Sheila Lynn Viehl made her debut as a science fiction writer with Stardoc (2000), the first in a series
of novels about a human physician named Cherijo
Grey Veil who travels among the stars, concealing
the fact that she has had some genetic modifications that make her somewhat nonhuman herself.
There have been four sequels to date, chronicling
this character’s adventures in a series of chases and
evasions. Following the revelation that she is an
enhanced clone, the protagonist takes refuge
aboard an alien ship in Beyond Varallan (2000),
and avoids capture and slavery by various groups
who wish to study her physical modifications in
Endurance (2001). She and her husband conceal
themselves on an alien world in Shockball (2001), a
planet whose sports are uncommonly violent, and
then are forced to flee even further in Eternity Row
(2002), now pursued by both human and alien enemies. The series is clearly heavily influenced by
the work of C. J. CHERRYH and perhaps Julie E.
CZERNEDA, in a form of sophisticated space opera
that concentrates more on the psychology of the
characters and the alien cultures they encounter
than on the details of space travel or more overt
styles of adventure.
Two nonseries novels followed. Blade Dancer
(2003) is set in the same universe as the Stardoc
novels and makes use of a rather similar setup. A
professional athlete conceals the fact that she is
not human until the death of her parents reveals
her secret. Bio Rescue (2004) continues the author’s use of medical professionals as characters.
This time a group of physicians enlist the aid of a
space pilot in an effort to avert a violent confrontation between two alien races. Viehl seems to
be establishing herself within that group of writers
whose characters take a diversely populated universe for granted and assume that humanity would
simply be another subcomponent of a large and
non-monolithic interstellar civilization. Although
there are many alien races in her stories, their motives and the essentials of their psychology are
human, and their cultures only superficially vary
from the familiar. Her characters tend to be
searching for their place in the universe, and often
are willing to break the rules to accomplish what
they want. Her villains tend to be rather one-dimensional, but her protagonists have grown in
complexity from book to book. Whether she will
continue to write variations of the same story or
will attempt to diversify her future work remains to
be seen.