Luzula

2. Hmm, I think I remember that you're not into sf and fantasy, right? But I think you could like her books anyway. The focus is always on social issues in her work, never on hard science or spaceship action--it's kind of like sf where the science is taken to be social science. She even wrote one book (Always Coming Home) which is like fictional anthropology for a people living in the future.

3. Hee, I've just gone to one training session so far. So no mad skills yet, I'm afraid.