"War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation." -- Lois McMaster Bujold
Lois McMaster Bujold (born November 2, 1949, Columbus, Ohio) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy works. Bujold is one of the most acclaimed writers in her field, having won the prestigious Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record. Her novella "The Mountains of Mourning" won both the Hugo and Nebula Award. In the fantasy sphere, The Curse of Chalion won the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the 2002 World Fantasy Award for best novel, and both her fourth Hugo and second Nebula were for Paladin of Souls.
"Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart.""The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them.""What you are is a question only you can answer.""When you can't do something truly useful, you tend to vent the pent up energy in something useless but available, like snappy dressing."
Bujold is the daughter of Robert Charles McMaster and attributes her early interest in science fiction, as well as certain aspects of the Vorkosigan Saga, to his influence. He was editor of the monumental Nondestructive Testing Handbook generally referred to as McMaster on Materials and is memorialized here.
Bujold writes that her experience growing up with a world famous father is reflected in the same experience that her characters (Miles, Fiametta) have of growing up in the shadow of a "Great Man." She wonders why the insecurity complex and syndrome is known as "Son of the Great Man" instead of "Daughter of the Great Man."
Her brother, like her father, is also an engineer. Her brother helped provide technical details to support her writing of Falling Free.
Bujold currently lives in Minnesota. She is divorced and has two children.
Lois Bujold wrote three books (Shards of Honor, The Warrior's Apprentice and Ethan of Athos) before The Warrior's Apprentice was accepted after four rejections. The Warrior's Apprentice was the first book purchased, despite the fact it was not the first Vorkosigan book written, nor would it be the first one to be published. On the strength of The Warrior's Apprentice, Baen Books agreed to a three-book deal to include the two bracketing novels. Thus began her career in science fiction.
Bujold is best known for her Vorkosigan saga, a series of novels featuring Miles Vorkosigan, a physically-impaired interstellar spy and mercenary admiral from the planet Barrayar, set approximately 1000 years in the future. Earlier titles are generally firmly in the space opera tradition with no shortage of battles, conspiracies, and wild twists, while in more recent volumes Miles becomes more of a detective. In A Civil Campaign, Bujold explores yet another genre: a high-society romance with a plot that pays tribute to Regency romance novelist Georgette Heyer (as acknowledged in the dedication). It centers on a catastrophic dinner party, with misunderstandings and dialogue justifying the subtitle "A Comedy of Biology and Manners".
The author has stated that the series structure is modeled after the Horatio Hornblower books, documenting the life of a single person. In themes and echoes, they also reflect Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery character Lord Peter Wimsey. Bujold has also said that part of the challenge of writing a series is that many readers will encounter the stories in "utterly random order", so she must provide sufficient background in each of them without being excessively repetitious. Most recent printings of her Vorkosigan tales do include an appendix at the end summarizing the internal chronology of the series.
Bujold also wanted to break into the fantasy genre, but met with early setbacks. Her first foray into fantasy was The Spirit Ring. She wrote the book "on spec", shopped it around, and found low offers, sending her back to Baen Books, where Jim Baen bought it for a fair price in exchange for the promise of more Vorkosigan books. Bujold called this experience, combined with the mediocre sales and lack of critical acclaim of that book, very educational.
She would not attempt to break into the fantasy market again for almost another decade, with The Curse of Chalion. This book was also written on spec and offered up to a book auction. This time, she met with considerable critical and commercial success by tapping into a crossover market of fantasy and romance genre fans. The fantasy world of Chalion was first conceived as a result of a University of Minnesota course she was taking about Medieval Spain in her spare time.
The next fantasy world she created was the tetralogy set in the universe of The Sharing Knife borrowing inspiration for its landscapes from ones she grew up with in central Ohio. She writes that her first readers who helped proof-read it said she got it exactly right and they could recognize Ohio features in the descriptions and dialects. She states that the dialect of the "farmers" is one she grew up around.
Barrayar (1991) - Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1992 [1], Nebula Award nominee, 1991 [2]
Cordelia's Honor (1996) - Combined edition of Shards of Honor and Barrayar with an Afterword by the author.
Miles Vorkosigan
The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
Borders of Infinity (1989)
Brothers in Arms (1989)
The Vor Game (1990)
Barrayar (1991)
Vorkosigan's Game (omnibus) (1992)
Mirror Dance (1994)
Cetaganda (1995)
Memory (1996)
Young Miles (omnibus) (1997)
Komarr (1998)
A Civil Campaign (1999)
Miles, Mystery and Mayhem (omnibus) (2001)
Diplomatic Immunity (2002)
Miles Errant (omnibus) (2002)
Miles, Mutants and Microbes (omnibus) (2007)
Miles in Love (omnibus) (2008)
"Winterfair Gifts" (2008)
CryoBurn (forthcoming, late 2010)
Other
Ethan of Athos (1986)
Falling Free (1988)
Dreamweaver's Dilemma (1995)
Internal chronology
"Dreamweaver's Dilemma" (1995) ... Set in the Vorkosigan universe long before the rest of the series (included in collection Dreamweaver's Dilemma) NESFA Press
Falling Free (1988) ... Set approximately 200 years before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan ... Nebula Award winner, 1988 [3], Hugo Award nominee, 1989 [4]
Shards of Honor (1986) ... Set approximately one year before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan
Barrayar (1991) ... Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1992 [5], Nebula Award nominee, 1991 [6]
The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
"The Mountains of Mourning" (1989) ... Hugo Award, Nebula Award. First published in Analog magazine; included in Borders of Infinity; available online via the Baen Free Library.
