Shirley came up with the premise on Friday [March 5, 2010] or perhaps Thursday, and told me about it: you have two road Sereniteers – basically rural cops – in the Empire of Arko in the Fifth Millennium world. It’s post-conquest, however, and they are a mixed pair, an Arkan man who’s a veteran, grizzled and jaded, and a younger Yeoli woman who is relatively new to police work, holds idealistic views of law enforcement and is utterly upright, honest almost to a fault. Physically, she can kick his butt, and she’s the senior partner, in command.

It's a little old -- 2005 -- but I had not come across it before and it is still relevant and true except for one line, about which more later.

Margaret Atwood, generally considered Canada's greatest living writer, writes extremely intelligently about everything she writes about, and this cogitation on the purpose of science fiction, published in The Guardian, is no exception. Sample quote: