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Lois McMaster Bujold

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Lois McMaster Bujold (born November 2, 1949, Columbus, Ohio) is an American author of science fiction and

Bujold-1-

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.

Bujold is best known for her series of novels featuring Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, a physically-impaired interstellar spy and mercenary admiral from the planet Barrayar, set approximately 1000 years in our future. The series demonstrates Bujold's mastery of various science fiction genres and sub-genres. 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". Her psychological insights and creation of complex characters are particularly appreciated by many readers.

There is considerable debate among readers as the best order to read the Vorkosigan series. Some favor reading in publication order, some in order of internal chronology, and some prefer other orders. This illustrates the widely held view that this series consists of independent works which nonetheless gain from their inter-relations. See "The Chef Recommends" for a discussion from the author on reasonable reading sequences.

The author has stated that her Miles Naismith Vorkosigan 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 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.

Bujold currently lives in Minnesota. She is divorced and has two children.

Science fiction and fantasy

Lois Bujold wrote three books (Shards of Honor, Ethan of Athos and The Warrior's Apprentice) before The Warrior's Apprentice was accepted after four rejections. On the strength of The Warrior's Apprentice, Baen Books agreed to a three-book deal to include the two prior novels. Thus began Bujold's career in science fiction.

She 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 very low offers, forcing her to go 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.

Selected works

The Vorkosigan Saga

Listed in series order:

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, Mutants and Microbes (contains Falling Free, Diplomatic Immunity, "Labyrinth")
  • Miles in Love (contains Komarr, A Civil Campaign, "Winterfair Gifts")
  • Test of Honor (contains Shards of Honor, The Warrior's Apprentice)
  • Vorkosigan's Game (Out of Print - contained The Vor Game, "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "The Borders of Infinity" including the framing story for the collection Borders of Infinity)

Audiobooks

  • "Books-on-tape/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, a now defunct audio-book publisher.
  • "Books-on-tape/CD/MP3 downloads" versions of The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, Memory, Komarr and A Civil Campaign are produced by Blackstone Audio and are also available from Audible.com.

Fantasy tales

Audiobooks

  • "Books-on-tape/CD/MP3 downloads" versions of The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, The Hallowed Hunt, The Sharing Knife: Vol1 Beguilement, The Sharing Knife: Vol 2 Legacy, and The Sharing Knife: Vol 3 Passage are produced by Blackstone Audio and are also available from Audible.com.

Ebooks

Others

  • Co-edited Women at War, with Roland J. Green; this was published in December 1995.
  • Contributed an essay to Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern, published on August 6, 2013 by Ben Bella Books, Inc.

Major Awards (not for single works)

  • Strannik Award 2000 (Russian science fiction writer's award; for the Vorkosigan Saga)
  • Fictionwise eBook 2002 Author of the Year and 2003 Author of the Year
  • Ohioana Career Award in 2007
  • Romantic Times Achievement Awards for Sci-Fi/Fantasy in 2009.
  • Skylark Award 2011 (Edward E Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction, NESFA)
  • Forry Award 2013 (Los Angeles Science Fiction Society)
  • WorldCon Guest of Honor, 2008, in Denver

External links

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