Collaborating with Anne McCaffrey: An interview with Elizabeth Moon

The science fiction novel that moved my reading tastes from adolescent dragon wonder to feminist space opera was Sassinak (1990), by the then immensely prolific Anne McCaffrey and the fairly unknown Elizabeth Moon. I had been a teenage McCaffrey completist, but once I’d read Sassinak – an engrossing space opera about planet pirates, orphan enslavement, naval … Continue reading Collaborating with Anne McCaffrey: An interview with Elizabeth Moon →

Gender-neutral military service in Elizabeth Moon’s Once a Hero

Elizabeth Moon writes sf about the space navy, making combat and military command truly gender-neutral: I did a podcast on her back in 2012. I first came across Moon when she co-wrote volumes 1 and 3 of a space trilogy with Anne McCaffrey, called Sassinak and Generation Warriors. I was powerfully struck by these novels because … Continue reading Gender-neutral military service in Elizabeth Moon’s Once a Hero →

Flying with the brain ships in Anne McCaffrey’s The Ship Who Sang

I'm having a private Anne McCaffrey festival today, since I'm simultaneously posting a review of her son's memoir of her, Dragonholder, over on Vulpes Libris. This post draws a line under the mini-series of podcast scripts about gentlemanly thrillers that ended here last week, and begins a new series on feminist science fiction. It also follows up … Continue reading Flying with the brain ships in Anne McCaffrey’s The Ship Who Sang →