Lois McMaster Bujold Community

Discussion Questions?

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:13:32 GMT

So the lady organizing the Bujold panel at Dragoncon has asked me to moderate. Now, I know this really requires nothing more than keeping the discussion on topic, but since the topic is so broad (Miles Vorkosigan!) So I thought it might go more smoothly if I had a few discussion questions in mind, to sort of wrangle people back to in case they go too far afield. Care to help me come up with a few good ones?

(x-posted to my LJ)

2008 Bujold Fest Master List

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:32:18 GMT

The Master List for the 2008 Bujold Fest, which ran last week, is available here. We have thirty-four stories in all three fandoms, as well as some truly impressive fan art.

Please take a look - and remember to feedback the writers/artists, because that's what makes it all worthwhile.

Guest review at SBTB

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:09:48 GMT

The gals at Smart Bitches who love Trashy Books asked for a recommendation for a book to give a non-romance, SF/F reader to give a nice intro to the genre. They got an overwhelming response of Cordelia's Honor. Then the person they gave the book to gave a little report.

I have to say, I never really thought of CH as being romance books. There's romance in there, and in many of the Miles books, but it's more the relationship and character development aspect, which is what I look for in a story. I mean, I love political & military SF, but I also have to care about the characters. That's one area in which LMB excels.

Lois's Guest of Honour Speech...

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:34:03 GMT

Lois McMaster Bujold has put her Denvention Guest of Honour Speech up on her myspace site.

It's as interesting as you'd expect it to be!

Sharing Knife Filk

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:17:44 GMT

I'm a huge Bujold fan and just found this community - looks like a neat place! I've done a little exploring and also found the bujold fanfic group. I see filk posted in both places, and I wasn't sure which was the appropriate community in which to share this filk I just wrote based on the Sharing Knife series. I apologize if this is the wrong place - and if it is, please tell me and I'll post any future filks in the other community. Thanks!

The first two segments are TTO: Leaving On a Jet Plane (the first verse and the chorus of it), then it needs a bridge into "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" for the rest of it (the details of the bridge are still a little vague in my mind). I'm calling this "Time to Make a Change"

All my bags are packed, it’s time to leave home
I’ve had enough of this West Blue
I cannot stay here on this farm no more
Before dawn breaks, I will be gone
Glassforge is waitin’, I’m hittin’ the road
Me and my babe will make our own way now.

Before the first day is out,
my plans changed quite radically,
Mudmen and the malice kidnap me.
That’s when I met Dag Redwing
My life will never be the same.
It all looks different now.

Well life on the farm is still not for me
So Dag and I head out for Camp Hickory
wearin’ the cords that declare we’re married
It’s time to make a change.

This sep’rate kinda life is doin’ real harm
with some on patrol and others on the farm
The growin’ plague of bogles is cause for alarm
It’s time to make a change

Well, Redwing n’ Bluefield we got a new mission
Me n’ Dag see a world in need of transition
Sharin’ 'Walker knowledge ‘gainst custom and tradition
It’s time to make a change

Atop gentle Grace and that blasted Copperhead
We set out down the road to see what’s ahead
We have information that we plan to spread
it’s time to make a change

When the day’s at end and the sun’s goin’ down
A nudge from Dag and there’s fire flies around
in the glow of their light, we chase the squirrels to ground
Thank God I’m a farmer girl

Well, Redwing n’ Bluefield we got a new mission
Me n’ Dag see a world in need of transition
Sharin’ 'Walker knowledge ‘gainst custom and tradition
It’s time to make a change

Well, Redwing n’ Bluefield we got a new mission
Me n’ Dag see a world in need of transition
Sharin’ 'Walker knowledge ‘gainst custom and tradition
It’s time to make a change

Requesting a little help with research, is all

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:52:25 GMT

Hello, all! I was wondering whether anyone knows off the top of their head (slash, is willing to look up for me) how long Vordarian's Pretendership lasted?

I counted through Barrayar and got about 16 days, which I feel must be wrong. It sounds too short. I'm also really bad at picking up the day-change cues, as I counted seven days that Cordelia spent hiding with Gregor, and then she complains about the "weeks" she spends hiding, which could be due to my miscount, or because she only feels like it's been weeks when it hasn't.

