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Agent of Change – Chapter 3

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In which the man who was not Terrence O’Grady recalls Val Con yos’Phelium.

I am reminded of something Sharon Lee says in one or another of the various places she’s talked about the origins of this novel: that when she first started telling herself stories about what eventually became the Liaden Universe, they were about Val Con the master spy on his own, but after a while Miri came into things because — as near as I can remember the wording — Val Con was in need of someone who still knew what truth looked like.

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 3

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Shipyear 32
Tripday 151
First Shift
1.30 hours

In which we meet the second mate, who is a rounder.

A “rounder”, according to the dictionary I consulted, is a “person who makes the rounds of bars, saloons, and similar establishments; figuratively, a debaucher or roué”, which seems like a pretty apt description of Dagmar Collier. (Who, incidentally, also wears too many rings.)

Second Mate Collier adds sexual harrassment to the list of things Priscilla has to put up with on Daxflan. Not only is she not put off by the fact that her advances are unwelcome, that explicitly adds to her enjoyment. It’s worth noting that Collier is depicted as a sexual predator who happens to be of a particular orientation, with the presentation balanced by other characters later in the novel who share the orientation but not the unfriendliness or the disdain for consent. I can think of other works I’ve read which have lacked that diversity of representation, so it’s good to see here.

It’s three days since the previous chapter, and Priscilla’s off-shift has moved from Second Shift to First. If the ship day is a strict rotation of work-rest-work-rest, as implied by Shelly’s rant, that argues for an odd number of shifts in the day. On the other hand, maybe there are an even number of shifts per day and Priscilla had to work a double shift in there somewhere — perhaps while they were in dock at Alcyone, where they’d need the cargo master to remain available. (I dismiss out of hand the possibility that she might have been given a double rest period.) For what it’s worth, the single data point we have on shift numbers in Liaden trade ships, Jethri’s Elthoria, had four shifts per day.

Fighting Chance

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In which Miri Robertson begins the adventure of her life.

This is a story I think I’d have more to say about if I were reading it for the first time, and if the characters were new to me instead of already familiar from other stories written earlier but set later.

As it is, the main thing that occurs to me to say is that I wonder about Katy Tayzin’s determination not to go offworld. We learn more about her family history later, but as I recall it we don’t ever learn anything specific to explain that.

Tomorrow: “To Cut an Edge”

A Matter of Dreams

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In which a pilot dreams of Moonhawk.

After the thought I had (and expressed rather incoherently, I fear) yesterday, about the magics of this setting perhaps having technological underpinnings, it’s interesting to follow up immediately with a story in which (I hadn’t remembered) the macguffin is part of the technological underpinning of the witches of Sintia.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Sintia, and Moonhawk. Some things have changed: Sintia is now a technological society with its own spaceport and trade with other planets. (Fiona, our narrator, neglects to name the city that hosts the spaceport, presumably because as a Spacer she’s not much interested in local geography.) Some things are not as much changed as one might like: the representatives of the Temple are still, or again, having the same problem with their priorities that Lute called out Lady Rowan on in “Moon’s Honor”. The thing that they consider most important about the theft from the Temple is not the harm that might have been done, but the affront to the Temple’s self-importance.

There’s no Lute to call them out on it, however; this Moonhawk is still young, and does not appear to have met her Lute yet.

Nobody says it out loud — it would probably have been distinctly unwise to say it out loud — but I reckon that Cly Nelbern’s desire for an escort is less about physical protection than about entangling the pilots so that if she goes down, they go down too. And I reckon that Fiona has realised the same thing by the time she asks if Nelbern will be wanting an escort again to her second meeting.

The story is marked with the year 1375; on internal evidence, this has to be the year in which the main events of the story occurred, not the years-later time at which the narrator is telling the story. Fair enough, since that’s the same logic on which I’ve placed the story here in the chronological order.

Tomorrow: “Moonphase”

Local Custom – Chapter 8

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In which Anne is given a reason to go to Liad.

More evidence of how well-matched Er Thom and Anne are, if they can bring themselves to think of a match as being possible.

And another example, with Marilla, of a character who appears briefly but in memorable detail.