The later Vorkosigan novels (from Memory onwards), by Lois McMaster Bujold

A return to the world of Miles Vorkosigan, my tenth post on this long series. Until recently I had read these somewhat intermittently, my first review being posted here over ten years ago. I decided that I really ought to get a move on and read the rest of the series, so what follows is the lot – so far, at least. Whether there will be any more is unclear.

I won't run through the background to the series again (it's available in the earlier posts if you need it – scroll down to the index in the column on the left). Memory follows on from Mirror Dance, at the end of which Miles was in rather less than pristine condition, needing a great deal of repair before revival. In Memory it becomes clear that his injuries had lingering consequences which compel his grounding while they are sorted out. The story accordingly almost entirely takes place on his homeworld of Barrayar. This does not mean that it is boring, however; Bujold's writing is always highly entertaining, being both exciting and amusing, and there is plenty for Miles to do – and to worry about. I commented last time that her writing was acquiring new depths in characterisation, and this is just as true this time. Not to be missed, and a strong candidate for the best story of the series.

The next two novels are combined in one volume: Miles in Love. In Komarr, Miles is getting used to his new role as Imperial Auditor, and has been sent to Komarr along with Auditor Vorthys to investigate how a vast reflective mirror used to boost insolation to help the cold world has been damaged. Was it an accident, or sabotage? Not everyone in Komarr was reconciled to being part of the Barrayaran Empire, so nothing could be ruled out. Miles stays with Vorsoisson, the Imperial Administrator, his wife Ekaterin  and their son Nikolai, as he and Vorthys attempt to penetrate the fog of confusion surrounding the case. But Miles becomes distracted by personal considerations… This is a well-written story with credible characters (flaws and all) in which even the bad guys are not evil, just too blinded by their beliefs to take sensible decisions.

A Civil Campaign follows on straight after Komarr. Miles is back on Barrayar, earnestly if clumsily wooing his new love; the whole story is a romance (in fact, there are several romances going on) with the introduction of a strong comedy element in the "butterbugs". In terms of plot and action, this is one of the weaker stories in the series, but the author's story-telling skills, aided by lots of humour, carry the reader along.

There is a kind of extended epilogue to A Civil Campaign, in the form of the novella Winterfair Gifts, also in Miles in Love. This is focused on Miles's wedding, but his enemies have not finished with him yet…

Diplomatic Immunity takes place while Miles and his bride are on honeymoon. He is diverted to Graf Station in Quaddiespace (whose inhabitants are genetically modified to adapt them to living in zero gravity, including having two extra hands instead of feet) in order to sort out a diplomatic row. This concerns a Komarran trading fleet, escorted by Barrayan warships, which had docked there – but one of the officers had gone missing and the search for him had resulted in fighting with the Quaddies. Events become ever more complicated and dangerous, involving deadly poisons, assassination attempts, and the enigmatic rulers of Cetaganda.

In Captain Vorpatril's Alliance the focus is on Miles's cousin Ivan Vorpatril, who becomes entangled in a web of conspiracies on Komarr and Barrayar involving characters from Jackson's Whole and Cetaganda. Oh, and the long-standing bachelor gets married rather suddenly along the way. For its combination of intrigue and fun this is possibly my favourite story in the series, and frequently had me laughing out loud.

Cryoburn is set on the planet of Kibou-daini which is entirely dominated by organisations providing cryonic storage facilities which encourage people to be frozen when terminally ill or towards the end of their lives, to await cures for disease or aging. Such people retain their voting rights but transfer them to the companies which are storing them, giving those companies immense political power.  The planet is outside the Empire but Miles is sent there to see what the companies are up to, as one of them is planning to expand into the Empire. As usual, he becomes involved in problems of ever-increasing complexity. This story is relatively thin but still entertaining in the usual Bujold fashion.

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen is the most recent Vorkosigan book, first published in 2015. It is rather different from the others in that the focus is on Miles's mother Cordelia and Admiral Jole, former ADC to Miles's father Admiral Lord Aral. Miles himself has a cameo role late in the story. The action is set entirely on the world of Sergyar, which was the newly-discovered planet (then unnamed), where Cordelia and Aral first met, and takes place a few years after the events in Cryoburn. This story takes the author's increasing focus on character development to its logical conclusion: it is plainly and simply a romance, with hardly anything else going on. Furthermore, the revelations which emerge put some earlier events into an entirely different context. As a result, this is probably the most controversial story of the series; I know that some Vorkosigan fans dislike it. While this is not one of my favourites, I still found it enjoyable. 

I don't know if Bujold will write any more Vorkosigan books, but I would not be surprised if this one was the end of the series. There is a certain circularity in concluding the tale on the planet where it started over 40 years before, with the redoubtable heroine of the entire series still thriving.

