Rosemary Kirstein's series starting with The Steerswoman is superb. (The main thing that bothers me about the books is the long wait for the rest of the series.) The central problems have to do with library science and access to information, though there are other kinds of science in the background.
Have you read Cyteen, by C.J. Cherryh? It seems like it's about cloning and terraforming, but it's mostly not. It's much more about education, training, and how to build a particular kind of society. Cherryh also wrote a lot of hard sf, and some high fantasy, and this is quite different...though her writing is always pretty dense. (I think she edits by removing as much information as she can possibly get away with, including every scene that doesn't serve at least two purposes.) I don't recommend the sequel.
It's not a bit obvious from reading the back cover, but John Barnes' Orbital Resonance includes a lot of really fascinating sociology against a backdrop of life on a space station. It's better, and less creepy, than much of his other work, and I recommend it.
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Date: 2012-01-10 10:01 pm (UTC)Have you read Cyteen, by C.J. Cherryh? It seems like it's about cloning and terraforming, but it's mostly not. It's much more about education, training, and how to build a particular kind of society. Cherryh also wrote a lot of hard sf, and some high fantasy, and this is quite different...though her writing is always pretty dense. (I think she edits by removing as much information as she can possibly get away with, including every scene that doesn't serve at least two purposes.) I don't recommend the sequel.
It's not a bit obvious from reading the back cover, but John Barnes' Orbital Resonance includes a lot of really fascinating sociology against a backdrop of life on a space station. It's better, and less creepy, than much of his other work, and I recommend it.