Flowers of Vashnoi spoiler thread
(...and typo reportage zone.)
Since there seem to be some speed readers out there (and the story is short), herewith the promised spoiler discussion space for persons who have already read the story and wish to talk about it with each other.
Have fun, be nice...
Ta, L.
Later: Hm, I observe there seem to be two entries for "The Flowers of Vashnoi" here on Goodreads. They should be combined or collated somehow. No idea how, as I have no idea how they even appear in the first place, but presumably someone must be doing something, somehow.
Later still: The duplication problem seems to have been fixed, with no more effort from me than venting my woes vaguely into the air. It's sort of like magic. Be careful what you wish for...
Pleased, L.
Since there seem to be some speed readers out there (and the story is short), herewith the promised spoiler discussion space for persons who have already read the story and wish to talk about it with each other.
Have fun, be nice...
Ta, L.
Later: Hm, I observe there seem to be two entries for "The Flowers of Vashnoi" here on Goodreads. They should be combined or collated somehow. No idea how, as I have no idea how they even appear in the first place, but presumably someone must be doing something, somehow.
Later still: The duplication problem seems to have been fixed, with no more effort from me than venting my woes vaguely into the air. It's sort of like magic. Be careful what you wish for...
Pleased, L.
message 1:
by
DebL
(new)
May 17, 2018 03:35PM
Typo: "Ekaterin pulled a stray st[r]and of her dark hair free from the seal fasteners..."
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Thank you for this lovely story! My all-time favorite character is Cordelia, but Ekaterin is a very close second.
It is a comedy novella. I literally laughed as much reading this as I did reading The Princess Bride a month ago.I absolutely loved it. It engaged my emotions beautifully.
Typo: location 1074 - a encouragingComment: loved loved loved but now there are more people and situations I want further updates on!
Inconsistencies in punctuation, e.g. page 14, British quotes and comma/period placement on "'the vomit bugs’, or, during the unfortunate time they’d escaped inside Vorkosigan House, ‘those damned pullulating cockroaches’.”Love it so, though. Truly.
I need to read it again now, it is definitely a story appropriate for Ekaterin, with humor and horor alike. Miles, as much as we love him, would bowl it over. I read it in snatches, on a loud bus of 5th graders, at an elementary band concert and in quiet moments here and there. It deserved space for itself, but it was also a gift. Thank you.Nods to Mountains of Mourning were palpable.
One typo I noticed: loth instead of loath.Very much liked this! Enrique is getting some sense rubbed off on him, looks like, too.
Elizabeth wrote: "One typo I noticed: loth instead of loath.Very much liked this! Enrique is getting some sense rubbed off on him, looks like, too."
"loth" is a variant spelling, rarer but allowable. (I had this out with a test reader.) I prefer it to "loath" because the latter is too easily confused with "loathe", quite another meaning.
Glad you liked the tale!
Ta, L.
Typo: I believe it should be “with a discomfited glance...”not discomforted, when Vadim arrives to find Ekaterin and Enrique there.Loved the story!
Love the story! The main revelation for me is not so much Ekaterin, who performs much as expected, but the maturity and general well roundedness displayed by Enrique. Much more sensible and level headed than in ACC.
Also of course Ingi seems to be the prototype, or possibly successor depending on when the pieces were actually written, of Jin in 'Cryoburn'. Waste not, want not.
My first run through, I did not notice any obvious typos or grammar errors at all, and I usually spot those immediately. I will reread in a day or so with more attention to detail.I liked it. I'm glad you published.
EarthShine wrote: "You make a post on the Librarians Group https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... (book issues folder) and ask them to be COMBINED. The librarians are GR users that volunt..."Alas, one cannot seem to post there without being a member. Any GR librarian who is reading this, ping me! Here in the comments section, or by the messages, whatever.
Ta, L.
Love the story as well. Yay, Ekaterin. Totally enjoyed her making decisions and being assertive.Not as much a typo than a stylistic choice that gave me pause? Miles keep calling his grandfather Piotr instead of Granda Piotr or something similar. And the book is in Ekaterin's POV and yet she kept thinking of Miles as Lord Vorkosigan?
