Two more new (to me) authors in 2010

[melita66]

I realized that I'd omitted two authors from my previous post: C.L. Anderson and Joel Shepherd.

C.L. Anderson is a pseudonym for Sarah Zettel. I really enjoyed Zettel's first two books, Reclamation and Fool's War. At the time I bought Bitter Angels, I didn't know that C.L. Anderson was a pseudonym, but the writing seemed so assured that I wondered about it. Bitter Angels is sf and the story of a woman who retired from the Guardians. The Guardians try to keep war from breaking out by quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, nudging societies. Terese is called back after a colleague is murdered. There's a lot of political maneuvering and betrayals and definitely secrets. I hope there will be more books set in this milieu.

Joel Shepherd has two series published in the US now. The Cassandra Kresnov series is science fiction. Cassandra is an artificial person built for the military. Designed to be an officer, she ends up breaking away and trying to build a new life for herself in Crossover. There are two sequels, Breakaway and Killswitch. Originally published in Australia between 2001 and 2004, they were released in the US in 2009.
 
So far I like this series more than his currently fantasy series, A Trial of Blood and Steel, but Sasha, like Cassandra, is a strong, complex female character. She's given up her royal rights to train under a retired general. I enjoyed the fact, that although she's much better than most local fighters, she knows quite well that she can't beat someone by strength but must employ subtlety and precise control. I thought Sasha suffered a little by obviously being the opening book in a longer series, but I'm still looking forward to reading the sequels. I've been delaying on cracking open books 2 and 3 (Petrodor and Tracato) until the final book, Haven, is published in late April 2011. 

A third author slipped in while I was visiting the folks during Christmas. While perusing the shelfs at a Half-Price bookstore, I noticed Sandra McDonald's Outback Stars. I remembered hearing good things about the series, and the Australian and New Zealand aspects seemed interesting. I didn't pick up the sequel, The Stars Down Under, which I later regretted. Humanity has acquired a type of jump technology from a disappeared alien race and has used it to colonize a number of planets. The military has kept a tight rein on the technology and colonists have to pay big bucks to escape a trashed earth. Lt. Jodenny Scott is a logistics/supplies specialist and wrangles a berth on what turns out to be a very troubled ship. Trying to tell friend from foe, solve several mysteries (both related to the ship and its personnel and the alien technology), and figure out what to do with a budding attraction to an enlisted man all combine for a very interesting story. I've since managed to find book 3, but can't decide whether to wait a few weeks until I can acquire book 2 or go ahead and read it. [shakes fist at BN.com] Since that package will also include Jo Walton's Among Others, which will take priority, maybe I'll read book 3 now.

Farewell to 2010; welcome 2011!