I need to say this upfront: I adore Local Custom and its companion book, Scout’s Progress. Yes, Local Custom in particular prompted reader scorn, for being A Big Misunderstanding Book (which we have learned are to be deplored in whatever genre they are found), and also for being A Secret Baby Book (even though I in part wanted to figure out if A Secret Baby Book that, yanno, made sense, could be written (and I think I proved that, yes, it can be done)), and for being Mills and Boon in Space (mostly from people who wouldn’t know a Mills and Boon if an author smacked them in the head with one). And! it’s the book that prompted Real SciFi Men™ to write to Steve to tell him to rein his wife in or he’d have No Career in SciFi At All. Which, yanno — given that it was written when we were operating under the understanding that we had No Career is only a little … never mind.
Despite All of That, I say!
I love these books. I loved them when I wrote them, and I loved them just as much, reading them as entertainment (as opposed to being charged with finding errors).
The first thing that I love is the relationship between Er Thom yos’Galan and his cha’leket, Daav yos’Phelium — the Spare and the Delm, respectively. I love the openness, love, and foundational caring between them. Stephe Pagel once said that these books were “subversive,” “. . . because, you know? Men don’t call each other ‘darling.'”
Though things might be a whole lot easier right now, if they did.
Moving on — I love the Big Misunderstanding. Anne and Er Thom do talk to each other; they’re trying to Figure It Out, to arrive at the best outcome for themselves, for their child, and for the future. That honorable intentions are thwarted by cultural landmines that neither can recognize because they’re so tightly woven in to their home cultures — and even when Anne, realizing that she’s deep in a high-stakes game that she can only win by applying alien rules — even then, things twist out of control.
Er Thom does a little better, realizing at last that he needs to not only not think like a Liaden, he must also not think like a Terran. He needs to think like Anne.
Honestly, I almost stood up and cheered when he connected that final, that crucial, dot, and the whole picture unrolled for him.
Anne herself — intelligent, valiant, honorable, brave. Practical. Anne’s in no way prepared for Clan Korval, much less Liaden society. Yet, she moves to protect her son — she’s wrong, but she acts. And her actions are neither stupid nor despicable, given that she’s not native to the culture.
I love Er Thom’s evaluation of her actions — that she had played “the game” well, given her status as a novice. That perhaps, to have played more to her advantage, she ought to have asked him for money — but to do that? Would not have been to think like Anne.
What else do I love about this book? Oh! Er Thom’s brother, Daav. A man who has been a Scout. A man, one might say, who does not care much for . . . rules. A man who is charged with keeping his clan — his underpopulated, and very vulnerable clan — safe, on Liad, which even he, himself a dangerous person, characterizes as dangerous. A man who wants the best life for his beloved brother, and for Shan, the child of the clan. A man who likes Anne Davis very well, indeed, and would have no problem accepting as a member of the family — save that she, a Terran, would be seen by dangerous Liaden society as a breach in Korval’s armor, and a vulnerability to be exploited.
Improbably, I love Petrella, who has lost her twin and her heir, who is ill, and who is, in her way, trying to protect what’s left of Korval. She is also wrong, and perhaps not kind, but when cutting a connection that is dangerous to both the clan and the connection, isn’t it, really, better to be quick than to be kind?
What else? Ah! Jerzy Entaglia — “Theatre Arts. Chair of Theatre Arts. Which gives you some idea of the state the department’s in.” Shan’s fosterfather, so recognized by Er Thom — kind and nurturing and caring, who taught what he knew.
And, oh, look. Here’s the Department of the Interior, busy blowing up university buildings, and holding children at gun point.
. . . I should really stop now.
Summing up the sum-up — I love this book, unreservedly, and, really, there is nothing I would do differently, were I writing it today. Indeed, I only hope I would do as well.
Another huge fan of Jerzy Entaglia.
Did he ever re-appear?
