Fandom #15: Vorkosigan Saga
Apr. 20th, 2008 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trace_by_echoThe series by Bujold is one of my favorite sci-fi series - it's science fiction, it's adventure, it's crimesolving, it's courtly manners and diplomatic intrigue. It reads like a plausible future for the human race, and that really is rather unusual in most science fiction. The books are so good that there are very few narrative gaps to fill, so I don't have a ton of fics to recommend, but there are a handful of excellent stories. I tend to read about Ivan, because he is one of the few characters that I would like more focus on in canon.
EDIT: 11/20/16; I ran through a rec list and found some gems.
Romances of all lengths:
~The biggest fic series of them all: A Deeper Season, by lightgetsin. Miles/Gregor, Ekaterin/Ivan. A universe where the books follow canon until Memory, because Laisa doesn't exist and that means that Gregor never does find a woman he prefers over Miles. It reads like canon would, had it gone in this direction. I particularly like the secondary romance between Ekaterin and Ivan - because I have a soft spot for Ivan, and they could be good together like this.
~By Any Means Necessary, by Tevildo. Ivan/Byerly. Together, they accidentally become the only Imperial employees on the ground at an undercover uprising. Therefore, Ivan is forced to actually be awesome, whereas Byerly always was.
~The Petya 'verse, by Lanna Michaels. AU, Aral had a son with his first wife, so Miles has an older brother who is the Vorkosigan heir. This naturally changes canon somewhat. There are several additional AU branches of this story. Also, Petya is eventually in a relationship with Guy Allegre.
~Twenty-Year Man, by Ellen Fremedon. Ivan/Byerly. Ivan and Byerly investigate drug-running and end up together.
Gen Fics of all lengths:
~At the End of Days, by Zoya1416. Set sometime near the end of the series. Miles finds a box of photographs taken during the fall of Vorkosigan Vashnoi in the Cetagandan invasion. A few typos, but a good example of people trying to tactfully air out grievances related to wartime atrocities.
~If Shards of Honor Had Been Written By..., by avanti_90. Humorous use of fifteen different author's voices to rewrite crucial scenes.
~Improvisation, by fawatson, and a sequel/remix Victory Conditions by likeadeuce. Featuring young Miles in the time between The Warrior's Apprentice and The Mountains of Mourning - running roughshod over his Imperial Academy examinations, making friends and connections, and keeping Ivan around as his Only Sane Man advisor. In a word: awesome.
~Pretender, by Anyjay. In canon, Aral thought it was improbable that Ivan was smart enough to have pretended to be a mental lightweight. This fic shows how children do listen, and an adult's careless words can have a lifelong impact.
~Protective Coloration, by a_t_rain. The premise: the man who had to train, and later be primary contact for, Byerly in Impsec must have suffered greatly.
~The Affair on Strigoi Street, by DaisyNinjaGirl. A missing scene: Ivan is the one that Barrayar sends to Athos to determine if the gene cultures with the telepathic gene have been used.
~The Offer, by Beatrice_Otter. AU, Aral didn't survive Mad Yuri but his sister did. She grows up to be formidable in her own right, and is surprised by an elderly Ezar's dynastic suggestions.
~Uncle Simon, by Philomytha. Simon Illyan doesn't have children, but he is an uncle all the same.
~Vorrutyer Stories, by Miss_Lanyon. In particular, I recommend the 1st and 2nd stories... how Ivan deals with his claustrophobia and being promoted to ship duty, and how Byerly uncovers a charitable conspiracy. The third story is much darker, and covers the brief wedded life of Aral's first wife.
~Warrior's Apprentice: Scenes From The Other Side, by Avanti_90. Covers multiple Barrayaran POVs of the time surrounding Miles' trial for violating Vorloupulous's Law.
And Crossover(s):
There have been several crossovers with Axis Powers Hetalia - mostly involving incarnations of Barrayar, and most are deep in the archives of the Hetalia kink meme.
~This one (no title) is a depiction of Barrayar, and eventually Komarr and Sergyar, as Cordelia knows them.
~Triptych is another, quite different depiction of the three planets of the Barrayan Empire.
