The objective of these posts is not to give a definitive description of an author, but to suggest possibilities for those looking for new things to read. Today’s author, sticking with the abbreviate theme, is M. A. Foster. Jo Walton has a pretty good in-depth column on his work. She describes the same book I started with, The Gameplayers of Zan, the first of a trilogy.
I don’t recall when I came across Gameplayers, but it was a long time ago. It’s a dense, complicated story about genetically engineered humans and their relations with regular humans. It (and Foster’s other works) are heavy and occasionally opaque, in the way that Dune is. Foster doesn’t pull it off as well as Frank Herbert, but Herbert didn’t always either. Foster’s work is more Lazarus Effect than Destination Void, but it nonetheless struck something in me, as did his Morphodite trilogy, about a shapeshifting assassin. The books are carefully detailed and thought out – especially the rules that societies and individuals live by.
Worth checking into when you’re looking for good writing you can really sink into and think about.