I don't know if any of the other books mention Vordarian's Pretendership offhand, along with a simple timeframe.

Thanks for the help, or just for taking the time to laugh at me in my obsessiveness. [It's for a throwaway coment in a fanfic.]

Hello there and request

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:02:17 GMT

Hi, folks.

I am the director for the SF and Fantasy Literature track at DragonCon and I'm looking for one or two Bujold fans who are coming to DragonCon and would like to be on a panel devoted to her work.

If you're interested, please contact me at vampry at earthlink dot net.

Thanks!

Sue Phillips

2008 Bujold Fest!

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:17:05 GMT

The prompts - all 135 of them! - are now available for this years fanfic/fan art fest! Head on over, see what strikes your fancy, and comment to claim.

I'll be posting all further announcements only to bujold_fic, so if you want updates on the fest you should make sure you join the comm.

Thanks!

Cordelia's Honor is Joe Mallozi's Book of the Month

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:43:44 GMT

It will be discussed the week of August 11 on his blog.

Last call for Fest prompts!

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:28:06 GMT

This is a reminder that tomorrow, Sunday the 29th, is the last day to submit prompts to the Bujold Fest. I won't organize them until Monday, so if it's Sunday where you are, you can still submit them. After that, I'll throw them up (with a schedule for the Fest) and people can start claiming.

Remember: You can submit as many prompts as you like, and you can submit even if you aren't going to write. We have tons of good stuff over there, but we can always use more!

OT: Terry Pratchett article

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:45:48 GMT

here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1028222/I-create-gods-time--I-think-exist.html

with extra insights on epiphanies. I suspect Caz might approve.

Enjoy!

[with thanks to madfilkentist for the link]

My TSK: Passage reaction

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:36:13 GMT

For those who are curious, I've posted up my impressions about The Sharing Knife: Passage here at my journal. Feel free to chime in if you feel like it! ^_^

music video

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:17:19 GMT

The music video on LMB fandom

Title: "The Last Gift"
Authors: eide_maiden & jetta_e_rus
Music: Emperor Ezar's song from the rock opera "Legend of the Prince" concerning to the pre-Escobar events.
Language: Russian
Duration: 3:29 min

You can take it from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCSIF0BP5ag (low size and quality)
or
http://barrayar.slashfiction.ru/media/lastgift.avi (full size of 13.7mB).

(So you don't speak Russian see below the word for word translation of the poetry to English.)

This will be my last gift for my son.
Isn't my heir worth a whole fleet, indeed?
Esсobar will quake in flames,
it will be an altar, not a scaffold.

I never wished such a fate for my son.
I hadn’t believed in power of others’ curses
though Yuri predicted that you would be
an utter nuisance from your very birth.

Once you asked me with a smile
why had I been so eager for the throne,
why had I needed a massacre
and why hadn't I taken a crown without a war.

What should I answer you, my dear son?
I could have just waited and looked impassively
at the fire smokes over the capital,
at army mutinies and District riots.

Piotr was crazily stubborn from grief;
Xav kept saying we had a criminal on the throne.
We wrote my manifesto together
and swore to bury Yuri.

Maple leaves in a silver rime
were falling into my hands when the capital
was captured without a battle in October.
And my wife was expecting a Crown Prince by July.

They called lately 'Ezar's war'
Executions of recalcitrants and of rebellious Districts.
I've shed more human blood than the Other -
The man whose eyes you have.

These were three hard decades
When I was raising my Imperium but not my son.
The indisputable result of my victories
is Barrayar, now strong and free.

I've raised my country from ruins,
I've cut the path to the galaxy through Komarr.
There was only one war I have lost
But you haven't won too, be sure.

2008 Bujold Fanfiction and Fanart Fest! - Call for prompts

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:32:11 GMT

Details are now available for the 2008 Bujold Fanfiction and Fanart Fest. Right now I've put out a call for prompts, with posting to take place between August 10th (my bday! coincidence? not so much) and the 17th. Woot.

Prompt away, dearies!

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:02:29 GMT

Hi, everybody! Just a question-- where is everyone? I know I've been busy, is everyone else who posts here out enjoying the spring weather, too busy to lurk around here? Hopefully all of you in other parts of the country are enjoying more warmth and sunshine than we are here in Seattle, where we've taken to calling this month Junuary.

