Richard Derus

Richard Derus asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

First, what I hope you'll receive as a compliment: For more than 30 years, ETHAN OF ATHOS has been my go-to comfort read. I've worn out seven copies. I still read it when I need to escape my rage and fear about the world we live in. Second, a question about the story: Was your single-sex world, with its loving, nurturing men all the way through to wild horndawgs, inspired or informed in any way by the Kinsey scale?

Lois McMaster Bujold
Glad you've enjoyed the book!

I think it was informed mainly by observation of the world around me, but in general I am a believer in gradients of human behavior, not tidy boxes. Not that tidy boxes aren't very popular, among those who wish the world to be simpler than it is...

The other observation, of course, is that children create, and certainly mold, parents, at all sorts of levels and in all sorts of feedback loops, from the most basic biological survival up through deep patterns of culture. And these, too, all exist on gradients.

Ta, L.

More Answered Questions

Stephanie Hill

Stephanie Hill asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Hi, Lois! I just wanted to reach out to thank you so much for your amazing books. I read Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls back in high school, and I liked them, but I'm rereading them now as an adult and fully appreciating them in ways that are new. Thank you for writing books that stand the test of time. Curse of Chalion is magnificent and a breath of fresh air! Hope you don't mind me thanking in your questions?

Louise C

Louise C asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Have you given any consideration to write another Vorkosigan tale? Another e-book novella perhaps? I am so thirsting for more of the Vorkosigan saga. (I am soaking up very release of the Penric and Desdemona e-books, by the way.)

Deanna Stanley

Deanna Stanley asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

In Penric's time it seems like every petty lord had a sorcerer, but by Cazaril's time they're rare. What happened in between?

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Lois McMaster Bujold

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