Brian Burt's Blog: Work in Progress - Posts Tagged "barrayar"

First, a confession: I'm hooked on eBooks and audiobooks. In particular, being able to take a long walk while listening to an audiobook from a favorite SF or fantasy author as the scenery unfolds, both in the real world and the imaginary one, is a wondrous gift of mobile technology. (And with audiobooks, you can keep your eyes open for oncoming vehicles; Stephen King has taught me many valuable lessons about writing, and about reading a paper book while walking along country roads as well!)

So since our local library is hooked into the Adobe Overdrive Digital Library network, my wife and I can check out eBooks or audiobooks at zero cost, enjoy them, and return them for other patrons to savor in turn. I can browse the virtual bookshelves, pick something intriguing, and have it downloaded to my iPhone in a couple of minutes. If your library offers this online service, I strongly recommend you take advantage of it!

Lois McMaster Bujold has always been on my to-read list of acclaimed SF authors. When I discovered that four of her Vorkosigan Saga novels were available in audiobook form from our digital library, I was psyched. I gobbled them up, one after another: Shards of Honor, Barrayar, Ethan of Athos, and Memory. While hiking through the woods of Southwest Michigan, I also got to explore the exotic worlds of Barrayar and Beta Colony and Athos. The novels didn't disappoint! Clearly, Bujold deserves the many accolades she's received over the years. One common thread in these four novels really struck me, though.

Ms. Bujold has done a masterful job of populating her novels with compelling, complex, and fully realized protagonists who completely defy the stereotypes for SF / fantasy heroes. She does this effortlessly and elegantly, without pushing any political agenda in the face of her readers, and she began doing so long before it became "politically correct" or "cool."

Shards of Honor and Barrayar feature Cordelia Naismith, a female protagonist who blends traditional feminine characteristics - including far less "emotional constipation" than the classic male hero as well as fierce maternal instincts that drive her to ignore her own welfare to protect her unborn child - with the calm under fire and brilliant strategic thinking normally ascribed to the "muscular alpha male wielding the laser or the sword." Another aspect of this character and these novels that I loved: Cordelia has a profound connection with her lover and eventual husband, Aral Vorkosigan. Both are strong-willed, honorable, and independent characters who cherish the virtues of their partner. They respect, value, and draw strength from each other without either one struggling to dominate the relationship. They are the quintessential SF marriage of equals who set a fictional standard to which we married folks can all aspire.

In Ethan of Athos, the unassuming protagonist is a gay man from a planet where women are banned and, in fact, regarded with suspicion mixed with superstitious fear born of ignorance. Dr. Ethan Urquhart is forced to venture out into the "barbaric realm" of mixed-sex society to secure new ovarian tissue cultures essential to the survival of his world. In the process, he forms a grudging alliance with a mysterious female mercenary named Elli Quinn who turns all of his preconceptions about women on their head. She helps him navigate a web of interplanetary intrigue beyond his imagining; by combining forces, they manage to unravel the intricate plot that threatens to destroy them both. Bujold published this novel depicting an entire planet committed to a homosexual lifestyle in 1986, long before the tide of public opinion turned.

The novel Memory features Miles Vorkosigan as protagonist, the son of Cordelia Naismith who suffered serious birth defects due to an enemy's attempt to poison his parents. As a result of the prenatal poisoning, Miles is diminutive, plagued by a variety of physical afflictions, a far cry from the "tall, dark, and handsome" leading man so common in genre fiction. The physical ailments have left deep emotional scars as well in a society (the Vor warrior caste on planet Barrayar) where such children are ridiculed as "mutants" and marginalized, denied the opportunity to rise to the upper echelons. Miles uses determination, intelligence, and shrewd insight into human nature to solve a baffling crime that masks a dangerous act of treason.

The "atypical" nature of these protagonists is by no means the point of Bujold's novels. It's just a refreshing element that is woven seamlessly into stories which enlighten as well as entertain. I'm very grateful for the chance to download these four excellent audiobooks with my library card. I'm a Michigander, and Ms. Bujold is a Buckeye, so this is hard to admit... but her novels are brilliant, and I'll be looking to explore more of her fictional worlds in the near future!

#SFWApro