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The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold.^[1] Most of these were published between 1986 and 2002, with the exceptions being “Winterfair Gifts” (2004) and Cryoburn (2010). Works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations, including winning four Hugo awards.

Bujold’s approach varies, sometimes crossing genres. All the novels include humor and comedy, sometimes very black and juxtaposed with tragic deaths or losses. She mixes military adventure, political thriller, romance, and the whodunit in various proportions.

The point of view characters include women (Cordelia in Shards of Honor, Barrayar; Ekaterin in Komarr and A Civil Campaign), a gay man (Ethan of Athos), and a pair of brothers, one of whom is disabled and the other a clone (Miles and Mark Vorkosigan). All these “outsider” characters belong to a socially prestigious class and are well-educated. In the last two works, we also get the point of view of Armsman Roic and the boy Jin, who are less privileged and articulate.

An important concern of the series is medical ethics. The author focuses on problems of personal identity, particularly the role of the physical in determining personhood. In this science-fiction context, identity may be affected by bioengineering, genetic manipulation, cloning, and medical technology allowing the replacement of failing systems and the prolonging of life. Some stories explore the relationships among child-rearing, pair-bonding (romantic love), and sexual activity.

The various forms of society and government Bujold presents often reflect 20th-century politics. In many novels, there is a contrast between the technology-rich egalitarian democratic socialism of Beta Colony and the heroic, militaristic, hierarchical society of Barrayar, where personal relationships must ensure societal continuity. Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, the protagonist of most of the series, is the son of a Betan mother and a Barrayaran aristocrat, embodying this contrast.

Background[link]

"Vorkosiverse"[link]

As in Isaac Asimov's earlier Foundation series, humanity has colonized a galaxy in which there are no competing intelligent species. The first successful colony was Beta. Since that time (at least 400 years before Falling Free or 600 years before Shards of Honor), dozens of planets now host divergent, evolving cultures.^[2]

Wormhole travel as envisioned by Les Bossinas for NASA

Travel between star systems is made possible by wormholes, spatial anomalies which allow instantaneous “jumps” between widely separated locations. The systems are known collectively as the Wormhole Nexus. Typically wormholes are bracketed by space stations, military or commercial, which provide ports for jump travel. Stations may be owned by planetary governments, or by specific commercial organizations, or they may be completely independent of any planetary organization (e.g. the Quaddie Union and Kline Station).

Wormhole travel depends on “five-space math,” “Necklin field generator rods” which fold three dimensions into five, and pilots with brain implants which allow them to experience a jump as a duration of time. Most star systems have at most one planet which has been made habitable for humans. In most cases, there is a single government which dominates the entire planet (an exception is Jackson's Whole). Both Cetaganda and Barrayar have empires, acquired by conquering other planets via neighboring wormholes. The Betan Survey Service, in which Cordelia Naismith is a captain at the beginning of Shards of Honor, maps unexplored sectors of the Nexus and explores new systems for habitable planets.

Bujold pays token attention to the variations in measurable time units from planet to planet, positing an earth-based “standard year” which holds through the entire Nexus. Moreover, days are calculated in terms of a “standard hour” no matter how long they are, so that Barrayar has a day 26.7 hours long. Bujold herself has commented that her posited system is neither technologically nor economically feasible, but is rather a convenience for storytelling.^[3]

Technology[link]

Bujold’s father and brother were engineers, and many of the technological details she incorporates are based on 20th-century engineering situations, projected into null-g or alternative solar system situations (this is especially true of Falling Free, the most technologically dense of the novels). Some inventions, such as the uterine replicator, have an important thematic role. Many of her devices, however, simply give a futuristic gloss to the daily life of the distant future, as she shows characters performing ordinary tasks with unexpected tools (e.g. sonic laundry or toilets).^[4]

Bujold presents issues of technological obsolescence and the high rate of failure of R&D projects in personal terms, via bioengineering. Two jump pilots with obsolete navigational brain implants and a number of characters (the quaddies, Betan hermaphrodites, Taura, Guppy, even to some extent the clones rescued in Mirror Dance) are psychologically stranded by the termination of the program for which they were designed.

Anti-gravity technology[link]

Space stations in the past (up to 200 years before the action of Shards of Honor) were null-g or used centrifugal force to generate partial gravity, but now they use artificial gravity. Falling Free and Diplomatic Immunity explore the relationship between a null-g culture and one which depends on gravity.

Even small spaceships employ artificial gravity to shield their passengers from the effects of high acceleration, allowing them to cross a solar system in a matter of hours or days. The novels present a wide variety of ships, both military and commercial and even personal “yachts.”

Vehicles for personal travel on planets with an Earthlike gravity and atmosphere include “lightflyers” and “aircars” for long distances, and “groundcars,” which have no wheels but ride on an antigravity cushion. Groundcars range from sporty models to armored limos. Public transportation systems include urban bubblecars (individual pods which can be programmed to run on designated lines to the desired destination) and monorails for longer distances. Besides vehicles, other anti-gravity devices include “lift tubes,” elevators without floors which gently lift or lower the person inside; mobile float-chairs, which serve as wheelchairs; stable anti-grav beds and chairs; and float-pallets, which serve as hand-trucks, gurneys, etc. depending on the context.

Computing and communications[link]

The society of Miles Vorkosigan’s lifetime is almost paperless. Aside from paper currency and possibly toilet paper, paper is largely metaphorical (“white as paper,” “publish a paper”). Books printed on paper are by definition antiques. There are however references in “Labyrinth” to a bookfax and a newsfax. Actual paper is expensive and used only for the most important documents, including love letters. “Plastic flimsy” sheets are used for note-taking and computer printouts.

Two-dimensional video has been replaced, apparently completely, by “holovids” in three dimensions. Live holovids have replaced phone calls, and pre-recorded holovids have replaced letters. Interactive holovids include maps and photo albums (portable on a holocube) and computer-generated scenarios such as battle projections. In Shards of Honor, Cordelia borrows a holovid reporter’s camera, but in most of the books a computer/holovid screen seems to have a built-in camera which can record an image or video.

The alternative to video communication seems to be wireless audio via comm link. Portable comm links are used primarily by the military, police, or other security personnel, and are tuned to certain channels. Thus they are more like a two-way radio than like a telephone.

Any communication to another system in the galaxy has to be recorded on a physical disc which is transported through the wormhole; chains of these are referenced in Diplomatic Immunity (Chapter 9) where messages are 'squirted' to a station on one side of a wormhole, flown (on a physical medium) through the wormhole and re-squirted to a similar arrangement at the next wormhole in the sequence. Possibly only fairly important (and expensive?) messages are handled this way.

Computing is omnipresent in the series and is based primarily on cable connections and hard media. Media include book discs (which can also be read with a book reader, and allow highlighting and marginal notes), data cubes, data discs, and chips. The main interface with computers seems to be the screen, and the references to “punching up” a file suggest a touchscreen. The amount of data entry, writing, and editing of reports suggests that keyboards still exist, however. In Falling Free and Shards of Honor there is mention of a light pen, a 1980s input device.

Wireless computing is not prominent. In Falling Free, each student has a “scribble board” which automatically transcribes the words of a lecture, and one has a “lap board” which seems to be a laptop. Networks tend to be local, confined to a single spaceship or military department. Educational networks appear to be primarily videoconference-based rather than time-shifted distance ed. In Komarr, it appears that Ekaterin has accessed medical information on something like the Web.

A comconsole is a unit with one or more holovid screens, a computer, and various input devices. It may include an alarm clock, etc.

Military technology[link]

The most sophisticated communications technology involves military command. The tactics room and the command helmet offer a choice of visual displays of various kinds and audio inputs, allowing the user to track individual and group movements, whether of spaceships or soldiers. This technology could not have been suggested to the author by military video games, however, as many of her books were written before such games were invented.

