Sunday, October 2, 2011

Kris Longknife: Daring and space opera

Ok, I confess, I am still exhibiting avoidance behavior and not finishing the onerous task that I have been procrastinating about for months (yes, I have not finished my taxes!).  I did manage to finish my review books although my moderator very kindly extended the deadline on one of them since I was really set back by the migraines this week...can you say psychosomatic influences?  I did manage to finish reading about the latest adventures of Midnight Louie and get the review finished but it ruined my almost perfect record of on-time submissions.  Enough about that, the latest Mike Shepherd tale of Kris Longknife: Daring was another example of rollicking good space opera.  Kris is up to her usual exploits, exploring space and turning preconceived notions on their heads but this time she has a far greater mix of factions openly involved rather than delivering her information second or third-hand through the spy network.  There is a bit too much carnage for me in this tale (a frequent problem with space operas) but I enjoyed the self-deprecating humor and the repartee that is characteristic of the princess and her shipmates.  I am not quite sure I think that the budding romance is believable but I will withhold judgement right now.  My Night Owl Review is at:  http://nightowlreviews.com/nor/Reviews/ELF-reviews-Daring-by-Mike-Shepherd.aspx

I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with another excellent sci-fi author, Linnea Sinclair, when she came to town for the Romantic Times Reader's Conference this year and she dismayed me with the statement that females tend not to read science-fiction because they don't think they will understand it.  Aaarggh!  How do we expect to get ahead in science and technology if half of our population thinks like that?  I thought we had made great advances when authors no longer had to pretend they were male (e.g. Andre or Andrew Norton) to get published in the sci-fi field.  I began reading Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke in junior high (that will date me since it is an outdated term) and never quit.  I admit that I skip over the sections in current novels that are devoted to describing the armament and how much of what was required to blow up what quantity of beings/ships/buildings, etc.  but I do that whether I am reading sci-fi or an action adventure tale.  It saddens me to think about that vicious cycle...fewer readers means a smaller audience for really good authors which means fewer minds are stimulated to think outside of the box...where will we go from there? 

2 comments:

  1. I'm surprised someone would say that about book readers. It's sort of a gender specific statement made in generalizations about women. I think women are reading these types of books as well as others and we can understand them just fine. I read Asimov and others back in high school and still read Sci Fi when I find books that I like.

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  2. Actually, she said this is what is said to her over and over again by female readers. It is NOT what Linnea Sinclair herself believes. I was disappointed to hear that many females think so little of themselves.

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