Questions for Lois McMaster Bujold

[LMB]

Two quick questions:

1. ... what happened to Galeni's mother? There's no mention of her after Brothers In Arms, where Galeni says she helped identify his brother's remains after the bombing that supposedly killed his father. And then ... nothing. Is she dead? On Komarr? Did I just miss a line somewhere? Because no mention in either ACC or in Miles' reading of Galeni's secret file in BIA. And you'd think the subject would come up in A Civil Campaign, at the least.

2. Is "Ser" a first name, or a title, in place of Signeur (or variants), or whatever. That's been bugging me forever, since Komarr has a vaguely Italian-ish feel, so I couldn't take it for granted that it was a name. We've seen a Ser Galen and a Ser Anafi (IIRC), and I have no idea.

I do not know what happened to Galeni's mother, except she's no longer in his picture by the time of _Brothers in Arms_, when he's in his early 30's. Dead, divorced and remarried, emigrated, estranged...? If dead, then of non-Barrayaran causes, methinks, though.

"Ser" is meant as a title, but may also be used as a name -- consider "Earl", after all.

Ta, L.

[LMB]

What are your thoughts on pacing? I've read Ken Follett say that you need a plot turn (or something interesting happen) about every 3 pages. I personally like to read a novel that keeps the pages turning, but still unveils its secrets layer by layer and gives me time get to know the characters.

Pacing is another thing I do by gut feel. It's also very much a matter of readerly taste, since content that rivets one reader may bore another to tears. I prefer pacing to be reasonably brisk, but not to the point of being under-written. Variation of interest is good -- relentless action or physical violence becomes as dull an any other one-note song, if it's not alternated with other moods and modes.

Ta, L.

[voralfred]

Dear Lois
A question came to me all of a sudden, that I could have asked myself many years ago: how did you choose the names of the stars of the Cetagnada Empire? Of course the simple answer "any random greek letters as is usual for naming stars in any constellation" seemed sufficient to me, for years.
But suddenly I realized something: except for Mu, all the others you actually name (Eta, Rho, Xi, Sigma - the othar three are never named) are names of elementary particles in Gell-Mann's "Eightfold Way". Also, Eta is the capital of the Eight-Stars Cetaganda Empire, and Eta is the only particle among those whose names you used, that sits at the center of one octet (namely, the scalar meson octet).
As for Mu, it is a historical fact that Yukawa predicted the existence of a particle, later found and called Pi (and that belongs to the Gell-Mann's Eightfold way), but when the first ever artificial subatomic particle was discovered and called Mu, it was thought for some time to be Yukawa's one. So if you did not want a "Pi(e) in the Sky", changing the name into Mu made some kind of sense, because of this original confusion.
Did I guess correctly, or do I see too much in your naming scheme?
If I am right, we now know the name of the three other stars of the Empire: Phi Ceta, Omega Ceta and Lambda Ceta. Indeed these are the only remaining greek-letter names of particles that sit in octets (except that there would be a problem of precedence with Eta Ceta, since all three also sit at the center of some octet)!

[LMB]

Top posting...

Hi Alfred!

Interestingly enough, there was a column in this month's Scientific American on just this topic, people's predilection to seek patterns whether they are there or not. ("Cultivate Your Garden" by Michael Shermer, page 30, Feb. 2010.)

Your first guess was correct, this time.

On the other hand, if I need to name the rest of the planets in the Cetagandan Empire in future, I now have a nifty plan, so your mental effort may not be wasted.

Ta, L.

Dear Lois
A question came to me all of a sudden, that I could have asked myself many years ago: how did you choose the names of the stars of the Cetagnada Empire? Of course the simple answer "any random greek letters as is usual for naming stars in any constellation" seemed sufficient to me, for years.
But suddenly I realized something: except for Mu, all the others you actually name (Eta, Rho, Xi, Sigma - the othar three are never named) are names of elementary particles in Gell-Mann's "Eightfold Way". Also, Eta is the capital of the Eight-Stars Cetaganda Empire, and Eta is the only particle among those whose names you used, that sits at the center of one octet (namely, the scalar meson octet).
As for Mu, it is a historical fact that Yukawa predicted the existence of a particle, later found and called Pi (and that belongs to the Gell-Mann's Eightfold way), but when the first ever artificial subatomic particle was discovered and called Mu, it was thought for some time to be Yukawa's one. So if you did not want a "Pi(e) in the Sky", changing the name into Mu made some kind of sense, because of this original confusion.
Did I guess correctly, or do I see too much in your naming scheme?
If I am right, we now know the name of the three other stars of the Empire: Phi Ceta, Omega Ceta and Lambda Ceta. Indeed these are the only remaining greek-letter names of particles that sit in octets (except that there would be a problem of precedence with Eta Ceta, since all three also sit at the center of some octet)!