Personal weapons include the stunner, with variable settings, which is fatal only to those who are susceptible to heart failure; the nerve disrupter, which does no visible damage but essentially lobotomizes the victim; the needler, which fires many small sharp projectiles which tear the flesh of the victim, resulting in death; and the plasma arc, which burns and potentially destroys anything in the line of fire. The plasma arc can also be used as a tool, for example to dig a grave. By the time Miles Vorkosigan is 20, in The Vor Game, Beta Colony has begun to develop garments which protect the wearer from nerve disruptors.

Larger weapons include the sonic grenade, the gravitic imploder lance (requiring proximity of the target), and large plasma guns. In Shards of Honor, Beta Colony develops “plasma mirrors,” defensive weapons for spaceships which return any fire to the source.

Weaponized poisons show up on the planet Barrayar as military stockpiles which should be destroyed (soltoxin, fetaine). Other poisons have their origins on Jackson’s Whole or in the Cetagandan Empire, and may be carefully engineered to target a particular person or to have a limited effect.

A truth serum, “fast-penta,” is available to law enforcement, military, and criminal groups. It is administered by injection (“hypospray”), followed by an antidote at the end of the interrogation. Spies and others whose secrets must be guarded may be treated to induce a fatal allergy to fast-penta. The series includes a number of scenes in which characters under fast-penta (or telepathic interrogation) reveal personal feelings as well as significant facts.

Biospheres[link]

The Nexus includes a variety of ecologies. Some planets, such as Barrayar and Sergyar, have gravity and atmosphere similar to Earth’s, and supplies of water. Others, such as Beta Colony and Komarr, can only be inhabited by people if they are gathered in cities under domes or arcologies with a controlled climate. Human life requires Earth-based botanical life, and Bujold devotes a good deal of attention in some novels to this. Most inhabited planets undergo terraforming, that is, the destruction of native plant and animal life and the imposition of Earth-based forms. In Komarr, we learn that terraforming may eventually provide a breathable atmosphere outside the domed cities. In A Civil Campaign, the possibility of genetically engineered critters which eat native vegetation and produce manure suitable for earth vegetation is welcomed by the viceregents of the newly colonized planet Sergyar.

Bujold presents a variety of realistic food supply technologies, including hydroponics, cultured or vat-grown meat, and fish farming. On the futuristic side, the “butterbugs” of A Civil Campaign host a microbial suite which produces a nonperishable “perfect” (in terms of human nutritional needs) food.

Some people live in space habitats, and the “quaddies” of Falling Free cannot live anywhere else. The closed ecology of a space station is satirized in Ethan of Athos, with the emphasis on preventing microbial contamination, the air supply dependent on algae and newts, the processing of dead or contraband animals (and one dead human) into vat meat supplies, and the storage of garbage in the vacuum outside the station.

Medical technology[link]

Bujold’s future in one in which genetic manipulation can produce almost any kind of clone or hybrid. Essential to manipulation of the human genome is the "uterine replicator," which allows completely in vitro human reproduction. The embryo and fetus can be studied and refined in the replicator, removing any undesirable traits and compensating for weaknesses. Aside from the questions of medical ethics this raises, it is a feminist issue on Barrayar, where the social roles of women have been entirely defined by their reproductive function. It also makes possible the all-male society of Athos, where eggs come from a lab, not a woman.

Bioengineering produces highly tailored microbes (Memory, Diplomatic Immunity), grotesque pets (the sphinx in Cryoburn) or gifts to humanity such as the butterbugs. On the human level, experiments attempt the ideal soldier (“Labyrinth”), the ideal worker (Falling Free), the ideal spy (Ethan of Athos), and even the ideal underwater ballet (Diplomatic Immunity). Beta is home to a group of hermaphrodites, a social as well as medical experiment that “didn’t catch on” but has produced many sex therapists. The Barrayaran fear of mutations is contrasted with the anything-goes attitude of bioengineers who have little concern for the consciousness of their creations.

Medical prolonging of human life is important in several books, but especially Mirror Dance and Cryoburn. The government-mandated responsible and well-adjusted lifestyle of the Betans results in a long natural lifespan (120 years), while the Cetagandan haut class prolong not only life but the appearance of youth. House Bharaputra of Jackson’s Whole specializes in transplants of the brains of aging persons into young cloned bodies. Almost routine is freezing and then resurrecting accident victims; Cryoburn depicts an entire society in which all those who can afford it are frozen to await revival when medicine has cured their ills.

Society[link]

The Nexus allows Bujold, paradoxically, to imagine a world in which travel and communication require far more time and effort than in the real-life 21st century, since the wormhole jumps present a special barrier. Each planet is a kind of petri dish in which a particular human culture—derived to some extent from a culture known historically on Earth—thrives and changes. The worlds of Barrayar and Athos suggest aspects of preindustrial Europe and America.

Cultures range from the monastic utopia of Athos to the genetically enhanced and highly aggressive inhabitants of the Cetagandan Empire; from the cut-throat capitalists of Jackson's Whole to moderate and scientific Escobar. The quaddies, genetically engineered to be the perfect workers, practice a communism in which the work gang is the basic unit of governance.

Although Bujold explores and satirizes many kinds of societies and prejudices, her universe lacks or fails to consider several sources of social organization and prejudice on Earth: language, skin color, and religion. Except for two scenes in all the novels, all Nexus inhabitants speak English, though they may know other languages or have a planetary accent.^[5] A good-looking woman, whether a four-armed quaddie, a Cetagandan haut-lady glimpsed in her floating bubble, or a Barrayaran damsel, has skin comparable to ivory or milk. The one important non-Caucasian character, the Asian Ky Tung, is from Earth. Only isolated Athos has a planetary religion, though Cordelia Naismith and Leo Graf (the hero of Falling Free) believe in a God.

Instead, Bujold builds prejudice into the “local,” i.e. planetary, economics and history. The Barrayarans, with their single wormhole to defend and broadly habitable planet, both need and can afford a militaristic society with a certain amount of internal competition as large families spread out into newly terraformed regions. They see discipline as emanating from the Emperor through the all-male militarized hierarchy. The Betans, on a hostile planet where they must live in domes, rely on industrial export; they limit not only childbearing but also every kind of behavior that might be considered “antisocial.” From their point of view, Barrayaran society is irrational and backwards, while the Barrayarans view them as undisciplined in every way, referring to a “Betan vote” as an obstacle to decision-making. Planets accessible by a wide variety of wormholes become centers of trade and finance, whether benign (Komarr, Escobar) or malicious (Jackson’s Whole); any threat to the pocketbook is resented there. Finally, dwellers in space habitats despise all those who call one planet home as “dirt suckers.”

The Vorkosigans and Barrayar[link]

In all the books except Ethan of Athos and Falling Free, the protagonists are connected to the planet Barrayar, home of the Vorkosigan clan. Bujold devised for this planet a history which allowed for “swords ‘n’ spaceships.” ^[6] Barrayar in the lifetime of Miles Vorkosigan commands spaceships, computers, and other high technology, but its culture remembers dueling, examines newborns for defects and practices infanticide if any are found, celebrates the Emperor’s birthday by handing him bags of gold, and provides liveried life-sworn servants to carry love-letters sealed with the writer's blood.

Barrayar is a planet colonized by humans some four hundred years prior to Shards of Honor, the first Vorkosigan novel. Shortly after colonization, the 50,000 settlers become isolated by a failure of the sole wormhole connecting Barrayar to the rest of humanity. During the following centuries, referred to as the "Time of Isolation", the planet develops a feudal form of government, in which the Emperor is supported by sixty regional counts and other minor aristocrats, identified by the honorific Vor- in their names. The Vor caste is a military one, and Barrayaran culture is highly militaristic and patriarchal.