Grimacing in mixed amusement and exasperation(period) Ekaterin stepped away...->
Grimacing in mixed amusement and exasperation(comma) Ekaterin stepped away...
Apologies for the edits. I should have copied it straight from the book. :)
This may be because I read it in the wee hours last night, way past my proper bedtime, but I'm a little confused: what is the actual relationship between Vadim and Jadwiga?I loved the references to Baba Yaga and the bird-footed castle motif. If I hadn't been alarmed along with Ekaterin, I think I would have been howling with laughter.
(I don't know if this goes all the way back to the Russian versions of the story or not, but in Hungarian they've evolved/devolved into a general idea of the "palace turning on duck legs" as a way to describe the epitome of a fancy residence.)
Devoured it in one stretch. Loved it. But dang, now you need to tell us what happens next! To the people found in the woods. And, more importantly, the ongoing results of the experiments to clean up the radiation. Looking forward to the ::ahem:: next installment.
"in a squinty-eyed patrol through the woods nears the plot." Near? Nearest?
I especially like Enrique's positive approach to so many things.
There's knowing a thing academically, "of course there's a horrible probably Cetagandan reason for almost no Vorkosigans in this century" and there's really having it spelled out for you how much loss and waste and horror and change Piotr went through in his lifetime. I had to stop and work on not crying while staffing the reference desk this morning. Sign of a good story, that.
Lois wrote: "loth" is a variant spelling, rarer but allow..."
I have learned a NEW THING! Excellent.
HelloJust barely started it but "the rangy ranger". You go where Don Westlake feared to tread. He once said he regretted naming his thief anti-hero Parker (writing as Richard Stark) because he could not write "Parker parked his car" I do not know why he would have said such a thing but he did.
William wrote: "HelloJust barely started it but "the rangy ranger". You go where Don Westlake feared to tread. He once said he regretted naming his thief anti-hero Parker (writing as Richard Stark) because he cou..."
He was sensitive to word echoes, perhaps? I know I have to comb out a lot of them on my revision passes.
Though "rangy ranger" was deliberate word-play, on my part.
Ta, L.
I feel about this the way I felt about the first Penric & Desdemona story - that we only got Act One of at least a three act story.Of course, we've since had more Pen and Des to fix that problem - here's hoping for a similar fix to this one.
Once again pleading for putting your works in stores where I don't have to do vaguely illegal things to them in order to read them.
Kate wrote: "I feel about this the way I felt about the first Penric & Desdemona story - that we only got Act One of at least a three act story.Of course, we've since had more Pen and Des to fix that problem ..."
Print publishers, not I, put my books in stores, but anyway, I'm not sure what even vaguely illegal thing anyone would have to do to read my e-editions. Download free app of choice, download story, read. Done.
Ta, L.
On second read - Ingi with those blue eyes should be called leucistic rather than albino (with pink eyes like Sura's). It did occur to me that you might have used the more common (if somewhat inaccurate) description on purpose, but I'd think a scientist like Enrique would definitely have known. I'm a little confused on the timeline - after CVA, but at the end of CVA, Elizabeth has been decanted and I think not in this story. Shortly before the epilogue of CVA then?
The 'vaguely illegal' thing is that all of the stores your ebooks are in use their own proprietary DRM that my ereader does not handle (nor do most of the non-Kindles that exist in the world), so I have to strip that DRM off in order to, you know, READ the things.Any idea why your publishers don't put your books into the Google or Kobo ebookstores?
Juli wrote: "This may be because I read it in the wee hours last night, way past my proper bedtime, but I'm a little confused: what is the actual relationship between Vadim and Jadwiga?I loved the references ..." I read it that he is her actual brother and was made to take her to the zone when she was born with mutations
Talli wrote: "On second read - Ingi with those blue eyes should be called leucistic rather than albino (with pink eyes like Sura's)...."People with albinism do not necessarily have pink/red eyes. They more often have the same iris pigmentation as other humans, just a whole lot less of it. This means that they're very likely to show up with "red-eye" in photographs, and can look red-eyed in some lighting situations, but their eyes are actually blue, green, or even brown.
(Like most things in human biology, albinism is not a simple yes/no question. There are degrees of it or variations, depending on the exact genetics.)
