Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

A little while ago, a friend told me about a series of books. While I don't remember what the books were about, or even who wrote them (I believe the author was female? Most likely). All I remember is that I was supremely intrigued and looked forward to reading them. Unfortunately, my phone died and I lost the info that I had on the books.

Fortunately, I believe the circumstances of the books' publishing were highly irregular (this is all I can remember about them :( ). They started out as a few short stories. Later, those short stories became the first few chapters of the first book in the series, and the world was expanded on and, I believe, ended up with at least three books (likely more).

I really hate how vague this is; normally, I would remember more details about the books. If this description fits a book series that you know of, please let me know.

tl;dr

-Sci-fi (not fantasy)
-(Most likely) a female author.
-Published sometime in the 1900s (ugh, that is so vague).
-Was once a series of short stories, but those stories became the first few chapters of a book

I get the strong impression you are referring to Marion Zimmer Bradley and her Darkover series which she started writing in the late 50's (1950's).

Hmmm. I don't think this is the one I was looking for, but I could be wrong, and this also seems interesting. At least it will give me something to tide me over until I can figure out what I was looking fore. :)

Wish I could be more helpful, Chris. The Darkover series is the only one that I'm familiar with that meets your criteria above. Hopefully, someone else can come along with the answer. I'd also love to know what the series you're referring to is. But for certain, the Darkover books are great.

It's all good, Kevis. I'm not in any hurry. It's just killing me that I can't remember! But, I think I'll check out Darkover anyway. Sounds pretty good.

Chris wrote: "I believe the circumstances of the books' publishing were highly irregular (this is all I can remember about them :( ). They started out as a few short stories...."

Unfortunately, it's not that unusual in science fiction and fantasy for an author to publish a few short stories and then sew them together & expand them into a novel or two or three.

Could be any of several books by by CJ Cherryh (e.g., Downbelow Station, Cyteen), Andre Norton (Moon of Three Rings), Anne McCaffrey (Dragonflight, though most people think of that as fantasy despite the author's protests), Octavia Butler (Dawn), even LM Bujold (The Warrior's Apprentice), as well as the aforementioned Darkover.

Do you remember anything at all about why it seemed intriguing? Did it take place in space? Another planet? Time travel? Or just earth in the future? (And you're sure it's 20th century?)

Ha! Well, I just remembered how this book came to the conversation. We were discussing an anime called Outlaw Star (one of the few anime I can actually stand.). In it, there is a starship which uses a human as a "brain". So, I mentioned how interesting it qiuod be to read a scifi novel based on a similar concept. Then my friend told me about the book series.

Chris wrote: "Ha! Well, I just remembered how this book came to the conversation. We were discussing an anime called Outlaw Star (one of the few anime I can actually stand.). In it, there is a starship which uses a human as a "brain"...."

Ah. Robin Hobb's Liveship series, perhaps?

Could also be The Ship Who Sang. There are also several sequels.

Whilw I was Googling for you last suggestion, G33z3r, I found a "similae searches" which pointed me at The Ship Who Sang. Which, Conal, is the right one. Thanks to all of you for the help. In addition to the books I was looking for, I found a bunch of new ones to read. <3

If you haven't read "The Ship Who Sang" you probably should, Chris. It was very good, but so were most of the books listed here.

I'm listening to Bujold's Vorkosigan series now in chronological order. They're really good. I originally read them in published order as they came out, so it's been a lot of years & skipping around in time. It's nice to 'read' them this way.