Barrayar is eventually rediscovered by a different wormhole route near the rich merchant planet Komarr. The Komarrans allow the neighboring expansionist Cetagandan Empire to invade Barrayar in return for commercial rights. Despite a significant technological advantage, the Cetagandans are finally driven off at great cost after many years of occupation and guerrilla warfare, in large part due to the leadership of General Count Piotr Vorkosigan, Miles' paternal grandfather. The Barrayarans in reprisal conquer and annex Komarr during the time of Aral Vorkosigan, Count Piotr's second son.

Aral Vorkosigan meets Cordelia Naismith, a nominal enemy from Beta Colony, at the commencement of another war. Forced to work together to survive on a hostile planet, they fall in love and eventually get married.

Cordelia becomes pregnant with Miles. However, an attempt is made to poison Aral and Cordelia. The side effects of the cure inflict life-threatening harm to the fetus. Desperate experimental medical procedures are required to save the unborn baby. Though his frailties are gradually mended, Miles' physical development is severely affected and, as an adult, he is subtly but noticeably misshapen and no taller than an adolescent boy. As a result, he has to deal with the deeply ingrained prejudice against mutants on his native world (though he is not one himself). With nearly pathological determination and high intelligence, aided by his supportive parents and their high social rank, he fashions an extraordinary military and civilian career in the Barrayaran Empire.

Reception[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

• Falling Free – won the Nebula Award for Best Novel of 1988; nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1989^[7][8]
• "Mountains of Mourning" – won the 1990 Hugo and Nebula awards for best novella^[9]
• The Vor Game – won the Hugo for Best Novel in 1991;^[10] nominated for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel that same year^[11]
• Barrayar – won the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1992;^[12] nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel of 1991^[11]
• Mirror Dance – won the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel in 1995^[13]
• Cetaganda – nominated for the Locus Award in 1997^[14]
• Memory – nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards in 1997^[14]
• A Civil Campaign – nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards in 2000^[15]
• Diplomatic Immunity – nominated for the Nebula Award in 2002^[16]
• Cryoburn – nominated for the Hugo Award^[17] and Locus Award^[18] in 2011

Sales and International Popularity[link]

Three of the novels made the New York Times Bestseller List when first released in hardback: A Civil Campaign at #26, Diplomatic Immunity at #25, and Cryoburn at #32.^[19] The novels have been translated into a number of languages; see the catalog of covers of various international editions at Bujold Cover Art Archive. A Warrior's Apprentice comic book was published in France in January 2010, the first of a projected series called La Saga Vorkosigan..^[20]

Works[link]

The roots of the Vorkosigan Saga lie in an early short story by Bujold, "Dreamweaver's Dilemma", which features a planet called Beta Colony and a character with the last name of Naismith. When beginning her first novel, Shards of Honor, Bujold incorporated these elements, but greatly expanded. She followed that up with the second novel with the same setting, The Warrior's Apprentice) then worked on Ethan of Athos. After being rejected by four publishers, The Warrior's Apprentice was accepted Baen Books, who agreed to a three-book deal to include the two other novels.

Shards of Honor and Barrayar concern Miles' parents, while "Dreamweaver’s Dilemma" concerns a distant ancestor of Cordelia Naismith, Ethan of Athos involves a few minor characters from other Vorkosigan novels, and Falling Free does not involve Miles or any of his family, though in a later novel, Miles encounters the descendants of the characters from Falling Free . While all the books and novellas are currently in print as ebooks, in America they are in print as omnibus editions.

In internal chronological order[link]

Note that the internal chronology is not exactly the same as the order in which the books were written. Bujold has stated on her blog that she is generally in favor of reading the books in internal chronological order.^[21] A more detailed chronology can be found in The Vorkosigan Companion.^[1]

"Dreamweaver’s Dilemma" (short story)[link]

"Dreamweaver’s Dilemma" is a short story set at the beginning of Earth's age of space colonization and genetic manipulation. It is published in the book entitled Dreamweaver’s Dilemma, which is a collection of short stories and essays by Bujold that had been previously unpublished and that she gathered together in this volume prior to her appearance at a NESFA convention. "Dreamweaver’s Dilemma" contains the first mention of Beta Colony. It is also the only Vorkosigan Saga story not published or republished by Baen Books.

[edit] Falling Free

200 years before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan, engineer Leo Graf encounters the Quaddies, who are genetically engineered to have an extra pair of arms instead of legs. Collected in the omnibus edition Miles, Mutants and Microbes.

[edit] Shards of Honor

Captain Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony meets the notorious Captain Lord Aral Vorkosigan of Barrayar. After being captured by Barrayarans and then escaping twice, she eventually has to escape Beta and flees to Barrayar, becoming Lady Vorkosigan. Collected in the omnibus edition Cordelia's Honor.

[edit] Barrayar

While Cordelia Vorkosigan is pregnant with Miles, an attempted assassination severely injures her unborn child. Meanwhile, Count Vordarian attempts a coup. Collected in the omnibus edition Cordelia's Honor.

[edit] The Warrior's Apprentice

Seventeen-year-old Miles breaks both legs during a run over an obstacle course, ruining his chances of qualifying for the Barrayaran Service Academy and a military career, the dream of most Barrayaran males. On his subsequent visit to Beta Colony, in quick succession, he obtains a ship, a pilot, and a smuggling mission, running guns to a beleaguered government. He captures another ship from the blockading Oseran Mercenaries, somewhat unintentionally, and, representing himself as an officer of the non-existent Dendarii Mercenaries, co-opts the crew through improvisation, sheer audacity and luck. Under "Admiral" Naismith's brilliant leadership, the Dendarii eventually take over the rest of the Oseran fleet and win the war.

With the unexpected and odd arrival of Miles’ cousin Ivan Vorpatril, he deduces that a political faction in the Council of Counts is attacking his father back on Barrayar by charging Miles with maintaining a private army—an act of capital treason. He returns home posthaste, uncovers the real plot behind the charges, and escapes trial by gaining the Emperor's approval to enlist the Dendarii (secretly and without the mercenaries themselves aware of it) into the Imperial forces. He is rewarded with admission to the Academy, which all who know him hope will keep him out of trouble for a while. Collected in the omnibus edition Young Miles.

"Mountains of Mourning" (novella)[link]

Miles has just graduated from the Imperial Academy, and is at home at Vorkosigan Surleau with his parents. A woman from the isolated village of Silvy Vale walks for three days to report the suspected murder of her baby, who was born with a cleft lip and palate. Miles' father sends him to investigate as his Voice (representative with full powers) to gain experience. Miles solves the mystery and exercises justice and mercy in appropriate measures. Collected in the omnibus editions Young Miles and Borders of Infinity.

[edit] The Vor Game

Miles is shipped off to the Hegen Hub after being accused of treason at home, and finds himself having to rescue his friend and Emperor, Gregor Vorbarra. Collected in the omnibus edition Young Miles.

[edit] Cetaganda

Miles and Ivan are sent to the home world of the Cetagandan Empire to represent Barrayar at an Imperial funeral, and quickly become entangled in a murderous Cetagandan plot. Collected in the omnibus edition Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem.

[edit] Ethan of Athos

This novel does not feature Miles except indirectly; his eventual girlfriend, Commander Elli Quinn of the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet, plays a leading role. Collected in the omnibus edition Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem.

"Labyrinth" (novella)[link]

Miles travels to Jackson's Whole, ostensibly to buy weapons, but in reality to help geneticist Dr. Hugh Canaba leave his current employer to go to work for Barrayar. Canaba throws a wrench into the works when he refuses to leave without certain experimental samples which he has injected into one of his earlier projects, a prototype "super-soldier". Even worse, the "super-soldier" has been sold to the paranoid and sadistic Baron Ryoval, whom Miles has recently offended.

