I did have some trouble tracking The Deed of P down - I eventually went looking in Tim's White Dwarf books and found the omnibus. I felt like a traitor - I'm Customer #1 in Fantastic Planet's database. EM's books never seem to turn up in second hand shops :-)

It took me a while to get around to starting this series but Lois McMaster Bujold taught me that a good space opera author can write enjoyable fantasy even for a princess+farmboy/prince+warrior+warlock+dwarf+elf-phobe like me. Quality will tell.