This post is reflected, though slightly amended, from Facebook.
I have a question, O, Internets:
A little background, first. Many years ago, after we had sold our first three books, and been cut loose by our publisher — but hadn’t yet given up hope of finding a new publisher, and selling more books, it was said in some quarters that Miller and Lee were “writer’s writers” and as such would probably not be able to make a living, as writers. There’s some precedence for this, as writers read differently than even experienced readers, and tend to be delighted by V. Strange Things™, and in general Just Aren’t The Target Market.
There are a couple of cures for being a “writer’s writer.” One, of course, is to Take the Memo and quit writing. The other is to learn how to write to the market. We didn’t do either of those things, either because (1) we’re idiots (a theory that has some strong evidence supporting it), or (2) we knew that sometimes it takes longer than 2 years and/or 3 books to find a readership, and that, afforded enough time, we would find that readership.
So, here’s my question — actually TWO questions:
1. When did you — yes, YOU — start reading the Liaden Universe®, and!
2. Are you a writer?
Sometime very shortly after I Dare came out from MM, and yes.
I started reading your books around 2010. I found one, then two, in the local public library. I then embarked upon reading as many as I could find which quickly lead me to Baen and the joys of eBooks. I graduated to purchasing eARCs a couple of novels ago.
I am a lifelong science fiction reader. I started with Andre Norton’s “Catseye” while in junior high, probably shortly after it was published. Space Opera is always a favorite.
I’m not a writer, though have always admired writers.
1. I didn’t even find your books until two or three years ago. I think I’ve now read most of them.
2. No [well, so much for that theory 😉 ].
1. Wow. Um… Maybe 1990? Maybe earlier. My brother loaned me his copies of Carpe Diem and Agent of Change.
2. I do write—and I teach writing—but mostly not fiction. I teach Writing in Biology and I write poetry (and some fiction), mostly in Esperanto.
I started reading the Liaden Universe around March 2010, and I’m not a writer.
1) My copy of Agent of Change (Del Rey) has a copyright date of 1988, and I picked it up off the bookstore shelf probably in that year.
2) Yes.
I remember years and years of always checking through the Ls and the Ms, looking for more of your books after reading the first three, before I saw your books come out from your next publisher
I started readin about 10 years ago. Stumbled upon the omnibus editions and devoured them all, and now am waiting (im) patiently for each new installment. And not a writer.
I first started reading the Liaden Universe books in 2006. I had moved to Moscow, Russia in February 2006. It didn’t take long to figure out that even in the largest city bookstore that modern English language books were very hard to come by. So, I sought out ebooks online. I downloaded a Palm app (I think) and soon found the Baen site offerings. I seem to remember Jim Baen had written a little something on the website that welcomed me in to the world of ebooks, kind of like being welcomed into someone’s house. There were free ebooks and webscriptions, which is how I came across the Liaden Universe. When one discovers one’s next favorite author, it’s like finding a box of hidden treasure and that’s how I felt from the very start. (I similarly discovered the Vorkosigan Saga books by Lois McMaster Bujold on Baen.) I couldn’t fathom how I had never heard of all of your wonderful books as I was an avid and lifelong fan of sci-fi/ fantasy. When I moved back to the US in 2008, I started acquiring everything in bound form and eagerly await each new release. I’m not a writer but am a huge fan.
I discovered Agent if Change in a used bookstore in the late 80’s. the first thing I did when I finally got on line (90’s) was look on the internet for Miller and Lee. (Meanwhile I had hunted every used book store in a 50 mile radius looking for the other 2 books. And Found!)
You had not yet had Plan B published, but had written it (an idea/plans for).
No. I’m not a writer. (Even though I pretend I’m one in my daydreams)
🙂
I started in 2009, I think. I had started reading David Weber’s Harrington Series and someone on a review said “if you like Space Opera, try Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden Universe.” So I did. I started with the Meisha Merlin collection of Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change, and Carpe Diem from the library. Conflict of Honors was hard to get into, but once I did I was hooked. I ended up buying your entire catalog including chapbooks from SRM. Now you are one of the few authors that I automatically buy when a new Liaden book comes out. I’m NOT a writer. I’m an accountant.
1. I started reading in January of 2012. Binged the entire series up until that point (including the short stories) in about a month. I had seen the series recommended by Nalini Singh on her blog.
2. No, I am not a writer.
1. I’m going to go with circa 1990, I picked up one of the books with the Anne McCaffery blurb about “comfort books” then after a few books they seemed to disappear from bookstores, then when some showed up again, I thought maybe I had read them, maybe not, so I didn’t buy them. Then I ran into the remaindered copy of Partners in Necessity (Omnibus edition of Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, and Carpe Diem) at a Half Price Book store in Indianapolis. I restarted reading the Liaden universe with that ‘trilogy’ and was once again hooked. All caught up now.
