vorkosigan – Moe Lane

Book (well, Novella) of the Week: The Flowers of Vashnoi.

Hey did you know that Lois McMaster Bujold had written this novella called The Flowers of Vashnoi: Vorkosigan Saga yeah no neither did I there’s the link it’s downloading now it’s all about Ekaterina Vorkosigan and oh hey the download’s done see you later.

…

I SAID, new Vorkosigan saga novella! It’s OK! Go!

GURPS Bloody Vorkosigan Saga. Finally.

How long has the GURPS community waited for GURPS Vorkosigan Saga? Let me put it this way: the editor started off his acknowledgment by apologizing for the delay. This roleplaying game sourcebook was in production for five years. There were probably bets made on when, if ever, this book would ever see the light of day. The only reason why all of this didn’t end in a frontal assault on Steve Jackson Games is that Bujold fans tend to be kind-hearted souls without access to kinetic energy weapons.

…I kid. This book was a bit of a Jonah; everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, and after a certain point you have to accept that sometimes that just happens. And it’s nice to have a copy in hand. But man, was this a wait.

Moe Lane

GURPS Vorkosigan for April 2009?

Steve Jackson Games is saying precisely that, and it’d be nice to see. Oh, they’re calling it “The Vorkosigan Saga Sourcebook and RPG,” but that’s so that people who are Lois McMasters Bujold fans first and roleplaying gamers… pretty much not at all… will buy the blessed thing.

If you are not a Bujold fan, or a Vorkosigan series fan, then I suggest that you rectify this error at your earliest possible opportunity. It’s good space opera in general, but what elevates it to something special would have to be some of the characters: they’re some of the best-crafted that you’ll ever encounter in science fiction, and Bujold herself has a refreshing willingness to treat her created societies on their own terms, and not necessarily ours. Plus, she hates idiot plots*. That’s worth something right there.

Moe Lane

*Defined as “any plot narrative that can only work if nobody ever takes five minutes to ask three or four simple, straightforward questions of anybody else.” Distressingly common.