Pyre of New Day, by Catherine Asaro

Catherine Asaro is in a nearly unique space in speculative fiction--she writes SF action/romance from the female point of view.  I normally wouldn't go near it, but...

1. She gets nominated for major awards
2. Her last name begins with A

I am an obsessive reader, and for quite a long time read mostly from the beginning of the alphabet.  Fortunately there are a lot of good writers in that range (Asimov, Benford, Brin, Bradbury, Bova, I could go on and on).  Coincidence?  Why are there so many AAAA service companies?  I am sure this doesn't make as much difference as it used to.

But I ramble.  Asaro's latest award nominated effort is Pyre of New Day, a sample chapter from the Mammoth Book of SF Wars.  She's full force on both the action and romance fronts.  She's willing to get kinky as well, but doesn't do that here.  It's a fun read if you're into that sort of thing.  Something new here is that she paints a very vivid picture of life on a failing colony planet.  Read it if you are tired but don't want to sleep yet, you won't even be tempted.  3 stars.