[voralfred]

(...) people's predilection to seek patterns whether they are there or not. ("Cultivate Your Garden" by Michael Shermer, page 30, Feb. 2010.)

Your first guess was correct, this time.

Well, I should have known: my theory of the Mu/Pi substitution was much too contrived. If you had wanted to use the Eightfold Way you would have either Pi rather than Mu, or ignored Pi entirely and used one of the other available Greek letters, since you did not name all eight planets anyway...

On the other hand, if I need to name the rest of the planets in the Cetagandan Empire in future, I now have a nifty plan, so your mental effort may not be wasted.

Ta, L.

[aaronw409]

Hi LMB,

I totally understand if you can't answer this, but will Cryoburn be released on print and audiobook simultaneously or will the print be released first, followed by the audiobook version? Is this a question for the publisher? I can't wait.

Also, something from A Civil Campaign bothers me. Near the end, when Ekaterin proposes to Miles, he practices writing Ekaterin's new name to be. Speaking from a male point of view, I can say that I have never done this. I have never practiced writing a girlfriend's name or future wife's name using my surname. The thought has never occured to me, and I just don't think that it occurs to most men. I may be totally wrong, and you are the Queen of Mile's Universe, so if you say he would do that , then that's all you have to tell me. Do you have any thoughts?

Thanks!

[LMB]

Hi LMB,

I totally understand if you can't answer this, but will Cryoburn be released on print and audiobook simultaneously or will the print be released first, followed by the audiobook version? Is this a question for the publisher? I can't wait.

Also, something from A Civil Campaign bothers me. Near the end, when Ekaterin proposes to Miles, he practices writing Ekaterin's new name to be. Speaking from a male point of view, I can say that I have never done this. I have never practiced writing a girlfriend's name or future wife's name using my surname. The thought has never occured to me, and I just don't think that it occurs to most men. I may be totally wrong, and you are the Queen of Mile's Universe, so if you say he would do that , then that's all you have to tell me. Do you have any thoughts?

Thanks!

Hi Aaron --

The audiobook rights to CryoBurn have been licensed to Blackstone; their production schedule is up to them. I never find out pub dates myself till they post them on their website. They don't have the final, galley-proofread manuscript yet, though, so I don't imagine they've started on recording it yet.

The range of male behavior is surely as wide as the range of female behavior; anything is possible to an individual that yet might not represent the middle of the bell curve. Miles doesn't spend much time in the middle of any bell curve, actually.

Statistical reasoning is not reciprocal. One can aggregate individuals and make reliable statistically-based predictions about groups and group or average behavior; one may not take group data and make reliable predictions about individuals and individual behavior. In a bimodal distribution the mean is a fairly useless figure, etc. Gotta watch those statistical arguments, and make sure they are matched to the appropriate domain.

bests, Lois.

[aaronw409]

HA! I actually teach statistics and I totally understand your argument. The real problem is my method of sampling. The only people I've included in my study are males that I know. That's called a sample of convenience and is not very representative of the population. I should perform a better study by taking a larger, more random sample of males and survey them on this question. Then I can test the claim that most males would not practice writing their wife's name to be (the claim that the percentage is greater than 50%). If I could just show that the probability that a random male does this is less than 0.05....well, you're right, Miles is not a random male. lol

After thinking about it, I identify with Miles because I am a "hyperactive git" who is obsessed with military history. I tend to put myself in Miles's shoes. It is not a fair comparison and wasn't intended to be a criticism. If I was in the room with Miles while he was doing this, I would give him worse hell than Ivan would!

