life, liberty and the pursuit of geekiness

Ivan-fic the second: Being the further (mis)adventures of Ivan Vorpatril at the Emperor's Wedding.

Ivan considered starting a drinking game. If he was half-drunk and Miles was half his weight, that should even things up...

Notes: Thank-you to legionseagle and coalboy for beta-ing.
Rating: PG

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I have a couple of Ivan-pov short fics that need beta'd. They're about one or two thousand words in total, one is set at the end of Warrior's Apprentice and one at the end of ACC.

Any volunteers? Also, I am constitutionally unable to think up titles, so any help in that line would also be much appreciated.

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.

Office spellchecker suggests that I replace Vorrutyer with Corrupter and Vorpatril with Versatile.

Really quite surprisingly appropriate, don't you think?

This week I remembered that I've never put my entry for the Vorkosigan ficathon up on ff.net. (Especially disgraceful seeing as it's been translated into Russian—the first fic I ever wrote that's been translated. It's extremely humorous to run it back through Babelfish.)
I'm still not quite satisfied with it, though. It's hard to let go of something, to say, 'ok, finished', especially when the source material is of such high quality.

It thundered half of last night, and poured with rain. When I went to bed I was so hot that I fetched up an ice-pack that we put in the cool-box and wrapped it in a tea towel and took it to bed with me. I could see lightening flickering, but it was far off. Then a couple of hours later I was woken by the thunder and the rain, and I had to jump up and shut the window before my curtains were soaked. It was lovely, damp and coolish, this morning, but by the afternoon it was hotter than ever.

News via : LMB is contracted for another Vorkosigan book. Hopefully it will be an improvement on Diplomatic Immunity, which falls rather flat after the brilliant A Civil Campaign. elerrina_amanya has read all the others, but not it, because I couldn't be bothered buying it. I'm afraid she'll be disappointed when she does get round to it. I read it early on in my experiences of the series, so there wasn't a let-down for me.

I'm sure you're all tired of hearing my woes about the Bujold ficathon, as I've talked about nothing else for the past week. Having finally panted to the deadline, I have instantly been seized by three more Vorkosigan plot bunnies. Such is life.

• Title: My Heart and My Honour
• Author: jediowl
• Recipient: altariel1


• Rating/any warnings: Mentions of rape and torture, so, um, no under-10s? Rather less graphic than the books, anyway. Contains traces of Miles. Is ridiculously long.


• Any other information: This fic owes a great deal to ajhalluk, both for a very thorough beta-reading, and for mentioning some author called Lois McMaster Bujold so often that when I saw a book called Cetaganda on a library shelf, I said, 'This seems familiar...'



• Summary: altariel1 requested a 'missing scene' (e.g. his face-off with Aral from The Vor Game, or the conversation with Cordelia about Serg, or the moments before the drop from the balcony).
  Being permanently unable to make up what I'm pleased to call my mind, I did two missing scenes, weighing in at a total of >8000 words.
  Set during the closing part of The Vor Game. Gregor dealing with power, what his father was, and growing up.

Part I: Aral


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I'm not quite finished with Cordelia's bit yet; it should follow tomorrow.

ETA: Part II: Cordelia

Dear Cordelia: Will you please, just for a foolscap page or so, just shut up psychoanalysing everyone? Thank you.

Dear Gregor: Talk to me, dammit.

Dear Aral: I know you're the strong silent type, but can you work with me a little on this one, please?

Dear Miles: Sod off. You've been very clever and your parents are excessively proud of you, and Count Piotr and Bothari are dancing an underground jig together, so will you please go away now? Let Gregor have some attention for a change.

I've spent the early part of the evening digging fungus out of the flowerbed. It's pale brown and wrinkled, sort of ear-shaped, and it came in the sand that's underneath the flags of the path. Now it's moved into the soil and it grows at a quare rate of knots. I dig it up, three days later it's back.

I've just signed up for the Bujold ficathon. Going by the likely amount of writing time I have before the deadline, this may have been a mistake.

elerrina_amanya has left for Belfast with The Vor Game and Cetaganda, and is asking about Brothers in Arms and Borders of Infinity. I love converting my family to my fandoms!