Has anyone experienced anything Bujoldian lately? I had the pleasure of meeting the lady earlier this year, and found her both gracious and charming, as any fan of hers would only expect. She seems to be a bit tired of fans bugging her for more Miles, but none the less has promised another Miles book soon, yay! I'm very curious to see what more she has to say with his character, since a very smart friend of mine observed that basically, Bujold "solved" Miles, with the resolution of the Naismith/Vorkosigan conflict, and the segue into a real adult life complete with wife & family. Once having solved his major conflicts, perhaps his creator found that Miles became less interesting to write about. This resonated with me because I found <i>Diplomatic Immunity</i> subtly disappointing. Basically it's a murder mystery. There's nothing at all wrong with that, but the building complexities of the Vorkosigan storyline through the previous several books made me expect and want more. I wanted to see real developments between Miles & Ekaterin, and more about other characters like Ivan, who had been deepened but not "solved" in previous books.

My, how I do go on. Anyone out there?

Horizon cover up on dendarii.com

Sat, 31 May 2008 18:31:50 GMT

Lois writes:

Hi all --

The just-completed cover by artist Julie Bell for _The Sharing Knife,
Vol. 4: Horizon_, due out February 2009 from Eos, has now been added to
the TSK covers page on dendarii.com (thank you, Mike Bernardi!) It's at
the bottom of the collection: scroll down.

http://www.dendarii.co.uk/Covers/American/knife.html

I'm very pleased with it. People, horses, and landscape all look like
themselves, and it's a tolerably-accurately represented scene from the
actual book. I'm also happy with how the progression of the covers
reflects the progression of the themes of the book -- from the formation
of a couple, through the formation of a family (for a certain value of
"family") through the formation of a community. All right, so the
community is represented on the _Horizon_ cover by the trailing mob on
the road in the background -- Julie was calling them "the Little People"
-- but at least they are *there*.

I had actually suggested some sort of a pastiche of this famous frontier
painting as a jumping-off point for the _Horizon_ cover:

http://kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/collections/artwork.asp?accnum=WU%202171

but it was apparently felt that the frontal-facing pose had been "used
up" by the _Passage_ cover. We retained a sense of the Appalachian-like
landscape, though, which makes me happy.

Ta, L.

Violation of Mt. Athos!

Wed, 28 May 2008 17:08:41 GMT

Women break all-male Mount Athos ban

Lois health bulletin

Sun, 18 May 2008 14:29:43 GMT

This was posted on the Bujold chat list. Figured I'd pass the word along.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [LMB] health bulletin
Date: Sat, 17 May 2008 14:20:16 -0500
From: Lois McMaster Bujold

Hi All --

My plans for May were abruptly re-arranged by a perforated appendix,
hideously complicated by the docs taking an extra seven days to figure
out my diagnosis because, it turns out, my appendix was in a
non-standard location. I'm just back from the hospital yesterday,
"resting uncomfortably" as they say, planning to hide out from everyone
who wants me to do things for them. Biggest bummer was missing my
daughter's college graduation, which is taking place today out in
Portland, Oregon, without me.

I'll basically not be up for much till I get the drainage tube out,
Thursday I hope. The one good piece of all this was that the clever
surgeon was able to do a laparoscopic appendectomy, so all I have to
heal are three little holes, like on a bowling ball. The surgeon gave
me great pictures of the operation-in-progress, taken internally; I'm
considering whether to be bloody-minded enough to scan them and put them
on my MySpace page, later.

And after all that, I only lost three pounds. Seems unfair.

Please do not send cards, letters, food, flowers, e-mail, or
anything else to which I would be socially obliged to respond. But
while I'm on the subject of gastroenterology, now is a good time to
remind folks about my niece Molly McMaster's Colon Club and Colandar,
still available for 2008:

http://www.colonclub.com/index.html

http://www.colonclub.com/colondar.html

My brother tells me they are planning to do the photo shoot for the
2009 Colandar up at their place on Lake George very soon.

Ta, L. (slowly catching up.)

Crossball

Wed, 14 May 2008 02:24:25 GMT

This is a filk about one of the many inspirational parts of Miles Vorkosigan's character.

