Vorkosigan Fans & Fan Fiction

It's here, and rather more issue-y than I recalled.

• Genetically repairing fetuses is a thing.


• Homophobia is alive and well at Kline Station.


• Ethan is woefully underprepared and has no idea what he's doing.


• "Quinn Excites Dismay" :D


• "women's work" – sexism is alive and well in the Nexus, sigh.


• SPACE IS NOT COLD, VACUUM IS AN INSULATOR LMB NO.


• Did no-one import the tech for same-sex couples to have kids genetically related to both? That's a thing that should exist, given the biotech level.


• Quinn mailed Okita's clothes to Admiral Naismith – I now want fic of Miles receiving the clothes.


• Terrence is very, very screwed up, consistently with his upbringing.


• ...Speaking of which, did no-one in the Cetagandan administration pause and think "this is a terrible idea, the kids'll be able to read minds" and then order them to be treated well? Like, Terrence's upbringing counts as major Idiot Ball imo.


• Elli is delightfully dramatic.


• Did Terrence rent the Presidential Suite, or were they taking turns pacing?


• Ethan shows his ingenuity with the grocery shopping.


• Does Elli regularly talk with the not-present Naismith to develop plots?


• The false disease vector report thing was very ingenious.


• My favorite minor character is the Security guy who cites the codes Millisor's violating. Bureacracy!


• So, what can we learn of Millisor's lifestyle from the doc's report, beyond the fact that he's stressed?


• Based on the remark that Mr. Coffee-Colored Skin couldn't be Cetagandan: are all Cetagandans pale skinned? (Some must be, since Barrayaran Ceta descendents are still being discovered, ergo they can't all have been much different to Barrayarans in skin tone, but all? Is this using the shorthand Cetagandan = ghem?)


• Apparently Bharaputra's hitmen have coffee-colored skin as a common feature.


• Did Elli get the hobby of "banging her head against brick walls" from Miles, or did she already have it?


• The resolution was a bit too pat and not that foreshadowed.

Next: "Labyrinth", on Sunday 16.10. (I'm increasing the gap to 4 weeks, since my schedule is rather full.)

So, here we are, book number 4.

• The Ensigns are in random order, apparently, not any sort of alphabetic. Unless the Barrayaran Cyrillic alphabetical order is way different to modern?


• Did Zubachik end up as Gregor's guard?


• The common job is from 7 to 5, as per Ivan


• Miles is at this point 4'9 (145cm)


• "for the mutants that may come after me" is expressed this early? I only recall it coming from an older Miles after Memory


• Camp Permafrost is not quite northerly enough for midnight sun or tundra


• What is this 3rd Cetagandan War anyway – "peculiar" victory? Was Major Duvallier's execution for espionage related?


• Miles handles Olney and Pattas rather well :D


• The Komarran conquest was really recent as of Shards of Honor; I'd have expected it to be a few years earlier


• Gregor: thin, middle height (which is... how tall on Barrayar? 175cm? 180cm?), dark hair, hazel eyes, "skinny neurasthenic git"


• Jacksonian law: complete shitshow


• Someone give Gregor a hug. "Greg Bleakman"?


• So, how large was the shitshow on Komarr after Gregor evaporates, no note, no trace, from a fully guarded room?


• Miles Vorkosigan, Quality Control Inspector is a thing that a) should exist and b) I want all the fic of


• "Space them" is Oser's most inspired decision, as is the order to silence Miles, should he speak


• Should all hell break loose, the military would go with Count Vorinnis against the anti-centralization liberals, the French-speakers would go with Vorville, the Russian-speakers with Vortugalov, the far-right blow-up-the-wormhole extremists would field Count Vortrifani against the anti-Vor pro-galactics who want a written constitution... I think I want this fic.


• All the Nexus also calls Miles a mutant; it's not just Barrayar


• Miles' interesting staff meeting, with two people tied to their chairs and gagged. Was either of them the Peregrine's captain? Who was the other?


• "Non-communications officer" is gold. As is the whole rest of what Miles said to Cavilo.


• Gregor <3

Next: Cetaganda, discussion on Sunday 28.8., with a reminder the prior week.

Funnier than I remembered!

• At the start, the reason for forsaking the "Vor-" at the start of the names is to make the castes equal in the Emperor's service now, stated to be part of Aral's reforms.


