Since 1999, this has been the sort of thing that happens to me on a fairly regular basis. Not the part where I get asked to write about Bujold fandom, the other part. The part with the parties and the really good food: for some reason, Bujold fandom seems to have an unusually high concentration of extremely good cooks.5 Also the part involving being offered sofas by—or offering them to—people I've never actually seen in person before. (Which has been known to involve the part where I end up burbling on to Immigration Officials about why they need to read some Bujold, and giving them the mailing list URL. Note to international travelers: "We're fellow members of a literary discussion group" is just as true as and works much better than "I met him/her/them on the Internet." Axe murderers, again.)
I am assured that it's not just me: my girlfriend—whom I met on the Bujold list—called me a few years back, at midnight, to tell me that she was stranded in New York City, her train had been late, she'd missed her connection, she was short of cash, were there any listees nearby? She had a place to stay in fifteen minutes. This sort of thing happens on the List.
The funny bit was, the person I got hold of wasn't even an active listee. That happens all the time, too; we're not exactly the Mailing List California, but we don't necessarily consider a failure to post or remain subscribed, even should said failure last for several years, evidence that a person has actually, you know, left. I mean, it's not that we'll stalk you, but if you find yourself in hospital, or Iraq, or somewhere, there may be phone calls and cards and parcels of books and things from people you haven't talked to in years. . . .
(The books! Talk about the books!)
Right, the books. It's all about The Books. Except when it isn't. Then it's about gender relations, kosher cooking, cats, weird links, and who's going to which cons or throwing the next party.6 At which we will talk about the books. Probably.
It can be, or at least, it can seem—on checking the List over the last few days I find we are on topic about half the time; so perhaps it's just that we talk twice as much as normal people—harder than is at all sensible, on a list full of people who love the Vorkosigan books—and the Vorkosigans—as much as we do, to get a conversation going about the books. Just about any time, you can get a conversation going about why there's all this off-topicness, though. There are several theories, ranging from "it's all been said" to "it's too difficult, what with some people getting ARCs7 and others having to wait for library copies," though "you people are the weirdest bunch of so-called fans I've ever seen" has its defenders as well.
There are offshoot lists for the discussion of Bujold from both the Lord Peter and the Dunnett lists (LordV and MostlyBujold, respectively), and it is rumored that there is much discussion of the Vorkosigan books to be found on those. This, and the fact that both lists were founded to deal with the tendency of Bujold threads to slip in among the Lord Peter and Lymond discussions, gives rise to yet another theory, which is "Bujold fans, as a class, will tend to talk about anything except what we are meant to talk about." (It occurs to me that we could have saved a certain amount of trouble on-list a few years back by making mention of U.S. politics in all posts mandatory.8)
Whatever the explanation is, it's not a lack of love for Lois's writing. We have, indeed, been known both individually and collectively to do some extremely mad things to get hold of Lois's works. (She sent a manuscript copy of Diplomatic Immunity to two listees on the occasion of their wedding, which was at least a year before publication date. To prevent a spate of impulsive marriage proposals I ought to note that a) we already tried that—that, not the original marriage, was the mad behavior to which I was referring—and b) that manuscript distribution is rare, entirely at Lois's whim, and not to be got by bribes, begging, or backflips, so this is unlikely to happen again; it was the first, and as far as I know so far the only, wedding to come about because of the list.)
Rather madder was what happened when "Winterfair Gifts" was, for complex publisher-related reasons, released in Croatian a year before it came out in English. Quite a few of us bought it in Croatian. Then we translated it ourselves: rather, a Croatian listee (Vlatka Petrovic) translated it, Bo Johannson and Robert Parks edited it, I proofread it—on the bus from D.C. to New Orleans, as I recall—Robert typeset it, and everyone who had bought a Croatian copy got an English copy. I still have mine; it's a really good translation, actually. (And was responsible for at least one new convert to Lois's writing: a gentleman on the bus who started by reading over my shoulder and ended by snaffling pages from me as fast as I could get them done.) It all seemed a completely reasonable course of action at the time. . . .
And then there's our crack team of ARC-spotters, who patrol eBay while sane people sleep, and the people who deal with the logistics involved in dividing five or so ARCs by one planet's worth of eager readers, not to mention the mailing costs . . . And yet, we do it. So I think we can definitely conclude that whatever fuels our inability to stay on-topic, it's not a lack of interest in the books.
I suspect that some of the explanation lies in the books themselves, and in the broad range of people and situations they speak to; it is possible to conclude, by careful reading of Lois's books (a practice I recommend with some fervor, every chance I get; if you are ever buttonholed in the SF aisle of a bookstore by a wild-eyed9 Canadian who wants to press a copy of Cordelia's Honor or The Curse of Chalion into your hand, it's probably me), that either everything is on-topic, or nothing is. Lois once described her fans as "a flatteringly bright bunch," and I'd add to that that we tend to be an engaged bunch: not only do we collectively know a lot of stuff, we tend to care. A lot. And can explain why, sometimes at truly incredible length.