[LMB]

HA! I actually teach statistics and I totally understand your argument. The real problem is my method of sampling. The only people I've included in my study are males that I know. That's called a sample of convenience and is not very representative of the population. I should perform a better study by taking a larger, more random sample of males and survey them on this question. Then I can test the claim that most males would not practice writing their wife's name to be (the claim that the percentage is greater than 50%). If I could just show that the probability that a random male does this is less than 0.05....well, you're right, Miles is not a random male. lol

After thinking about it, I identify with Miles because I am a "hyperactive git" who is obsessed with military history. I tend to put myself in Miles's shoes. It is not a fair comparison and wasn't intended to be a criticism. If I was in the room with Miles while he was doing this, I would give him worse hell than Ivan would!

At that point, Ivan wouldn't *dare*.

, L.

[voralfred]

Dear Lois
I'm rereading _HH_ and I wonder: near the end of Chapter 4, when learning about Ijada's mother's death, Hallana asks

"Hm" said Hallana, "I wonder if-no, never mind"

Can you remember what she was wondering about?

[LMB]

Dear Lois
I'm rereading _HH_ and I wonder: near the end of Chapter 4, when learning about Ijada's mother's death, Hallana asks

"Hm" said Hallana, "I wonder if-no, never mind"

Can you remember what she was wondering about?

She was wondering if this or that medical intervention would have saved Ijada's mother, and was about to speculate, then realized such shop-talk might distress Ijada.

Ta, L.

[voralfred]

Thanks a lot! It' great that you can reconstruct your thoughts so long afterwards.
Do you by any chance have a new idea about that other query, that justified an entire thread?
What was Baron Fell's price for Nicol?

[LMB]

Thanks a lot! It' great that you can reconstruct your thoughts so long afterwards.
Do you by any chance have a new idea about that other query, that justified an entire thread?
What was Baron Fell's price for Nicol?

Nope, sorry.

Ta, L.

[Pragmataraxia]

Have you ever been approached to use any of your IP for a video game? Not necessarily any of your characters or stories which may be too much like children to hand off, but you put in so much work defining the worlds in which your characters interact, that I can't help but want to explore them more on my own.

After reading all 4 TSK books for the first time last week, the Wide Green World has some awesome potential for roleplaying/adventure games. Particularly, I found myself daydreaming about a game that covers the events that created the Barrens. That must have been one epic malice war, and if (malices? malicii? malicae?) boggles have the sense to run from more powerful ones, you have a whole cascade of successively weaker ones moving out into less-troubled regions; all the way to peaceful regions where low-level characters might be found...

It is an incredible recipe for a video-game world, and I would love to think that serious publishers are beating down your door to pillage all the creamy goodness you've constructed just for your settings.

[Lorij]

I've just finished reading Ethan of Athos, which was a particularly awesome book. But I had a minor question. Who was Quinn thinking of when she told Cee that the Dendarii actually had someone who was much stranger than him?

[voralfred]

I've just finished reading Ethan of Athos, which was a particularly awesome book. But I had a minor question. Who was Quinn thinking of when she told Cee that the Dendarii actually had someone who was much stranger than him?

My first, spontaneous answer was "TAURA!" but of course EoA takes place just after Cetaganda and just before Labyrinth! (to say nothing of the fact that it was also written before). Well, there is always Miles himself, of course, who is strange by any standard. Bel is rather unusual, but not as much as Cee. In fact Quinn almost explicitely mentions him, though not by name ("one of our best ship captains is a genetic hermaphrodite.") Bel also wanted to hire Nicol as Fleet Musician, but she did not join in. Anyway it was also on the occasion of Labyrinth, thus after EoA. But if they are examples of the Dendarii, well, as one of them said (precisely in Labyrinth, and about Nicol I believe) "... stay in this outfit long enough, you see one of everything."

[LMB]

Have you ever been approached to use any of your IP for a video game? Not necessarily any of your characters or stories which may be too much like children to hand off, but you put in so much work defining the worlds in which your characters interact, that I can't help but want to explore them more on my own.

