Chris Brown asked Allison Hurd:

Hi Allison! Are you still practicing law and writing? Are their any skills or processes you learned while practicing law that help you write? I curious if you have any Sci Fi recommendations. I've recently read Rosewater and Rosewater Insurrection (based upon your review/advice) and I loved them both. Is there any other Sci Fi you recommend? I like to try some Sci Fi that's a little different. Thanks!

Allison Hurd Hi Chris! I am! Law school is great for getting comfortable with different research skills, which are important in both my career and my writing. Legal writing is all about framing an argument in a way that convinces folks, and I find that plots share a lot of similarities with arguments! I'm putting together a series of information, prior knowledge, and expectations, and hoping you agree with my conclusion. Also, knowing how the legal system works is a generally enlightening thing.

As far as recommendations go, I see you're in SFFBC! You should post there! I'm not as knowledgeable of scifi (though I agree that Rosewater was fantastic, and I can't wait to read the sequel!). I'd say of what I can offer, the most inventive scifi I've read other than Rosewater are fairly controversial books. I might suggest Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit, Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer, Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut, and next month's SFFBC scifi pick, Semiosis by Sue Burke! They all took tropes I'd seen before and spun them in new ways, though they don't really have that same "feel" as Rosewater. Hope that helps!

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