Liaden universe
The Liaden universe is the setting for an ongoing series of science fiction stories written by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. The series covers a considerable time period, some thousands of years in all, although since it also covers more than one universe the exact chronology is unclear. However the main timeline extends across only a few generations.
The central stories primarily concern Clan Korval, a leading house in Liaden society. The stories are primarily in the genre of space opera, with heavy doses of romance, intrigue, and wizardry.
As of December 2019 the series comprises 22 novels and at least 27 chapbooks. The 23nd novel in the series will be published in December 2020. The writers are contracted to write four further novels.
Overview
The series is set at some unspecified time in the future. There is a reference to the planet named "Terra" not being the first planet to bear that name; however, the familiar names and cultural references in the core books suggest that it is "our" earth nonetheless. In the wake of a diaspora from a "decrystallizing" galaxy that was mankind's prior home, the human race is divided into three major sub-races: Terran, Liaden and Yxtrang.The original seven-book "Agent of Change" sequence tells of the struggle between Clan Korval, a Liaden Clan of much note, and the mysterious "Department of the Interior". Though their headquarters on Liad were destroyed at the end of the original sequence, vestiges of the Department continue to plague Clan Korval in subsequent novels.
The eighth novel, Balance of Trade, is set 275 years prior to the end of the "Agent of Change" sequence. It features Jethri Gobelyn, a young Terran trader who is adopted by a Liaden Master Trader to the consternation of virtually everyone. A sequel to this popular book, Trade Secret, was published in 2013 and follows Jethri as he starts his career as a trader.
The ninth novel, Crystal Soldier, published in February 2005, takes place even earlier still: it is the first half of "The Great Migration Duology", and tells the story of Cantra yos'Phelium, who piloted the original exodus to Liad, and her partner M Jela. The sequel, Crystal Dragon, was published in 2006 and takes the story up through the founding of Liad and of Clan Korval.
There is a timeline of the Liaden novels, below.
History of the series
The series is notable because it almost failed to take flight, and probably would only be three books long except for the Internet. The authors had written the first three books but were told that sales were not sufficient to justify continuing.Unbeknownst to them the books had caused such a stir on the Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written that they were added to the group's FAQ. Upon gaining Internet access, the authors were surprised to find so many people looking for the next book, and even more surprised that its title was already decided upon: Plan B. They published some chapbooks to stave off the hungry fans and started writing: Plan B and a further three books followed in due course to complete the "Agent of Change" sequence. There are also a number of short stories, some filling in gaps between novels, some providing background on minor characters.
The series is ongoing, with twenty-one novels and numerous chapbooks and short stories, and a number of new novels contracted to be written. See "Forthcoming", below.
All the novels are available as ebooks.
Books in the series
The first three novels were originally published in mass-market by Del Rey. The novels were later re-published, along with several subsequent novels, by the now-defunct Meisha Merlin, who have also anthologised the earlier novels. The novels were then re-issued in mass-market by Ace Books.All books and many of the stories were formerly available in electronic form from Embiid Publishing, which is now out of business.
In 2007, Baen Books published the first 10 Liaden novels in electronic form, followed by two short story collections. Baen began publishing new Liaden novels in 2009, and in 2010 began releasing the first 10 Liaden novels in omnibus trade paperbacks.
Novels
Timeline Chart
Chart Notes:- Time flows down the chart, so events in those novels on the same horizontal level are happening concurrently
- Columns represent main characters and/or clans
- Color Key
- * Red = Progenitor Universe
- * Orange = Trade Areas of Terran and Liaden space
- * Yellow = primarily Liaden Space
- * Green = Theo's home world, first journey, Anlingdin Piloting Academy, and beyond
- * Pink = Planet Surebleak
- * Blue = Planet Surebleak and wide-ranging space faring & trading
- * Gray = Trading, space faring, and A.I. mentoring
The Great Migration Duology
These two novels comprise the origin story of the Liaden universe and introduce us to Cantra and Jela.- Crystal Soldier
- Crystal Dragon
Liaden novels featuring Jethri Gobelyn
- Balance of Trade
- Trade Secret, a sequel to Balance of Trade was published by Baen in hardcover in Nov. 2013.
