Miles Vorkosigan series

[neiltheanimator]

Has anyone read Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series? It is an interesting series of ten or so shorter novels about a world where humans have used wormholes to expand throughout the universe and terraform new worlds.

I would like to know what everyone else thinks about wormholes and other elements in science fiction that make you suspend your disbelief more so than may be easy for you to do.

Do you find it distracting to the main storytelling or do you enjoy stepping outside of the constraints of comfort?

Neil the Animator

[Rob B]

I don't know if wormholes were brought up specifically, but here are a few threads discussing Bujold's Vorkosigan saga:
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
For Lois McMaster Bujold fans...
Vorkosigan Saga - Where to start?
New Vorkosigan Book!

[psikeyhackr]

Has anyone read Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series?

I would like to know what everyone else thinks about wormholes and other elements in science fiction that make you suspend your disbelief more so than may be easy for you to do.

Do you find it distracting to the main storytelling or do you enjoy stepping outside of the constraints of comfort?

I have read the entire series except A Civil Campaign.

Since I read my first sci-fi book when I was 9 years old, which was before Star Trek, and had no idea there were legitimate physics reasons to think that FTL travel was impossible the issue didn't come up for some time. By the time it did I had concluded that technology in sci-fi books is really part of the environment that creates the situation for the story and what really matters is the quality of the story. But the story doesn't have to be just pure entertainment. It could be very deep and important for political, social or economic reasons. Technology has become part of how our culture works and how it evolves can depend on what we decide to do with it.

I just finished listening to the audio book The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper. The characters are not as complex and interesting as Bujold's but I think the is more social significance to Cosmic Computer than most of the Vorkosigan series. It is from 1963 and has what would now be regarded as politically incorrect sexism and lots of smoking (LOL) but it contains more to think about in relation to what is going on in the real world than LMB.

Some other reviewers of Piper's work comment on what he has to say about economics:

If a living, life-giving fountain still is out there, should we go? And if not, what shall we do? What is worthwhile? And what is economics anyway, if not human action, as Ludwig von Mises says? Junkyard Planet is H. Beam Piper's adventure-meditation upon this theme, and it is a solidly enjoyable story.

http://www.troynovant.com/Franson/Pi...rd-Planet.html

http://members.iglou.com/jtmajor/Viking.htm

A lot of the stuff that Piper has about computers is actually laughable but it just added to my enjoyment after seeing what has happened to the technology over the last 30 years. I suppose it might turn some people off though. So ulimately every reader must decide what s/he really likes.

On the wormholes and other FTL methods I am inclined to admit they are somewhat more fantasy than science. But you can't have stories about interstellar cultures interacting in interesting ways without some form of FTL. I just think it is kind of silly when people try to explain how warp engines work. Babylon 5 was kind of dumb when a character said that the other side of a corridor was 200,000 light years away when the galaxy is only 100,000 light years in diameter and a White Star took 2 days to travel 10 light years.

psik

[neiltheanimator]

Yeah, I agree with you Psy. I feel like the more outrageous elements do not affect my enjoyment of a story like the Miles Vorkosigan saga, though I could see how it may turn off many readers.

I'm writing my own sci-fi right now and my real focus whenever I am writing, is to make it plausible and believeable. I figure why even make it an issue? You can create a realistic enough world and provide enough background where far out principals can be accepted. If you want to check it out it is at Brainstorm Central.

I enjoy the science fiction that is more focused on the science aspect of it and can get into imagining wild futures where new technology has shaped the face of the world. I particularly enjoy Neal Stephenson, mostly his earlier stuff for his amazing imagery and detailed understanding of technology. Also, Orson Scott Card for his biological variants like the ansible and the book, Speaker for the Dead.