So, things can get heated, on-topic and off-, from time to time and as occasion serves—that Lois's books speak to such a wide range of people, and say such wildly different things to each reader, is, I think, a sign of her quality as a writer. It also makes for some—interesting—conversations among Bujold fans. Perennial on-topic favorites include "Beta Colony: Socialist Utopia, Stalinist Dystopia, or Kind of Scary but Better Than Barrayar?," "Ivan Vorpatril: How Can You Help Loving That Man? (Give Several Examples of How, Please)," "Uterine Replicators: Best Tech Ever or Unnatural, Wrong, and Just Plain Way Too Risky?," and "He Was Bisexual, Now He's Monogamous: How Aral Vorkosigan's Love Life Changed a Planet (Several Times)." Despite the fact that it seems unlikely at this time that any of Lois's books will be filmed, there is also the ever-popular (or much-feared) Casting Thread.
In the midst of it all there's Lois. Not "in the middle," exactly; Lois is, by some alchemy, the exact trick of which escapes me, as much a listee as any of us, without being self-effacing or falsely humble. I mean, she has this day10 job which has been known to come up on-list and which frequently requires her to lurk until she's finished a book, but it doesn't stop her being Lois, or from chatting about subtle points in the books, unsubtle misbehaviors practiced by her cats, what else she's reading, or current events—or, indeed, from posting truly brain-breakingly strange links on occasion. If her presence has an effect on the operation of her fandom, if Bujold fandom is because of her in any way different from other fandoms, and I think it is, it's subtle; it is, perhaps, a little difficult to deliberately behave more badly than you absolutely have to in front of the woman who invented Cordelia Vorkosigan—and Alys Vorpatril.
Or, just possibly, it is a bit easier for a Bujold fan to be a little better, a little more open to points of view they once considered completely deranged, than they thought they were—because of the woman who invented Mark Vorkosigan and Konstantin Bothari, whether she is around or not.
(Talking of Mark, shortly after Mirror Dance came out I had occasion to point Lois out at a convention to a new, young, male fan of hers. "She wrote Mirror Dance?" he said, in tones of deep shock. "She looks like somebody's mother!"
"Well, she is," I said rather dryly, and managed to wait until he was out of sight to laugh. It was several years before I dared tell Lo
is this story; as I recall she laughed quite a lot, herself.)
The list refers to new Bujold readers as "converts"; it's a running joke, funnier than it ought to be because of Lois's stunning improbability as a cult leader. On consideration, like most good jokes, it hides a grain of truth. To read Bujold—to read her with the kind of passion and fascination her works seem to inspire—is to see the world a little differently, forever after. She'll tell you that her characters' approaches to the difficulties of ordinary—or extraordinary—life are a case of "professional driver; closed course," and not necessarily to be attempted if you don't have the author on your side, and it's good advice.
The Vorkosigan series is fiction for a reason, and suborning, scamming, intimidating, and beheading people who get in your way should not be expected to produce excellent results when attempted as real-life forms of conflict resolution. Nevertheless, Lois has a great deal to say about how, and why, to be human, and while you're enjoying the twisty plots and the cracking dialogue and the entrancing characters, some of it will tend to slide under your skin. Lois and her characters get into your conversation, then into your mind, and eventually into your human, imperfect heart, and as any reader of the books knows, where her characters go, things tend to change, and, usually, to get better.
This suggests a definition of "Bujold fandom" I can get behind, actually: Lois once defined a genre as "a body of works in close conversation (or heated argumentation) with one another," and I think, if pressed, I might define a fandom as "a collection of individuals in close conversation—or heated argumentation, or both at the same time—with a body of works and with each other." On the surface we don't necessarily have a lot in common, but we do have the fact that we are all drawn to the kinds of stories Lois writes, and we have all, I think, been changed a little or a lot by spending time with her books, whether reading them alone or discussing them in a group.
In A Civil Campaign, Ekaterin muses on whether or not you can judge a person—Miles, in her particular case—by the quality of the company they attract and enjoy, and concludes that you can. Put it on my tombstone, someday, then—she was a Bujold Fan, and enjoyed it very much—and I shall be well content.
_________
The role of beer in fandom has been much exaggerated; I'm just very fond of alliteration.
See www.dendarii.com for details and for the list archives.
July–December 2007.
I have no idea. But I am very grateful.
A not-quite random sampling of listee recipes may be found at www.rojizodesign.com/makosti/.
And footnotes. I don't know why; we just really like footnotes. They add verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative, or something.
Advance Reader Copies. They used to be for the exclusive use of reviewers, but now there is eBay.
For complex reasons, we don't discuss U.S. politics on the list anymore. At all.
If it's a fairly sane-looking Canadian, it's probably one of the other ones.
At least, some of it seems to happen while the sun is up.
THE VORKOSIVERSE ITSELF
A Pronunciation Guide to the Vorkosigan Universe
Suford Lewis
The author says that we may pronounce the names as we please, but many readers wish to know how she pronounces them. Without getting too finicky, this is to give an indication of the syllables which are more emphasized and the approximate values of the vowels and consonants of most of the names used in the Vorkosigan universe of Lois McMaster Bujold. Brief identifications will include the work in which the person or place principally appears, if it appears little outside of that work.
