I found my copy, but it would be nearly two full pages, which miiiight be pushing the limits of Fair Use. I’ll instead just edit it down to the list and their before/after circumstances. Unedited, it’s much better, so that’s good reason to read it!
[ in dropdown, because, of course there be spoilers! ]
Miles confession of past loves
“The usual progression, I suppose. Hopeless first love, this and that over the years, unrequited mad crushes.”
…
“Elena. The daughter of one of my father’s Armsmen, who was my bodyguard when I was young.”
“Is she still on Barrayar?”
“No, she emigrated years ago. Had a galactic military career and retired with the rank of captain. She’s a commercial shipmaster now.”
…
“There was Elli. She was a free mercenary trainee when I first met her.”
“What is she now?”
“Fleet Admiral. Actually.”
…
“There was Taura.”
“What was she, when you first met her?”
“A Jacksonian body-slave. Of House Ryoval - very bad news, House Ryoval used to be.”
[snip] So what is she now?"
“Master Sergeant in a mercenary fleet.”
“The same fleet as, um, the this?”
“Yes.”
…
“mm…there was Rowan. That was…that was brief.”
“And she was…?”
“A technical serf of the House Fell. She’s a cryo-revival surgeon in an independent clinic on Escobar, now, though, I’m happy to say. Very Pleased with her new citizenship.”
…
“Do you notice a trend in all this, Lord Vorkosigan?”
“Yes,” he replied glumly. “None of them would marry me and come live on Barrayar.”
“So…what about the unrequited mad crush?”
“Ah. That was Rian. I was young, just a new lieutenant of a diplomatic mission.”
“And what does she do, now?”
He cleared his throat. “Now? She’s an empress.” He added, under the pressure of Ekaterin’s wide stare, “of Cetaganda. They have several, you see.”
I love him so much. He is one of my all-time favorites too.
@Spice_Weasel : I see the appeal of Aral and I really admire his marriage to Cordelia, but I confess I go for the quietly super-competent stable types, the ones who are making things happen in the background. And yeah,Simon Illyan reminds me in some ways of my husband (although not at all in others, haha). Although I don’t think I’m much like Lady Alys , in either the good or the bad ways…
I came home yesterday to a rotating book rack and Cordelia’s Honor looking at me as I came through the door. It was a bit surprising after this thread had the Vorkosigan books on my mind, plus, you know, a book display like one might see in a drug store in the living room.
My wife got some new vendor fixtures to use at shows, and was testing arrangements.
The Vorkosigan books are on my list to reread at some point. They were so good the first time through.
Bujold does a good job presenting engineering in her books (even in tbe fantasies). When there’s a big complicated thing to be built, we see all the big and little difficulties that turn up (and of course one of her main characters is an engineer specializing in construction - and he’s an absolute hardass about safety and quality control)
I usually reread them once a year, not this year though, didn’t feel the impulse for some reason, but this thread is certainly starting to wet my appetite, I wonder if I could read them all before January.
Dammit, now I want to go back and reread them all, but my TBR queues (Kindle and hard copy) of new books are so long and I have four more ordered books to pick up from my local bookstore tomorrow…
The one after that, Mirror Dance, is one of my favorite books of all time. I’ve read it many times to deconstruct it and try to figure out in a pragmatic way how she did it. Because gosh it’s beautiful. It’s the first time I ever thought my PTSD could be a strength. And to know that after going through hell, there’s always a chance to learn and grow and find people who love you.
As I said above, mine is Memory but the two previous books, Brothers in Arms and Mirror Dance are great and set up Memory in subtle and not so subtle ways.
So, I’m done with the school reading for a bit now, so I picked up Warrior’s Apprentice, and am now about half through it. I’ve got to say, Miles is very good at the whole “fake it 'til you make it” thing. As well as “buy a little time right now to figure out how to afford to buy more time”.
I am a little curious at how the relationship with Elena will be resolved: Clearly, they don’t end up together, but I wonder how they’ll end up not-together but still amiable (which I assume is what will happen). It looks likely that she’ll end up with Jesek, I’m guessing (Miles is, quite inadvertently, pretty much throwing them at each other).
I also noted recently, in another thread, that female science fiction authors seem to be much more willing to play around with gender and sex roles than the men are. And indeed, here’s a book written in 1986, and it’s just accepted (at least, in Betan society) that hermaphrodites are something that exist, and it’s no big deal.
That is a recurring characteristic and it definitely goes in some unexpected directions. I remember thinking this part of Warrior’s Apprentice was hilarious. But there are some truly gut-punch scenes ahead. I’m not sure how Bujold does that, she can turn from hilarity to heartbreak on a dime and I’ve never felt tonal whiplash.
I’ve never thought of women authors playing with gender more, but I can’t think of anything written by a man that does.
John Scalzi has been doing so recently. One of his books. Lock In, is available on Audible in male- and female-narrated versions because the protagonist’s gender isn’t identified.
Do I remember David Gerrold playing some with gender in a throw-away style in The Man Who Folded Himself?
Heinlein has Lazarus Long’s female clones.
I’m sad that the adaptation of Murderbot used a male actor.
I can think of quite an old one that does, an entire society of people who are both male and female, which turns out to have been surgically accomplished in early infancy without the knowledge of most in the society, which is pretty much a utopia. I don’t remember the author (or much of the story) but I’m pretty sure the author was male. I probably ought to post it in the SF story identification thread.
John Varley had people in his Eight Worlds universe having sex changes (and other body modifications) as routine. I don’t recall any herms in that universe, but it wouldn’t be considered unusual there. The earliest of those was published in the mid-70s.