Miles breaks into Ryoval's laboratory, but is caught and imprisoned in a utility sublevel where they are also keeping Canaba's dangerous specimen, "Nine". This turns out to be an eight-foot-tall warrior, complete with fangs, claws, superhuman strength and speed, and a ravenous appetite. Miles is shocked to find that the creature is female, and, despite her fearsome appearance, intelligent and emotionally vulnerable. She challenges him to prove that he believes she is human—by making love to her. Miles gets to indulge his weakness for tall strong women... He offers her a new life with the Dendarii, and a new name: Taura. They escape, committing one supreme act of sabotage and revenge before Dendarii Captain Bel Thorne manages to negotiate a ransom.

Miles finds several aspects of the deal unacceptable and the exchange turns into a minor battle with Ryoval's security. In the course of their hasty departure from the Jackson system. Miles sows confusion by telling different lies (and a couple of vital truths) to Ryoval and his rival half-brother, weapons dealer Baron Fell. Collected in the omnibus editions Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem, Miles, Mutants and Microbes, and Borders of Infinity.

"Borders of Infinity" (novella)[link]

Miles goes undercover and allows himself to be captured by the Cetagandans, who have invaded and occupied Marilac, in order to infiltrate a maximum-security POW camp on Dagoola IV. His mission is to get a single man out of the camp, but he has to improvise when his target proves to be on the verge of death.

With a little help from Suegar, an apparent religious fanatic, and Tris, the leader of the female prisoners, he instills order and hope in the apathetic, distrustful inmates, makes them rehearse for quick embarkation (disguised as a food distribution procedure), and stages one of the largest mass breakouts in history. As a result, the Cetagandans put a price on Naismith's head. At this point, they (along with nearly everyone else) are unaware that Naismith and Miles Vorkosigan are one and the same. Collected in the omnibus editions Miles Errant and Borders of Infinity.

[edit] Brothers in Arms

Miles is assigned to the Barrayaran Embassy on Earth as Third Military Attaché, and meets his clone, who has been trained as an assassin. Collected in the omnibus edition Miles Errant.

[edit] Borders of Infinity

The novellas "Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "Borders of Infinity" were reprinted with an untitled framing story in which Miles reports to Simon Illyan, head of ImpSec. The framing story emphasizes an audit—both financial and political—of ImpSec, questioning Miles' activities and expenditures during the previous adventures. This volume is short-novel length. The novellas are currently in print as part of other omnibus volumes but without the tie-together framing story.

[edit] Mirror Dance

Pretending to be Miles, Mark takes the Dendarii on a mission to free clones from Jackson's Whole. When Miles comes to rescue them, things go badly wrong. Collected in the omnibus edition Miles Errant.

[edit] Memory

After Miles has to resign from ImpSec, he finds himself investigating the sudden mental impairment of ImpSec chief Simon Illyan.

[edit] Komarr

Out of curiosity, Miles volunteers to observe Imperial Auditor Professor Vorthys's investigation of a serious industrial accident on Komarr. Once there, he manages to defeat plotters who sought to seal off the only wormhole to Barrayar, and falls in love with his hostess, Ekaterin Vorsoisson, who is trapped in an unhappy marriage. Her husband Tien is emotionally abusive and has a genetic condition called Vorzohn's Dystrophy. He is so intent on keeping this secret that, although it is treatable, he has not had treatment nor allowed their son to be tested for it. After she discovers that he has been taking bribes, she tells him that she is leaving, but before she does, he is accidentally killed in such a way as to point a finger of suspicion at Miles.

The apparent accident and Tien's acceptance of bribes prove to be related. A group of Komarrans working in the same terraforming facility as Tien have developed a revolutionary weapon with potentially devastating consequences for Barrayar. A failed test of the weapon led to the original accident. Miles and Ekaterin are caught up in the plot, but she proves to be just as effective as Miles in derailing their enemies' plans, much to his rapidly growing admiration. Once the Komarrans are defeated, the plot and the new weapon are classified at the highest levels possible—meaning that any information about Ekaterin's husband's death that might exonerate Miles in a subsequent inquiry cannot be disclosed.

Ekaterin decides to return to Barrayar to stay with her aunt and uncle (Auditor Vorthys) and complete her education.

This novel is notable for the switching of viewpoints between its two protagonists as part of the structure of a given scene. For instance, the scene of Ekaterin's questioning with fast-penta begins from her viewpoint, but as the drug takes hold (and the novel begins a new chapter) it continues from Miles's viewpoint. This technique is expanded in the next novel where multiple viewpoints are used. Collected in the omnibus edition Miles in Love.

[edit] A Civil Campaign

As Barrayar prepares for an Imperial wedding, Miles attempts to court Ekaterin Vorsoisson without her knowledge. Collected in the omnibus edition Miles in Love.

"Winterfair Gifts" (novella)[link]

This novella was published in February 2004 as part of the anthology Irresistible Forces (Catherine Asaro, editor). Bujold wrote this after completing Diplomatic Immunity.

The wedding of Miles and Ekaterin is recounted from the viewpoint of Miles' Armsman, Roic. Miles introduces Roic to Taura on her first (and due to her short life expectancy, probably her last) visit to Barrayar. The pair get along well, despite her rather unusual appearance. However, their blossoming romantic relationship is shattered when he makes an inadvertent remark about "hideous, bioengineered mutants"—referring to some bugs Mark has been bioengineering. Taura is hurt and insulted.

When Ekaterin is taken ill, Taura traces it to a string of pearls that had apparently been sent by current Dendarii Admiral (and Miles's ex-lover) Elli Quinn, and which do not look right to her augmented vision. With Roic's help, she brings it to the attention of ImpSec. The poisoned pearls are traced to a newly-acquired enemy of Miles's. Ekaterin recovers, and the wedding goes smoothly.

That night, Roic is on guard when Taura joins him. She tells him that she probably only has a year or two left to live, and therefore takes everything as it comes. Roic replies, "Can you teach me to do that?" Collected in the omnibus edition Miles in Love.

[edit] Diplomatic Immunity

On the way back from his honeymoon, Miles is dispatched to Quaddiespace to untangle a diplomatic incident. Collected in the omnibus edition Miles, Mutants and Microbes.

[edit] Cryoburn

Miles investigates a cryogenic corporation on the planet Kibou-daini, with the assistance of Jin, a local boy.

Listing by date of first publication[link]

With the publication of Cryoburn, almost all Vorkosigan tales are available as free e-texts, both online and included on a CD that accompanied the hardcover release.

1. Shards of Honor (June 1986)
2. The Warrior's Apprentice (August 1986).
3. Ethan of Athos (December 1986)
4. Falling Free (December 1987-February 1988, in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine)
5. Brothers in Arms (January 1989)
6. "The Mountains of Mourning" (May 1989 Analog).
7. "Labyrinth" (August 1989 issue of Analog)
8. "Borders of Infinity" (October 1989)
9. "Weatherman" (February 1990 Analog)
10. The Vor Game (September 1990), incorporating a slightly different version of "Weatherman"
11. Vorkosigan's Game (September 1990), an omnibus volume consisting of The Vor Game and "Borders of Infinity"
12. Barrayar (July–September 1991, in three installments in Analog)
13. Mirror Dance (1994)
14. Cetaganda (October–December 1995, in Analog)
15. Dreamweaver's Dilemma (February 1995, a collection including the novella Dreamweaver's Dilemma)
16. Memory (October 1996)
17. Cordelia's Honor (November 1996), combined edition of Shards of Honor and Barrayar with an afterword by the author.
18. Young Miles (June 1997), omnibus: The Warrior's Apprentice, "The Mountains of Mourning", and The Vor Game
19. Komarr (June 1998)
20. A Civil Campaign (September 1999)
21. Miles, Mystery and Mayhem (December 2001), omnibus: Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, and "Labyrinth"
22. Diplomatic Immunity (May 2002)
23. Miles Errant (September 2002), omnibus: "Borders of Infinity", Brothers in Arms, and Mirror Dance
24. "Winterfair Gifts" (February 2004, in the anthology Irresistible Forces, Catherine Asaro, editor)
25. Miles, Mutants and Microbes (August 2007), omnibus: Falling Free, "Labyrinth" and Diplomatic Immunity
26. Miles in Love (February 2008), omnibus: Komarr, A Civil Campaign and "Winterfair Gifts"
27. Cryoburn (October 2010)

The earlier novels (except Memory) and the short stories (except 'Dreamweaver's Dilema') have been repackaged in omnibus editions.

