Iva Koleva
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hi Lois, I'm a great fan of all your books, but my question is about the Sharing Knife universe. Do you have in your mind a more detailed backstory of how the first malice emerged? And how precise are Dag's ideas about the lives of the old lords? Could you say something more about it? Thank you.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Hi Iva --
The backstory of the first malice is almost as vague in my mind as it is in the characters. I figure to fill in the details if I ever write a prequel which, I admit, does not seem likely. But it involved the most powerful magics of the old mage-lords, a deal of hubris, and an attempt to pull in something that was Not Of This World. From there, things did NOT go according to plan.
I do believe that the alien-ness of the malices is from that Outside; their evil, all from their human parts or programming.
Dag's people have very limited written records of the Old Days, and some oral traditions more-or-less distorted in the retellings. Their broad outline is more-or-less correct, but there are a lot of missing details.
Ta, L.
The backstory of the first malice is almost as vague in my mind as it is in the characters. I figure to fill in the details if I ever write a prequel which, I admit, does not seem likely. But it involved the most powerful magics of the old mage-lords, a deal of hubris, and an attempt to pull in something that was Not Of This World. From there, things did NOT go according to plan.
I do believe that the alien-ness of the malices is from that Outside; their evil, all from their human parts or programming.
Dag's people have very limited written records of the Old Days, and some oral traditions more-or-less distorted in the retellings. Their broad outline is more-or-less correct, but there are a lot of missing details.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Sarah
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I recently watched a program on PBS about the first 9 months of our lives. It included a lot of information new to me about gene mutations that cause rare variations in human development. One of these was a gene involved in bone creation during gestation. A baby was born with no bones. She has lived thanks to a new treatment. Were you aware of this when you were writing about Miles?
Shaun Rosel
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hi Lois, I've just started reading your Vorkosigan books (only 2 so far) but I absolutely love them. I'm the type of person that really enjoys looking up the reading order of long series and tackling them as the author intended, I've read your recommendation here on goodreads and appreciate the clarification from you. I have a 2 part question (EDIT character limit please see following separate messages)?
Meryl Federman
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Did Galen have Barrayaran-style prejudices against uterine replicators and homosexuality? Mark implies that he was exposed to slurs against both from Galen himself, and it seemed like Mark didn't just know about Barrayar's prejudices in an academic way, but really felt them. Was Galen putting on an act, or was he truly biased? If he was biased, was such bias common on Komarr?
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