When existing in L-Space just doesn't cut it

[owl]

Vorkosigan series books I wish had been written, in no particular order:

The other half of Diplomatic Immunity.
I'm quite willing to take Ekaterin's word for it that she was fabulous, but I want to see her being fabulous! I wanted to see her facing down the haut and stalling off the imminent war and getting treatment for Miles, knowing it's all hanging on her, again.

The Warrior's Apprentice: The Home Front
This is another book where at least as much again of the action happens off-stage and Miles hears about it in couple of paragraphs afterwards. The Emperor and the Prime Minister on the outs, the head of ImpSec in his own cells for a month-it's a wonder there wasn't a civil war-Miles on trial, Ivan AWOL (having his social calendar organised must have been pleasant for Gregor that month), Gregor doing a number on his own best supports...It would be difficult to write, because the characters are so much more developed now. What I really want to know is what Cordelia thought of it, but I suspect that to get character growth it would have to be from Gregor's pov. That would give a lovely unreliable narrator thing as well.

Barrayar 2: Electric Bugaloo
More detail on Gregor and Laisa's courtship and early marriage. To have married Gregor, she has to be either a Cordelia-calibre heroine (there is a reason for all the Miles/Gregor, I suppose, and if Miles's sister had ever made it into the published Warrior's Apprentice, the shipping would probably have been overwhelming), or too infatuated to think. Obviously it would be preferable if she were the former, as I don't think ImpDivorce would be much of a story. It would have been very interesting, as well, to have been able to compare Laisa's introduction to Barrayar to Cordelias's, a generation earlier. I suppose there is a chance of getting Laisa or Gregor pov in a future book (I am rather bitter that there was apparently Gregor pov in the early drafts of ACC, but the scene(s) were rewritten. I suspect the wedding planning scene, because Gregor is unusually demonstrative, which would make sense if it was the original internal reactions rewritten as external.)

Sergyar
Well, we've had the other two, and I'd like to see what Sergyar's like now it's (semi-)colonised. I'd like to see more Cordelia pov, too, but I suspect that the only way we're going to get it is at Aral's death, and if that's the price, no thanks, not for another dozen books, please. Even apparent from the immediate mourning, I shouldn't think that Miles could be an Auditor and a Count, which would be a shame, and would kind of limit future books.

Comments

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Thank you for suggesting SERGYAR. I have said for years, the other two planets in the Barrayar sphere of influence have books named for the, next should properly be SERGYAR. Great planet, rather more wholesome wildlife than Barrayar ever had [blood balloons and worm plague notwithstanding, the hexapods were at least edible.] Lots of room for a mystery, or a space western, or...?

Also "electric bugaloo" love.

[owl]

I liked very much that Aral and Cordelia got the Vice-Regency of Sergyar, seeing that it's "their" planet.

I imagine Cordelia, packing and reminiscing:

And I meet your father there, you know. I was stunned, literally.

Miles: Yes, and then you threw up in the mud and he decided you were the woman for him, I've heard it all before.

[leian.livejournal.com]

*cracks up and then subsides to a grin that won't go away*

[platypus]

Since Auditor is a lifelong appointment, I wonder if Miles could be Auditor and Count. With Aral and Cordelia on Sergyar, who's doing most of the Countly duties these days, anyway?

I'd love to see a bit more Cordelia POV; while the point is made that one's life isn't over after the wedding, the series shifts focus off of her as soon as Miles gets decanted. I, too, would like the story of Sergyar.

I think Gregor's POV would be difficult to render well, since it would have to include more information than we typically get out of a reserved man being narrated by a third party (as you said, the wedding planning scene hints at it). I'm... not totally sure I want too much of that mystery revealed, even though I love Gregor's character.

There was an early conceptual point where Miles might have had a sister? Did she get turned into Elena?

[owl]

Auditors can resign. I assume thatthe unspellable business manager is running the economics down in Hassadar and Miles is voting Aral's proxy when he's around, but there must be another proxy because Miles and Aral were both off-planet between MD and Memory.

In LMB's foreword she says In the very first draft Miles had a younger sister...The sister was deleted before I got to chapter 3, as I realised she and Elena occuped the same ecological niche.

