[link] Ursula K. Le Guin Reviews Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

If you, too, are feeling nostalgic about the passing of two iconic women writers, you'll find the following review heart-warming, like sitting in on two old friends chatting about a favorite book.

Dreamsnake was an especially memorable book for me. I loved it for its wonderful bond between healer and snakes (I'm not at all phobic about snakes, so their inclusion was a plus), the heroine's courageous sexuality, the compassion and danger and just plain strangeness of the world. I read my first, paperback copy into tatters and then got a hardcover one.

Here's the beginning of Ursula's review. You can read the whole thing here.

The Wild Winds of Possibility
Vonda N. McIntyre’s Dreamsnake
Reviewed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Dreamsnake is in some ways a strange book, unlike any other in science fiction, which may explain the even stranger fact that it’s not currently in print (except on line at https://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/book/dreamsnake/).

When people ask me what sf books influenced me or what are my favorites, I always mention Dreamsnake. Invariably I get a warm response — “Oh yes!” And people still tell me how much the book meant to them when they first read it and ever since. But these days, many younger readers don’t know it exists.

The short story the book was based on won the 1973 Nebula; the book was an immediate success; it became and still is beloved. Its moral urgency and rousing adventure story are not at all dated. It should have gone from one paperback reprint to another.

Why didn’t it?

I have some theories.