Stephen
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
"Ivar Ragnusson, better known as Ivar the Boneless. He was born, so it is said, with ‘only gristle where his bones should have been’. Ivar almost certainly suffered from osteogenesis imperfecta. He would have been very short, unable to walk without aid and with badly deformed limbs and spine. " (Sykes, Blood of the Isles). He led a Danish attack on Britain in 865! Another Miles?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Ivar is new to me, but you have to figure, every medical condition that exists now existed in the past, if with different names and explanations. (Except the ones that used to kill at birth or early on.) Thankfully many old killers have been rendered more rare by sanitation, immunizations, sterile technique (ferex tetanus used to take out a lot of infants from dirty cuts of the umbilical cord) and better understanding of nutrition. Grant you, osteogenesis imperfecta isn't one of those "easy" fixes.
Ta, L.
Ivar is new to me, but you have to figure, every medical condition that exists now existed in the past, if with different names and explanations. (Except the ones that used to kill at birth or early on.) Thankfully many old killers have been rendered more rare by sanitation, immunizations, sterile technique (ferex tetanus used to take out a lot of infants from dirty cuts of the umbilical cord) and better understanding of nutrition. Grant you, osteogenesis imperfecta isn't one of those "easy" fixes.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Diane Houdek
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
There are certain authors that I will immediately order/preorder their new book, but will then save said book to read as a reward or to consume in pure happiness because I know the writing, plot, world-building, etc are top notch and will not disappoint. You, T. Kingfisher, Alma T.C. Boykin, James Benn, (Terry Pratchett, alas) are some of my very favorites. Are there authors or series about which you feel similarly?
Jerri
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I have been re-reading Penric's Demon and just noticed this sentence: "Sorcerer had certainly not been on Pen's former list of scholarly ambitions, but then, neither had theologian, divine, physician, teacher, lawyer or any other high trade . . ." Then I noticed that with the possible exception of lawyer, Pen has now studied/become all of the above. Did you realize this when you first invented Penric and Des?
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