I've just been reading Victoria Goddard again, in particular her Lays of the Hearth Fire series, which is centred around Cliopher Mdang who left his home in the Wide Sea Islands, to go to work for the Imperial bureaucracy at the capital of the Empire of Astandalas. In part because he was a romantic who was following a path in his peoples' aural history regarding travel and quests, and in part because he wanted to make the empire a better place for everyone - using his skills as an accountant and an organizer. The first book, The Hands of the Emperor starts when he is nearing the peak of his career and gives some flashbacks of how he got there plus where he goes next. I've seen one review that delightfully described it as "competency porn". (Wish there was a slightly politer word for porn, but there you go.) BTW it is not at all dry - sounds like following the life of an accountant and bureaucrat could be dry, but it is about people, and pushing boundaries; friendship, work relationships and the complexities of family life. He is someone who changes the rules, more than someone who obeys them. Though he does obey his own rules once they are changed to his satisfaction. 
That got me to thinking. Redesigning society whether through resources or law or social engineering is quite a common theme in science fiction, whether the book starts in a re-imagined world or whether it is a work in progress - I can think of John Barnes (especially the series starting A million open doors) or Sheri Tepper or indeed there is a strong theme of that underlying the adventures in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. In fantasy there is often a theme of good vs evil whether it is overthrowing the invading orcs or fighting vampires and werewolves in dark alleys. But how many fantasies are there where good is achieved through making government more efficient, removing corruption, and doing public works from sewers to street lighting? I'd be interested in hearing about books like that. The third book in Lays of the Hearth Fire is going to be called "Common and Ordinary Goods" - which kind of sums it up.
That got me to thinking. Redesigning society whether through resources or law or social engineering is quite a common theme in science fiction, whether the book starts in a re-imagined world or whether it is a work in progress - I can think of John Barnes (especially the series starting A million open doors) or Sheri Tepper or indeed there is a strong theme of that underlying the adventures in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. In fantasy there is often a theme of good vs evil whether it is overthrowing the invading orcs or fighting vampires and werewolves in dark alleys. But how many fantasies are there where good is achieved through making government more efficient, removing corruption, and doing public works from sewers to street lighting? I'd be interested in hearing about books like that. The third book in Lays of the Hearth Fire is going to be called "Common and Ordinary Goods" - which kind of sums it up.
