Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 46
May 4, 2016
87...?
So, I was poking around the net and turned up this, which is going to be a valuable memory aid going on...
http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...
The roundup does not include a few non-genre awards, such as the 2007 Ohioana Career Award, the Minnesota Book Award (for Komarr, iircc), the assorted Audie Awards (thank you, Grover Gardner), or the WorldCon GoH gig in Denver in 2008, which I've always considered a career award of sorts. (They make you work for it, though.)
Still. I'd not looked at them all on one page like that before. Um.
Ta, L.
http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...
The roundup does not include a few non-genre awards, such as the 2007 Ohioana Career Award, the Minnesota Book Award (for Komarr, iircc), the assorted Audie Awards (thank you, Grover Gardner), or the WorldCon GoH gig in Denver in 2008, which I've always considered a career award of sorts. (They make you work for it, though.)
Still. I'd not looked at them all on one page like that before. Um.
Ta, L.
May 3, 2016
Penric's Demon also a Locus Award finalist
Announced in full here:
http://www.locusmag.com/News/2016/05/...
The Locus Poll is structured differently from the Nebula and the Hugo, in that it separates out the categories for novel into SF, fantasy, and first novel, which I like because it gives a broader coverage to the promising reading available out there. Also, it has only one round of voting, so what you are actually seeing is the work that has already won, coyly camouflaged among the next four up. But publishing it this way gets more attention and excitement, I suppose. Crueler to the writers, natch; the whole world of literary awards seems to be designed to be a sadistic test of authorial character. But I digress.
Better still, I am extremely pleased to see Edward James's academic book on my work has been recognized in the best non-fiction category.
http://www.amazon.com/McMaster-Bujold...
Ta, L.
http://www.locusmag.com/News/2016/05/...
The Locus Poll is structured differently from the Nebula and the Hugo, in that it separates out the categories for novel into SF, fantasy, and first novel, which I like because it gives a broader coverage to the promising reading available out there. Also, it has only one round of voting, so what you are actually seeing is the work that has already won, coyly camouflaged among the next four up. But publishing it this way gets more attention and excitement, I suppose. Crueler to the writers, natch; the whole world of literary awards seems to be designed to be a sadistic test of authorial character. But I digress.
Better still, I am extremely pleased to see Edward James's academic book on my work has been recognized in the best non-fiction category.
http://www.amazon.com/McMaster-Bujold...
Ta, L.
April 29, 2016
Understanding the world we actually live in...
..made really extraordinarily accessible.
So, I've been continuing to browse my local library's collection of The Great Courses, which despite their daunting header are at about the level of a freshman intro course crossed with a PBS special. (Except taught by actual professors who speak English as their native language, instead of a grad student TA just off the plane from Farfaraway, like my freshman courses back in the Dark Ages at Big State U.)
I have become a fan of a particularly engaging and effective presenter, Dr. Stephen Ressler, who has done a number of courses for the company, including Understanding the World's Greatest Structures: Science and Innovation from Antiquity to Modernity, Understanding Greek and Roman technology: From Catapult to the Pantheon and this week, Everyday Engineering: Understanding the Marvels of Daily Life.
He's sort of like a Mr. Wizard for grownups. You definitely want to track down the DVDs, because the models and vids he demonstrates are a tremendous boost to comprehension. I'd rec the first two especially for writers trying to understand pre-industrial technologies through history, and the latter to everyone. (Well, I'd rec them all to everyone, because why should writers keep all the fun to themselves?) But the Everyday Engineering one is proving just full of things I wish I'd known earlier. Which, since it's a 2015 production, wouldn't have been possible, but chalk it up among the many rewards of my surviving this long.
Sampling the courses from the library randomly as my interest takes me, I can see the sophistication of the presentations grow from the early ones from the late 90s, which basically stuck a professor behind a podium and let the camera run while s/he geeked out about his or her favorite subject as fast as s/he could, to the most recent efforts, which use far more pictures, vid clips, computer graphics, and so on.
Why doesn't Netflix have these...?
Ta, L.
So, I've been continuing to browse my local library's collection of The Great Courses, which despite their daunting header are at about the level of a freshman intro course crossed with a PBS special. (Except taught by actual professors who speak English as their native language, instead of a grad student TA just off the plane from Farfaraway, like my freshman courses back in the Dark Ages at Big State U.)