2. no.
I’d been reading/acquiring David Weber’s Honor Harrington series from Baen and was looking for something new. One of your books (Agent of Change?) was in the Free Library (WAHOO!!) and it all began there…in 2010. I’ve reread the series, start to finish (whatever that is in the year) as well as chapbooks at least once a year..learn something new every time.
No, not a writer.
I bought Agent of Change (del Rey paperback) at a bookstore in Woodfield Mall; the cover attracted my attention. Still have that copy.
Am I a writer? Um, all evidence is, no.
1. I was introduced to your books by a family member in 2001 or 2002. I had been reading mostly fantasy and hard science fiction in recent years when it was suggested I give your original trilogy a go. And I was delighted with them.
2. Yes…at least I have attempted to be so. I have co-written four fantasy novels in the Magic’s Return series: Elven Courage, A True Wizard, Dragons Honor, and Generations.
1. Mid-late 80’s, within a year or two of the first printing of Agent of Change.
I was beyond thrilled when you began publishing again after the first three.
2. I am not a writer.
I think the first book I read was Pilot’s choice, which would have been a mass market pbk from my Library. I then broke my mass market rule by getting all the Measha Merlin trade pbks then available from them. This should give you some idea of the time period we’re talking about here. Since Measha Merlin days I’ve bought everything else as it was released in paperback. I rejoiced in the Constellation omnibuses which allowed me to catch up on the short stories as I don’t do e-books. I’ve always read sci-fi, and though I’ve worked in the book trade most of my life, I can’t claim to be a writer.
1) I started reading after Agent of Change and Conflict of Honors came out, but before Carpe Diem came out. And was immediately hooked.
2) I am not a writer.
I started reading with Agents of Change in 1989. My older sister recommended it and I liked it and have been hooked ever since.
As for the are we writers: my sister is a scientist and has published papers in her field. I have written my fair share of exciting desk manuals but not a writer in the writer of writers sense.
No, I am not a writer, but discovered you guys in 2012. If memory serves, “Agents of Change” was my first. Discovered there were many and refused to read more until I found a reasonable sequencing of books and now, will be purchasing your latest, just published. Go Theo!
1) I don’t really know. A long time ago. Maybe with the publication of PARTNERS IN NECESSITY, since I think it was an omnibus volume that got me started, though I don’t remember how I discovered it. I know it contained AGENT OF CHANGE, which is probably my least favorite of the novels, but I was so hooked on the universe you had created and the other novels, that I have read every scrap you have published since (at least, I think so). I am particularly taken with the social necssities and nuances of the Liaden Universe, since I am fascinated by societies which have very complex structures of etiquette (Proust, or The Tale of Genji, for example. I must add parenthetically that Daav and Aelliana are probably my two favorite characters, and I am delighted that you have un-killed her!
2) Not a writer; I am an academic historian, though, among other things (medieval history, specializing in clothing and fashion), so maybe that counts??
Mid 90s. I, too, saw the McCaffery blurb about comfort books. Have been hooked since.
And no, alas, I am not a writer.
I first found Agent of Change at the Borders Books in Ann Arbor around…2000ish? And then I had to go to the library to read more. That may nail down the year; I don’t know when the books were re-released.
NOT an author!
I have also been told I am not the “target audience” for scifi. At a con, by a 20-something prolly 25 years my junior. I have yet to meet an author who cares about demographics!
Short answer – long ago and not a writer of fiction.
Long answer – must have been when Carpe Diem first came out and I proceeded to buy it and the next 2 in paperback when they came out. Then rediscovered you years later at Baen. I have all of your ebooks and stories; mostly from Baen, some from Amazon. (I am not a writer of fiction, although, as a scientist, I have written and published numerous original research papers in peer-reviewed science journals.) You and Steve write so beautifully and so lucidly. The care you take with your writing shows; your words never get in the way of the story or trip over each other, yet each sentence is elegant. When I pick up of one your books to read, I can relax, knowing that I am in the hands of masters.
A second hand bookstore in Nepal 1995, Local Custom and The warrior’s apprentice byMcMaster Bujold. Been reading everything you both publish ever since. No writer her.
Started reading them 2 or 3 years ago- I got one book from the Baen free library, and got hooked. I also introduced my son to them.
No I am not a writer
I can’t recall EXACTLY when I started reading this series, but I think it was sometime around 2010.
And yes, I am a writer.
1) Probably 2003 (?). I picked up Scout’s Progress from Barnes and Noble on a whim. I read it and then went back and bought every other Liaden book I could find.
2) No, I’m a librarian.
1. My answer would be the similar to Gary W Blievernicht. I read a blurb from Anne McCaffery about “comfort books”, also sometime in the 1990’s. I was able to buy a few of the books, but eventually got them in the early ebook versions in a non-standard reader. Then I found the ebooks in multi-formats on Fictionwise and was able to read them on my preferred platforms.