It would have been interesting to see Miles from a sister's perspective, but I suppose young female Barrayar is nicely represented by Kareen Koudelka. Also, the Miles/Mark dynamic would have been quite different from Miles's end if he had already had a younger sibling. He might have been less horribly spoilt if he hadn't been the youngest, but I doubt it.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Why do you say Miles was spoiled? As a child, he's not a brat, nor selfish, nor a bully. Ok, bossy, yes, but it's not like he was blackmailing or beating up anyone who disobeyed. He's no more self-centered or tunnel-visioned than any other teenager. If he's spoiled at all, it's more due to being a member of a privileged elite class than being an only child--and his parents saw to it that he's more duty-concious than most of his contemporaries.

[wombathouse.livejournal.com]

'Scuse me if I'm wrong (don't have my library at hand to check) but weren't some of the existing Auditors, starting in Memory, also Counts? I know Uncle Vorvayne (sp?) wasn't, and there was the rich working-class guy, but weren't some of the others?

And good question about who's minding the District while Aral/Cordelia are off-planet & Miles is being all Auditorly (& getting married & pregnant.) I seem to remember some Miles comments about duties in the District he needs to get to--??

[owl]

I think that there was a Lord or two, but I don't remember any Counts.

There clearly must be someone told off to mind the District while the VKs are busy elsewhere. Doesn't Miles think that all that absentee landlordism is bad for the District? But then, he's always been trying to be three people, he can be Auditor and Count's deputy and still have one left over.

[archangelbeth]

It is a failure of my imagination that I can't think of a good plot for Sergyar.
I, too, would love to see the "behind the scenes" that you mention! Mmmmmmm. *wist*

Sergyar

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Ivan gets assigned to the planet's garrison and falls for a rough, uncouth pioneer girl his mother couldn't stand at all. Meanwhile, her family hates all those overbearing Vor and wishes they'd all go back to Barrayar. Two protagonists, each struggling with the conflict of romantic love vs. family ties.

Re: Sergyar

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

heh. Considering the graciousness of Alys' treatment of Taura, that would indeed be an engagement to savor!

Re: Sergyar

[wombathouse.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I like this one. But I suspect (sigh) our Mistress of Tales won't go there because she did, in TSK. (Just read it.)

[sahiya.livejournal.com]

I would like to see all of those as well, particular the second one. Gregor at that age must have been seriously screwed up, and getting his POV would have been fascinating.

Laisa's general "meh-ness" is indeed one of the reasons I've written a boatload of Miles/Gregor (or at least it was in the beginning). She's just . . . whatever. Or maybe she's not but we don't know that. I am guessing from your comment here that you probably don't read Miles/Gregor yourself, but I would point out that while lightgetsin and I did bring in Ekaterin after the first novel, we never really bothered with Laisa. She's extremely underdeveloped (unusual for Bujold, whose minor characters tend to be so interesting).

[wombathouse.livejournal.com]

I like your Miles/Gregor (much to my dismay, frankly) but I don't get why everybody always complains about Laisa. I'll grant you that we see very little of her really, but she always seemed to me a perfect iceberg of a character. (not the cold thing just the 10 vs 90 percent thing.)

[wombathouse.livejournal.com]

by the way I'm very new to all this: is it rude to talk this much in a conversation? I do it in person too, sadly.

[sahiya.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I don't know about that. I would say that Gregor is definitely like that, but there isn't anything with Laisa that I've seen so far that makes me think there's a lot hiding under the surface. I will grant you that she has the potential to be really cool - she's obviously smart, for one thing. But it's just not shown.

I think part of my problem is that conversation with Alys and Miles in Memory. When they talk about why Gregor likes her, it's not "she's smart" or "she's funny" or anything to do with who she is, really, it's that she's a) not a Vor, and b) all cute and round. *shrug* I like that Bujold has a female character who is obviously attractive even though she isn't slim, but that isn't enough to make me like her. And since we don't know much except that Gregor fell for her, and we don't even really know much about that, I just can't find that much to like about her. I don't find her objectionable, but nor do I find her interesting.

[owl]

I like Winterfair!Cordelia :)

The fun writing the second one would be how screwed up you could make Gregor while giving him leeway to grow up the way he does. And getting him to not see through Vordrozdha (do you think VorD must have been youngish? Not as young as Gregor, but thirty-ish perhaps. I can't see Gregor at that stage replacing one elderly mentor with another.) And I can imagine him not accepting that Miles could really kill him, and flopping between the evidence and thinking that it's the start of paranoia a la Yuri. And telling his Armsmen not to admit Countess Vorkosigan on any account (futile exercise--I'd love to know what she said to him, then or afterwards. Aral seems to just brush the whole thing off with "do better next time", but you can still see a few trace effects in Gregor and Miles in Vor Game.)

