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For instance, the modern synthesis of descent with variation has no supernatural guidance, but the Catholic version does.

While that's true, it's something of a misrepresentation of the situation. Catholics (and many other religious people, and most Christians) believe that everything is influenced by their God. Depending on how excited they are about this, they may insist that God is capable of producing any individual result, or that he is responsible for every outcome, but His Hand is supposed to be everywhere, or at the very least, everywhere necessary for His Plan. With All Appropriate Capital Letters, of course.

I think far too many people—not just atheists, but theists of whatever sort who are less familiar with the thinking of Catholics—miss this important point. It's not that God specifically decided to control evolution, and left other stuff alone—it's that He, through whatever means, guides everything, all the time, in accordance with His plan.

Though one thing I've always been somewhat fuzzy on is to what extent free will—both of humans and of Satan—really enters into the equation. Sometimes, it seems like Satan or humans acting badly can mess up God's plan, and other times it seems like everything they try to do just plays back into God's hands. And I'm not aware of any specific blanket pronouncements on the subject within standard doctrine, either clearly stating that humans do have free will or that we don't.

Just part of why I'm much more fond of the theology in the Curse of Chalion series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Not only do humans have explicit free will there, the Gods can't even interfere in the material world in more than tiny, subtle ways without humans deliberately surrendering their free will to one or more of the Gods...

Give me something clearly defined like that any day, over the mishmash that is Christian doctrine and theology. ^_^

Dan Aris

Speaking of Vorkosigan, Bujold has finished a new book (CryoBurn) set when Miles is 39 (so, there's a jump of 7-8 years since Diplomatic Immunity), to be published by Baen late this year.

I also liked what I read from Neil Gaiman.

In the Lois McMaster Bujold Miles Vorkosigan series (try http://www.dendarii.com/, or wiki her) there is a man with a "chip in his brain", an electronic memory device being used as memory augmentation. It ends up malfunctioning with terrible consequences (he's in charge of a rather charged political climate), but it's a great idea, being able to remember everything as if it happened, not even yesterday, but 30 seconds ago. Useful.

Lackey, who wrote the Heralds of Valdemar series, is about as perfect as you can get for a teenage girl--for one thing, three of the first books, Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall have a teenage girl as the main character. All of them are fun to read, and most of them are at least pretty good books. Light fantasy.

Bujold is the author of the Miles Vorkosigan series, which has something of everything, as well as the Chalion series and a few other books. They're also excellent. The former are usually termed "space opera" (I'd call them "light SF"), and the latter are rather deep fantasy.

Dan Aris

The only thing that stuck in my head about the book as memorable was that these two people were stuck in some sort of shielded spacecraft and hated each other and somehow wound up having a lot of sex. I was fifteen, what can I say. But it says something about the vitality of a series if the author manages to make sex tedious.

Do all prolific F/SF authors have a point where they just keep writing when they haven't anything more to say? Or rather, keep writing when they've got an axe to grind, but rather than griding the axe couched in some good story, they choose to have a flimsy story and bludgeon the reader over the head with the axe.

(Credit is due to the person on the dendarii.com list who came up with the axe analogy many years ago...)

Everyone thinks of her Miles Vorkosigan/Naismith series, but I recently read one of her fantasy novels and I found it quite enjoyable.

Check out The Curse of Chalion. Supposedly there is a sequel coming out later this year entitled: Paladin of Souls.

A good site for Bujold can be found at http://www.dendarii.com/.

For one thing, I doubt they even have them all electronically. Most of her works were published before the start of Webscription.

For one thing, I doubt they even have them all electronically. Most of her works were published before the start of Webscription.

Cotton Expressions has a bunch of great science and astronomy related shirts, as well as a number of shirts with Sidney Harris cartoons. They're not fully online yet; the shirt catalog is there, but the ordering system is "fill in the form, then print and fax it". (Matthew, it's the 21st century already. Get with the program! :-)

SoftWear Toys & Tees is also worth a look-see, especially if you're a Lois McMaster Bujold fan. Order via PayPal, or use the print-and-mail form.

Lois has been putting books (and novellas) out regularly for almost two decades now. A complete bibliography is available at The Bujold Nexus. There is a large and vibrant fan community based out of that web site as well.

That's because you don't know your sci-fi too well. She got the Nebula in 1989 and 1990, and the Hugo in 1990 and 1994:
award list
book list

That's because you don't know your sci-fi too well. She got the Nebula in 1989 and 1990, and the Hugo in 1990 and 1994:
award list
book list

So, here I am, slightly miffed that they didn't have a happier ending, or at least less bittersweet, but still impressed as heck by the work as a whole. "So good it hurts" is how I describe art like this, stuff that has enough tragedy in it to give it bite. Like The Warrior's Apprentice, a work by multiple Hugo winner, Lois McMaster Bujold. Or a lot of stuff by Orson Scott Card. Or other great works of art.

So, if you want to do yourself a favor, get yourself a copy of Key. It qualifies as great art by your criteria, so I'd think you'd enjoy it... :)

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IANASRP- I am not a self-referential phrase
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