The "Agent of Change" sequence
ForthcomingThe Anniversary edition of the second Liaden Universe® novel, Conflict of Honors, will be published in November 2019 as a mass market paperback.Accepting the Lance, the 22nd Liaden Universe novel, was delivered to publishers in January 2019 and will be published in December 2019. It completes both the five-book arc which begins with Dragon in Exile and the 20-book arc which begins with Agent of Change. After this Lee and Miller are contracted to Baen to write five more novels in the Liaden Universe. The subjects of the first two have been announced:
Omnibus volumesPre-Baen
Baen print & e-book
A number of novels have currently available audio-book editions
Current collectionsOn 2 April 2012, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller announced that Baen had purchased publication rights for the contents of Chapbooks #1 through #17, and they would be reissued in two volumes. The first, Liaden Universe Constellation Volume I was published by Baen for July 2013 in trade paperback and ebook formats. The second volume was published by Baen in January 2014. The third volume was published by Baen in August 2015. The fourth volume was published by Baen in June 2019.Baen has collected the chapbooks and other short stories in four volumes:
Selected chapbooks are now being published by SRM Publisher in the Amazon Kindle, Angus & Robertson, Apple, Baen, Baker & Taylor, Barnes and Noble Nook, Bibliotheca, Google, Rakuten Kobo, Overdrive, Playster, Scribd, Tolino, and 24Symbols ebook stores. In all these stores, they are sold without DRM. See below for availability. Table of Liaden Universe short stories and novelettesCharactersAs mentioned above, there are three main divisions of the human race which appear in the stories. There are some notable non-humans also.LiadenHome planet "Liad". Liadens are usually shorter than the Terran norm, often with golden skin. They are deeply concerned with their melant'i which roughly corresponds to the concern with "face" for which Japanese Samurai are famous. Some are almost rabidly isolationist; it is not uncommon for Liaden to refer to those of other races as "it" likening them to animals. Several characters are part- or even half-Terran: this does not endear them to the isolationists.Liaden society is clan-based, each Clan being made up of one or more families. The Head of a Clan is the "Delm", the head of a line is the "Thodelm"; either might be male or female as circumstances dictate. Liaden Clans do not generally allow lifemating. Instead, Liaden's practice contract marriages, where two individuals from different clans are ordered, or allowed, by their Delms to create a progeny for one of the two clans. This marriage is over when the terms of the contract are fulfilled. Most members of the clan must produce at least one progeny to replace them. Lifemating is when two individuals become exclusively bound to one and other. This can happen rarely by order of a Delm, or this can happen by the physical, emotional, and spiritual bonding of two individuals with dramliza abilities. Some Liaden are trained as explorers: the Scouts. They are regarded with distaste by the more isolationist within Liaden society. Most of the stories thus far centre on members of Clan Korval, made up of the yos'Phelium and yos'Galan lines. Scouts also appear often. Korval
The Juntavas are an organized-crime "clan" who appear in various guises, sometimes as antagonists, sometimes as allies of the main characters. Unlike the real-world mafia, the Juntavas are apparently able to act as an unopposed organized government in their own right, to the point of having appointed officials called Sector Judges who administer justice within their appointed jurisdictions. The Juntavas are usually not as oppressive as they might be, because they have learned that too much of that sort of thing is "bad for business." A number of other planets are known to have non-Liaden human inhabitants, presumably of the Terran strain. Some of these worlds, such as Surebleak and Delgado, were settled by Terrans from this universe's Terra. Others, such as Sintia, were settled by ships from the same Crystal Dragon-era colonization waves as Liad and Terra. Some of these colony worlds, such as Vandar, have backslid to pre-spaceflight technology levels. These worlds have been considered interdicted by the Liaden Scout Corps, with external contact forbidden in order to permit their societies to develop without interference. As of "Prodigal Son," post-I Dare, there are signs that this policy may be changing. Gobelyns
References in Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon suggest that the Yxtrang are the descendants of a group of "X Strain" and "Y Strain" genetically-engineered soldiers who served in a platoon with Jela and accompanied the human migration to the new universe. Some of them venerate Jela for his skills and deeds as a warrior. It is not known whether they can interbreed with Liadens or Terrans, though given their common genetic origin there is no reason why they should not be able to; the likely lifespan of such offspring is short, not for merely biological reasons.
Clutch turtles travel in starships made from hollowed-out asteroids using an electron substitution drive that can have hallucinogenic effects on the human nervous system. They are able to command forces of great destructive or healing potential by singing. Clutch turtles are greatly feared and avoided by the Yxtrang as the result of a resounding defeat in battle many years prior to the timeframe of the story. The Clutch turtles encountered in the "Agent of Change" sequence make up a "market research" team on behalf of their clan, who are known for manufacturing crystalline blades of extreme sharpness and durability by growing them in caves over a timespan of decades.