To step back and take an overall view of the Vorkosigan series, readers of this blog who have stuck with it so far will realise that I have a high opinion of it. It has an unusual basic plot device (how many heroes in fiction have to deal with severe physical handicaps from birth onwards?) and combines a wide variety of stories involving battles, intrigues, politics, romance, and lots of humour, all spun together by one of the most entertaining story-tellers in the business. It is usually the case that long series sooner or later (usually sooner) run out of steam and ideas and become repetitive, so Bujold deserves great credit for maintaining the interest – and even increasing the quality – as the series develops. I am keeping them all to read again some day.

TV – Can science make me perfect?

BBC4 recently screened a fascinating programme on the human body: Can Science Make Me Perfect?. Alice Roberts, Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham and an excellent presenter (her Wiki page calls her "an English anatomist, osteoarchaeologist, physical anthropologist, palaeopathologist, television presenter and author.") was given the challenge of redesigning the human body to avoid its weaknesses and add some strengths. So she identified some major weaknesses and looked for solutions elsewhere in the animal world, plus considered what else might usefully be adopted.

Some of the proposed improvements were very subtle and would not be noticeable to the naked eye: for instance, we get heart attacks because we only have one major artery for each side of the heart, and these can get blocked. Some animals (including dogs) have a network of interconnecting blood vessels in and around the heart, so if one gets blocked, there are always alternative routes. Also, some animals have small "secondary hearts" to help with circulation - one of those in each thigh would greatly help with common circulation problems causing varicose veins etc. Another subtle one is a redesign of the throat area to provide a better separation between swallowing and breathing, to minimise the risk of choking (and snoring!). Also, our lungs are very inefficient compared with birds, who have a much better air-handling system, so that can be added to the list.

Other suggested changes are more obvious - and controversial: back problems bother many of us, so a redesign of the lower back to strengthen and support that area would help. Pregnancy and childbirth are highly problematic for humans because of our huge head - but marsupials get over this by giving birth to jelly-bean sized babies which grow to full size in an external pouch, so add that in. Most striking of all are the legs: ours were originally developed for tree-climbing and moving about on all fours and are badly designed for walking and running, causing us all sorts of problems in our complicated joints and tendons. Bird legs like those of an ostrich or emu are more specialised and allow the birds to maintain a high running speed for long periods with minimal stress and energy expenditure.

Finally some minor improvements: larger, steerable ears to enable us to focus our attention on what we want to hear even against a noisy background, and more efficiently designed eyes so we can see more clearly - including in the dark. One very useful change – the addition of melanin chromatophores to our skin, so that it quickly becomes dark brown in strong sunlight to protect us from burning and skin cancer, but lightens up in other circumstances to allow the formation of vitamin D (not mentioned was that this might well help to solve some persistent social problems).

As these ideas were developed, an anatomical artist was working on the design, with model-makers from the film world making a full-sized model of what she would look like with all of these changes.  There is a a photo of the result (standing next to the original) here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58cebafa197aea5216423456/t/5b1eac7d1ae6cf3e98b23b35/1528736940398/MF5B9921.jpg taken from her website: https://www.alice-roberts.co.uk

A thought-provoking programme, which was instructive in explaining how the human body has evolved rather imperfectly. On the other hand, there would also be downsides to some of the changes proposed (e.g. babies develop more slowly out of the womb, so a marsupial mum's pouch would be occupied for years).

I would add a couple of suggestions to her list: the ability that some dogs apparently have to identify illnesses in people, including cancers, just by smell. Now that would really be useful – think of the savings in screening programmes! Even more so would be to acquire the ability of the naked mole rat to be highly resistant to cancers.

The Light Ages, and The House of Storms, by Ian R. MacLeod

Yet another book that has been sitting on my reading pile for years (it was published in 2003). I finally decided to read The Light Ages following my usual highly discriminating selection process: I accidentally kicked over a pile of books and this was the first one I picked up. I have to admit I was intrigued by the recommendations on the cover, with Michael Moorcock, Brian Aldiss, Gene Wolf and Christopher Fowler all featured, and comparisons made with Dickens, China Miéville, Pullman’s Northern Lights trilogy (must read that again sometime), and Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast series (must read that again soon).

So what is it all about? It’s an alternative world fantasy, one in which the primary difference from our own dear if somewhat battered planet is the existence of aether: a magical substance which is pumped out of the ground and used – well, to make everything work. A little bit of aether, properly channelled by the minds and words of highly trained guildsmen, can be used to make the most rickety bridge solid, the most botched-up steam engine run smoothly at otherwise impossible pressures, and to send messages across the country at the speed of thought. Of course, that means that people don’t have to bother much with technology, which is fairly primitive. Also needless to say, each specialism has its own guild which jealously guards its secrets, and the Grandmasters of which are wealthy beyond the dreams of championship footballers resident in tax havens, as well as wielding huge political power. But aether is dangerous to meddle with, and those who are exposed to too much of it become altered….gradually becoming less human to the horror of their neighbours, at which point the changelings are ferried away to secure institutions for their remaining years.

