[A Bunch of Bujolds] The Vor Game (Miles Vorkosigan, book 2) by Lois McMaster Bujold

James Nicoll

unread,

Apr 19, 2018, 11:03:56 PM4/19/18

to

The Vor Game (Miles Vorkosigan, book 2) by Lois McMaster Bujold

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/just-another-manic-monday
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

David Johnston

unread,

Apr 20, 2018, 1:27:11 AM4/20/18

to

On 2018-04-19 9:03 PM, James Nicoll wrote:
> The Vor Game (Miles Vorkosigan, book 2) by Lois McMaster Bujold
>
> https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/just-another-manic-monday
>

I once read a cross-over fanfic between Harrington and Vorkosigan. The
title was "The Short and Victorious Vor".

Moriarty

unread,

Apr 20, 2018, 7:57:27 AM4/20/18

to

On Friday, April 20, 2018 at 1:03:56 PM UTC+10, James Nicoll wrote:
> The Vor Game (Miles Vorkosigan, book 2) by Lois McMaster Bujold
>
> https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/just-another-manic-monday

"The main problem with this book is the lavish use of coincidence to power the plot."

That's a mastery of understatement. This is Bujold's suckiest book, precisely because it relies on improbability after improbability to drive the plot. Bah.

They must have been feeding magic mushrooms to WorldCon91. Nothing else explains the Hugo.

-Moriarty

-dsr-

unread,

Apr 20, 2018, 8:08:05 AM4/20/18

to

Found it.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/111390/chapters/154500

-dsr-

mcdow...@sky.com

unread,

Apr 20, 2018, 1:53:39 PM4/20/18

to

I quite enjoyed that - I think I remember some clever references - one in particular to the book of Job.

mcdow...@sky.com

unread,

Apr 20, 2018, 1:57:22 PM4/20/18

to

I've always thought that the Miles books (as opposed to the "Barrayar" books) contained a pretty strong element of "romp" so the coincidences didn't really bother me - in fact the incredibility of the resulting situations adds to the comic effect.

Garrett Wollman

unread,

Apr 20, 2018, 3:15:42 PM4/20/18

to

In article <642751ef-b318-43a4...@googlegroups.com>,

<mcdow...@sky.com> wrote:

>I've always thought that the Miles books (as opposed to the "Barrayar"
>books) contained a pretty strong element of "romp" so the coincidences
>didn't really bother me - in fact the incredibility of the resulting
>situations adds to the comic effect.

This is exactly what I was going to say.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wol...@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

Mike Van Pelt

unread,

Apr 20, 2018, 4:15:31 PM4/20/18

to

In article <73807c7d-35f3-4632...@googlegroups.com>,

Moriarty <blu...@ivillage.com> wrote:
>They must have been feeding magic mushrooms to WorldCon91.
>Nothing else explains the Hugo.

Or, to quote a net.personality from 20-something years ago,

"Yes, I know that story won a Hugo award, but only
because Fu Manchu has spent the last 20 years
transplanting the brains of howler monkeys into
science fiction fans." -- Bret Troly

(Acually, I liked "The Vor Game". As others have said...
A romp. Coincidence-driven is one of the tropes of the genre.)
--
Mike Van Pelt | "I don't advise it unless you're nuts."
mvp at calweb.com | -- Ray Wilkinson, after riding out Hurricane
KE6BVH | Ike on Surfside Beach in Galveston

Moriarty

unread,

Apr 20, 2018, 4:34:31 PM4/20/18

to

On Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 6:15:31 AM UTC+10, Mike Van Pelt wrote:
> In article <73807c7d-35f3-4632...@googlegroups.com>,
> Moriarty <blu...@ivillage.com> wrote:
> >They must have been feeding magic mushrooms to WorldCon91.
> >Nothing else explains the Hugo.
>
>
> Or, to quote a net.personality from 20-something years ago,
>
> "Yes, I know that story won a Hugo award, but only
> because Fu Manchu has spent the last 20 years
> transplanting the brains of howler monkeys into
> science fiction fans." -- Bret Troly

Was he quoting this book? If so, I agree: the howler monkey hypothesis explains the facts.

-Moriarty

Mike Van Pelt

unread,

Apr 23, 2018, 5:33:07 PM4/23/18

to

In article <0093a315-cc38-4001...@googlegroups.com>,

I have no idea. I just liked the snarky quote, and saved it
in my quotes file. Every now and then, I pull it out, like
when "Bears Discover Fire" won the Hugo. (???!?) Or that
"If You Were a Dinosaur" thing, whatever it was supposed to be.

David Goldfarb

unread,

Apr 25, 2018, 1:45:06 AM4/25/18

to

In article <kisDC.25169$Hv4....@fx39.iad>,

Mike Van Pelt <m...@web1.calweb.com> wrote:
>Or that
>"If You Were a Dinosaur" thing, whatever it was supposed to be.

It was supposed to be a meditation on revenge, informed and inspired
by science fiction tropes. It may not have been SF as such, but it
was written by an SF author and took its shape from SF. Plus it
was beautifully written and affecting.

Also it was only shortlisted: it didn't actually win. "The Water
That Falls on You from Nowhere" won.

--
David Goldfarb |"Given enough time and the right audience,
goldf...@gmail.com | the darkest of secrets scum over into
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | mere curiosities."
| -- Neil Gaiman, _Sandman_ #53