on Vorkosigans

[xparrot]

So when that list of SF books went around, I mentioned I'd never read Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books, upon which someone kindly (evilly) linked me to the free e-book versions. So I popped them on my Kindle and started reading. Really enjoyed Cordelia's stories (insanely awesome (awesomely insane) female character FTW!), and Cordelia & Aral's mature, incredibly supportive romance and relationship (het OTP FTW!) Then I started reading Warrior's Apprentice.

Then I told my brother to read them. And my roommate. And gnine (that was a week and a half ago. She's finishing Cryoburn as I write this. Have I ever mentioned my sister's marathoning abilities are unbelievable?)

I knew the series was award-winning scifi, and I knew it had to have good characters from the number of fangirls who liked it. I'd also heard tell of h/c (Bujold is totally an h/c fangirl, whether or not she would use the term herself. She's also a whumper - there's quite a bit of 'hmm, the plot seems to be slowing down - time to beat on the hero!' but there's some sweet moments as well.) What no one ever mentioned was how funny the books can be. Some of them moreso than others; the whole series is incredibly manic depressive (just like its hero) - bouncing between hilarious and tragic within a few pages. ...Which, I've come to realize, is pretty much my favorite kind of fiction (see Gintama!) (Not that the Vorkosigan books are parody; they're pretty straight action/hard scifi/mystery. But they keep making me unexpectedly laugh out loud. And that's definitely a good part of how hard I've fallen for them...)

I could go on about how much I adore Miles and his amazing ability to take absolutely anything and run with it (to infinity and beyond, to legend! Also bankruptcy!) and all the snowballing escapades this gift gets him into, and how much I love how he's maybe the only genre hero I've ever read with a really solid, functional, caring relationship with both his parents (so much love for Cordelia & Aral, I don't even. And I love how Miles is so completely their son, Aral's mastery of strategy and Cordelia's unstoppable will in one package seemingly too small to contain it). Not to mention all the Dendarii, and Gregor, and Ivan (Ivan! <333) - but I'm about halfway through Brothers in Arms and it was a terrible place to stop, so I'm going back to reading now.

But thank you, everyone who recced them - and if you haven't read them yet, definitely give them a go!

(Ah, also, I'm reading in chronological order, so please please please no spoilers for Brothers in Arms or even vague references to any books after - I'm pretty much unspoiled and am enjoying not having any clue what's going to happen to Miles next!)

Comments

[serrende.livejournal.com]

Another Vorkosigan fan here, reporting in! You've got some great stuff ahead of you.

Also, since you've already read Barrayar, can I show you the new cover to that volume? This series has not been well-served with covers generally, but I really like this one (http://www.murphyillustration.com/images/full/Barrayar.jpg) (even if everyone is glamourised on it!).

And I totally agree re Miles and his relationship to both his parents.

Btw, I haven't read through the comments yet so maybe someone else has already said this, but Bujold is quite positive towards fanfics and started out in the early Star Trek fanzines herself, way back when in the 70s.

ETA: I see you're not interested in fanfics... oddly, I tend to feel the same way about book fics. And it may be because it's the same medium. Or maybe I just have an inherently bigger respect for books that I can't shake, I dunno...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

There are many Vorkosigan fans out there, I'm realizing! (Totally justified, because it's an awesome series...)

That cover is pretty epic - yeah, Cordelia's more fashion-modelly than I picture her, but it's pretty representative (eheheh it's after she's 'gone shopping', I see...oh Cordelia.)

No one's mentioned the fanfic connection here yet, but my sis just informed me of it! I'd thought I remembered something about Bujold with Star Trek, but then was wondering if I was thinking of a different author...ahh, it's very nice to know she is/was 'one of us'!

[serrende.livejournal.com]

There's even a bit of a legend that Shards of Honour started out as a Star Trek fic with Aral as a Klingon officer and Cordelia from the, uh, Federationwhatsit (as you can see I'm not up on Star Trek myself); but it's been refuted by Lois. She had some vague idea in that direction long before starting the book, but there were several other ideas that went into it as well, and once she started writing for real it was all original.

Lois even used to read fics of her own stories until she realised that carried its own dangers (if a future plot resembles a fic she's read, perhaps the author would sue)... But when it comes to other series, she still reads sometimes, apparently. (She's said that for a year after her mother's death in the early 00s, fanfiction was the only thing she was able to make herself read, for some reason.)

When it comes to that new cover, I think of it as how Cordelia would look in the popular Barrayaran imagination at that moment, so there's no visible stress or dirtiness, and everyone looks their best! ^_^ (Okay, the general public probably has no clue that Drou and Bothari were there, but still... *handwaves*)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heee, the cover pic as Barrayan propaganda, I love it! That works perfectly for me ^_^

I could totally see where that could be a really basic origin for Shards of Honor - a seed that fast grew into something else. (I've had a couple origfic ideas myself that started as me thinking about writing a fanfic and then deciding to take it somewhere else...) The Barrayar did remind me of a classic Star Trek-style "warrior race"...I've been a Trekkie forever, so any such associations just lend to my enjoyment!

[gnine.livejournal.com]

...Hee, that cover is AWESOME! Love all the details they got right on it!

And yeah, I have the same trouble with reading fic for books..I think it's mainly the medium, added to the fact of the single author/creator's voice. Shows, movies, etc. have various levels of screen writer schizophrenia, so that one's already used to many small variations and takes on the chars. But with one creator, the characters are more consistent so then the OOCness of the characters is more noticeable in fic?

[serrende.livejournal.com]

For me it seems to be a medium thing: the single author/creator's voice is not so much the problem, since it's the same for the manga fandom(s) I write in. In fact, I like that kind of reliability or should I say accountability in a canon: what this creator has put down and said goes, and that is that (in my view).

But not only do I doubt I could make myself write in pastiche Bujold, or stop being disappointed at falling short if I tried; but I also don't really have any urge to check if others could do so. Even if some of them are likely excellent at it...