It wasn't just Aral who was stuck in the "demonic fork"; Gregor thinks he has the choice of 1) wait till Miles arrives with the Dendarii, result,civil war 2) try Miles now, result, civil war at worst, result at best, catastophic collapse of the Vorkosigan support for Gregor, taking with them Aral's Centrist party, a large number of the military I should think, ImpSec via Simon, and if Alys decides that it's his fault her darling Ivan is nowhere to be found, the female politicking side of things too. End result probably civil war, although I'm not sure if Gregor would realise that at that age. Oh, poor Gregor!

I have tried your stuff, I like the writing, but I can't really buy Miles/Gregor--it's Gregor -> Miles that's my problem, he'd drive Gregor insane. Actually, being landed at five with a very breakable and exceedingly annoying small brother was probably good for Gregor, it must have done wonders for his self-control for one thing. And perhaps it's why he doesn't like seeing things hurt even before he knows about Serg?
Miles -> Gregor would be perfectly plausible to me if Miles were a bit less het, I can see similarities with both Elena and Ekaterin.

Laisa has, what, one scene before she turns into Imperial Fiancee. I'm willing to believe that there's lots more to her than we see, but it is frustrating.

[lapillus]

What I've always wanted was earlier stuff. I'd love to see the Cetagandan invasion or, even more so, Mad Yuri's War.

[owl]

Yur's war would be quite a dark book. I have difficulty reading Mirror Dance, even. I have quite a clear idea of what 11-year-old Aral was like, and what bits of the Ceta war were like, but I don't have much yen to read the official version. One thing I would like to to know what Aral's brother and sister were called!

What I would like to see is the rediscovery of Barrayar (by young Commander Mark Naismith of the Betan Astronomical Survey, all unknowing what effect his discovery was going to have for his grand-daughter :-P). And the reaction of whatever anthropologists or diplomats who got on the ground first. You'd have teenage Yuri and Xav and Piotr a cute little five year-old :-P

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

I'll add one more: The real story of Miles and Ekaterin's wedding. I mean, I enjoyed "Winterfair Gifts" for the Roic/Taura, but that novella had all sorts of problems and continuity holes. Would Miles in Diplomatic Immunity really not have told Bel at once about Taura's pivotal role in the success of his wedding, if she'd played it? Furthermore, it's totally unfair to blame Ekaterin's pre-wedding nerves on Mysterious Poison. She has every reason to be terrified without that bit! The real wedding story would have Ekaterin as point-of-view character, and if the IC thing for Ekaterin to do is run from the wedding altogether and end up eloping with Miles a year and a half later, that would be all right too.

[owl]

Ohh, yes, how did I forget that one!

She was crying in corridors before the poison, so it wasn't just that, but it's so frustrating to see all these little snatches of the real story from the outside.

[sahiya.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear! I like "Winterfair Gifts," but the amount of distance you get from Miles and Ekaterin in it is frustrating. I understand why LMB didn't want to do the wedding story from one of their POVs - weddings are a bitch to write without falling into total cliche and it's easier with a bit of distance - but a POV that was privy to the actual goings-on would have been nice. Ivan, for instance - that could have been hilarious. Or Cordelia or Aral - also potentially awesome. Roic turned out to have hidden depths, which was cool, but I just didn't care as much as I normally would have, because I wanted to know what was going on with Ekaterin and Miles. And not third hand either.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

it's totally unfair to blame Ekaterin's pre-wedding nerves on Mysterious Poison. She has every reason to be terrified without that bit!

I disagree. Kat could reasonably be terrified, yes, but she wouldn't show it so openly and in front of outsiders. She's too reserved and proper (on the surface, at least) to descend to showing such emotion in public. She'd do it behind closed doors. Miles' fear should be that she wouldn't show the nerves to him at all. (Did he fear that? I don't remember WG well enough.)

For a reasonable model, think of Alys - also a proper Vor matron with unexpectedly unusual depths. But you don't see those depths till you get to know her.

[jetta-e-rus.livejournal.com]

The Warrior's Apprentice: The Home Front

I've just finished a story (http://barrayar.slashfiction.ru/illyan.htm) about this episode but - alas! - it's in Russian: the fic "The view from the other side" where events are describing from Illyan's POV. I wish somebody would help me to translate it to English.

[owl]

Sadly I don't speak Russian....I know some English fics have been translated to Rusian, do you now who did them?