As a librarian and lifelong reader, I’m familiar with the concept that some books hit better at one age than at another. And I read for story, which makes me a sloppy reader when the book gets exciting. So thank you very much, Sharon, for proposing a re-reading of the Liaden novels (in whatever order), at this particular time in my life (retired). I am even more in love with your and Steve’s universe than I was before! And I finally :::get::: the whole ‘misunderstanding’ thing between Anne and Er Thom. I’m carefully reading every word this time ‘round and gleaning so much more! ??????????
Local Custom was particularly relevant for me; I had just returned home from living “local custom” for 25 years in eight different countries. That really brought back the memories! I think I started with Agent of Change and have read everything in the Korval Universe at least twice. I also admit to having read Mills and Boon/Harlequin in desperation for something in English while immersed in other languages.
These stories are only peripherally about DOI and dealing with outside issues. These are stories about people, people with integrity, doing the best they can within the constraints of their cultures and the information they have.
Misunderstanding stories are annoying when you have supposedly intelligent people making stupid decisions.
This is not the case here, they are intelligent people making the best decisions they can with the information they have, but willing to change and learn as new information comes to hand.
And they’re some of my favourite stories.
I would guess that those who say men would never call each other darling never read These Old Shades
These Old Shades is neither science fiction nor so-called “real life.”
I adore these books. I re-read them every year. Good stuff. Well done. Nuff said.
Love these two book. Shan is my favorite character and i really enjoyed learning his backstory. As one who grew up around the world courtesy of being an Army brat, and also as a child of two cultures (deep, deep red Louisiana bayous, women-sit-down-and-shutup deep south, and very liberal north relatives who encouraged every dream, up to and including med school for a girl of the 70s/80s), Local Custom resonated deeply. So many misunderstandings, but so well written that it all flowed utterly logically and empathetically. Just an awesome story.
I had never heard of Mills and Boon until now. I had a supervisor who was my romance dealer. She bought lots of romances and was happy to lend them. I found them the perfect thing to read in grad school, because I need something to read at breaks and lunch and during supper, and then be able to put it down and study. I have to say that I wouldn’t have been able to put down Local Custom that easily. Good thing I was out of grad school before it was published.
My co-workers daughter loved romances so much that her doctoral advisor said her dissertation in molecular biology read like a novel. Shortly thereafter, she became a Harlequin novelist.
Local Custom was my first Liaden read and I loved it. Still do!
My first Liaden read, too! Thank you, thank you.
I also love these books and these characters. Trying to wrap my head around the misunderstandings made me realize how seriously freaking hard it is to step outside your own cultural understanding of things. There’s that interesting scene where Daav gives Anne a warning that she completely misses, and it seems to me that he clearly sees that Anne and Er Thom are not understanding each other. He warns Er Thom, too, asking him if he’s Sure Anne really understands … and Er Thom misses it too, saying, “Oh, yes, we’ve talked about it.” And Daav … just stops there, I think because he has to act as Korval instead of just being Daav and therefore can’t sit them both down, smack their foreheads and say, “Now Listen, you two…” Or maybe he wouldn’t do that anyway, since he’s tried and they’re going to have to figure it out themselves.
Well, there’s Er Thom saying, “She asked me to guard her melant’i,” which to him — it couldn’t be clearer. And when Daav presses for a clarification, we get, “She asked me not to let her make a mistake.” Which — while ambiguous to a Scout’s ear, it might just mean that Anne knows what she’s getting into, so Daav backs away.
Local Custom is a very good, moving, and very enjoyable book ??
Also a sidenote that I read perhaps a dozen actual Mills and Boon books growing up, passed on by a family friend who found in them great joy, living alone and in pain from arthritis. People may look down on formulaic romance, but I don’t. (Not that Local Custom is formulaic romance.)
My blushes. But, yes, the “formula” is sometimes exactly what one wants — people learning to connect, and a happy ending. Nothing at all wrong with that.