The Vorkosigan Companion - Lillian Stewart Carl [82]
This suggests a definition of "Bujold fandom" I can get behind, actually: Lois once defined a genre as "a body of works in close conversation (or heated argumentation) with one another," and I think, if pressed, I might define a fandom as "a collection of individuals in close conversation—or heated argumentation, or both at the same time—with a body of works and with each other." On the surface we don't necessarily have a lot in common, but we do have the fact that we are all drawn to the kinds of stories Lois writes, and we have all, I think, been changed a little or a lot by spending time with her books, whether reading them alone or discussing them in a group.
In A Civil Campaign, Ekaterin muses on whether or not you can judge a person—Miles, in her particular case—by the quality of the company they attract and enjoy, and concludes that you can. Put it on my tombstone, someday, then—she was a Bujold Fan, and enjoyed it very much—and I shall be well content.
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The role of beer in fandom has been much exaggerated; I'm just very fond of alliteration.
See www.dendarii.com for details and for the list archives.
July–December 2007.
I have no idea. But I am very grateful.
A not-quite random sampling of listee recipes may be found at www.rojizodesign.com/makosti/.
And footnotes. I don't know why; we just really like footnotes. They add verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative, or something.
Advance Reader Copies. They used to be for the exclusive use of reviewers, but now there is eBay.
For complex reasons, we don't discuss U.S. politics on the list anymore. At all.
If it's a fairly sane-looking Canadian, it's probably one of the other ones.
At least, some of it seems to happen while the sun is up.
THE VORKOSIVERSE ITSELF
A Pronunciation Guide to the Vorkosigan Universe
Suford Lewis
The author says that we may pronounce the names as we please, but many readers wish to know how she pronounces them. Without getting too finicky, this is to give an indication of the syllables which are more emphasized and the approximate values of the vowels and consonants of most of the names used in the Vorkosigan universe of Lois McMaster Bujold. Brief identifications will include the work in which the person or place principally appears, if it appears little outside of that work.
This is not a complete guide to the pronunciation of all the names in Bujold's Vorkosigan universe. It contains . . . what it contains, with an attempt to cover all major characters and the minor ones whose pronunciation might be tricky. Names of persons are in alphabetic order by last name. When we have only one name for a person, it is in order just as we know it without there being a set of "unknown last name" entries somewhere, which also solves the problem of not always being able to tell whether it was the first name or last name that we knew. At least the author consistently uses European name order—given name first and family name last—so we don't have to cope with, for instance, whether Ky Tung belongs with the Tungs or the Kys.
Place and organization names are listed mixed in with the people. Even less attempt has been made to be complete. The Black Escarpment, for instance, is not listed since it is unlikely to be a pronunciation problem. Jackson's Whole House names are listed under their House names rather than all being collected under "House."
Pronunciation Key
aa—a in as, cat
ah—a in arm, father, alleluia
aw—a in awe, dawn, caught
ay—a in bay, sakeuh—u in sun, done
oy—oy in boy
oh—o in go, oat
oo—o in choose, ruse
eh—e in bend
ee—e in week
ih—i in it
ai—i in sight, like
c—either k or s will be used except for ch
g—hard g as in good
j—soft g as in germ
zh—s in vision, second g in garage
Diphthongs (besides ai, ay, and oy) will be