I love Cordwainer Smith. I vividly remember reading "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" as a teenager in the 60's. It had a huge effect on me, and I still have that copy of Galaxy magazine.
I just read that story based on your recommendation - thank you! I might be just a tiny bit better as a person now than I was before reading it.
For fellow fans of le Guin, Sturgeon and Smith looking for more authors, I would recommend Lois McMaster Bujold. Space opera adventures on the surface, but with subtle depths and insights into human nature.
Or for something more recent, Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota series; we have solved world hunger, achieved gender equality and invented flying cars, but what are the implications for world politics and human interactions?