Miles never gives up, and is always hell-bent to prove himself the hard way. This is shown in his determination to pass the Imperial War Academy test despite being crippled, his persistence in organizing the Marilacan prisoners in Borders of Infinity, his unwillingness to take Harouche's offer in Memory...
There are many places in his life that these qualities may emerge from--his determination to earn Piotr's respect being one. But another is that time when he was 12 and Armsman Esterhazy let him win at Crossball. Cheated of that victory, he determined to always get his wins the hard way (although he sometimes forgets that particular lesson)

Guy Clark's The Cape is a song about a person much like Miles in that regard. Naturally, it had to be filked to fall more in line.

Crossball

With guitar tabs, and a hat-tip to Echo's Children's marvelous Vorkosigan Universe filks

Guitar Intro:
Strum each chord on the down beat

C Em A G F G C
C Em A G F G
A7 G F C
C Em A G F G C

C Em A G
Twelve years old on the crossball pitch
F G C
With his father’s sworn armsmen
C Em A G
Out of pity and being nice
F G
His opponents let him win
C Em A G
To know you won ‘cause they didn’t try
F G C
Is a lousy way to feel
C Em A G
When he grows up, he swears that he
F G C
Will win his fights for real

CHORUS:
A G
He knows that when life gives you hell
F C
You’ve got yourself, that’s all
C Em A G
When they say you can’t, friend, don’t give up
F G C
Keep swinging at that ball

C Em A G F G C
C Em A G F G C

Twenty-eight years old playing Admiral
and winning his campaigns
he’s saved empires and got the girls
with nothing but his brains

there’s not a thing could slow him down
Not even when he died
‘cause it isn’t how much force you use
It’s how it is applied

CHORUS

Thirty years old playing politics
Just like his father’s son
He’s still swinging at that ball
And won’t quit ‘til he’s won

People always told him what
A mutie couldn’t do
He knew deep down that he could fly
So he flew

CHORUS

Bleg for Civil Campaign plot detail

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:25:06 GMT

After the fateful dinner party, Cordelia reminds Miles of how when he was 12 he was playing some sport with an Armsman, I think it was Esterhazy, who let him win, and how that cheated him of his victory, and how that's what Miles has done to Ekaterin.

What was the name of the sport?

Thanks!

Sharing Knife--Affinities

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:07:40 GMT

[I've written the subject line with a dash rather than a colon, to avoid raising expectations of another book. Of course, if Lois were to feel so inclined, she should feel fully free to use that as a title *at any time*. Iow, W, L, W!]

While it is a truth universally acknowledged that I've been a vehement, vociferous, rabid [see the ears?] Bujold fan for lo, these twelve-plus years and more, it is rarely known that in all that time I haven't actually read the books that many times. I've read all the Vorkosigan books maybe 3-4 times, _Chalion_ twice, and _Paladin_ and _Hunt_ once each. It hasn't really been necessary to read them more than that. They made such vivid, visceral impressions, it's as is I'm still having an ongoing conversation with them, like yeast bubbling and working away, in the back of my mind.

Yet, here's a thing. I've read the Sharing Knife books as much as the others in 12+ years. This year alone, I've read book 3 at least three or four times. I've been trying to figure out why, and I think Lois writes truer than even she knows sometimes; it all comes down to *affinities*.

These books are sheer comfort to slip into, like slithering around on satin sheets, snuggling into bed under warm coverings on a cold night, savoring chocolate, or getting intoxicated breathing wisteria.

That they're set in my own country certainly gives a geographical affinity, but that in itself is insufficient. There are admittedly affinities of topography and climate. [Of course, my own state, Georgia, is more diverse than most. From friendly foothills {aka, "mountains"} in the north, to piedmont, flatlands, swamplands, and beaches, we have a wide variety of climates right handy, so to say.] I've driven extensively through Ohio and Pennsylvania, en route to some of the best times of my life [OVFF and Confluence], which adds a certain luster to the scenery. These last few years, we've begun to take walks several times a week at the nearby nature preserve. I'd be able to see what Lois is writing about, often the same day as reading it: cardinals, bluejays, robins, lizards, turtles in the sun, various ducks, thuggish geese, cattails, dogwoods, redbuds, blue herons. Still no water lilies [although the fire lilies were exquisite last year], but that's enough to be going on with, surely. I've shared delightful snippets of physical description with ze spouse. Lois turns a phrase the way Chihuly blows glass: liquid, creative fire.

