Tracy's Shrine to Lois McMaster Bujold

great authors, great books

[The Author] [The Character] [The Books] [The Words] [The Fans]

This is Tracy's pithy shrine to Lois McMaster Bujold. It will never be entirely complete because Lois is just too amazing for any sort of a fitting tribute. The best tribute I can think of is to get somebody to try her. Her writing is the tightest, most action-packed, most soulful I have ever encountered. I'm a stickler for details, and I'm seldom satisfied by even the great authors, but Lois's stories always satisfy me.
She's... real, ladies and gentlemen. Try her, even if you don't like science fiction. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

"But the only way to get to the second time is to do the first time." Here's what's new in the Shrine:

New fan fic! A Bit of Evolution is complete! View version 1.9. I hope you enjoy it! Raina and I thank everyone who lent a hand with this project.

Well it's spoiler time again! Lois's newest, A Civil Campaign, will be available in September 1999 from Baen Books. The sample chapters are posted in sections every ten days or so at the Baen website. I have read the first chapter, and it seems like everything in the "second period" of Miles's life (Mirror Dance on) will be concluded or resolved. Word is that Her Ladyship's next project will not be in the Vorkosiverse, so ACC will be tying off a lot of loose ends. (See my recommendations below for good entry novels.)

Click here to sample some quotes (no, not just quotes, but really important life lessons from Lois's Vorkosigan series.)

Coming soon: New pages for each of the novels! Eventually, anyway... please excuse the delay...

So, Who is Lois, Anyway?
Lois McMaster Bujold has won four Hugo Awards for her books about Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, a "physically handicapped military genius." She's won Nebula Awards for Falling Free (which is set 200 years before Miles) and for her novella, "The Mountains of Mourning," featuring a young Miles. Besides that, she's won an unprecedented four Hugo Awards for the aforementioned novella, Barrayar (tumultuous events during Miles's prenatal period), The Vor Game, and Mirror Dance. She's a prolific writer; in 1996, ten years after her first novel, Shards of Honor, her twelfth novel came out. She is the mother of two and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

So, Who is Miles, Anyway?
That is a complicated one, since Miles goes through many changes throughout the series. This is the jacket from Mirror Dance, which I think sums it up best. Also, I highly suspect Lois wrote it herself. (CAUTION: Some of this will spoil some of the books in the Vorkosigan series. Skip to the endnote if you don't want to know...)

"Not everyone would envy young Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, even though he had formed his own mercenary fleet before attending the naval academy, and even though his mother is the beautiful Cordelia, the ship captain who has taught the Lords of Barrayar much about the perils of sexism. Even the fact that Miles is third in line to the throne and personally owns a major chunk of his home planet would not tempt any normal person to change places with him.

"When assassins came to rid the world of his parents, the pregnant Cordelia was in the line of fire, and Miles was but an egg for the omelet in an all too literal sense. Thanks to heroic medical intervention, Miles survived his near fatal brush with war gas --- as a pain-filled dwarf with bones as weak and brittle as some malign composite of chalk and glass. Miles is often mistaken for a mutant by his mutant-loathing countrymen.

"But there is one who does envy him, who wants to be him: his brother, his cloned stranger formed from tissue stolen from Miles when he was a child. For Mark Vorkosigan was created and raised up for only one purpose: to become Miles, to murder and replace him. In Brothers in Arms that conspiracy was routed and Mark made more or less compliant to his new Miles-less fate. But in the intervening years Mark has learned that without Miles he is ... nothing. The new and better Mark doesn't really want to kill his brother, but still it may come to that: Mark to stay, Miles to go..."

MINIMAL SPOILER VERSION:
Okay, Miles lives on Barrayar. His parents are Count Aral Vorkosigan of the Barrayaran Imperium and Countess Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, originally of the more cosmopolitan Beta.
Miles has a lot of physical handicaps. At the end of his growth he is approximately 4'9" and a bit, or 1.45 m. His closest friends on Barrayar are his cousin (and professional bachelor) Ivan Vorpatril and Emperor Gregor Vorbarra. (By the way, if you're Vor on Barrayar, you're part of the ruling class.) For most of the series, Miles also has a secret identity: Admiral Miles Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. Got it?

It's admittedly confusing, but there are ways to start out in Miles's universe. You can start at the beginning, with his parents, in Shards of Honor. You can also enter through "Mountains of Mourning," found in Borders of Infinity, which is the way I did it: wrenchingly, poignantly. If you want to start at the inception of Admiral Miles, The Warrior's Apprentice is the one for you. My favorite point of entry would have to be The Vor Game. It gives you all the background, and among all of Lois's roller coaster plots, this one is a rocket launch.
My favorite book in the series is Mirror Dance, a real tour de force. But that's just me: if you like military space opera, The Vor Game is for you; Barrayar is part political thriller, part domestic drama; "The Mountains of Mourning" is a great tear-jerker; for romance, try Shards of Honor; the upcoming A Civil Campaign is a comedy of manners. There are several detective stories in the bunch. Discover an alien race of humans in Cetaganda; seek self-enlightenment in Memory.
But whatever you do, don't try to classify Her Ladyship. Just enjoy!
Check your assumptions, Cordelia thought to herself in amusement. In fact, check your assumptions at the door.

--- Barrayar

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in closest possible chronological literary order

Falling Free
Shards of Honor
Barrayar } Cordelia's Honor 
} (combined novel of SoH & B)
The Warrior's Apprentice
"The Mountains of Mourning"
	in Borders of Infinity
The Vor Game }
} Young Miles
  
} (combined novel of WA, MoM, & TVG)
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
"Labyrinth"
	in Borders of Infinity
"The Borders of Infinity"
	in Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms
Borders of Infinity (frame story)
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign COMING IN SEPTEMBER!

Links

The Essential Bujold

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING BUJOLD! Thank you Michael Bernardi! Takes some time to load

Baen Books - the esteemed publisher; Lois has stayed with Baen from the beginning

The Best Bujold Filk Songs - for the uninitiated, filk is the folk song of sci-fi... site includes the unfinished "Cordelia," the opera.

Lois Bujold Mailing List - the nicest meeting of the minds in all the on-line world! No flaming, nice to newbies, and always interesting. Caution: high volume.

In Her Own Words

An On-line Chat with Lois at World Con (lots of juicy gossip on Komarr!)
A More Formal Interview with Lois (bio, books, kids, & more!)

Pictures

Lois at WorldCon ?
the Lois McMaster Bujold trading card, courtesy of ChiCon 2000

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