See also[link]

Novels portal

• List of Vorkosigan Saga planets
• Vorkosigan
• List of military science fiction works and authors
• Elizabeth Moon - Vatta's War
• Walter Jon Williams - Dread Empire's Fall

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Cryoburn CD 2010 – Vorkosigan Saga ebooks made freely available by the publisher
• The Bujold Nexus – Official website of the author Lois McMaster Bujold
• The Dendarii Nexus – semi-official website
  • Miles Vorkosigan/Naismith: His Life And Times – timeline
  • cover of German edition of The Warrior's Apprentice
• Catalog at Baen books
  • The Mountains of Mourning short story
• The Vorkosigan series of Novels and Stories – Another listing for The Vorkosigan Saga.
• Retrospective reviews of the Vorkosigan Saga by Jo Walton
  • Interview with Bujold about writing the Vorkosigan Saga by Jo Walton, 2009
  • Summary and critical comments on the Vorkosigan Saga by Jo Walton

v t e Lois McMaster Bujold   Vorkosigan Saga Works Shards of Honor (1986) The Warrior's Apprentice (1986) Ethan of Athos (1986) "The Borders of Infinity" (1987) Falling Free (1988) "The Mountains of Mourning" (1989) "Labyrinth" (1989) Brothers in Arms (1989) "Weatherman" (1990) The Vor Game (1990) Barrayar (1991) Mirror Dance (1994) "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" (1995) Cetaganda (1995) Memory (1996) Komarr (1998) A Civil Campaign (1999) Diplomatic Immunity (2002) "Winterfair Gifts" (2004) Cryoburn (2010) (omnibus reprints): Borders of Infinity (1989) Vorkosigan's Game (1992) Cordelia's Honor (1996) Young Miles (1997) Miles, Mystery and Mayhem (2001) Miles Errant (2002) Miles, Mutants and Microbes (2007) Miles in Love (2008) Cryoburn (2010) Characters Vorkosigan family Aral Vorkosigan Mark Vorkosigan Miles Vorkosigan Piotr Vorkosigan Cordelia Naismith Ekaterin Vorsoisson Other Vor of Barrayar Ezar Vorbarra Gregor Vorbarra Vorbarra family Ivan Vorpatril Others Konstantin Bothari Simon Illyan Koudelka family Dendarii Mercenaries Barrayaran Empire Planets Barrayar Komarr Sergyar Governance Imperial Military Service Imperial Auditors District Counts History Time of Isolation Mad Yuri's War Vordarian's Pretendership Other worlds Beta Colony Cetaganda Haut Ghem Jackson's Whole List of planets   Fantasy The Spirit Ring (1993) The Fivefold Pathway of the Soul The Curse of Chalion (2001) Paladin of Souls (2003) The Hallowed Hunt (2005) The Sharing Knife Beguilement (2006) Legacy (2007) Passage (2008) Horizon (2009)

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (August 2008)

This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (August 2009)

Miles Naismith Vorkosigan is the hero of a series of science fiction novels and short stories by Lois McMaster Bujold known as the Vorkosigan Saga. In an article in The Vorkosigan Companion,^[1] Bujold acknowledged several real-life inspirations for the character: T. E. Lawrence, a young Winston Churchill, "a physical template in a handicapped hospital pharmacist I'd worked with", and even herself (the "great man's son syndrome"). She also noted that she and her creation adopted dual personas, she as a housewife and writer, he as an aristocratic Vor scion and mercenary Admiral Naismith. However, she also asserted that Miles developed a personality all his own from the first book, The Warrior's Apprentice.

Fictional appearances[link]

Miles Vorkosigan first appeared in Bujold's novel The Warrior's Apprentice (1986), although his parents had appeared in an earlier work, Shards of Honor (also 1986), set before Miles's birth.

According to The Vorkosigan Companion,^[2] the internal sequence of the books featuring Miles (although not the order in which they were written) is:

• Barrayar (1991)
• The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
• Borders of Infinity (1989; see note)
• The Vor Game (1990)
• Cetaganda (1995)
• Brothers in Arms (1989)
• Mirror Dance (1994)
• Memory (1996)
• Komarr (1998)
• A Civil Campaign (1999)
• "Winterfair Gifts" (novella, 2004)
• Diplomatic Immunity (2002)
• Cryoburn (2010)

• note: Borders of Infinity is a collection of novellas, which take place at various times between The Warrior's Apprentice and Mirror Dance.

Biography[link]

Traumatic birth[link]

Miles Vorkosigan is the son of Aral Vorkosigan of the planet Barrayar and his Betan wife Cordelia Naismith. He has several physical impairments due to an assassination attempt directed at his parents. A soltoxin gas grenade was thrown into their bedroom during Cordelia's pregnancy with Miles but the couple's lives were saved by quick administration of the antidote—a violent teratogen that destroys skeletal development in a growing fetus.

The only available treatment for the fetus was experimental at best, and would have been fatal to the mother. Miles was therefore transferred to an artificial uterine replicator in an effort to salvage his bone development. While in the replicator, Miles was kidnapped from the hospital and used as a hostage against his father by Vidal Vordarian, the leader of the Vordarian pretendership, putting a temporary halt to the treatments. He was ultimately born with "chalk-stick bones, friable as talc", and is described as "wizened as an infant homunculus."^[3]

Appearance[link]

Despite repeated corrective surgeries, Miles's height only reaches four-foot-nine at maturity. He has his mother's sea grey eyes and his father's dark hair. Miles is described as winter pale with laugh lines around his eyes and pain lines around his mouth. Miles was slightly hunch-backed, but after his death and cryo-revival, a surgeon managed to straighten his spine a bit, giving him a valued additional centimeter of height. Miles has fine scars running all over his body from having his easily broken bones replaced with synthetics in his twenties.^[4] Many people on Barrayar are prejudiced against him because they incorrectly believe him to be a mutant. "Mutants" (real or perceived, which are common on Barrayar due to a small population at the beginning of the Time of Isolation) are highly undesirable on Barrayar, and children visibly carrying a mutated gene are often killed by their families. Though the Time of Isolation is over, prejudice against mutants and the physically disabled is still very high.

Abnormal name for the abnormal lord[link]

When his famous grandfather learns of the prenatal damage, he tries to abort the fetus in the replicator, and later tries to kill the infant because he believes that "We cannot afford to have a deformed Count Vorkosigan." Count Piotr is thwarted in this by his own armsman, Sergeant Bothari, who is devoted to Cordelia. Vor male heirs are usually named with the first name of the paternal grandfather as the child's first name, and the first name of the maternal grandfather as the middle name, and before the soltoxin Miles was to be named Piotr Miles Vorkosigan. When the Count, frustrated in his attempted infanticide, disinherits Aral and his family from his name and his property, Cordelia instead bestows her deceased father's full name on her son, henceforth Miles Naismith Vorkosigan.

General Count Piotr is reconciled to his son, daughter-in-law and grandson when Miles becomes able to walk at age five, and shows a forceful interest in his grandfather's beloved horses. This common ground, and observation of Miles' intelligence and determination, earns the boy Piotr's respect and acceptance, and they have a closer though still challenging relationship until the Count's death.

