[heartwood]

Lois McMaster Bujold - the Vorkosigan books. Start with Shards of Honor then Barrayar. Work through in order. The Chalion books are fantasy, pretty good but not as good as the Vorkosigan books, and the Sharing Knife series is merely competent fantasy.

I love the Man-Kzin War series.

And Prayers for the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno. Sequel was good and a third is coming out.

Orson Scott Card's Alvin the Maker series.

And I still have a soft spot for Podkayne of Mars.

Here's a question - what are the biggest unanticipated changes in SF, from 70, 50, 30 years ago? I vote for the changed role of women, and the ubiquity of computers, as opposed to robots.

[TexasBarak]

I love the Man-Kzin War series.

This series contains some of the bet science fiction I have ever read, bar none. I can't recomend it enough.