After reading all 4 TSK books for the first time last week, the Wide Green World has some awesome potential for roleplaying/adventure games. Particularly, I found myself daydreaming about a game that covers the events that created the Barrens. That must have been one epic malice war, and if (malices? malicii? malicae?) boggles have the sense to run from more powerful ones, you have a whole cascade of successively weaker ones moving out into less-troubled regions; all the way to peaceful regions where low-level characters might be found...

It is an incredible recipe for a video-game world, and I would love to think that serious publishers are beating down your door to pillage all the creamy goodness you've constructed just for your settings.

Well, the GURPS Vorkosigan book is finally out, from Steve Jackson Games.

But no, no videogame inquiries. A serious professional gaming company would presumably know how to approach my agent.

No one has suggested the Wide Green World in that connection before -- you're a bit of a first. I would have no objection to selling gaming rights to a proven producer, but the trouble might come if they wanted me to supply them with more worldbuilding. I don't do much worldbuilding in advance of a story, just in case I need it to be different. It would be... stressful, to do it backwards.

Malices, methinks.

bests, Lois.

[LMB]

I've just finished reading Ethan of Athos, which was a particularly awesome book. But I had a minor question. Who was Quinn thinking of when she told Cee that the Dendarii actually had someone who was much stranger than him?

I no longer remember what I was thinking, but there are a number of plausible possibilities. Pick any you like.

Ta, L.

[anp925]

Dear Lois,

this is my first visit here, so i'd first like to say that I've read most of your books (many more than once). I don't have a question about anything specific plotwise, but there are a few things I hope you can answer. I hope it's not too much, or that these aren't the same old questions everyone asks (some will be, sorry!)

1) i have a couple of favorites among your novels. do you? are there any that you weren't as satisfied with as you would have wished? did any exceed your expectations?

2) which series has been the easiest to write?

3) the chalion series seems to be different in that each novel has a different main character (I hope that's right. i can't remember hallowed hunt actually), and are therefore much more stand-alone. is there a reason you didn't make a main character for the whole series?

4) i'm about to reread the last two miles books so that i'll remember what was going on when I get cryoburn in the fall. Did you have to do the same thing before you started writing it??

5) will you be making a new series again, or (hopefully), alternating between miles and chalion -- in what setting will your next (few) novel(s) be?

thanks!

anp

[LMB]

Hi anp!

I don't check this board often, so apologies for the delayed reply.

I have a slew of interviews here: http://www.dendarii.com/interviews.html which may answer some of your questions at greater length.

My favorites slide around from year to year, depending on my mood. The Curse of Chalion looks as it it's going to hold up well over time. The Sharing Knife has had a more bifurcated reader-response. The Vor Game has a rather awkward structure.

Nothing is easy to write. They are just differently-hard.

What is it about Hallowed Hunt...? Another very bifurcated-response book. Possibly making a passive-aggressive bravo my sole viewpoint character was not the optimum choice, I dunno. Ingrey was definitely the Son's boyo, though.

But yeah. After all that time writing the Miles series, which had become stuck on one character, I wanted to open up the series structure with Chalion. If I do more, I would likely go to still other characters, countries and times. I wanted that variety, for a change. TSK is another series-structure still, one continuous story in 4 volumes.

I do re-read old works sometimes, for reference, but seldom the whole lot of them at once.

I can't say what I'll be doing next. Right now, I'm using stalled-out time to do home renovations, which have proliferated far beyond my original scheme, though an end may be in sight.

I just read the CryoBurn galleys this past weekend (speaking of re-reading one's own work), so the book is moving slowly but steadily toward publication.

bests, Lois.

Dear Lois,

this is my first visit here, so i'd first like to say that I've read most of your books (many more than once). I don't have a question about anything specific plotwise, but there are a few things I hope you can answer. I hope it's not too much, or that these aren't the same old questions everyone asks (some will be, sorry!)

1) i have a couple of favorites among your novels. do you? are there any that you weren't as satisfied with as you would have wished? did any exceed your expectations?

2) which series has been the easiest to write?

3) the chalion series seems to be different in that each novel has a different main character (I hope that's right. i can't remember hallowed hunt actually), and are therefore much more stand-alone. is there a reason you didn't make a main character for the whole series?

