flamingoslim:

rikmach:

vaspider:

nehirose:

vaspider:

flamingoslim:

seananmcguire:

vaspider:

rikmach:

vaspider:

seananmcguire:

vaspider:

I haven’t! Tell me why I should read it. 😀

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OMIGOSH.

Okay, so first of all, this series was so far ahead of its time.  Like, we say now that we want more diversity in science fiction.  Well, Starbridge had people of all different kinds–gender, race, physical ability, mental ability, and yes, species, because it’s a series about aliens that uses those aliens to say things about humanity, but not at the expense of pretending that all humans (or all aliens) must thus be One Generic Type Or We Lose The Metaphor.

There is a planet of birds whose voices are so powerful that only the Deaf can safely work with them, because otherwise they can kill you, and the books about them are explicitly anti-ableism and anti-colonialist.

There is a planet of lemurs (sort of) where they are all born a neutral gender and transform when they enter adulthood, where gender identity is treated as personal and social, while tied to biology in a very unique way.

There is a cat-person planet that will break your heart.

From an extra-universal standpoint, A.C. Crispin used the series as a way to boost a lot of other authors who might not have been as well-known, sharing a byline and thus sharing the credit, and bringing their ideas to a wide and eager audience.

So good.  So good.

….omg.

I’m gonna have to put this on my to-read list right after this book I’m trying to finish. :p I promised someone I’d finish it asap.

Heh, looks like someone else beat me to gushing about how awesome this series is.  But yes, they’re amazingly progressive, especially for when they’re written.  Female protagonists all over the place, People of Color, people of different faiths, people with disabilities, and so on.  The humans are diverse as the aliens. Heck, it was Book Three before there was a male protagonist.  

I hope you enjoy!  Strap in for a wild ride, my friend.  Jeez, imagine, someone knowing who the hell I’m talking about when I reference Dr. Blanket or Tesa.

Haha. It will likely be a while before I get to them, but I will let you know once I do!

DR. BLANKET FOREVER.

seananmcguire, thank you so much for your kind words about the StarBridge books. I was A.C. (Ann) Crispin’s co-author on two of them, Silent Dances and Silent Songs, the ones about the Deaf Interrelator. I remember Ann coming up with the Dr. Blanket character and how much fun it was to work Dr. Blanket into some of the other books. Ann was one of my dearest friends, and working on those books with her was a joy. Fortunately, they’re available as ebooks and as audiobooks again after years of being out of print. Thanks for telling others about them and sharing your joy.

How cool is this? I love the Internet sometimes.

it’s been bugging me every time i see this post go around – i couldn’t remember why, but i finally did.  a.c crispin was desperately familiar – all i could remember is that i knew the name, and knew i had loved their books, but my memory is so slapshot-crapshoot it’s a wonder that remains, some days.  anyway.  i couldn’t remember what books or why i had such positive associations with the name, but it finally came to me.

while i haven’t read any of her original works (terrible, i know) she wrote some of the books that shaped my eager, greedy-for-more little sci-fi nerd childhood.

gryphon’s eyrie and songsmith, which i found when i was nine or ten, after i’d exhausted all of my new school’s andre norton books and went looking for more.

yesterday’s son and time for yesterday, written the year before i was born and the year i turned four, which i found in the shelves of our dining room bookcase when i was nine, maybe ten.  they were some of the first star trek books i ever read, some of the first sci-fi i discovered on my own (even though they were my parents’, i think my dad’s specifically).  sarek, when i was ten, because it was a new star trek book about one of my favorite characters and being written by one of my favorite star trek authors.

the han solo trilogy, when i was twelve or thirteen, for similar reasons.

(i’m pretty sure the witch world books were borrows from the library down the street, unsure if the star wars were purchased or borrowed, but the three star treks were not only owned, but re-read so many times that i should probably buy digital copies the next time i re-read them just for the sake of keeping them intact.)

Eee! Neat!

Oh my god, Kathleen O’Malley responded to a Tumblr thread I helped start!  

EEEEEEEE!  My life is complete!

But yes, Ms. Crispin wrote a lot of excellent books in other settings before her original series, and I strongly recommend reading them.

I just love her original works, and recommend reading them more.

God, I so wish there was a Starbridge fandom.  That would be so awesome.

Dear rikmach, I am startled (in a good way) that you would have any idea who I am. Thank you so much for your kind words. Somewhere during the creation of the StarBridge series, I got swallowed by fandom and let my pro writing slide, something that exasperated Ann (A.C. Crispin) to no end (though she was always supportive). Yes, all of A.C. Crispin’s books are terrific and I am forever grateful that I had the opportunity to know her and have even a small part in their development. Ann and I became close friends when she wrote Yesterday’s Son and asked me to edit it. (There’s an acknowledgement to me in the book that refers to me as “the Red Queen.”) The experience cemented our relationship. Ann’s husband and I frequently discuss ways to promote Ann’s books to a wider audience. We, too, wish there was a StarBridge fandom. I’m open to suggestions! (Again, thank you so much for your comments. It made my day.)