The Vor Game (1990) ... Hugo Award winner, Locus SF Award nominee, 1991 [7]
Cetaganda (1995) ... Locus SF Award nominee, 1997 [8]
Ethan of Athos (1986) ... Miles Vorkosigan is referred to, but does not actually appear, in this novel.
"Labyrinth" (1989) ... First published in Analog magazine; included in Borders of Infinity.
"The Borders of Infinity" (1987) ... First published in Freelancers; included in Borders of Infinity; available online via Baen Webscription.
Borders of Infinity (1989) ... Collection of "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth" and "The Borders of Infinity", tied together with an original frame story interspliced between them, which is set shortly after Brothers in Arms.
Brothers in Arms (1989)
Mirror Dance (1994) ... Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 1995 [9]
Memory (1996) ... (unavailable in any omnibus volume) Hugo, Nebula and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1997 [10]
Komarr (1998)
A Civil Campaign (2000) Hugo, Nebula and Locus SF Awards nominee, 2000 [11]
"Winterfair Gifts" (2002 in Croatian (as "Zimoslavni darovi"), 2003 in Russian, 2004 in English) ... First published in Irresistible Forces, a Science Fiction/Romance genre crossover anthology edited by Catherine Asaro. Also in the omnibus Miles in Love. The "Winterfair Gifts" novella is also available as a standalone ebook from Fictionwise.
Diplomatic Immunity (2002) Nebula Award nominee, 2003 [12]
CryoBurn is scheduled for publication in 2010. Bujold read the first two chapters at Denvention 3 (August 2008), where she was Guest of Honor and the first chapter at Dragon*Con (September, 2009).
Omnibus volumes:
Cordelia's Honor ... (contains Shards of Honor, Barrayar)
Young Miles ... (contains The Warrior's Apprentice, "The Mountains of Mourning", The Vor Game)
Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem ... (contains Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, "Labyrinth")
Miles Errant ... (contains "The Borders of Infinity", Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance)
Miles in Love ... (contains Komarr, A Civil Campaign, "Winterfair Gifts")
Test of Honor ... (out of print; contains Shards of Honor and The Warrior's Apprentice)
Vorkosigan's Game ... (out of print; contains The Vor Game, "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "The Borders of Infinity" including the framing story for the collection Borders of Infinity)
Audiobooks:
Cassette tape and CD versions of Falling Free, Shards of Honor, Barrayar, The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, Borders of Infinity, and Brothers in Arms were produced by The Reader's Chair. This company is no longer in business.
Currently, unabridged audio CD editions (retail and library), iPhone/iPod Touch apps using the Folium enhancedAudio player, MP3, Playaway and cassette versions are available through Blackstone Audio for: Falling Free, Shards of Honor, Barrayar, The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign, Winterfair Gifts, and Diplomatic Immunity. Most titles produced by Blackstone Audio are also available for download on Audible.com and from the websites of several public libraries via overdrive.com. The enhancedAudio app versions are available via the Apple iTunes Store and can be previewed at the BlackstoneAudioApps.com website.
Comic Books
The Vorkosigan Saga has also been made into a comic book in France:
La saga Vorkosigan volume 1 : L'apprentissage du guerrier (The Warrior's Apprentice), written by Dominique Latil (scenario) & José Maria Beroy (drawings and colors) (2010).
Fantasy novels
The Spirit Ring (1993) Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 1993 [13]
in the Chalion universe:
The Curse of Chalion (2001) Hugo, Locus Fantasy, and World Fantasy Awards nominee, 2002 [14]
Paladin of Souls (2003) (sequel to The Curse of Chalion) Hugo, Nebula and Locus Fantasy Awards winner, 2004 [15]
The Hallowed Hunt (2005) Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 2006 [16]
The Sharing Knife:
Beguilement (2006)
Legacy (2007)
Passage (2008)
Horizon (2009)
Audiobooks:
Blackstone Audio produces CD editions, MP3, Playaway, and cassette versions of: The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, The Hallowed Hunt, The Sharing Knife Vol 1: Beguilement, The Sharing Knife Vol 2: Legacy, The Sharing Knife Vol 3: Passage and The Sharing Knife Vol 4: Horizon. All of these titles are also available from Audible.com.
