Adam
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hi. Thank you for the many many hours of entertainment you've provided me over the last 20 years! I'm thouroughly enjoying the penric stories now. I noticed that unlike the first 3 penric stories, the 4th one (which I'm still reading) happens just after the 3rd one. Just curious, is there a plan to continue in that way, or did that just happen for this story that wasn't finished at the end of book 3?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Glad you are enjoying Pen & Des! So am I, thus far.
Part of my, hm, not plan but hope for the Penric tales is to keep the series structure as loose as possible. (Think how, say, the original Sherlock Holmes stories work by accumulation while stitching back and forth in the characters' lives, although they have the card-up-the-sleeve of Watson's after-the-fact narration.) I'd like to be able to jump around in Pen's timeline at will, although my prior experience does show if one jumps too far forward too fast it tends to block off sectors for development, so there are some limits on that score. But not nearly as many as with more rigid sequential-chronological structures. See The Sharing Knife tetralogy for a worked example at the opposite end of the spectrum.
I do plan/hope to do more with Pen in Cedonia, but those ideas aren't quite ripe yet.
Ta, L.
Glad you are enjoying Pen & Des! So am I, thus far.
Part of my, hm, not plan but hope for the Penric tales is to keep the series structure as loose as possible. (Think how, say, the original Sherlock Holmes stories work by accumulation while stitching back and forth in the characters' lives, although they have the card-up-the-sleeve of Watson's after-the-fact narration.) I'd like to be able to jump around in Pen's timeline at will, although my prior experience does show if one jumps too far forward too fast it tends to block off sectors for development, so there are some limits on that score. But not nearly as many as with more rigid sequential-chronological structures. See The Sharing Knife tetralogy for a worked example at the opposite end of the spectrum.
I do plan/hope to do more with Pen in Cedonia, but those ideas aren't quite ripe yet.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Kate Sweeney
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
As I begin to read Free Falling after reading the series thus far in the chronological timeline of the Vorkosigan family, I wanted to express my gratitude for your creation. My dad read this series as a kid (I am 24) and not only has this series formed a camaraderie between us as we bonded over Miles and his adventure, but this series reminded me of my love of reading. Thank you! (Including a ? so I can post this lol)
J. W.
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
The phrase "the singing woman at the forest's edge" appears to affect Ingrey too deeply to be a throwaway line, yet there is no more reference to it in The Hallowed Hunt. Is there something that was cut or a story yet to be written? I did a web search thinking it might be a reference to something, but all I found was a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, "The Singing Woman From the Wood's Edge" which does not seem right.
Gard Evyr
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Lois, what is your personal favorite cover of all your books' covers, and why? Maybe you might demur on the question out of fear of inadvertently disparaging some artist or another, but it doesn't have to be the cover with the best art per se, but simply your own personal favorite for what might be a sentimental or personal reason?
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