As a young soldier, Jela found the tree on a desert planet on which his ship had crashed. Though barely a stunted seedling and the last member of a dying race, the tree was by itself able to repel invasion of the planet by the enemy Sheriekas. As an act of trust, the tree gave its only seed pod to feed the starving Jela. When Jela's rescue came, he refused to leave the tree behind. The tree proved to be intelligent, and able to communicate via mental images. It also had the ability to manipulate the chemistry of its seed pods to create useful pharmaceutical compounds. Both these powers proved useful as Jela and Cantra searched for information necessary for mankind to escape its collapsing universe. The name Jelaza Kazone refers to the promise Cantra yos'Phelium made to Jela, who knew he was destined to die before the migration could be complete, to see the tree through to safety on the new human homeworld. Clan Korval holds itself the guardian of this promise in perpetuity, and every trading vessel of Korval carries a seed of the tree somewhere on board, to ensure the survival of its race.
Melant'iA great deal of the Liaden culture centers on melant'i. Part of this concept is roughly analogous to personal honor or good manners: a person of impeccable melant'i will behave in a certain way, in a given situation. It is also used to distinguish between a person's different roles in life. If one is speaking to a shipmate in one's role as an officer of the ship, one uses a particular mode to cue the shipmate as to the formality of the situation, and is said to be expressing one's melant'i as that officer. If, on the other hand, one is speaking to the same shipmate, but in the role of daughter, one uses a different mode and is expressing the melant'i as a family member. Different levels of formality, and actions, will be appropriate in each case.Space travelJump DriveHuman ships are able to travel quickly between planets by "jumping"; different technologies exist but are all fairly quick; journey durations are comparable to swift sea-travel here on Earth. Only the Clutch Turtles use a different method, with predictably idiosyncratic side-effects.Propulsion and artificial gravity is provided by Struven Surface Units which Theo describes as having a "sense of presence." The sealed unit is the source of gravity that the ship generates and "the source of the Struven Surface that the engines then amplified and tuned, building fields that allow the ship to interact with the lattice crystal of space-time and to move…elsewhere." From The Gathering Edge: ShipsShips range from single-person courier, small trade craft, private ships, long-loop, and family trade ships to large trade ships, bulk cargo ships, and large passenger liners. There are of course many specialty craft for station maintenance, and other utilitarian functions. In this era of relative peace, there is little mention of purpose-built military ships, except for the battleships of the warlike Yxtrang. Planetary governments may have small fleets of fighter craft, for defensive purposes, that operate both in air and near space. It is not uncommon, however, for merchant ships to carry weaponry to defend themselves from pirates and brigands. Some large trade ships, such as Korval's Dutiful Passage, have incorporated enough weaponry to be considered full battleships.Pilots and pilotingPilots are shown deference in the Liaden Universe, both in Terran and Liaden space. This is due to respect and/or fear of the pilots capabilities and their importance to the lifeblood of trade and commerce for planetary society. Pilots are addressed as "Pilot" as an honorific title.Pilots must have superior reflexes, coordination, and spatial orientation. Pilots need proficiency in higher mathematics to be able to quickly and accurately solve equations in trajectory, orbital mechanics, and jump coordinates ; one does not place one's life and one's crew or passengers in peril should computer navigation fail. A pilot needs to be able to defend herself in the low port or away from civilization, thus trains in self-defense and personal weaponry. The Pilot is responsible for the ship and passengers; the Co-pilot is responsible for the pilot and ship. The pilot/captain operates the ship from the primary control board—"sits First". The co-pilot, or acting co-pilot, "sits Second". Larger ships may have a third board, communications officer, executive officer, etc. Many, if not most, pilots belong to the Pilots Guild. The Guild takes 3% of the pilot's income for life and in return provides many important services. These services include certification, legal services and bail bonds, mail boxes with forwarding, hiring and personnel services and records, and in larger localities a Guild Hall with lounges, bars and/or cafes. Each Guild Hall has a Guild Master. The Guild certified Pilot Classes:
Master Pilots may train and certify pilots. All Liaden Scout Pilots are of Master Class. A pilot in training will be granted "provisional" status in grade as the student advances. Awards and recognition
Fan fictionLee and Miller strongly oppose any fan fiction written in the Liaden universe. "We built our universes, and our characters; they are our intellectual property; and they are not toys lying about some virtual sandbox for other kids to pick up and modify at their whim. Steve and I do not sanction fanfic written in our universes; any such work that exists, exists without our permission, and certainly without our support." |