• What were the 2nd and 3rd Cetagandan wars? #3 happened during the Regency and #2 before, but do we know anything else?


• Betans "clip their children's tubes" at age 12


• oh, poor Miles, getting pitied and apologised to, wanting to fix that


• Mental Health Board: rather nefarious


• Oh, Miles, the whole General Fleet Inspection bit was so hilarious (as were a lot of the other Miles-as-Naismith bits)


• "Vorthalia the Bold demanding a whole-life policy from his Emperor at sword's point"


• Lead-lined rubber hoses? What else do the Barrayaran Regs hide within?


• Such an intriguing pile of ragtag recruits from on-planet. Interesting. I wonder how they all got there?


• Oof, Elena, having everything hid from her for her whole life only to have it all come crashing down.


• "personal hygiene and absence of head-lice" is an intriguing glimpse into the role of the Barrayaran Baba

Next up, "Mountains of Mourning", discussion on the 9th of July.

So, we've read the book and are here to discuss! I am unfortunately not all that good at thematic analysis or arc stuff, but here are some jotted-down notes from my read:

• Requests for next Bujold Fest: A treatise on Sergyaran nature.


• Huh, nerve disruptors cause blisters?


• Nuovo Brasil is name-dropped along with Barrayar and Cetaganda – now I'm curious about the Nuovo Brasilians!


• Do they have no blue cheese dressing on Barrayar, or does it taste different from the Betan artificial version?


• Aral's command issues, lol. "Now who in my command is so confused in his thinking as to betray both sides at once?"


• As was mentioned in the Tor readthrough, Aral confesses to 0.6 murders per day on their trek to the supply cache. I like that this is a valid statistic to measure. :P


• Koudelka! Gottyan? Nilesa! (I have no idea what I was aiming at with this note, but whatever!)


• Aral: very abrupt, and not all that good at convincing. "My planet sucks and I fell in love with you while you were puking!" is not the height of romance.


• It seems like Aral's almost trying to sabotage the invasion by telling Cordelia a lot about the plans.


• Cordelia: very ingenious. I can definitely see where Miles gets it from!


• What happened to Cordelia's belt???? It was used to tie up Gottyan, but Aral released him and no further mention was made of the belt. Did Aral keep it as a memento? (Oh, and Aral, get better pants. Yours don't fit. Pants should stay up without a belt!)


• Cordelia: very good at emotional band-aids


• 17 replicators, just given to Barrayar, and some of what was said there makes me a bit uncomfortable. "A couple of them were pretty emotionally divided about abortions." Um. And they were given to Barrayar, with the expectation that... they'd be aborted? They'd grow up to be cogs in the Barrayaran machine, off to kill their fully Escobaran half-siblings should a second war happen?


• How come no-one voted for Steady Freddy?


• Hm, the Betan and Escobaran psychs seem to have done nothing more than give Cordelia a stutter.


• oh Cordelia's daring escape :D (an excellent combination of ingenuity and emotional band-aids!)


• Hm, Aral loathes tiny women? (Another things Miles seems to have inherited...)


• The Bothari bits make me uncomfortable.


• Count Vortala A+ snark. I don't suppose we see much more of him?


• "declare everyone a Vor and be done with the whole bloody nonsense forever" oh, Aral.


• The Escobaran war's called the 120 day war, despite only lasting for 118 days and a part of an hour!


• Mother's Tears charms don't seem to return IIRC?


• Medtech Boni carries around a wedding dress??? Okay this section is creepy.

All in all, better than I remembered, especially re: Cordelia and Aral's relationship. It is still structured so that Cordelia gives up everything while Aral gives up pretty much nothing, but it's more that Cordelia is driven away from Beta than that she walks voluntarily. I wonder what it'd have been like had Dr. Mehta and her colleagues not been such colossal assholes to Cordelia.

Next up is Barrayar, with a discussion post hopefully up on the 18th or 19th.

So, there shall be another Bujold Fest on AO3 in the early autumn (prompting'll start in early August, I think), and in preparation, I suggest a readthrough! (Or themed discussion posts? Perhaps both?)

Now, looking back, the last readthrough (in 2009) didn't reach The Vor Game, so I guess we could either start with that, or start from Shards of Honor, and then continue in chronological order. How do people feel about it?

EDIT: One book at a time, or each book in many segments? (I'd prefer one book per post, and feel like that would be easiest to organize.)