Space Opera Fans discussion

The (rest of April and) May Limited Pick is Preferred Seating by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Unofficial description:
As backstory for Trader's Leap, this short story is part of the ongoing discussions about the existence of, and the problems caused by, luck. When the happenstance of having luck can be so fraught, being luck personified becomes life-altering. Preferred Seating is mirrored by Ambient Conditions. Both of these short stories are included in the anthology A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 5.

Preferred Seating is available to read free online at
https://www.baen.com/preferred-seatin...

I reread this short story recently, after finishing rereading Alliance of Equals. It should be enjoyable without having read any of the Lee & Miller books. Reading order with Trader’s Leap doesn’t matter. This story is set at some long time in the past of Alliance of Equals, when Liad’s governing body decided that only approved and licensed magic was allowed to be on Liad, and those with small talents weren’t worth training so they were culled from the population. Korval and a few other clans were able to rescue some of these culls before they were killed, and ship them to exile. And some clans just immediately killed their own members who had small talents.

The Lee and Miller books have not particularly appealed to me, so reading this short story will give me a chance to decide if I'm being unfair, and should read the BOTM choice of Alliance of Equals.

Starting with a short story may have been a mistake. This one was just long enough for the style to irritate me, but not long enough for me to stop noticing.

Different readers have different tastes in stories. For that matter quite a few books I happily reread back when I was in my 20s I can’t stand any more. Thanks for trying.

I still plan to try one of the full novels, but haven't decided yet which one - perhaps one of the early ones where I wouldn't need prior knowledge of the Liaden Universe.

If you like action, Agent of Change is free as an ebook. The other free ebook is Fledgling, which is more of a YA story - Theo is different from the other students, is clumsy and awkward, and upset about her parents separating. Conflict of Honors has action, trading, and a hefty amount of magic - not free but the first published book. Chronologically Crystal Soldier is first. I think each of these books is in an omnibus now (separate ones) but I don’t remember the omnibus names.

Thanks Theresa - I'll have a look at these.

This story, as in several others in the Liaden Universe, has the delm taking a highly qualified and educated clan member and shoving them (or attempting to shove them) into a role for which they were poorly suited. Because the delm said so. You'd think the delm would be more careful in handling valuable resources.

You’d hope so yes. I’ve seen similar behavior from middle management at work. I say point blank that X is not one of my strengths and I have no interest in doing it. Later boss puts me in a position where I have to do X regularly and never bothers to hire anyone else to take over it, until I announce I’m retiring.

I just finished reading "Ambient Conditions", the sort-of-mirror story to "Preferred Seating". It gives additional backstory and explanation from Kishara's point of view.

I’m rereading Ambient Conditions now. It seems far more thorough in explaining why the heck all those people were being exiled than Preferred Seating does.