Do y’think maybe this Vanguarthe fellow will be more forthcoming than our dear friend Carl? 
Last week I mentioned I would be dropping everything to sit down and read the latest release from my favourite SF writer, Lois McMaster Bujold. I managed to convince my family to leave me alone til 2:30 am so I could finish it. ^_^ (And you won’t be getting any spoilers from me!) Now, I don’t know how many of you have read her books already, but if you’re in the group who have thought about it but never gotten around to it, Baen has made all her Vorkosigan books– seriously, ALL of them– available to download for free. Check it. No DRM, no conditions, just there to share and enjoy. Plus lots of extras like interviews and stuff. How awesome is that? The first edition of the Cryoburn hardcover, by the way, comes bundled with a copy of that CD, making it an excellent purchase value. Two thumbs up!
I was wondering when Vanguarthe would show up. I’m sure he’ll spill the beans.
Say, what’s Vessa’s problem? She looked cross in the last page, now this page she’s furious…
Aha, movement. Which way will the plot go now? Will Vanguarthe have news of some great victory? Will Vanguarthe have a prisoner who is a surivivor from the Hiawatha? Will Patty be seriously ill and Vanguarth say “I’m sorry, there’s nothing you can do for your friend now”?
(Tune: “The Mighty Quinn”, Bob Dylan)
Everybody’s building rocket ships
Crashing into the galaxy, hand on fist
Everybody’s in despair, a universal fight
But when Vanguarthe the Orehu gets here everybody’s gonna jump to light
Come on Buck, come on Darth
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Vanguarthe
Come on Servalan, come on Picard
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Vanguarthe
I like my Seven, like my Nine, I like my Dalek fleet
But laying waste in hyperspace, it ain’t my tube of meat
Everyone on Mars feels doomed, got zombies on their brain
But when they see Vanguarthe the Orehu everybody’s gonna smile again
Come on Space Marines, come on High Guard
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Vanguarthe
Come on Galaxions, come on Sinistars
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Vanguarthe
Hee hee! Filk is awesome. Sadly– as Miles Vorkosigan would say– I was not born under a rhyming planet, so I have no filking abilities myself. Glad to have someone else who can do it for me!
I once cobbled together a space opera riff on Paul Gross and David Keeley’s “Ride Forever”. Seemed the thing to do at the time. Lyrics are okay, but arranging/composing? Not one of my skills.
Unfortunately I have hung around the Skin Horse comments section too long and now I can’t not automatically filk whenever I see a particularly amusing phrase. It’s a little like Tourette’s.
At last.
They’re going to meet a native.
(But Carl is still going to be doing the talking unless Van has learned some English.)
Still one step closer to finding out what happened there. What continues to happen. What has happened to them.
Their mission, regardless of anything else, is to find this information and make sense of it.
@Insectoid; just a guess, but I think this is a variant of the anger we saw in the conference room when Scavina announced she was going dirtside. Now she’s essentially announced she’s going after her husband, quite possibly alone, despite the presence of a known hostile force.
I’m reminded of a line Illyan fired off at Miles once: “House arrest isn’t enough. I need you locked in a cell with your arms and legs tied up, just so I can get a good night’s sleep!”
And: a CD with ALL of the Vorkosigan stories? Will I lose my manly status if I emit a high-pitched “squee”?
Tragically there’s a book missing from the CD, but if you get that far and you’re not prepared to drop a measly six bucks on Memory then there’s something wrong with you.
(sorry if that turns up twice, my comments seems to have disappeared, and I’m not sure of teh interwebs ate it, or just it’s in a moderation quque)
I’d heard that, but haven’t checked it out myself. I had hopes that the online version might have corrected this. Oh well. Of all the books to skip!
Well, they do have to give incentive to buy more than just the one book, after all.
Memory is available on-line, but only chapters one through seven.
@Sol: I would start with the two Cordelia novels: Shards of Honor and Barrayar. The omnibus version, with both novels in it, is called “Cordelia’s Honor.” I think Cordelia is an even more interesting charater than Miles. Her big scene in “A Civil Campaign” is a wonderful piece of writing, and it is a tribute to Bujold that, even though that scene is so good, it is still knocked into third place in the “best bit of the book” award.
It’s General Nelson, as the Face Of Doom!
Tara, do you have a recommendation for where to start with Bujold? If they’re available in ebook form for free, I reckon I might as well load one on my phone…
I agree with Fred above– Cordelia’s Honor (containing Shards of Honor and Barrayar) is the place to begin. They are excellent novels– Barrayar was a Hugo Award winner. If you like those, The Warrior’s Apprentice (contained within Young Miles) is next chronologically, but be aware that it’s the weakest of her books. Things start to improve again significantly with The Vor Game, another Hugo winner. And by that point you’re totally hooked.
Okay, I’ve put Cordelia’s Honor on my phone. May take a while to get to it, I’m working on Elizabeth Bear’s Chill at the moment, and anticipate reading Connie Willis’s All Clear next….
I still can’t shake the idea that Carl’s new buddies are morlocks and they’re EATING the rake people. Maybe his brain-disfunction is due to a prion disease??
All Barayarar-books? For free? In english?
OMfG – i guess there goes my university grades for the next few weeks
This is coming up to as far as I read, the last time I read Galaxion!
… which leaves me not knowing who or what Vanguarth is.