Source: From the Cover of The Language of Power by Rosemary Kirstein

Over this holiday break, I’ve had the opportunity to catch up a bit on my fantasy reading. I despaired of buying the entire contents of Barnes and Nobles, or even Half Price Books, so I raided a local library that I grew up with. Not surprisingly, it had a wealth of science fiction/fantasy books I hadn’t seen, so I checked them all out.

One of the book series that has made me look online for future releases is Rosemary Kirstein’s Steerswoman. Right now, there are just 3 books but it’s gotten me hooked.

Her first novel, The Steerswoman, was published in 1989, and began an SF series that includes The Outsider’s Secret (1992), The Lost Steersman (2003), The Language of Power (2004), and forthcoming The City in the Crags.
Source: Locus Online

I’ve read the books except for her forthcoming one, The City in the Crags. Here’s a summary from Coffee and Ink wiki:

Steerswomen must answer all questions they’re asked; others must answer all questions a steerswoman asks. Silence or lies mean that no steerswoman will ever speak to you–which means you’ll be denied gossip, communication, maps, new farming techniques, trade information, any sort of useful knowledge. No one in the settled lands wants to incur the steerswomen’s ban–except the wizards, who refuse to speak to them….

These are a rarity, science fiction about the Scientific Method itself, and books which depend on the protagonist being observant and smart–not brilliant, not a genius, just sensible and reasonably good at deductions. There are many times when the reader will be ahead of Rowan and Bel–but it’s because of the disparity of knowledge, and when Rowan and Bel collect enough information, they make the logical conclusions.

I’ve been surprised at the suspense, the sense of expectation I have at the end of the last published book, The Language of Power. We’ll see what comes of this. In the meantime, I encourage you to read this surprising series. Particularly captivating is the idea that knowledge should be available to all, and that truth is something we can arrive at together.

In the Locus Online, Kirstein shares some wisdom that is great advice for bloggers (at least, I think so):

“People say our lives aren’t stories and fiction makes sense out of them, but I think one of the things fiction does is remind us that our lives are stories. The trick is, there are three or four or eight different stories going on simultaneously, overlapping and with other crap happening that is not related to one particular story. So one of the things fiction does is extract one line out of the mess of what’s occurring and demonstrate that this line is connected, has a direction, a point. We have to remember that. Fiction gives us a sense of perspective, a sense of purpose. We don’t have to turn our lives into stories; we just have to dig out the story that’s there as a natural result of living.”

“Just dig out the story that’s there was a natural result of living” definitely qualifies as great advice for blogging!

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