Author | Lois McMaster Bujold |
---|---|
Audio read by | Grover Gardner |
Cover artist | Tom Kidd |
Language | English |
Series | Vorkosigan Saga |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | Baen Books |
Publication date | 1990 |
Publication place | United States |
Pages | 345 |
ISBN | 978-0-671-72014-8 |
Preceded by | Brothers in Arms |
Followed by | Barrayar |
The Vor Game is a science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in September 1990. It won the 1991 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The Vor Game is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the sixth full-length novel in publication order, and is the sixth story, including novellas, in the internal chronology of the series. It was included in the 1997 omnibus Young Miles.
Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Academy, but is upset to learn he is being sent to replace the weather officer at the Empire's winter infantry training base on remote Kyril Island. He is somewhat mollified by the placement officer's explanation that the posting is to see if he can handle the discipline and military routine. If he can, he will be reassigned to a more desirable posting. However, he cannot help but get into trouble.
Miles refuses to obey what he deems a criminal order by the base commander, who has him arrested for mutiny, and as he is high Vor, technically treason. He is quickly returned to the capital and sequestered in the bowels of Imperial Security (ImpSec) by Simon Illyan, who, along with his father, concludes that Miles had behaved correctly, but has also gained notoriety for his insubordinate action and cannot expect to serve in any branch of the Imperial Service, with one possible exception. Miles' father, Aral Vorkosigan, persuades Illyan to transfer Miles to ImpSec, despite Illyan's and Miles' reluctance.
Miles, sent to help evaluate the Hegen Hub (and remain conveniently out of the way). There, under his cover identity of an arms dealer, he is framed for murder and arrested. While in custody, he is startled to find Emperor Gregor in the same cell. Gregor tells him that he ran away during a visit to Komarr and joined a merchant ship's crew as a navigator, but was then left behind without pay at Consortium Station and jailed for vagrancy. Miles attempts to extricate Gregor, but is soon up to his neck in a mysterious plot involving an amoral femme fatale, his homicidal former Kyril Island commanding officer, and Hub power politics. Miles encounters his Dendarii mercenary friends and, after once again outmaneuvering their leader, Admiral Oser, resumes command under his Admiral Naismith persona. He is able to rescue Gregor from the femme fatale (an extremely devious, short mercenary leader herself) and get the mutually suspicious Hegen Hub planets to present a united defense to repel a surprise attack by a Cetagandan invasion fleet, with timely help from Barrayaran reinforcements jointly commanded by his father and Gregor.
Afterward, Gregor and ImpSec decide to put the Dendarii on permanent secret retainer for covert missions, with Miles officially installed as liaison.
The first several chapters of The Vor Game (chapter 1 through part of chapter 6) were originally published in a slightly different form as a novella entitled "The Weatherman" in the February 1990 issue of Analog magazine. [1] The story covers Miles's assignment to Kyril Island through his arrest and the beginning of his detention at ImpSec.
The Vor Game won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1991. [2] It also received a nomination for a Locus Award that same year. [3]
Lois McMaster Bujold is an American speculative fiction writer. She is an acclaimed writer, having won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record. Her novella The Mountains of Mourning won both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. In the fantasy genre, The Curse of Chalion won the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the 2002 World Fantasy Award for best novel, and both her fourth Hugo Award and second Nebula Award were for Paladin of Souls. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award. She has won two Hugo Awards for Best Series, in 2017 for the Vorkosigan Saga and in 2018 for the World of the Five Gods. The Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 36th SFWA Grand Master in 2019.
The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The first of these was published in 1986 and the most recent in May 2018. Works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations, including five Hugo award wins including one for Best Series.
Ethan of Athos is a 1986 science fiction novel by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The title character is Dr. Ethan Urquhart, Chief of Biology at the Sevarin District Reproduction Centre on the planet Athos, who is sent to find out what happened to a shipment of vital ovarian tissue cultures. Set in the fictional universe of Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, the novel mentions but does not feature her usual protagonist Miles Vorkosigan. To date, Bujold has never revisited the settings of Athos or Kline Station in her many subsequent novels, but the events of Ethan of Athos are later referred to indirectly in the novels Borders of Infinity (1989) and Cetaganda (1995).
Miles Naismith Vorkosigan is a protagonist of a series of science fiction novels and short stories known as the Vorkosigan Saga, written by American author Lois McMaster Bujold.
Diplomatic Immunity is a 2002 science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, part of the Vorkosigan Saga. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2003.
Shards of Honor is an English language science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in June 1986. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the first full-length novel in publication order. Shards of Honor is paired with Bujold's 1991 Barrayar in the omnibus Cordelia's Honor (1996).
The Mountains of Mourning is a science fiction novella by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. It is part of her Vorkosigan Saga, chronologically taking place between the novels The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game. It won the 1990 Hugo Award for Best Novella and the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 1989.
"Weatherman" is a science fiction short story by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in the February 1990 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. It was later included in The Space Opera Renaissance collection. Written as a prelude story starring a character used by Bujold in the Vorkosigan Saga, it was republished as the first six chapters of The Vor Game. "Weatherman" was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella, while The Vor Game won the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Cryoburn is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in October 2010. Part of the Vorkosigan Saga, it explores the long-term societal effects of cryonics. Bujold has called it "an extended meditation on death."
The Warrior's Apprentice is an English language science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, part of the Vorkosigan Saga. It was the second book published in the series, and is the fifth story, including novellas, in the internal chronology of the series. The Warrior's Apprentice was first published by Baen Books in 1986, and was included in the 1997 omnibus Young Miles.
Barrayar is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold. It was first published as four installments in Analog in July–October 1991, and then published in book form by Baen Books in October 1991. Barrayar won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1992. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the seventh full-length novel of the series, in publication order. Barrayar is a direct sequel to Bujold's first novel, Shards of Honor (1986), and the two are paired in the 1996 omnibus Cordelia's Honor.
Memory is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in October 1996. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the eleventh full-length novel in publication order.
A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in September 1999. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the thirteenth full-length novel in publication order. It is included in the 2008 omnibus Miles in Love. The title is an homage to the Georgette Heyer novel A Civil Contract and, like Heyer's historical romances, the novel focuses on romance, comedy, and courtship. It is dedicated to "Jane, Charlotte, Georgette, and Dorothy", novelists Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Georgette Heyer, and Dorothy L. Sayers.
Mirror Dance is a Hugo- and Locus-award-winning science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. Part of the Vorkosigan Saga, it was first published by Baen Books in March 1994, and is included in the 2002 omnibus Miles Errant.
Brothers in Arms is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, part of the Vorkosigan Saga. It was the fifth book published in the series, and is the twelfth story, including novellas, in the internal chronology of the series. Brothers in Arms was first published by Baen Books in January 1989, and is included in the 2002 omnibus Miles Errant.
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, part of the Vorkosigan Saga. The action centers on Miles Vorkosigan's cousin Ivan Vorpatril, now a captain, and a Jackson's Whole refugee called Tej. By internal chronology, the book is set a year or so after Diplomatic Immunity (2002), about four years before Cryoburn (2010).
Komarr is a 1998 science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the twelfth full-length novel in publication order. It was included in the 2008 omnibus Miles in Love. It won the Minnesota Book Award (1999).
This is the complete list of works by American science fiction and fantasy author Lois McMaster Bujold.
"The Political Officer" is a science fiction novella by Charles Coleman Finlay. It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, in April 2002.