Childhood and adolescence[link]

As a child, Miles is highly energetic and enjoys swimming and horseback riding, despite frequent injuries and broken bones. To compensate for the social disadvantage of his appearance, he develops tremendous charm and manipulation skills, even getting the Koudelka girls to march around as a "precision drill team". He has a series of adventures and misadventures, including driving a hover tank through a barn at age 12. His companions when growing up include Elena Bothari, Miles's bodyguard's daughter; his cousin, Ivan Vorpatril; and his foster-brother, Emperor Gregor Vorbarra.

Miles grows up around the corridors of power, and learns to see his father's powerful colleagues not as objects of awe but as fixtures in his home, as he listens to their frank discussions and arguments. This behind-the-scenes perspective will profoundly influence the course of his career.

At the age of 17, he fails the physical exam to enter the Barrayaran Imperial Military Service Academy. To get over this disappointment, he takes a trip to his mother's homeworld, Beta Colony; has (unintended) space adventures for a few months; and improvises a force called the Dendarii Mercenaries into existence. In the process, his lifelong protector Sergeant Bothari is killed. Miles is charged with treason, exonerated, and (through a little nepotism) accepted into the Barrayaran Imperial Military Service. After graduating he is asked to resolve an infanticide charge in Silvy Vale, a rural area of his father's district (described in "The Mountains of Mourning"). The people he encounters and his experiences there strongly influence his sense of purpose and identity throughout the rest of his life.

ImpSec career[link]

Shortly after graduating from the academy Miles is assigned to the worst posting in the Barrayaran Empire: Kyril Island. Kyril Island is a winter infantry training post often called "Camp Permafrost". Miles is assigned as the weather officer for the base. There is an accident where a mutagenic poison is spilled and Miles and a few soldiers are ordered to clean it up without adequate protective gear. They refuse the order, and the infuriated base commander orders them to strip at gunpoint and stay outside until they are ready to comply. There in the snow, naked Miles convinces the base commander to use an alternative method, but at the cost of ending his career as he is charged with mutiny.

When the full story comes out, Miles's father leans on Simon Illyan to have Miles work in Covert Ops directly under Illyan. Miles is given difficult, sometimes seemingly impossible missions. He works only under Illyan with one rule: "Deliver results or pay with your ass".^[5] Working deep cover missions in the persona of Miles Naismith, Miles is forced to improvise solutions to difficult questions extemporaneously. More often than not Miles talks his way into and out of life threatening situations. Unfortunately, his physical appearance makes him hard to forget. When cornered by a reporter who sees the similarity between Miles Vorkosigan and Miles Naismith, he says that they are clone brothers.

At age 24, Miles' life becomes more complicated when he discovers that he has an actual clone, created by a Komarran terrorist with the aim of killing Miles, his family, and the Emperor, and ultimately becoming himself Emperor of Barrayar. His friends urge him to kill the clone, but due to the Betan influence on his upbringing, Miles thinks of the clone as his brother and lets him go free. Four years later, Miles is killed while trying to rescue his clone-brother, and although he is successfully cryo-frozen and revived, he is left with a condition which causes periodic seizures, particularly under great stress. He tries to conceal this from Simon Illyan, his boss and chief of Imperial Security (ImpSec). Miles falsifies a report after he has a seizure in combat, but this is detected and he is fired from ImpSec, putting an end to his life with the Dendarii as well. Miles is devastated as the character of Naismith had become the expression of everything he ever wanted, in essence he loses himself and his sense of purpose.

Almost immediately, he becomes suspicious of a plot against Illyan who has fallen ill and is being kept isolated; he requests the assignment of an Imperial Auditor to help him investigate the situation, but instead, the Emperor surprises him by making him the "Ninth Auditor", a temporary designation by tradition, but nonetheless endowed with full Auditor powers. During the course of the investigation Miles confronts his quest for identity and wins.

His handling and solving of the case is reviewed by the other Auditors and his status as Auditor is made permanent. Miles is the first Imperial Auditor in the history of the Vorkosigans.

Mid life - 30s on[link]

Shortly thereafter, Vorkosigan accompanies one of his new colleagues, Lord Auditor Vorthys, to Komarr, home to the sole wormhole connecting Barrayar to the rest of the Nexus. (Barrayar, led by his father, conquered Komarr some years before Miles' birth in order to gain control of that vital access). Their mission is to investigate an accident involving the solar energy array orbiting Komarr; the accident turns out to have been caused by the secret testing of a new weapon with which Komarran conspirators hope to permanently destroy Barrayar's access to the wormhole. Miles is quartered with Lord Auditor Vorthys' niece and her husband, a Barrayaran official. In the course of the investigation, Miles survives yet another brush with death although his host, who has become ensnared in the plot, does not survive. To make a bad situation worse, Miles has fallen in love with his host's wife (later widow), Ekaterin, who just happens to be on the verge of leaving her emotionally abusive husband when disaster strikes. She is then instrumental in foiling the plot. The entire affair is classified as secret due both to the political nature of the conspiracy and the new technology of the Komarran secret weapon.

Ekaterin, professing after her bad experiences with her late husband to be violently allergic to marriage, moves back to Barrayar with her nine-year-old son, Nikolai, to stay with her uncle, Lord Auditor Vorthys. Miles embarks upon a bizarre, if typically complicated, strategy: he will woo Ekaterin without telling her, in the hope that she can be persuaded to reconsider her stance. Miles's plan backfires during a particularly disastrous dinner party to which Ekaterin is invited. She is initially furious when she discovers his machinations. An additional complication arises when rumors arise alleging that Miles murdered her husband in order to marry her. Due to the Imperial security concerns surrounding her husband's death, she is not at liberty to refute the allegations, even when her relatives attempt to move her son to "safety". This provokes her to drastic action: she proposes to Miles herself in a most public fashion; he accepts without hesitation.

In "Winterfair Gifts", they are married during the mid-winter festival that marks the beginning of a new year on Barrayar, and survive yet another attack in which Ekaterin is poisoned by one of Miles' Auditorial victims. The plot is foiled by Taura, one of his many former lovers, and Roic, one of his Armsmen.

Their honeymoon is delayed by a considerable period, during which they conceive twins who are nurtured in uterine replicators; while this is by now normal for well-to-do Barrayaran couples, it also conveniently allows the happy couple to leave the planet while their unborn children remain safely at home. In Diplomatic Immunity, Emperor Gregor dispatches his youngest Auditor to defuse a diplomatic crisis at a Quaddie space station. The couple becomes embroiled in yet another deadly, complicated situation involving potential war with Cetaganda. Happily, Miles survives a near-death illness caused by exposure to a Cetagandan nanotech biological weapon, though he does suffer permanent damage, and they are able to return to Barrayar just in time for their children's birth—a son named Aral Alexander and a daughter named Helen Natalia.

At this point, Miles' full title is Lord Auditor Captain Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, heir to the Vorkosigan District as Lord Vorkosigan, or possibly Lord Auditor Captain Lord Vorkosigan. It is traditional for retired and discharged soldiers to retain their rank as a title. Additionally, the position of Imperial Auditor seems to attach a Lord at the beginning of the title regardless of former status. Although one (Lord Auditor) is a professional title, and the other (Lord Vorkosigan) is by primogeniture, it is unknown how to distinguish between an Auditor and one who is also a Lord as a result of being the heir to a District.

Countship[link]

Following the death of his father from a brain aneurysm on Sergyar, Miles, at age 39, assumes the Countship of the Vorkosigan District. At that time, he has a stepson (Nikolai (approximately 17)), a son (Aral Alexander (5)), and three daughters (Helen Natalia (5), Lizzie (3), and Taurie (10 months)).

Personality[link]

Miles is one of the most striking characters in science fiction. He is both brilliant (especially in military tactics) and hyperactive; one of his girlfriends describes him as "addicted to adrenaline rushes." He compulsively and constantly challenges the world, sometimes with disastrous consequences, although more often his mind overcomes his physical weakness.