2. No, not a writer.
I already answered this on facebook in case you’re keeping track. I forgot to mention that I own everything from the Liaden Universe that has been published since 2012 and lots of the older stuff also. My daughter is a writer but I am not.
Around 1990, and Yes.
1) Started about 2008 reading the German translation of Conflict of Honors, “Eine Frage der Ehre”.
2) The only thing I write is IT documentation. Which should definitly qualify me as a no writer.
—
Soon after the four German translations I started reading the original versions, which, at first, took some time, but was much more fun; meanwhile I’ve read nearly everything Liaden, at least all the novels, at least three times each.
Meanwhile, my reading speed has increased significantly; so please, write faster! 🙂
1. My late husband and I found the first 3 original paperbacks in a used bookstore around 1990, as did our mutual best friend. The three of us devoured the books, and set to waiting for the next. A few years later, my husband, David, found you on a BBS, and we started buying the Meisha Merlin books. We all read everything Liaden, until their passing. It was bittersweet, reading The Gathering Edge, as the Theo books were David’s favorites. I think of both of them every time I read or reread your books.
2. None of us are or were writers.
I started about the time Conflict of Honors came out. That led me to find the other books. I think Agent of Change was the next one I read.
I have been reading SF and Fantasy since about age 11, 63 years ago.
No, I am not a writer.
To the first: at least 13 years ago (measuring by the age of my younger son), possibly somewhat before that…I found highly favorable mention of your books in a forward of a book by another of my favorite sci-fi or fantasy authors which led me down the path…
And the second: I’m not a Published Writer…but I do write (a subset of ‘making/creating’ along with sewing, knitting, singing, gardening…etc.)
I picked up Conflict of Honors when it first appeared and went on to read the other two.
I occasionally write fanfiction and have authored or co-authored some textbook-type materials.
Probably when the first three books came out. I remember spending at least a decade waiting anxiously for more Liaden books. Still not bored…when is the next one coming out, again?
I’m not a writer. Engineer and accountant by trade, first reader for my son, who is an aspiring fantasy writer.
About 2002 with “I, Dare.” Then I had to go back and find the previous books and read them, too. I still have those original books and all the ones that came after.
Nope, not a writer.
December 2013, downloaded the free copy of Agent of Change from Baen’s free library, and immediately read every one of your books over the next month. Have reread them several times since. And no, I am definitely NOT a writer.
Around 2007. Have written scientific articles, otherwise not.
Had to check my records to figure out when I finally read “Fledgling”, which was the first Liaden Universe book I read. I had grabbed a free copy of “Fledgling” and “Agent of Change” from Amazon in 2013 (according to Calibre) but didn’t actually read “Fledgling” until May 2015 (per Goodreads) after I read the first 2 Archers Beach novels. But, once I read the first one I binge-read the rest of the Liaden books ASAP and snap up each new one from Baen on release day.
No, I am not a writer, though I wanted to be one when I was in junior high (middle school these days). I see a couple of other accountants have replied. I was happy that The Gathering Edge came out after April 15th this year.
1. Cover of ghost ship caught my eye in local library 2011. Loved it, very quickly ordered every book I could find online and read them all. Then added the short stories when I got a kindle in 2012.
2. Not a writer but a good daydreamer.
In the ’90s and yes
We (husband and I ) started reading the Liaden books in 1992-93, and we promptly shared them with kids and friends! We are professors, so only do academic writing – but 2 of our children have grown up to be published authors, and I know your work has influenced them. I just reread the first 3 books to celebrate the end of the academic year. Thanks so much!
About 2 years ago.
I am not a writer, although I do some writing for my job role.
I read Agent of Change when it first came out, and the next two as they came out. I’m an academic, so I write stuff in my field, but I do not write fiction, so the answer is probably “sort of”.
My guess is 2011 or 2012. My husband’s been a long time science fiction fan. He got two from the second-hand shop in Waterville, Maine. The next summer he got a couple more and got me started on the Theo books. We then got all they had and started reading them all. It took us awhile. We then got the others that they didn’t have. We now look forward to getting them as soon as they come out.
Neither of us are writers. We have gotten some friends started on them, too.
1991 or 1992? I was working in San Francisco and there was a bookstore on my way home from the office. The science fiction section was my haven.
Yep, I am a writer. I was a reader first, though.
I got my first Liaden book in August 2012. I now have all your books – not just Liaden Universe, all the short stories and all the audio and splinter offerings. I buy them for my son-in-law for birthdays and un-birthdays.
I’m not a writer (well, I do write – but it is assessment reports for court – not fun and not speculative. Boooorrring)
2002, with Conflict of Honors, courtesy of the forward by Anne McCaffrey (working on the logic that if she loved it, I would love it–true!). And yes, I’m a writer though not yet a published one.