Robert Borrows, from whose viewpoint the story is told, is the son of a low-level guildsman who works in the factory which processes aether mined from deep underground. We learn much about his life and the strange, tightly stratified, static society in which he lives.  He is supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps, as youngsters traditionally do, but he remains an outsider, questioning and sceptical, while being fascinated by Annalise, a girl who does not seem to be quite human. Eventually, he decides to travel from his Yorkshire home to London – just as much the great metropolis as it is in our world, but with the odd pointer to the differences. Hyde Park is an upmarket residential area, the big open space being Westminster Park where the old government buildings used to be, and the South Bank is still undeveloped marshland.

Robert has a colourful young life, rising from the bottom-feeders of society to mixing with the top, but he remains an iconoclast at heart, campaigning for greater equality and hoping to be a part of the end of the present Age and the start of a new one: something that happens about once a century. But the secret about aether which has been increasingly bothering him lies back in his home town, where he finds that nothing is quite as he thought.

The House of Storms is the sequel (published 2005), set in the same world but a century or more later, so does not feature the same characters, although a couple get a brief mention as historical figures. The structure of the book is different, with several viewpoints being used, and the focus is somewhat narrower; less time is spent on establishing the background and the nature of this strange world, so readers are advised to read The Light Ages first.

The initial viewpoint character is Alice Meynell, a beautiful and highly resourceful woman who has married into wealth and power as the Greatgrandmistress of one of the most powerful guilds. At first we see her in a sympathetic light as she travels across Europe with her teenage son Ralph, trying to find a cure for his consumption, but as the story develops we learn more about her dubious background and the ruthlessness with which she achieved and maintains her position. The pair arrive at Invercombe, a grand house on the south-west coast owned by her guild and close to the legendary home for changelings, Einfell. Invercombe seems to have a character of its own, and Ralph soon makes a full recovery, capped by a relationship with Marion Price, a young shoregirl who makes a living through fishing and hunting for seafood. Between them, they study the wildlife and fossils and begin to form conclusions about the evolution of life.

At this point Part 2 of the story abruptly jumps to several years later, with a different setting and characters; notably Klade, a young changeling living at Einfell. As Klade's history is gradually revealed we see how this integrates with the earlier part of the story, some of whose characters re-emerge. We also learn more about the social tensions, not just between the changelings and normal humans, but also between the Easterners focused on London, and the Westerners (centred on Bristol) who are still profiting from the "bonded persons" trade (i.e. slavery); tensions which lead to conflict.

The third part of the book is concerned with the civil war, and the part played in this by the established characters. It becomes clear that the present Age (the Age of Light), in which the use of aether is supplemented by electricity, is drawing to a close; an event which happens with dramatic suddenness. The stories of the main characters are neatly drawn together in a satisfying conclusion.

The quality of writing in these books is superb, the characterisation excellent, the whole flavour of the books powerfully atmospheric. They are slow-paced, but I found myself deliberately slowing down my normal reading speed in order to absorb the descriptions rather than skim over them.  The plots are entirely original and the course of events unpredictable. This is fantasy of the highest standard, and is warmly recommended.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the confusion surrounding exactly what it is, due to the haphazard way it was developed. The author was famously disorganised to the despair of his publishers and programme makers (a quote from him: "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."). My copy of the book, an omnibus edition by Heinemann, is subtitled A Trilogy in Four Parts, and as well as the title story includes: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. These are not long, each story taking 130-150 pages. Most usefully, the omnibus has an introduction by the author (A Guide to the Guide) explaining the sequence of events, briefly summarised as follows:

Adams had always been attracted by the idea of combining science fiction with comedy, but the only person he could find who was prepared to support him was a BBC radio producer, so a radio series was how it started; on BBC Radio 4 in March 1978. This consisted of six episodes, but one more appeared later that year. This generated enough of a response for Pan Books to commission a book version of the series, which emerged in September 1979 and was an instant hit. To quote Adams: "It was a substantially expanded version of the first four episodes of the radio series, in which some of the characters behaved in entirely different ways and others behaved in exactly the same ways but for entirely different reasons, which amounts to the same thing but saves rewriting the dialogue". In case you were wondering, the 1979 book covered only the first four episodes because Adams kept missing deadlines and Pan lost patience… At about the same time, a double record album was released which was an entirely fresh recording, and was a slightly contracted version of the first four episodes. In January 1980 five new episodes of THHGTTG were broadcast, giving a total of twelve. In autumn 1980 the second book was published with the title The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, which was "a very substantially reworked, re-edited and contracted version of episodes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 5 and 6 (in that order)". At about the same time, a second record album was made featuring a heavily rewritten and expanded version of episodes 5 and 6 of the radio series, under the TRATEOTU title. Meanwhile, a six-episode TV version of THHGTTG was made by the BBC and broadcast in 1981. "It was based, more or less, on the first six episodes of the radio series". So it incorporated most of the book versions of THHGTTG and the second half of TRATEOTU.  "though it followed the basic structure of the radio series, it incorporated revisions from the books, which didn't". In summer 1982 a third novel was published with the title Life, the Universe, and Everything. "This was not based on anything that had already been heard or seen on radio or television. In fact it flatly contradicted episodes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the radio series". Adams then worked on a film screenplay "which was completely inconsistent with most of what had gone on so far" (a film version eventually emerged in 2005, four years after Adams died). Then he wrote a fourth book of the trilogy, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, which was published in 1984 and "effectively contradicted everything to date, up to and including itself". I hope that everything is now absolutely clear…

Wikipedia points out that THHGTTG also spawned several stage plays, comics, and a computer game. Plus the naming of two asteroids: Douglasadams and Arthurdent (after the principal character). My own introduction to this alternate universe was the TV series, which I loved and saw twice, which meant that I judged everything else by it; as a result I wasn't that impressed by the film, although it had its moments. In reading the "trilogy" I realised that I only recognised the first two volumes – I must have bought the omnibus and forgotten to read the others, so I had the pleasure of reading a lot of it for the first time. So to the first volume:

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy:  The story begins with Arthur Dent, a completely ordinary Englishman, an "everyman" who becomes the focus of the entire series. His friend Ford Prefect turns out to be an alien (an explanation of the joke to non-Brits: the alien had chosen his name on arrival since it appeared to be very common, but he didn't realise it was actually the name of a small and very ordinary British car). Ford warns Arthur that the Earth is about to be destroyed to make way for a hyperspatial express route – which duly happens, but Ford manages to hitch a ride for Arthur and himself on one of the Vogon ships which had carried out the destruction. Here, Arthur is introduced to The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book-sized machine which contains a vast amount of information of varying reliability which is more or less useful to those travelling around the galaxy; reassuringly, it has DON'T PANIC on the cover. He also has a babelfish inserted into his ear, which carries out the useful task of translating any language into English.

The adventures of Arthur and Ford include hitching another ride on a stolen spaceship in which they meet up with the two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox and his girlfriend Trillian as well as Marvin the Paranoid Android. They find the long-lost planet Magrathea where new planets are made to order (including the Earth, made to order by Slartibartfast for a specific purpose, for a non-human race). They learn about the vast computer which was created to provide the answer to life, the universe and everything, and after seven million years of thought famously came up with the answer "42" (sorry if that's a spoiler!).

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: In this story, the real reason for the destruction of the Earth is revealed (but only to the reader). After further adventures during which the group are pursued by law enforcement officers over Zaphod's theft of the spaceship, they arrive at Milliways, a unique restaurant which has the ability to transcend time, so its meals are served while it is perched on a piece of rock just when the universe is about to end. It is during this meal that the famous talking cow episode takes place. The group decide to steal another spaceship, not realising that it is designed for one purpose – to crash into a star as part of a performance by Disaster Area, the loudest band in galactic history. Escaping once more, the group is separated, with Arthur and Ford finding themselves trapped on a huge spaceship which is conveying millions of carefully selected people (although with unusual selection criteria) to another world, where it crash-lands.

Life, the Universe, and Everything: At the start of this story, Arthur and Ford have been trapped for years on the world they crash-landed, but with the aid of a Chesterfield sofa and an eddy in space-time they are able to return to something like normality, only to encounter the existential threat of the Masters of Krikkit and their deadly robots. They eventually rejoin Slartibartfast (and later, Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin), and Arthur learns to defy gravity, while first Marvin and then Arthur both end up saving the Universe in unexpected ways.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: Arthur returns to the Earth by himself, after discovering that it hadn't been destroyed after all (or, if it had, it had been replaced by an identical copy complete with identical people). Here, at last, he meets the girl of his dreams and together they discover God's Final Message to His Creation.

Adams had a peculiarly British sense of humour which doesn't necessarily travel well, but anyone who appreciates Monty Python will love Adams. These stories are packed with comic incidents and anecdotes from Adams' free-wheeling imagination and there is nothing else quite like them in SFF (although as I was recently reminded, Robert Sheckley's style is worth comparing). I thoroughly enjoyed reacquainting myself with Adams' work, and discovering the two later volumes was an unexpected treat.