His status on his home planet is ambiguous, being simultaneously a privileged and powerful aristocrat and a despised "mutie." In his youth he contemplated running away from Barrayar and its prejudice against disabled people, but he never acted on this impulse, perhaps because of his loyalty to his family and his Vor code of honor.

He has a strong tendency to manipulate people and is very good at bluffing. The Dendarii Free Mercenaries begin as pure imaginative figment, and through frantic improvisation he conceals his deception from his recruits; their accomplishments make real his invention. Despite the initial successes of this "lie first, fix later" strategy, it always makes for manic juggling of various falsehoods and stories, and it does eventually blow up in his face: first he is caught lying about his seizure disorder, and then the widow he loves is enraged when she discovers that he has been attempting to court her by stealth during her socially-recognized period of mourning.

By the later novels, Miles is living the (relatively) calmer life of Imperial Auditor, a sort of cross between special investigator, special prosecutor and military commander, for the growing Barrayaran empire. Miles acts on the behalf of and reports directly to Emperor Gregor Vorbarra.

In the course of what is already a lengthy series, Miles has been allowed to grow and evolve in ways most action heroes never do. While Miles grows, the series background does as well. The large supporting cast of characters that populate the Vorkosigan novels are well developed. The cultures of the various worlds and locations where the action takes place—Barrayar, Beta Colony, Cetaganda, Komarr, Kline Station, Athos, Jackson's Whole, Graf Station, (Quaddiespace), and New Hope/Kibou-daini—are distinct and skillfully worked out. Variety also appears in the stories themselves: Miles's challenges are varied from one episode to another, so rather than there being a new space battle in each book, the books fall into different genres, from mystery to Regency romance to hard science fiction.

These strengths explain why the Vorkosigan series is among the most popular with readers and critics in current science fiction. Works with Miles Vorkosigan in them have won four Hugo awards and Two Nebula awards.

Admiral Naismith[link]

Admiral Naismith is an alter ego and cover identity that Miles developed as a youth and used until the novel Memory.

Creation of Naismith[link]

Miles Vorkosigan developed an alternative identity as Admiral Naismith, under which he ran the Dendarii Mercenaries (formally the Oseran Mercenaries until Miles took over from Admiral Oser) until the novel Memory. It began as a lie but eventually evolved into a real cover identity. Even this was an improvisation, as Miles found himself facing charges of treason for raising a private army, and had to offer the Dendarii as a "Crown Troop" working in the service of Emperor Gregor to deflect the charges. Necessarily he had to be Admiral Naismith so that the Dendarii could carry out missions on behalf of Barrayar without the responsibility for those missions being traced back to Barrayar itself. Given the restricted life of a Vor lordling, and the galaxy-spanning horizons available to Naismith, Miles eventually came to value Naismith's life over the one he was born to.

Who is Naismith supposed to be?[link]

Miles Vorkosigan himself once said to Emperor Gregor Vorbarra of Barrayar, "I guess Naismith is me with no brakes. No constraints." (The Vor Game) This characteristic makes him a very dangerous enemy, as he is willing to take risks that most normal people would avoid. He also improvises brilliantly. Sent into a Cetagandan prison camp to find and extract one important Marilacan guerrilla leader, he managed to convert the mission into a full-scale breakout of most of the prisoners, using nothing more than the force of his personality, a screwball religion espoused by one of the inmates, and some coded comments picked up by his support team, who had infiltrated the Cetagandan garrison to monitor the mission. (Borders of Infinity). The success of this mission, and the ensuing rebellion on Marilac, caused the Cetagandans to put a price on Miles' head.

In theory, Naismith is a Betan by birth and speaks with the distinctive nasal Betan accent, which Miles learned from his mother. The typical Barrayaran accent is described as guttural in comparison. The back story that Miles improvised when taking over the Oseran mercenaries had him being part of a larger unit of mercenaries but in time it became apparent that the former Oserans were the whole of the Dendarii Mercenaries. Veterans such as Captains Ky Tung and Bel Thorne eventually realized the deception, but kept the fact that they knew hidden from Miles himself. Officially the truth was known only to Miles, Elena Bothari, her husband Baz Jesek, Arde Mayhew, and Miles's second-in-command and lover Elli Quinn.

Later, Miles developed a cover that he was a clone made by the Cetagandans meant to infiltrate Barrayar by replacing Miles Vorkosigan. This turned out to be ironic, as there was a real clone made for just that purpose, but by Komarrans. When Miles encountered, and made peace with, his clone brother Mark, this allowed Miles to cement his cover by having a Cetagandan officer witness both Miles Vorkosigan and Admiral Naismith in the same place at the same time.

Eventually, the split personality of turning Naismith on and off became a problem for Miles. This was especially true on Earth, when fleeing the Cetagandans required him to report to the Barrayaran embassy as Miles Vorkosigan and take cover there, while still commanding the fleet during a difficult and expensive refit. It was complicated by his developing affair with Elli Quinn, who was adamant that she did not like Lord Vorkosigan at all. It also complicated his dealings with various plots on his life, since he did not always know which were directed at Naismith, and which at Vorkosigan.

Decline and fall[link]

Naismith—and Vorkosigan—was fatally shot with a needle grenade during a botched rescue mission on the planet Jackson's Whole. Miles was trying to rescue his clone brother Mark, who had impersonated Naismith for his own purposes. Fortunately cryo-preservation was available and eventually Miles was revived. Meanwhile Mark, despite gorging himself into obesity, had to become Naismith for a time. The chaotic story is described in the novel Mirror Dance.

As a result of his death and cryo-preservation, Miles Vorkosigan suffered neurological damage resulting in seizures triggered by the buildup of stress-related neurotransmitters, ensuring that he is most likely to have a seizure when he most needs to be lucid. When a seizure results in a badly botched mission, Miles covers it up. Illyan quickly discovers the coverup and Miles, in both personas, is fired from ImpSec. This precipitates a crisis for Miles, for whom Admiral Naismith was not just a role but his life—a better one, perhaps, than his "real" life on Barrayar. On hearing the news of Miles' dismissal, his mother, Cordelia Vorkosigan, bet her husband Aral Vorkosigan that Miles would choose "the little admiral" and run off with the Mercenaries.

Miles Vorkosigan mourned the loss of Admiral Naismith for a long time. However, his new role as Imperial Auditor gives him the opportunity to use Naismith's talents once more but as part of Lord Vorkosigan's life. As Ivan Vorpatril describes it, Vorkosigan as Naismith means "full tilt forward, no inhibitions, innocent bystanders scramble for their lives." Miles at last finds that he doesn't need to run away from Barrayar to have both the Lord and the Admiral.

Even had Miles not been fired from ImpSec, Naismith's effectiveness as a cover was coming to an end. During the celebration of Emperor Gregor's wedding, ghem-General Dag Benin passed Miles a message from the Cetagandan Emperor, expressing condolences over Naismith's death. The clear implication is that the Cetagandans have at some point learned the truth. Benin also informs Miles that the Emperor would prefer Naismith to remain deceased, to which Miles responded, "I trust his resurrection will not be required."

Other characters[link]

A more complete listing of other characters can be found in The Vorkosigan Companion.^[6]

Ivan Vorpatril[link]

A significant character in most of the books, acting as an instigator of action as well as a foil for Miles, is his cousin, Lord Ivan Vorpatril, also known as "that idiot Ivan" or "Ivan, you idiot". Ivan has been, since childhood, Miles' foil, burden, workhorse, and (until Miles has children) his formal heir. He is everything Miles is not: tall, handsome, and athletic. He is a graduate of the military academy and gets assigned one plum posting after another. He is very popular with the ladies.

Mark Pierre Vorkosigan[link]

Mark Pierre Vorkosigan is Miles's clone brother.

