It's so weird to me that many people read Palimpsest because I think it's probably Valente's least successful novel (judging success as a piece of writing, not money), I guess it's due to it being her first Hugo nom and so more people read it.

I still haven't read Space Opera yet, but the Douglas Adams comparison does not apply to all her work, although when she writes with humour it makes me enjoy her books more than the "I are serious writer writing serious things" stuff.