks as they came out — yes, with a huge gap between the first books and anything new. (I remember posting on a newsgroup wondering what had happened to Sharon Lee and Steve MIller long long ago. And somebody kindly answered that the authors had had problems selling newer books to publishers, to my great disappointment.) Thank you for doing the work of figuring out the internal chronological order of the stories. I will be following along as time permits.