Lost In The Library Of Life

Plan 5a from Schubert Road…

The house move from hell continues to eat its way into lives and the budget, but the reading must go on! Unfortunately, the book packing has revealed the must re-reads hidden at the back of the densely packed book cases. This has resulted in a massive run through the entire Miles Vorkosigan novels of Lois McMaster Bujold, as well as the early cyberpunk rewiring of Walter John Williams. Or is it just the strange appeal of the triple barrelled name…

Once we’ve moved though (sometime in the next two weeks we hope, lawyers permitting) we’ll be able to get a kitten! Wheee! (or should that be… meow!)

Miles to go before I sleep…

As it is, the Miles Vorkosigan stories deserve some consideration. Initially appearing as romantic space opera, with the initial “Shards Of Honour”, the stories have skeedadled across a range of sub-genres. Considering them in series order:

“Shards Of Honour” introduces Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan. On opposing sides in an interstellar war, and marooned on a newly discovered world, Cordelia and Aral transcend their differences - and their pasts - to fall in love.

“Barrayar” is a tale of revolution and betrayal, set on a world struggling to escape a feudal warring past. The infant Miles struggles for life, whilst his parents struggle for their world.

“The Warrior’s Apprentice” introduces the adult Miles. Crippled by an in-utero chemical attack, Miles must fight prejudice and his disabilities to find a place in his world. Unfortunately he fails, and runs away, only to find himself in the middle of a nasty little war. By dint of luck and force of personality, Miles ends up with his own mercenary army, and winning the war, and finding himself - or at least part of himself.

“The Vor Game” begins with Miles destroying his nascent military career. Sent in disgrace to remove his one-time mercenaries from a flash-point, he finds himself with a runaway emperor and an invading fleet of ravening social-Darwinists. In a similar vein to the previous tale, only Miles’ personality and luck save the day, but now Miles can legitimise his mercenary alter-ego Admiral Naismith.

“Ceteganda” is a game of find-the-lady on a grand scale. Political intrigue at an imperial funeral on the home world of the expansionist Cetagandans leads Miles into a classic detective mystery. Light touches lead into a complex knot of plots and counterplots, worthy of Lord Peter or Albert Campion

“Brothers In Arms” brings Miles to the greenhouse earth and London. Unfortunately, events lead him to switch between his two identities as he struggles to prevent a plot to replace himself - with his clone. Bujold uses the conspiracy to explore the flaws in Miles’ two carefully constructed personalities, and the conflicts at the heart of his deliberate personality split.

“Mirror Dance” follows on, with Miles’ clone-brother, Mark, trying to find a place for himself, by stealing a bunch of Miles’ mercenaries. Unfortunately, he’s no Admiral Naismith, and in trying to rescue Mark, Miles is killed. Mark struggles with madness, and Miles with amnesia, as they try to return to their rightful places.

“Memory” deals with the aftermath of Miles’ death and resurrection. Seizures lead to accident, and to a false report - and to Miles’ loosing his job. But his boss’ eidetic memory chip is failing, and Miles has to discover who it was who sabotaged the chip, and at the same time discover who he really is…

Associational works include “Ethan Of Athos”, “Falling Free” and the short story collection “Borders of Infinity”.

Hermetically sealed capsule reviews…

Don’t Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear: Ed. Jody Lynn Nye (Baen, July 1996)

A vaguely amusing mix of short stories involving mothers. Nothing out and out funny, but it’s something to keep you company when you have a dose of the ‘flu.

Far Futures: Ed. Gregory Benford (Tor, 1997)

Stapledonean stories that explore the deepest reaches of time. The eschatalogical riff is played by Greg Bear, Charles Sheffield, Poul Anderson, Joe Haldeman and Donald Kingsbury. Well worth tracking down and reading.

How Like A God, Brenda W. Clough (Tor, 1997, proof)

A fantasy of reality, in the vein of Silverberg’s “Dying Inside” or Simmon’s “The Hollow Man”. Telepathy, mind control, the Gilgamesh myth, guilt and redemption meet in this tale of a man who suddenly discovers he’s got a gift that he didn’t really want… or need… A must read, SF at its best!

The Bear Went Over The Mountain, William Kotzwinkle (Black Swan, 1997)

Not a book to be read in public, this laugh-out-loud story is a Thurber modern fable writ large. A bear finds a novel, goes to New York, becomes famous and wins awards. Kotzwinkle will be lucky to sell another book, with this satire on publishing…

Crop circles in my PC…

So there I was surfing for a copy of Albertus for a new web pages design, when I found this, the ultimate Fortean font! All the classic crop circle patterns in one standard Windows 95 font.

Time to go home (Andy and Teddy)…

Who needs the Telly Tubbies? The Simpsons are back! With Added ET-references!

As most of my books are in boxes, please excuse the lack of references. Any appearing are from memory, or from the recent purchases pile.

“Lost in the Library of Life”

was an Acnestis contribution from Simon Bisson