This is not a complete guide to the pronunciation of all the names in Bujold's Vorkosigan universe. It contains . . . what it contains, with an attempt to cover all major characters and the minor ones whose pronunciation might be tricky. Names of persons are in alphabetic order by last name. When we have only one name for a person, it is in order just as we know it without there being a set of "unknown last name" entries somewhere, which also solves the problem of not always being able to tell whether it was the first name or last name that we knew. At least the author consistently uses European name order—given name first and family name last—so we don't have to cope with, for instance, whether Ky Tung belongs with the Tungs or the Kys.
Place and organization names are listed mixed in with the people. Even less attempt has been made to be complete. The Black Escarpment, for instance, is not listed since it is unlikely to be a pronunciation problem. Jackson's Whole House names are listed under their House names rather than all being collected under "House."
Pronunciation Key
aa—a in as, cat
ah—a in arm, father, alleluia
aw—a in awe, dawn, caught
ay—a in bay, sakeuh—u in sun, done
oy—oy in boy
oh—o in go, oat
oo—o in choose, ruse
eh—e in bend
ee—e in week
ih—i in it
ai—i in sight, like
c—either k or s will be used except for ch
g—hard g as in good
j—soft g as in germ
zh—s in vision, second g in garage
Diphthongs (besides ai, ay, and oy) will be indicated by vowels separated by an underline; for instance, ai could be equivalently written as ah_ee. Many subtle differences are ignored: the "th" in thin is not distinguished from the "th" in then, the precise pronunciation of the "u" in survey is simplified to its less continental cousin "uh," and the rolled "r" is ignored. The swallowed vowel, as the "e" in "other" or the "o" in "carton," is simply left out. Purists beware.
Syllables are somewhat arbitrarily determined, more for convenience in indicating the vowels and stresses and to avoid the confusion of overloading many consonants onto a single syllable, than for exact indication of which syllable they would be pronounced with if one said the word syllable by syllable. So feel free to let the consonants indicated at the end of a syllable migrate to the beginning of the next and vice versa. Usually the difficulty about pronouncing an unfamiliar word is to choose among alternatives, and indicating which of the possible pronunciations the author prefers is the intent here. Stressed syllables are indicated by capital letters. If there is a secondary stress in a name it is indicated by small capitals, for instance: baa-ruh-POO-truh. There are many multi-syllable names with no indication of a secondary stress, when the rest of the syllables are all pretty much equal. Again, the pursuit of minutiae has been eschewed. Ship's names are in italics.
Key to Abbreviations for Works
B—Barrayar
BA—Brothers in Arms
BI—"The Borders of Infinity"
C—Cetaganda
CC—A Civil Campaign
DD—"Dreamweaver's Dilemma"
DI—Diplomatic Immunity
EA—Ethan of Athos
FF—Falling Free
K—Komarr
L—"Labyrinth"
M—Memory
MD—Mirror Dance
MM—"The Mountains of Mourning"
SH—Shards of Honor
VG—The Vor Game
WA—The Warrior's Apprentice
WG—"Winterfair Gifts"
Agba—AAG-bah—Quaddie in charge of work teams getting clamps open during the disassembly of Cay Habitat. (FF)
Ahn—AAN—Lieutenant, meteorology officer at Lazkowski Base. (VG)
Aime Pass—AI-mee PAAS—Pass through the Dendarii Mountains taken by Gregor, Cordelia, and Piotr during Vorda rian's Pretendership. (B)
Anafi, Ser—aa-NAA-fee, SUHR—Agent of Rialto Sharemarket Agency that lent Tien Vorsoisson money he invested in a Komarran trade fleet. (K)
Apmad—AAP-maad—Vice President, GalacTech Operations. (FF)
Arata, Tav—ah-RAA-tah, TAAV—Captain, Kline Station Security, friend of Elli Quinn. (EA)
Arozzi—aa-ROH-zee—Komarr Terraforming Project, Serifosa Branch, engin
eer substituting for Radovas managing the Waste Heat section, also involved in Radovas and Soudha's other project. (K)
Aslund—AAS-luhnd—A system off the Hegen Hub that is wary of Barrayar. (VG)
Athos—AA-thohs—Planet within two-month sub-light voyage of Kline Station settled by a religious sect that banned women from the planet. (EA)
Auson—AW-sn—Captain of the Ariel in the Oseran Mercenaries, captain of the Triumph in the Dendarii Mercenaries. (WA)
Avakli—ah-VAH-klee—Doctor, rear admiral, biocyberneticist researching Simon's illness. (M)
ba—BAH—Caste of sexless aides and servitors to the haut of the Celestial Garden. (C)
Baneri—BAH-nee-ree—Marilacan leader, killed at the siege of Fallow Core. (BI)
Bannerji, George—BAA-nr-gee, JORG—Captain, GalacTech Company Security, Shuttleport Three, Rodeo, accidentally shot Tony during the attempted escape. (FF)
Barrayar—BEHR-ah-yahr—System off the Hegen Hub through Pol and Komarr, its wormhole connection to the rest of human space closed just after it was colonized, leading to several centuries of isolation and regression. (All except FF)
The Vorkosigan Companion Page 18
