Sarah

Sarah asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Two questions. 1. Why did you decide against sentient alien species in your Vorkosiverse? 2. I don't remember any mention of indigenous animal life on Barrayar. I'm assuming there was some? Thanks.

Lois McMaster Bujold 1) Somewhere about the middle of the first draft of Shards of Honor, and 2) yes, the misnamed "bugs", horned hoppers, some unnamed sea life on the shore of Kyril Island, other bits along the way. Alas, nothing big and exciting like Barrayaran were-tigers or anything. The vegetation gets described repeatedly.

At one point, very early on in the story development, I'd toyed with the idea of an alien contact/invasion to keep my two protagonists working together but apart for the second half of the book, but the Barrayaran war idea worked much better, more intrinsically. I was also interested in exploring the bioengineered-future all-the-aliens-were-us trope. The Barrayar stories give a snapshot of that very long-range project just begining.

Ta, L.

More Answered Questions

Andrea Berta

Andrea Berta asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

My favorite book of all time is Curse of Chalion. Do you think that you'll write another sequel to it, either a full-length book or novella? I think there are lots of stories still to be told about the characters in it or in Paladin of Souls. I reread them both at least once a year and always wish for more.

A Goodreads user

A Goodreads user asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I descovered Miles Vorkosigan very near the beginning of your career, and have been a reader ever since. As a writer myself, I hope you don't mind if I ask you about how you work. I'm now reading Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, and I find myself both admiring thehard work you put into it, and wondering about all the characters and how you developed them. Can you please enlighten me, without giving away the store? Thanks

Vince

Vince asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I am catching up on last year's entries in the Penric and Desdemona series and am enjoying the pair's adventures in Lodi. Coincidentally, I came across this article today about clocks shedding chaos from ScienceNews: https://bit.ly/2SqTZkT. And of course I thought of our favorite sorcerer of the Bastard's Order. I wonder if Pen or Des would find it amusing?

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Lois McMaster Bujold

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