On a world where cake is a necessity, it takes the Grid to protect the civilized and the deaf from the dire influences of the ambient and to keep the chaotic Haosa at bay.

 

Having arrived at recently Dust-bound Colemeno, Trader Padi yos’Galan is essential to Master Trader Shan yos’Galan’s plan to recoup Clan Korval’s fortunes by establishing new routes for the clan’s tradeship. Shan’s inner Healer insists Padi come to terms with her as-yet unplumbed psychic abilities, which might place her in the top tier of dramliz, if she can learn control.

 

Padi yearns to concentrate on trade, but Colemeno’s fey ambient and deadly long-term politics combine to bring her face-to-face with the Haosa, and in particular with the mysterious and untouchable Tekelia, as Korval’s trade mission’s necessity of a port audit collide with a cruel history of murder, deception, and brutality. Amid the dangers, Padi unexpectedly finds herself eagerly exploring her dramliz side when faced with the unspoken powers of the ambient, the sky-filling energy of the ribbon dance, and Tekelia’s mutable eyes.

Release date: June 4, 2024

Ribbon Dance, the 26th novel in the Liaden Universe®, picks up where the 24th novel, Trader’s Leap, leaves off. Fast-paced and complex, this new addition to the story of Clan Korval weaves together multiple plot threads into a beautiful tapestry of adventure, danger, magic, and yes, love–it’s good to see young Padi, newly adult and recently invested with the garnet ring of a full Trader, coming into her own while all the many plots swirl around her like the ribbons that dance in the sky of Colemeno. Ribbon Dance definitely benefits from a reading of Trader’s Leap, but don’t let that stop you; that novel is just as good. Read them both.

I regret to say, for those who have not yet heard, that Steve Miller passed away in February 2024. The world is poorer for his loss, and it hit me fairly hard; I’ve known Sharon and Steve for some years, through science fiction conventions we mutually attended. Steve, it may be fairly said, is one of the reasons for my marriage. What he did, in terms of actual things done, was to be one of the driving forces behind the failed bid for WorldCon 1980 in Baltimore. This led to the successful bid in 1983, which I attended and where I met my husband of 39 years. My husband, it may be safely said, saved my life in every sense of the term.

I am profoundly grateful to Steve. He was a good man and a kind one. He encouraged me in my writing, and apparently also mentored one of my adult sons. I will miss him.

Concerned readers may be reassured to hear that Sharon plans to continue writing Liaden Universe® novels and that they will continue to be credited to Sharon Lee & Steve Miller.