faqliad

The Liaden Universe® FAQ

Updated: October 10, 2009

Culled from questions received from readers, and others, in email and elsewhere

Lee & Miller on the Liaden Universe®: The Liaden Universe® is populated by mercenaries, traders, spies,

turtles, scouts, soldiers and colorful people too numerous to mention. The Liadens are first among the

four major races, those being: Liaden, Clutch, Terran and Yxtrang. Liadens are sneaky, Liadens are old,

Liadens are prosperous, Liadens follow a strict and voluminous code of honor.

1. What is the Liaden Universe®?

The Liaden Universe® was created by Sharon Lee with the help of Steve Miller. So far, eleven novels

have been published in the Liaden Universe^®,The first seven comprise the Agent of Change Sequence.

The eighth Liaden Universe ® novel, Balance of Trade takes place centuries before the Agent of Change

Sequence, involving a different cast of characters. Balance of Trade received the Hal Clement Award as

Best Young Adult Novel of 2004 (award given in 2005).

Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon, collectively known as The Great Migration Duology, are prequels to

the Agent of Change Sequence.

A wide range of Liaden Universe® and related chapbooks have been published by SRM, Publisher Ltd..

These chapbooks provide back story and side story to the novels, and the first five chapbooks, now out of

print, have been collected into the Liaden Universe® Companion, Volume One, which is available from

many stores and direct from SRM Publisher.

Liaden Universe® Companion, Volume Two was published in the summer of 2007, and is available from

SRM Publisher and other fine bookstores.

The Great Migration Duology, consisting of Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon, deal with the three

founders of Korval: Jela, Cantra, and Tor An, as well as with a universe where humanity is beseiged and

the universe itself at risk. These books are deep background and may be read independently of the Agent

of Change Sequence.

The Liaden Universe® chapbooks available from SRM Publisher offer back stories for many of the

characters.

2. What's all this stuff mean, anyway?

A brief and necessarily fluid Liaden-Terran Dictionary is now online. While useful, it makes no attempt to

be a complete explanation of the Liaden Universe®. For example the space drives aren't explained in it

yet.

3. Help! What order do I read the books in?

Veteran Friends of Liad recommend starting the Agent of Change Sequence with the "original three" --

Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, Carpe Diem -- followed by Plan B, Local Custom, Scout's Progress,

finishing up with I Dare. This is a perfectly valid reading order -- it is, indeed, the order in which the books

were written and published.

4. Is I Dare the end? Please tell me that there will be more Liaden books!

In fact, there's a Liaden book being written right now, called Ghost Ship, which is a sequel to Saltation,

which is a sequel to Fledgling, both of which concerned with Theo Waitley and the "kind of complicated"

problem she brings to the Delm of Korval.

In addition, Baen Books (which will be publishing the final drafts of Fledgling and Saltation in dead tree)

has contracted for a sequel to Scout's Progress, called Mouse and Dragon, due out next year.

5.I'm a latecomer to the Liaden Universe® and it's hard to find all the books!

Do not despair! Baen Books will begin releasing the entire run of Liaden Universe® novels, in 4 omnibus

editions, before the end of 2010.

6. I want to read the Liaden Universe® novels and stories on my Palm!

You're in luck. The Liaden Universe® novels and chapbooks are available from Baen Webscriptions

7. I want to listen to the Liaden Universe® audiobooks!

Buzzy Multimedia released the audiobook version of Local Custom in January 2005. Michael Shanks, aka

Dr. Daniel Jackson of Stargate SG-1, narrated. As time goes on, we hope to have more audiobooks; if

you can't find the audio Local Custom elsewhere it can be bought from SRM Publisher.

8. Yuck! There are girl cooties in these books!

Deal with it.

9. Why are Liaden guys so, ummm, feminine? Don't the authors know how to write Real Man characters?

Well, yes. The authors know perfectly well how to write Real Man characters, have done so and will

doubtless do so again. Liaden men, now -- are a product of their society. Liaden society is fiercely

competitive, and the prudent person -- male or female -- speaks softly and with great politeness, unless

they deliberately chose to do otherwise. There are no inadvertent insults in Liaden society, and while

duels of honor are frowned upon, they do happen.

10. Why is the Liaden Universe® so straight?

It's not. While there is a strong emphasis on the duty of each member of society to produce a "child of the

body" to carry on their work for the clan, who one loves on one's own time is not up for discussion. At

least, not on the basis of gender. Best to think of the Liaden Universe® as extensively bi-sexual.

11. Why is Liaden Universe® trademarked? Are the authors trying to fool readers into thinking their books

are like Star Trek®?

Sadly, there are people in the world who like to make trouble for other people. One such person targeted

Lee and Miller, and in order to protect their work, the authors were advised to trademark their universe.

12. Have Miller and Lee written anything besides Liaden Universe® material?

Actually, yes.

Both Steve and Sharon have written independent fiction. In addition, they collaborated on The Tomorrow

Log, and on the Kinzel fantasy stories. Sharon has seen her mystery novel Barnburner, and its sequel,

Gunshy, published. In his abundant free time Steve is working on The Grasp of Griffins, a fantasy novel

set in the Kinzel universe. In addition to all of that, Sharon and Steve edited the Meisha Merlin anthology

Low Port. Sharon and Steve were also commissioned by Phobos Books to write The Sword of Orion,

which became a Locus bestseller.

Duainfey, the first in a dark romantic fantasy duology was published by Baen Books in September 2008.

The sequel, Longeye was published in April 2009. In addition to genre fiction, Sharon and Steve have

written for numerous newspapers, as reporters, reviewers, and features writers. Completists may want to

hunt out old issues of Practical Survival magazine for Steve's article on choosing where to move when

leaving the city. Or not, if you've just moved to the city.

14. Is there anything new coming from Lee and Miller?

Yes, see above. Over the next couple years, Baen Books will be publishing the Liaden books Saltation,

Mouse and Dragon, and Ghost Ship as well as a contemporary fantasy by Sharon called Carousel Tides.

15. Will there be a sequel to Sword of Orion?

Sword was a work-for-hire -- that means the rights rest with the publisher, not the authors -- and the

publisher has not requested a sequel from Lee and Miller, or, as far as we're aware, from anyone else.

16. I want to get in touch with Lee and Miller about a project!

Please contact our agent, Jennifer Jackson, at the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

17. I want to talk to other fans about the Liaden Universe®

There are several options available to you. You can:

* subscribe to the Liaden Universe® mailing list

* check in with the Liaden Universe® Spoilers Community

* join Baen's Bar and drop by Binjali's

* come to conventions where Lee & Miller are Guests of Honor or which have Friends of Liad party.

18.Do Lee and Miller have blogs?

Yep, they do. Steve's blog is Journeyman and Sharon's is Eagles Over the Kennebec.

19. Is there a Liaden Universe® newsletter?

Yes. You may subscribe here.

20. You may also want to see the wikipedia entry which may be more up-to-date than our faq.

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