There's been a lot of discussion recently (well, in my spheres anyway) of whether someone who considers themselves a "fan" of SF/F should or needs to read the "classics" before really understanding the current mise-en-scène of the genre. Setting aside for the nonce what absolute garbage gatekeeping bullshit this is, the definitive answer to that question is answered by Kameron Hurley's Light Brigade , and that answer is "Fuck, no." If you want to, then there's no reason why you shouldn't read Heinlein's Starship Troopers , and then Haldeman's The Forever War , and then Scalzi's Old Man's War before taking on Light Brigade ; but that's optional. Light Brigade is sufficient unto itself as a story and also as an answer to these previous works. As I said before, because we stand on the shoulders of giants does not mean we must worship at their feet, and there's no worship in this book; just a clear grasp of the ideas
An occasional thought about my life in IT and the world. Mostly the former, though.