Talli wrote: "Juli wrote: "This may be because I read it in the wee hours last night, way past my proper bedtime, but I'm a little confused: what is the actual relationship between Vadim and Jadwiga?I loved th..."
Correct. Then their parents died/departed, leaving big bro Vadim holding the bag, as it were.
Ta, L.
Kate wrote: "Any idea why your publishers don't put your books into the Google or Kobo ebookstores?"
I am my own publisher for these indie e-books, with valuable technical help from and through my long-time literary agency. (Blackstone Audio, Audible, HarperCollins, and for a few titles Baen, are their own things, and do what they want.) My agent doesn't want to deal with Google as she is still peeved over an ill-advised rights grab they did a while back, nor with Kobo due to their unfortunate habits of doing things like changing the prices without permission of the authors. (Plus they are small, making the game less worth the candle.) So, business reasons not normally visible to the end-user.
Ta, L.
Kate wrote: "The 'vaguely illegal' thing is that all of the stores your ebooks are in use their own proprietary DRM that my ereader does not handle (nor do most of the non-Kindles that exist in the world), so I have to strip that DRM off in order to, you know, READ the things..."Ah. The root of the problem is that you are still reading on a proprietary reader. I own a Paperwhite, and I haven't had it open in a year, since I got my tablet. (An Android, but most any tablet works the same.) After downloading the free Kindle app onto it, everything I ever bought on Kindle is available to it, and to all my other devices including my laptop and cell phone. I've switched to recommending general-purpose tablets for anyone looking for a reader.
Does Kobo not have a similar system? (If not, they are being seriously out-competed.)
In any case, you are allowed to have reading apps in parallel on a tablet or other computer. (Most people I know seem to collect a bewildering array.) You are not stuck with Kobo. Really, it's no different from having more than one bookshelf to hold one's books. If you even want just one book on a given app system, you can have it.
And I know how much fanfic some people read off their regular computers, so that's done, as well.
Ta, L.
Vision problems prohibit reading for more than 20 minutes or so on a tablet/computer/etc, hence the ereader.Kobo uses Adobe ePub, the most common type of DRM outside the Kindle/Nook/iTunes closed systems. It's the DRM everyone else uses.
I am in the market for an Android eink tablet once they produce one that can run Hoopla - but until then I'll continue to rail against walled gardens and do vaguely illegal things.
(Also, if you want to hold grudges, Amazon should come in for several. They're the king of antics. Oy!)
Such a great read! Thank you for letting us peer once more into my favorite science fictional universe. This was a great addition to the series, and like all of your work it leaves me with an even stronger desire to know what comes next for both the new and old characters. I hope this wins an award! Thank you!
Kate wrote: "Vision problems prohibit reading for more than 20 minutes or so on a tablet/computer/etc, hence the ereader.Kobo uses Adobe ePub, the most common type of DRM outside the Kindle/Nook/iTunes closed..."
When you upload to Amazon, the person uploading the file can choose whether or not DRM is applied. DRM does nothing to stop actual pirates. They can strip it as easily as they breathe. But it does make normal readers feel like criminals, when they must strip the DRM in order to read the ebook on their preferred device.
Lois, I urge you to instruct the person who does your uploading to uncheck the box for applying DRM.
One other thing...yes, Google does change the prices at their own discretion and without notifying anyone. I agree with the choice to stay away from the platform for that reason (and a few others). But Kobo does not do this. Yes, Kobo is a smaller marketplace, but it is growing and worth considering as a platform.
A great tale, and so unexpected! I’m a compulsive rereader of the Vorkosigan series and this was a welcome tidbit. Thank you!
Loved the story! Of the many things I'm still thinking about, I'm wondering what kind of label we can stick on this. Essentially, it's about a project manager who runs into a tricky ethical situation and comes up with a solution. AFAIK, it's not really a thing, is it? Business stories? Bureaucratic Adventure? It is solidly SF. If it weren't for butterbugs and the testing of science, we wouldn't have the story. But it's not the kind of SF where the "what if?" is the entire story (which often reads like infodump to non-SF fans). It's the intersection of science and humanity.
I mean, we've been picking up pretty rocks and flowers and bugs ever since we became human (and maybe slightly before). That's such a human thing. What if those bugs could kill you, even though they are beautiful?
