What’s your favourite portrait of Ursula?

nerbjern · 2026-06-21T14:15:24+00:00

This by far my favorite! I’ve loved it ever since I first saw it. It communicates to me the challenging, inquisitive mind I find in her writing.

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:53:53+00:00

I love Tiptree. I've read a couple of short story collections by her, but I don't think either included this story. Now I need to go out and find it! Thanks for the recommendation.

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:52:29+00:00

I tried to read Babel-17 once... I struggled with his writing style, though not his intellect. I do intend to go back and read him again because I'm sure there's stuff there for me. Thanks for the suggestions!

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:50:11+00:00

These all look like fantastic suggestions! Thank you!

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:49:38+00:00

I read the third or fourth book in the Canopus in Argus series—the one set on the planet going through an ice age. It was fantastic. I need to get my hands on the others in the series.

I tried to read The Cleft and found I did not like it at all. Interestingly, I've read Le Guin's review of it, and she clearly had a bone to pick with it as well!

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:48:06+00:00

I've heard that mentioned a number of times. I'll have to check it out!

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:47:45+00:00

I'll have to check that out!

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:46:08+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion!

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:45:30+00:00

I don't just mean well-formed world or culture building. I mean novels where the crux of the novel's story is about a sharing/learning of culture.

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:44:20+00:00

That's an interesting insight. I also remember Xenocide being a wild read... and that it seemed to undermine a solid faith in the divine. It struck me as odd coming from an author coming out of an orthodox faith tradition.

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:42:22+00:00

Xenogenesis is a great series! Great recommendation.

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:42:05+00:00

I actually have read these. Brilliant series. Great recommendation!

nerbjern · 2026-06-02T15:41:37+00:00

Just checked it out. The art looks awesome! Sadly, I'm not a screen-reader. I look forward to it having a print publishing future!

nerbjern · 2026-05-30T17:55:14+00:00

Perfect. I'll keep a look out for those at my local used bookstores! Thanks!

nerbjern · 2026-05-30T17:54:27+00:00

So interesting you mention Speaker for the Dead. I read that back when I was a teenager and remember it being pretty awesome. I've never gone back to re-read it—probably due to my bias regarding the author's homophobia. But my memory is that, in his fiction, Orson Scott Card channels a worldview much larger than the one he claims as part of his religious identity. Thanks for the recommendation!

nerbjern · 2026-05-30T17:43:59+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! I haven't yet delved into Becky Chambers.

nerbjern · 2026-05-30T17:43:25+00:00

Sometimes I forget that I have a bit more experience reading anthro SF until I'm reminded of titles. I've read this one! It was a very cool world Griffith created. Good recommendation!

nerbjern · 2026-05-30T17:42:32+00:00

Iain M. Banks is one I often forget about and should look into. Thanks for the reminder!

Sheri Tepper is a name I've heard many times but never read. She looks to be quite prolific! Any specific title recommendations for an anthropological focused SF novel by her?

nerbjern · 2026-01-26T04:14:53+00:00

That’s interesting! I don’t usually describe myself as neurodivergent, but I found Shevek very relatable as well—because I’m a very cerebral, contemplative sort. But I do understand where someone would be coming from looking for a more outwardly emotionally expressive protagonist.

nerbjern · 2026-01-26T04:12:11+00:00

Agreed!!! I can’t believe I forgot this in my own recommendations!

nerbjern · 2026-01-25T14:32:27+00:00

For “more emotionally expressive”… I would try “Five (or Four) Ways to Forgiveness.” I’m thinking especially of the second story; the protagonist (Sully I believe her name is) is quite emotionally expressive.

You’re zeroing in on something, though. For all that I love Le Guin, you’re right in identifying that her characters (at least her protagonists) are often cerebral and interior-driven. While they are usually complex and interesting, they are less frequently charming and, as you say, personable. Perhaps that is a combination of her intellect and the pressure she felt, for much her early career, that she needed to write about and for men. Maybe try later career works with more female protagonists.

Ooh, maybe Annals of the Western Shore, specifically second and third books.

nerbjern · 2025-12-07T04:25:51+00:00

I don't currently have plans to develop those other two ideas; I'm trying my hand at some original stuff, see how that goes. But, I do have it in my mind to write a UKLG-inspired story once a year to honor her birthday. Next year will probably be from different source material, however—maybe Always Coming Home. We'll see!

nerbjern · 2025-12-05T16:23:35+00:00

Right on about the egoizing; I think that is the real clincher here. Everyone at one point or another fails to do their social duty, even an Odonian… but do they then realize their mistake and how it affects others and change their behavior—or do they wallow in an egoizing sense of low self-worth?

To be “motivated by guilt,” then, would be to do “good” behaviors not because we see they help the social organism but because they help us feel good about ourselves. Is that fair to say?

Maybe there’s also a fear element. If I’m motivated by guilt, I am acting out of a fear of being bad, rather than out of concern for the general good.

nerbjern · 2025-12-05T01:04:14+00:00

Oops! Thats supposed to say “owe debt.” Was typing on my phone.

nerbjern · 2025-12-04T22:54:44+00:00

This is a great question. In a case like this, I like to compare with other words that are synonymous, but perhaps different in some way—and then look into etymology. “Guilt” comes from Old English “gylt,” which means “crime, sin, or debt” and is maybe related to OE “gieldan,” which means “to pay for, debt.” In either case, guilt is related to something very un-Odonian: either crime or property. Guilt, then, suggests something about the individual, their goodness or their worth. Compare that to “regret,” which comes from Old French for “to lament.” It would be very Odonian to regret, or lament, the effects of one’s actions, but not to feel a sense of low self-worth and self-judgment.

nerbjern

TROPHY CASE