Halloween Reads
Sarah
Sarah asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I have been reading and really enjoying the Penric novellas. What, if any, of earth's cultures and religious faiths did you use for ideas to flesh out the 5 God beliefs and rituals? I'm thinking especially of using special animals at a funeral to signal that the person's spirit had been taken up by his or her God, and which God.

Lois McMaster Bujold As far as I know, my use of the funeral animals is original, though animals do play parts in many real-world faiths.

(I am suddenly put in mind of that scene in The Rook, which I will not attempt to describe here, where two different theories of prognostication clash horribly. And hilariously, if one's sense of humor is sufficiently black. Can't remember which animal species was the one in play, alas. It might be time for a reread, now the sequel is out.)

Ta, L.
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More Answered Questions

Seantheaussie
Seantheaussie asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Since the debut of the ebook have you "punched up" the "kindle sample" beginnings of your books, because they are now effectively part of the marketing? I think books used to be like movies, which could start slowly because people had already paid (sunk cost fallacy). They are now like TV shows, that have to grab and hold flighty viewers.

Jerri
Jerri asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

Starsreader
Starsreader asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I am devouring the snippet like short books on Penric, excellent idea pacing them out like this and whispersyncing the ebook with the audiobook. When writing these, I always love the names you find for the protagonists (may have mentioned that earlier). It's almost sad if Penric gets shortened to Pen, though, so would you consider this compromise: use Pen in spoken language, and Penric, in full, in storytelling?

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Lois McMaster Bujold
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