Lots of other scientific advances these days are beautiful and gorgeous, but are they going to help people in the long run? Twinkies. Instagram.
Lois wrote: "EarthShine wrote: "You make a post on the Librarians Group https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... (book issues folder) and ask them to be COMBINED. The librarians are G..."All taken care of. Librarians read your posts too.
Progressing through reread! The first read was like water on a parching hot day... you can’t help but guzzle it’s so good. The second is slower and better to be savoured. Like a beautiful chocolate allowed to melt in your mouth.It occurs to me to wonder how Vashnoi compares with the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Is some brilliant Dr Borgos devising a biological solution there? Add to my list of Wikipedia rabbit-holes.
Juli wrote: "Talli wrote: "On second read - Ingi with those blue eyes should be called leucistic rather than albino (with pink eyes like Sura's)...."People with albinism do not necessarily have pink/red eyes...."
Thanks! Always like to learn. My experience with albinism is pretty much with zoo animals. I've seen several with the typical lack of pigment and pink eyes, and the white alligators have signs explaining that, no, they're not albino but leucistic and why. They have blue eyes, but not pale, not missing pigment apparently.
Carry on.
S wrote: "Progressing through reread! The first read was like water on a parching hot day... you can’t help but guzzle it’s so good. The second is slower and better to be savoured. Like a beautiful chocolate..."I recommend to your attention the PBS Nature episode on the ongoing consequences of Chernobyl, with the irresistible title of "Radioactive Wolves". It's available on DVD, so your library might have it; also intermittently available on PBS.org
Ta, L.
I love this so much! I’ve always felt cheated by the “happily ever after” ending to fairy tales. The real work happens after marriage! In the same way, the real work of making Barrayar safe comes after the new wormhole is established and then after the Cetagandans have left. We’ve seen the political parts of it, and some of the social parts of it and here we are seeing the actual reclamation of the land. It makes me so happy!
J wrote: "I love this so much! I’ve always felt cheated by the “happily ever after” ending to fairy tales. The real work happens after marriage! In the same way, the real work of making Barrayar safe comes a..."I think I enjoyed Flowers for reasons similar to yours. It felt really satisfying to see Ekaterin thoroughly engaged in the work of her life as a leader in the Vorkosigan district.
I woke up this morning unhappy because it was a Tuesday and Amazon didn't have anything new that I wanted to read ... then the blessed algorithm so oh ye of little faith how about this "The Flowers of Vashnoi" and all was good in the world. Your Penric series, Martha Wells' Murderbot and now i'm hoping that there will be more in the a Miles-overse. thank you and maybe it's format that would suit gregor
Thom wrote: "and maybe it's format that would suit gregor "Oh!!! Yes, please!!
Thom wrote: "I woke up this morning unhappy because it was a Tuesday and Amazon didn't have anything new that I wanted to read ... then the blessed algorithm so oh ye of little faith how about this "The Flowers..."Yes, another reader had mentioned the Amazon note -- which explains the uptick in my sales ranking today, hah. Good autobot, have a biscuit.
Ta, L.
I found myself feeling very sorry for Enrique, caught between two Vorkosigans. Ekaterin certainly wouldn't permit him to *permit* her to do anything. But Miles would be likely to blame him for letting exposure occur, even though Miles himself would be hard pressed to stop Ekaterin from doing whatever she liked.
I’m not sure about the grammar rules for this - so I might have it wrong, but shouldn’t (at 41% read) “...insect smashed under an, oh God, stumpy bare foot” be “...insect smashed under a, oh God, stumpy bare foot”? Because “oh God” is something inserted into the phrase “a stumpy bare foot”?I could easily be wrong.
Also, this was the first re-read and I enjoyed it even more. Now I want to see Enrique as a father. He’s going to be terrific!
I think Ingi is going to give Enrique some great da experience.
J wrote: "I’m not sure about the grammar rules for this - so I might have it wrong, but shouldn’t (at 41% read) “...insect smashed under an, oh God, stumpy bare foot” be “...insect smashed under a, oh God, s..."Sometimes what might be technically correct is still the wrong choice. "...an, oh God, stumpy bare foot..." flows for me as a reader, just because the word immediately following the article starts with a vowel. My opinion.