References[link]

v t e Lois McMaster Bujold   Vorkosigan Saga Works Shards of Honor (1986) The Warrior's Apprentice (1986) Ethan of Athos (1986) "The Borders of Infinity" (1987) Falling Free (1988) "The Mountains of Mourning" (1989) "Labyrinth" (1989) Brothers in Arms (1989) "Weatherman" (1990) The Vor Game (1990) Barrayar (1991) Mirror Dance (1994) "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" (1995) Cetaganda (1995) Memory (1996) Komarr (1998) A Civil Campaign (1999) Diplomatic Immunity (2002) "Winterfair Gifts" (2004) Cryoburn (2010) (omnibus reprints): Borders of Infinity (1989) Vorkosigan's Game (1992) Cordelia's Honor (1996) Young Miles (1997) Miles, Mystery and Mayhem (2001) Miles Errant (2002) Miles, Mutants and Microbes (2007) Miles in Love (2008) Cryoburn (2010) Characters Vorkosigan family Aral Vorkosigan Mark Vorkosigan Miles Vorkosigan Piotr Vorkosigan Cordelia Naismith Ekaterin Vorsoisson Other Vor of Barrayar Ezar Vorbarra Gregor Vorbarra Vorbarra family Ivan Vorpatril Others Konstantin Bothari Simon Illyan Koudelka family Dendarii Mercenaries Barrayaran Empire Planets Barrayar Komarr Sergyar Governance Imperial Military Service Imperial Auditors District Counts History Time of Isolation Mad Yuri's War Vordarian's Pretendership Other worlds Beta Colony Cetaganda Haut Ghem Jackson's Whole List of planets   Fantasy The Spirit Ring (1993) The Fivefold Pathway of the Soul The Curse of Chalion (2001) Paladin of Souls (2003) The Hallowed Hunt (2005) The Sharing Knife Beguilement (2006) Legacy (2007) Passage (2008) Horizon (2009)

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2008)

Lois McMaster Bujold
Born	(1949-11-02) November 2, 1949 (age 62) Columbus, Ohio
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	American
Genres	science fiction, fantasy
www.dendarii.com

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 Award and Nebula Award. In the fantasy genre, 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 Award and second Nebula Award were for Paladin of Souls. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award.^[1]

The bulk of Bujold's works are part of three separate book series: the Vorkosigan Saga, the Chalion Series, and the Sharing Knife series.

Biography[link]

Bujold is the daughter of Robert Charles McMaster^[2][3] and attributes her early interest in science fiction, as well as certain aspects of the Vorkosigan Saga, to his influence. He was editor^[4] of the monumental Nondestructive Testing Handbook^[5] generally referred to as McMaster on Materials.

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". Having observed this tendency in both genders, she wonders why it is always called "great man's son syndrome", and never "great man's daughter's syndrome."^[6]

Her brother, like her father, is also an engineer. Her brother helped provide technical details to support her writing of Falling Free.^{[citation needed]}

Bujold currently lives in Minnesota.^[7] She is divorced and has two children.^[8]

Science fiction[link]

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, though 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 writing in science fiction. By 2010 Baen Books claimed to have sold 2 million copies of Bujold's books.^[9]

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 has discussed her own views on the optimum reading order for the Vorkosigan series in her blog.^[10]

Fantasy[link]

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.

Selected works[link]

Vorkosigan Saga[link]

Cordelia Naismith[link]

1. Shards of Honor (1986)
2. Barrayar (1991)—Hugo Award winner, Locus Award winner, 1992,^[11] Nebula Award nominee, 1991^[12]
3. Cordelia's Honor (1996)—Combined edition of Shards of Honor and Barrayar with an afterword by the author.

Miles Vorkosigan[link]

1. The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
2. Borders of Infinity (1989)
3. Brothers in Arms (1989)
4. The Vor Game (1990)
5. Barrayar (1991)
6. Vorkosigan's Game (omnibus: The Vor Game, Borders of Infinity) (1992)
7. Mirror Dance (1994)
8. Cetaganda (1995)
9. Memory (1996)
10. Young Miles (omnibus: The Warrior's Apprentice, The Mountains of Mourning, and The Vor Game) (1997)
11. Komarr (1998)
12. A Civil Campaign (1999)
13. Miles, Mystery and Mayhem (omnibus: Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, and Labyrinth) (2001)
14. Diplomatic Immunity (2002)
15. Miles Errant (omnibus: Borders of Infinity, Brothers in Arms, and Mirror Dance) (2002)
16. Miles, Mutants and Microbes (omnibus: Falling Free, Labyrinth and Diplomatic Immunity) (2007)
17. Miles in Love (omnibus: Komarr, A Civil Campaign and Winterfair Gifts) (2008)
18. Winterfair Gifts (2008)
19. Cryoburn (2010)
20. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (Scheduled for November 6, 2012)

Other[link]

1. Ethan of Athos (1986)
2. Falling Free (1988)
3. Dreamweaver's Dilemma (1995)

Internal chronology[link]

• "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" (1995)—Set in the Vorkosigan universe long before the rest of the series (included in the collection Dreamweaver's Dilemma) NESFA Press
• Falling Free (1988)—Set approximately 200 years before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan—Nebula Award winner, 1988,^[13] Hugo Award nominee, 1989^[14]
• Shards of Honor (1986)—Set approximately one year before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan
• Barrayar (1991)—Hugo Award winner, Locus Award winner, 1992,^[11] Nebula Award nominee, 1991^[12]
• The Warrior's Apprentice (1986); available online from the Baen Free Library.
• The Mountains of Mourning (1989)—Hugo Award winner, Nebula Award winner. First published in Analog magazine; included in Borders of Infinity; available online from the Baen Free Library.
• The Vor Game (1990)—Hugo Award winner, Locus Award nominee, 1991^[12]
• Cetaganda (1995) Locus Award nominee, 1997^[15]
• 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's Webscriptions.
• Brothers in Arms (1989)
• 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.
• Mirror Dance (1994)—Hugo Award winner, Locus Award winner, 1995^[16]
• Memory (1996)—Hugo Award nominee, Nebula Award nominee, Locus Award nominee, 1997^[15]
• Komarr (1998)
• A Civil Campaign (2000)—Hugo Award nominee, Nebula Award nominee, Locus Award nominee, 2000^[17]
• 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^[18]
• Cryoburn (2010)—Hugo Award nominee, 2011^[19]

Omnibus volumes

• Cordelia's Honor—contains Shards of Honor and Barrayar
• Young Miles—contains The Warrior's Apprentice, The Mountains of Mourning, and The Vor Game
• Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem—Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, and Labyrinth
• Miles Errant—The Borders of Infinity, Brothers in Arms, and Mirror Dance
• Miles in Love—Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and Winterfair Gifts
• Miles, Mutants and Microbes—Falling Free, Diplomatic Immunity, and Labyrinth
• 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, with 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 are available (retail and library), via iPhone/iPod Touch apps using the Folium enhancedAudio player, MP3, Playaway and cassette versions 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, Diplomatic Immunity, and "CryoBurn".

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) and José Maria Beroy (drawings and colors) (2010).

Chalion series[link]

In the fantasy-genre Chalion universe:

• The Curse of Chalion (2001) Hugo, Locus Fantasy, and World Fantasy Awards nominee, 2002^[20]
• Paladin of Souls (2003) (sequel to The Curse of Chalion) Hugo, Nebula and Locus Fantasy Awards winner, 2004^[21]
• The Hallowed Hunt (2005) Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 2006^[22]

Sharing Knife series[link]

The Sharing Knife is another fantasy-genre series:

• Beguilement (2006)
• Legacy (2007)
• Passage (2008)
• Horizon (2009)

Other titles[link]

• The Spirit Ring (1993) Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 1993^[23]

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 and emusic.com.

Notes[link]