We southerners like folks from the midwest, because they almost talk right, close enough to be real comfortable. It does make it hard for me to appreciate all Lois' linguistic efforts properly, however; familiarity blurs details so.

Culturally, I can identify with both Farmers and Lake-Walkers [minor pet peeve: if reviewers, et. al. are going to capitalize one culture, they should capitalize the other]. My great-grandparents were sharecroppers, & I had a great-uncle and -aunt who didn't get indoor plumbing until I was seven. They made their own butter [I still have a butter mold]. My grandma plowed her own garden up until the year she came to town for cataract surgery and stayed for a stroke [they took her off her blood-thinners]. I've gotten up at dawn to pick field peas and shelled butterbeans until all fingernails were green. I've also been far too tightly owned by some things and completely baffled at the things some other folks are owned by [none of them written by Lois]. It could almost be said I travel Lake-Walker-lightly through the world [except for all the books and music--more like, I Marley merrily. ;)].

The romance tropes are comfortably familiar, too; I've always said I owed that high verbal score on the SAT to having started reading Harlequins in the 5th grade, back when they were written with big words, plot, and character development. Given how many of the best authors [hello, Jane and Georgette!] have heroines between 17 and 20, and heroes of 35-40 and higher, the age difference never bothered me.

Having never procreated, I never joined the adult conspiracy. Inside my head, I'm still somewhere between 18 and 23, so coming-of-age stories still resonate, even when one is coming-of-age at 56 [hi, Dag!].

These books have everything, the very stuff of life itself: wit, wisdom, bafflement, betrayal, puzzlement, poignancy, goodwill, malice [both kinds!], with hearty guffaws and primo snark. I want my life written this intelligently by an author this insightful.

Colossal kudzu kudos, Lois; brava!

Also, Write, Lois, Write!

free Tom Smith downloads

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:47:57 GMT

Tom Smith, author of the Bujold filk classic "Falling Free", has put up some songs and a raw concert track for free download until Wednesday. They're here:

http://filkertom.livejournal.com/809778.html

There's also lots of other cool free stuff on his website, http://www.tomsmithonline.com/ *all the time* [much like Miles].

Enjoy!

filkferengi, chortling off to listen again

Whee! Off to Borderlands

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:11:03 GMT

Been too long since I've seen Lois!

Reviews Of Sharing Knife: Passage, recommended by LMB herself

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:55:13 GMT

Note: The review is insightful, & the interview is excellent. The author photo is likewise delightful.

filkferengi

Message: 7
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:50:45 -0500
From: Lois McMaster Bujold
Subject: Passage review and interview up at Fantasy Book Critic website

Not too spoilerific. Here you go. Spread it around...

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2008/04/sharing-knife-passage-by-lois-mcmaster.html

Ta, L.

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:11:40 -0500
From: Lois McMaster Bujold
Subject: [LMB] informative Passage review

Ah ha, they're starting to turn up.

This one has a few vague spoilers, but if a reader is looking for a
clearer idea of what they might be getting into with this book,
plot-wise and structure-wise, it's not bad. Good for linking.

http://www.bookloons.com/cgi-bin/Review.asp?bookid=9508

Launch day today! Dreamhaven signing tonight.

Ta, L.

One step closer to vat meat

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:05:40 GMT

PETA plans $1 million prize for creation of in vitro meat

"The organization said it would announce plans Monday for a $1 million prize to the "first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012."

The idea of getting the next Chicken McNugget out of a test tube is not new. For several years, scientists have worked to develop technologies to grow tissue cultures that could be consumed like meat without the expense of land or feed and the disease potential of real meat. An international symposium on the topic was held this month in Norway. The tissue, once grown, could be shaped and given texture with the kinds of additives and structural agents that are now used to give products such as soy burgers a more meaty texture.

New Harvest, a nonprofit formed to promote the field, says on its Web site, "Because meat substitutes are produced under controlled conditions impossible to maintain in traditional animal farms, they can be safer, more nutritious, less polluting and more humane than conventional meat."