4) i'm about to reread the last two miles books so that i'll remember what was going on when I get cryoburn in the fall. Did you have to do the same thing before you started writing it??

5) will you be making a new series again, or (hopefully), alternating between miles and chalion -- in what setting will your next (few) novel(s) be?

thanks!

anp

[voralfred]

Dear Lois
A few questions have arisen in respect to the origin of the names of the characters:
- Illyan: can you confirm he is named after Illya Kuryakin "the man from U.N.CL.E."? I think I read it somewhere, but I forgot where.
- is Vordarian supposed ot be of Armenian origin?
- strange that the question only occured after so many years. I have assumed all this time that Kosigan was of russian origin, but now our "man from Antwerp", E Pericoloso Sporgersi a.k.a. Francis, a.k.a. Ciske, has proposed an origin from french Brittany, which I enlarged to Celtic whether Brittany or any celtic part of the British Isles. Can you enlighten us?

[LMB]

Dear Lois
A few questions have arisen in respect to the origin of the names of the characters:
- Illyan: can you confirm he is named after Illya Kuryakin "the man from U.N.CL.E."? I think I read it somewhere, but I forgot where.
- is Vordarian supposed ot be of Armenian origin?
- strange that the question only occured after so many years. I have assumed all this time that Kosigan was of russian origin, but now our "man from Antwerp", E Pericoloso Sporgersi a.k.a. Francis, a.k.a. Ciske, has proposed an origin from french Brittany, which I enlarged to Celtic whether Brittany or any celtic part of the British Isles. Can you enlighten us?

Hi Alfred!

Yes, Illyan harkens back to Illya Kuryakin.

The Darian part of Vordarian came out of I-don't-know-where; "Upon a peak in Darian" for all I know. (It's a line from a poem of which I now remember neither title nor author.)

Kosigan was of Russian origin, but one may presume the 23rd. C. settlers from various regions of Earth to Barrayar were a more mixed population than they are today. This is a current general world-wide trend that I don't imagine will diminish.

Ta, Lois.

[voralfred]

Hi Alfred!

Yes, Illyan harkens back to Illya Kuryakin.

The Darian part of Vordarian came out of I-don't-know-where; "Upon a peak in Darian" for all I know. (It's a line from a poem of which I now remember neither title nor author.)

Kosigan was of Russian origin, but one may presume the 23rd. C. settlers from various regions of Earth to Barrayar were a more mixed population than they are today. This is a current general world-wide trend that I don't imagine will diminish.

Ta, Lois.

Dear Lois
Thanks for your prompt answer.

The poem is likely this sonnet by Keats
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/engli ... homer.html
but it is spelled
"Silent, upon a peak in Darien."
(I don't have in my head this fantastic culture: I just googled it! The good thing about Google is that it checks alternate spellings...)

[voralfred]

Dear Lois
The famous family, containing among others the rather infamous Pierre, Dono (the architect), Ges and Richars, but also the more endearing Donna/Dono and her/his sidekick Byerly, is consistently spelled Vorrutyer in all your books.
Did you really mean this, or did you originally mean Vorruyter, in honor of a Dutch celebrated admiral, Michiel de Ruyter, whose name is occasionally mispelled as Rutyer on many web pages?
It took me some time even to realize the spellings were different, one needed the eye of a Dutch speaker, actually our Flemish friend from Antwerp, to spot the difference.....

[LMB]

Dear Lois
The famous family, containing among others the rather infamous Pierre, Dono (the architect), Ges and Richars, but also the more endearing Donna/Dono and her/his sidekick Byerly, is consistently spelled Vorrutyer in all your books.
Did you really mean this, or did you originally mean Vorruyter, in honor of a Dutch celebrated admiral, Michiel de Ruyter, whose name is occasionally mispelled as Rutyer on many web pages?
It took me some time even to realize the spellings were different, one needed the eye of a Dutch speaker, actually our Flemish friend from Antwerp, to spot the difference.....

Nope. It's actually a Time-of-Isolation mutation of the German name "Rutger". A lot of Barrayaran names got twisted around during those centuries (an effect familiar to the many Americans who had their names rearranged while passing through Ellis Island and similar entry points, back when.)

But the other would also do as a source, why not?

Ta, L.