The best science fiction and fantasy writer no one's heard of; well, that may be a stretch since she's won 4 Hugo awards for best novel (more than anyone except Heinlein), and multiple Nebula's. Still, whenever I talk to readers, it seems like they haven't heard of Lois McMaster Bujold.

She wrote a series of science fiction books, space opera's, about a character named Miles Verkosikan, who is one of the best characters ever written. Her S.F. is serviceable, but not groundbreaking, and her plots are good, but her characters are wonderful. She writes 'smart' characters; that is, she shows us Miles being smart and capable and brave instead of just telling us. Even more unusual, she writes 'ethical' characters.

She has a little crowd-pleasing trick, about halfway through the books, where the main character laments all his or her weaknesses and failures, and everyone else in the room (who all started off underestimating the character) laugh and wink at each other, and agree with him or her, and its obvious they all adore and look up to the character. Kind of the Lincoln thing, where he turns all his enemies into allies.

She took Miles from the bottom of the heap to the top in a series of books, and that was that. Then she started writing fantasy. I started to read the first book, and it wasn't very good. Oh, oh. She can't write fantasy.

Well, it turns out that she herself thought The Spirit Ring was a failure. I gave her a second chance, recently, with The Curse of Chalion, and she's back! Great main character! Followed up by the Hugo and Nebula award winning Paladin of Souls. Another great character.

I've noticed that she rarely shows up in the used book section, which is one of those giveaways that she is cherished by those who read her. If you like science fiction and fantasy, seek her out.