Sharon Lee and Steve Miller had a problem in the early 1990s that would have ended most science fiction series. Del Rey published the first three Liaden Universe novels, Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, and Carpe Diem, between 1988 and 1989, then declined to renew the contract over modest sales. The husband-and-wife team had a universe, a small and hungry readership, and no publisher willing to print more of it. Their answer was to build a press of their own and sell the stories straight to the fans.
That press was SRM Publisher Ltd, the Maine small press Miller founded in 1995 and ran until about 2012. Its signature product was the chapbook: a slim booklet holding two or three Liaden short stories, sold at conventions, through the Friends of Liad table, and by mail order. Readers who could not get a new novel from a New York house could still buy a piece of Liad from the authors at a convention table, often signed. The model kept the universe alive through the years when the traditional industry had walked away.
What the Liaden Universe Is
The Liaden Universe began in 1988 and now runs to 28 novels, with Diviner’s Bow arriving in April 2025. It is space opera braided with Regency romance and the novel of manners, set in a galaxy where the golden-skinned, clan-organized Liadens order their lives by melant’i, a code of face and obligation that works much the way honor does in samurai fiction. The major peoples are the Liadens, the Terrans, the augmented warrior-caste Yxtrang, and the non-human Clutch Turtles, with cats, norbears, and sentient trees filling out the cast. The engine across most of the books is the long war between Clan Korval and a rogue government agency, the Department of the Interior.
Lee and Miller treat their world differently from most series authors. Rather than racing from one novel to the next, they spent decades filling in genealogy, backstory, and the corners of the map. Their own press describes the chapbook stories as material that expands background characters, deepens the world building, and explores what-ifs outside the scope of the novels. The chapbooks are where you learn how Val Con met the Clutch Turtle Edger, how Ren Zel was cast out of his clan, and how Daav yos’Phelium came to be born.
The authors guard all of it closely. Sharon Lee has stated plainly on her website that the universe and its characters are the authors’ intellectual property and not a sandbox for other writers to rework. Lee and Miller have long opposed fan fiction set in their world. For a creator-owned operation built outside the traditional pipeline, that stance fits the whole enterprise.
The Physical Chapbooks: Seventeen in Print
Lee and Miller worked hard hand-selling chapbooks at conventions for years to get the series to this point, which makes their success story something to aspire to. The physical, press-printed chapbooks, the convention-table booklets that are the actual collectibles, number seventeen. Lee and Miller have said as much themselves: every Liaden short story they wrote made it into print across those seventeen chapbooks. Baen later confirmed the boundary by acquiring exactly chapbooks one through seventeen, Two Tales of Korval through Skyblaze, when it bought the reprint rights in April 2012.
The seventeen printed SRM Publisher chapbooks, with original print year and contents:
Two Tales of Korval (1995). “To Cut an Edge,” in which Scout cadet Val Con yos’Phelium meets the Clutch Turtle Edger, and “A Day at the Races,” in which Shan and Val Con race a skimmer to outrage their proper aunt.
Fellow Travelers (1998). “Where the Goddess Sends,” “A Spell for the Lost,” and “Moonphase,” introducing the wandering priestess Moonhawk, the magician Lute, and the origin of Priscilla Mendoza.
Duty Bound (1999). “Pilot of Korval,” with the young Er Thom and Daav, and “Breath’s Duty,” in which a grown Daav recovers a friend’s ship lost after a battle.
Certain Symmetry (2000). “The Wine of Memory,” a Lute and Moonhawk tale, and “Certain Symmetry,” in which Pat Rin yos’Phelium answers an unexpected debt of honor.
Trading in Futures (2001). “Balance of Trade,” which introduces the Terran apprentice trader Jethri Gobelyn, and “A Choice of Weapons,” a Daav yos’Phelium story.
Changeling (c. 2002). The novella “Changeling,” the cast-out backstory of Ren Zel dea’Judan, who is exiled from his clan and finds a place aboard Korval’s Dutiful Passage.
Loose Cannon (2001). “A Matter of Dreams” and “Phoenix.”
Shadows and Shades (2002). “Naratha’s Shadow,” pitting a Scout and a priestess against a planet-eating relic of the Old War, and “Heirloom,” with Pat Rin and a young cousin.
Quiet Knives (2003). “Veil of the Dancer” and “Quiet Knives,” in which a High Judge’s courier is rescued by an old flame amid a Juntavas power struggle.
With Stars Underfoot (2004). “Lord of the Dance,” covering Korval’s move to the backworld Surebleak, and “This House,” written at Janis Ian’s request for the 2003 tribute anthology Stars.
Necessary Evils (2005). “The Beggar King,” with the young Daav in training, and “Necessary Evils,” set in the chaos before Clan Korval.
Allies (2006). “Fighting Chance,” in which a young Miri Robertson joins the mercenary unit Lizardi’s Lunatics, and “Prodigal Son.”
Dragon Tide (2007). “Daughter of Dragons” and “Dragon Tide.”
Eidolon (2008). “Shadow Partner” and “Persistence,” each showing a member of Clan Korval as others see them.
Misfits (c. 2009). The standalone novella “Misfits,” the story longtime readers know as the weatherman story, after the weatherman Ichliad Brunner.
Halfling Moon (2009). “Hidden Resources” and “Moon on the Hill.”
Skyblaze (February 2011). The standalone novella “Skyblaze,” set around the events of Ghost Ship, and the last of the printed chapbooks.
A handful of additional SRM Publisher print chapbooks sit outside the numbered Liaden line. Calamity’s Child (2006) paired the Liaden novelette “Sweet Waters” with the fantasy “A Night at the Opera.” The Cat’s Job carried “King of the Cats.” Others, including The Naming of Kinzel, Master Walk, Quiet Magic, and the single-author collections, ran outside the Liaden Universe altogether. Those were physical booklets too, and the completist will want them.
Then the Line Went Digital
After Skyblaze in early 2011, the series did not stop, but it changed form. Lee and Miller launched their ebook imprint, Pinbeam Books, reissued the seventeen print chapbooks DRM-free, and carried the Adventures in the Liaden Universe numbering forward as a digital line. From Courier Run (No. 18, 2011) onward the chapbooks were released primarily as ebooks, some with print-on-demand paper editions available to order, running through Civilized Behavior (No. 36) in November 2025. These later entries are reading copies and digital files rather than the hand-sold press booklets of the SRM era.
Most of the chapbook stories have also been gathered into Baen’s omnibus line, A Liaden Universe Constellation. Baen released Volume I in 2013, Volume II in 2014, Volume III in 2015, and Volume IV in 2019, with a fifth and sixth volumes following to collect the later material.
Steve Miller died on February 20, 2024, at 73. Sharon Lee has continued to publish under both their names, and in May 2025 she accepted the Robert A. Heinlein Award on behalf of the partnership and the Liaden Universe at BaltiCon 59.
What they did with their indie operation is remarkable and the chapbooks, while not well known outside of the hardcore fans, are something that makes this universe special and gives the Liaden Universe that indie feel.
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I still remember where I was when I discovered that Mr. Miller wasn't dead and the series could - and would - continue. The O.G. series is still a favorite.
Even got to draw a couple of the chapbook covers.
That's so cool. I ran my first attempts at story telling in Southern Seven (The Blake's 7 fanzine for North Texas), In StarFleet International's fiction zine, and My chapter's newsletters.
I always like hearing about stories like this. It makes me feel like I'm not alone.