I have become a fan of a particularly engaging and effective presenter, Dr. Stephen Ressler, who has done a number of courses for the company, including Understanding the World's Greatest Structures: Science and Innovation from Antiquity to Modernity, Understanding Greek and Roman technology: From Catapult to the Pantheon and this week, Everyday Engineering: Understanding the Marvels of Daily Life.
He's sort of like a Mr. Wizard for grownups. You definitely want to track down the DVDs, because the models and vids he demonstrates are a tremendous boost to comprehension. I'd rec the first two especially for writers trying to understand pre-industrial technologies through history, and the latter to everyone. (Well, I'd rec them all to everyone, because why should writers keep all the fun to themselves?) But the Everyday Engineering one is proving just full of things I wish I'd known earlier. Which, since it's a 2015 production, wouldn't have been possible, but chalk it up among the many rewards of my surviving this long.
Sampling the courses from the library randomly as my interest takes me, I can see the sophistication of the presentations grow from the early ones from the late 90s, which basically stuck a professor behind a podium and let the camera run while s/he geeked out about his or her favorite subject as fast as s/he could, to the most recent efforts, which use far more pictures, vid clips, computer graphics, and so on.
Why doesn't Netflix have these...?
Ta, L.
April 26, 2016
"Penric's Demon" is a Hugo nominee
In the novella category.
The Hugos will be awarded this summer at the 74th World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II, in Kansas City.
http://midamericon2.org/
(As a point of information, "Penric's Demon" was conscripted onto the "Rabid Puppies" slate without my notification or permission, and my request that it be removed was refused.)
Ta, L.
The Hugos will be awarded this summer at the 74th World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II, in Kansas City.
http://midamericon2.org/
(As a point of information, "Penric's Demon" was conscripted onto the "Rabid Puppies" slate without my notification or permission, and my request that it be removed was refused.)
Ta, L.
April 13, 2016
Facebook note
I see Facebook has instituted a new annoyance... when I click on my mirror page (thank you again, FB volunteer fan mirror-page wranglers), a white screen comes up to block it, demanding I sign up. It also now does not show the comments after the main entry.
So I will no longer be able to read any remarks, comments, or questions posted on the FB mirror site. If anyone wants to talk to me or make a comment they want me to actually see, they will have to come over here to my main Goodreads blog and pages.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
There is also a place for questions of general interest:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/1609...
You can, of course, continue to talk amongst yourselves over on FB as before. (Possibly even more freely.)
Ta, L.
So I will no longer be able to read any remarks, comments, or questions posted on the FB mirror site. If anyone wants to talk to me or make a comment they want me to actually see, they will have to come over here to my main Goodreads blog and pages.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
There is also a place for questions of general interest:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/1609...
You can, of course, continue to talk amongst yourselves over on FB as before. (Possibly even more freely.)
Ta, L.
April 6, 2016
Russian artist revealed
Aha. The artist who did the lovely Russian fan cover for Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen has surfaced out of anonymity.
http://airin-ater.deviantart.com/art/...
Ta, L.
http://airin-ater.deviantart.com/art/...
Ta, L.
April 4, 2016
Mirror Dance in Estonian
This just in from Varrak in Tallinn...
and the back...
(It is a wrap cover.)
Ta, L.
and the back...
(It is a wrap cover.)
Ta, L.
April 3, 2016
classic plot structures
Finally got around to seeing the new Star Wars movie with a couple of my writer friends, yesterday. Sadly, it seems the Hollywood Dopler Effect has stopped working on me. (Which the Urban Dictionary defines as "The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.")
But it occurs to me that, given the story arc so far, obviously Kylo Ren's future love interest has to be Leia Organa.
If you're going to stick with the classics, go all the way, I say...
Ta, L.
But it occurs to me that, given the story arc so far, obviously Kylo Ren's future love interest has to be Leia Organa.
If you're going to stick with the classics, go all the way, I say...
Ta, L.
March 28, 2016
Vorkosigan reread at Tor.com
Over at tor.com, they have started a complete Vorkosigan reread with Falling Free...
http://www.tor.com/series/rereading-t...
It doesn't look as if it's going to be fast-paced, but on the other hand, it should last a good long time.
Ta, L.
http://www.tor.com/series/rereading-t...
It doesn't look as if it's going to be fast-paced, but on the other hand, it should last a good long time.
Ta, L.
