Liaden stories continue in series’ latest novel

“Fledgling,” by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Baen Books, 375 pages, $24.

+++

‘Fledgling,” a new science-fiction novel by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, features Theo Waitley.

Waitley is a 14-year-old girl whose life is a mess. She lives on Delgado, a university planet.

Both her mother and father — or rather her mother’s lover, because matriarchal Delgado barely acknowledges fatherhood — are professors.

Despite this, the man has served as Waitley’s father and as the anchor in both Waitley and her mother’s lives.

Waitley’s mother, Kamele, after receiving a promotion, has apparently abandoned him.

Many believe Kamele has outgrown the man and seeks a new, more ornamental mate.

As if the disruptions caused by the move were not enough, Delgado is a nanny state.

Safety comes first, conformity is prized over originality and cooperation over individuality.

Waitley is a square peg in this round groove; viewed as clumsy and dangerously eccentric.

There is tremendous pressure to have Waitley drugged into passivity — pressure her mother is resisting.

Then it becomes critical for her mother to go off planet. Someone appears to be tampering with the digital records in the university’s central library.

The solution to the puzzle lies on the planet Melchiza. Because Kamele cannot trust anyone not to “treat” Waitley while she is gone, Waitley comes along.

Melchiza is Delgado’s polar opposite — an individualistic, father-knows-best patriarchy.

En route, aboard the starship, the crew realizes Waitley has a rare and valuable aptitude as a starship pilot.

The ship’s Liaden crew begins training her as one. Waitley blossoms. When she arrives on Melchiza, unknown to her mother, Waitley is transferred from the standard boarding school Kamele arranged to a more dangerous one for pilots.

Waitley thrives, but someone is using her as a weapon against her mother.

The various, apparently random, plot threads soon spin into an interconnected yarn, which races to an entertaining conclusion.

“Fledgling” is one of Lee and Miller’s Liaden stories. The series first appeared in the late 1980s, earning a stack of awards and a slew of devoted followers.

Its readers frequently have been frustrated because misadventures with publishers have left the books orphaned more than once.

“Fledgling” stands alone. You need not have read the series to enjoy it. If you previously enjoyed Liaden stories and have been waiting for new ones, “Fledgling” should delight you.

The series will soon again be available.

Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, amateur historian and model-maker, lives in League City.