Was the AR handled well? Did it make sense in the setting, and did the characters interact with it in plausible ways? Were there elements of the AR use that jarred with you? Is it something you'd like to see in more fiction?

(I asked de Bodard online, and she replied that mindships are "born from a human womb, implanted in the ship's body, and raised by their mother.")

This book is not set in a nice universe. The pirates rob and murder while they capture ships, and their recreational rape and torture of prisoners is accepted as a normal way to relax. Slavery is everywhere. The pirates make a point that they're the good guys because they don't enslave children. What did people think of the brutality as an element of the book? Does it say anything about human nature and society?

As a core part of the book was the romance between Xi Sich and Rice Fish, how did that come across? Did it seem like a love affair between real people?

How did you find the balance between space opera action, political machinations, and romance?

And, any other general thoughts about the book. Did you enjoy it? Did you like the writing? Was the pacing too fast or too slow?

What game engine would you use to play a game of "The Red Scholar's Wake"? Would you play such a game?

I want to ask a question about representation and building a broader community in SF and other "geek" spaces. But I don't think we are the ones to answer that. Which then raises the question about where are the other demographics, and should there be more diversity in this community?

Her most recent book is Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com), a sapphic romantic fantasy inspired by pre colonial Vietnam, where a diplomat princess must decide the fate of her country, and her own. She also wrote Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press), a space opera where a sentient spaceship and an upright scholar join forces to investigate a murder, and find themselves falling for each other. Other books include Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and its standalone sequel Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.), fantasy books of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She lives in Paris.

Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si's help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si's technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it.

But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together...

An exciting space opera and a beautiful romance, from an exceptional SF author.