Not forgotten, but not well known either, Lois McMaster Bujold's science fiction series, the Vorkosigan Saga is one of the best reads I ever found. The first c

Not forgotten, but not well known either, Lois McMaster Bujold's science fiction series, the Vorkosigan Saga is one of the best reads I ever found. The first couple of books, Shards of Honor and Barrayar, are a superb mixture of futuristic technology, society, and humanity. The protagonist, Cordelia deals with a number of situations that would bring the best of us to our knees, with strength and compassion. Unlike most "aseptic" or cold SciFi out there, including Star Trek, these works put the human element up front. I cannot recommend them highly enough. The rest of the saga follows different characters and is worthy in itself (I'm especially fond of Falling Free and a couple of the later books) but the first two books shine in my opinion. She won several Nebula and Hugo awards, but she remains not well known. Several sci-fi friends of mine had never heard of her.