Chloe Frizzle

Chloe Frizzle asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I love all the themes and philosophy of religion in your books. I'm wondering, are you personally religious? Is there a particular religion/denomination that you follow or that inspires your work?

Lois McMaster Bujold I am not personally religious at this time, having no belief in the supernatural. My family background is Protestant Christian. But I have friends from many other faiths. And, of course, I've read about and studied religions through history, everything from Roman and pre-Roman paganism, medieval Catholicism, other world mythologies, Buddhism, and on and on. It's a fascinating subject, both historically and psychologically. Why do people believe what they believe? (And behave as they behave.) And so on.

Religions, it seems to me, have two major aspects: supernatural assertions, and moral or ethical teachings, advice for living rightly. The latter can have a lot to teach separately from the former, and need not depend for their validity on it.

Ta, L.

More Answered Questions

Troy

Troy asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

If you began writing the Vorkosigan Saga today, how smart would the computers be (considering how differently they work now vs. then) Convincing personality simulation? Anticipating many of your needs?

Nancy

Nancy asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

A long time ago, I asked you about feeling "bookicidal" (your word) about my own work. Your answer was empathetic, and I've carried it gratefully all these years. But now I have pressing financial concerns and a beta-reader who is so uninterested that she wants me to send her the Cliff's notes. I can't pander to that: I can only despair in its wake. Where do I find the courage to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?

Mitali

Mitali asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I recently read Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (loved it, btw!) in which it's mentioned almost as an aside that Komarr's gravity is less than that of Barrayar. That set me thinking about Barrayar's gravity. Is it the same as that of Earth? And what about other major planets in the Nexus - where do they stand on the gravitational scale? Do spaceships and space stations set their gravity at Earth level?

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Lois McMaster Bujold

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