Goodreads asked Scott Burtness:

Who is your favorite fictional couple, and why?

Scott Burtness Ooh! Tough question, Goodreads!

Well, right now I'm reading "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge. It's a fun sci-fi epic. Two of the main characters are a human woman named Ravna, and a human construct created by a transcended Power (not unlike a god) named Pham. When the Power that created Pham is killed by a new, emerging Power, Pham becomes the receptacle of much of what his creator knew. Unfortunately, Pham doesn't understand the vast knowledge he has, and can't control the strange fits of 'godshatter' that overcome him. Vinge does a really nice job of giving Ravna and Pham a nuanced and tragic love story with very little detail. Imagine falling in love with someone created by a god, and then seeing that person driven near mad when their creator's dying act is to stuff them full of unfathomable knowledge, but no ability to truly understand that knowledge. Oh, and that unknowable knowledge? It might just be the key to their survival...

And here I thought I had gone through some rough relationships... ;-)

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