~The Shrine covers the time immediately after the closing of the first wormhole to Barrayar. What exactly did happen to the minority colonists (by the present day, only the French, Russian, English and Greek-speaking groups are left), especially the Japanese techies... and what influence did they leave on Barrayar?
~Quite a few Hetalia authors thought Barrayar would be somewhat Japanese, apparently. In Sibling Rivalry, Japan realizes why Eta Ceta has been sulking when he meets Barrayar.
~Also, authors want Japan fic, period, it seems (interesting, since he isn't a favorite in non-crossover fic). In Learning From History, Japan castigates the Cetagandan Empire for using nukes on Vorkosigan Vashnoi.
~On the Desk of Simon Illyan, by pendrecarc. Implied open marriage for Cordelia & Aral. A crossover I'd never thought to see, it melds the universe of The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner with the Vorkosigan universe. An epistolary fic, it covers intelligence reports, vid transcripts and intercepted messages surrounding the visit of Admiral Naismith to the Hephestian system.
EDIT: 11/20/16; I ran through a rec list and found some gems.
Romances of all lengths:
~The biggest fic series of them all: A Deeper Season, by lightgetsin. Miles/Gregor, Ekaterin/Ivan. A universe where the books follow canon until Memory, because Laisa doesn't exist and that means that Gregor never does find a woman he prefers over Miles. It reads like canon would, had it gone in this direction. I particularly like the secondary romance between Ekaterin and Ivan - because I have a soft spot for Ivan, and they could be good together like this.
~By Any Means Necessary, by Tevildo. Ivan/Byerly. Together, they accidentally become the only Imperial employees on the ground at an undercover uprising. Therefore, Ivan is forced to actually be awesome, whereas Byerly always was.
~The Petya 'verse, by Lanna Michaels. AU, Aral had a son with his first wife, so Miles has an older brother who is the Vorkosigan heir. This naturally changes canon somewhat. There are several additional AU branches of this story. Also, Petya is eventually in a relationship with Guy Allegre.
~Twenty-Year Man, by Ellen Fremedon. Ivan/Byerly. Ivan and Byerly investigate drug-running and end up together.
Gen Fics of all lengths:
~At the End of Days, by Zoya1416. Set sometime near the end of the series. Miles finds a box of photographs taken during the fall of Vorkosigan Vashnoi in the Cetagandan invasion. A few typos, but a good example of people trying to tactfully air out grievances related to wartime atrocities.
~If Shards of Honor Had Been Written By..., by avanti_90. Humorous use of fifteen different author's voices to rewrite crucial scenes.
~Improvisation, by fawatson, and a sequel/remix Victory Conditions by likeadeuce. Featuring young Miles in the time between The Warrior's Apprentice and The Mountains of Mourning - running roughshod over his Imperial Academy examinations, making friends and connections, and keeping Ivan around as his Only Sane Man advisor. In a word: awesome.
~Pretender, by Anyjay. In canon, Aral thought it was improbable that Ivan was smart enough to have pretended to be a mental lightweight. This fic shows how children do listen, and an adult's careless words can have a lifelong impact.
~Protective Coloration, by a_t_rain. The premise: the man who had to train, and later be primary contact for, Byerly in Impsec must have suffered greatly.
~The Affair on Strigoi Street, by DaisyNinjaGirl. A missing scene: Ivan is the one that Barrayar sends to Athos to determine if the gene cultures with the telepathic gene have been used.
~The Offer, by Beatrice_Otter. AU, Aral didn't survive Mad Yuri but his sister did. She grows up to be formidable in her own right, and is surprised by an elderly Ezar's dynastic suggestions.
~Uncle Simon, by Philomytha. Simon Illyan doesn't have children, but he is an uncle all the same.
~Vorrutyer Stories, by Miss_Lanyon. In particular, I recommend the 1st and 2nd stories... how Ivan deals with his claustrophobia and being promoted to ship duty, and how Byerly uncovers a charitable conspiracy. The third story is much darker, and covers the brief wedded life of Aral's first wife.
~Warrior's Apprentice: Scenes From The Other Side, by Avanti_90. Covers multiple Barrayaran POVs of the time surrounding Miles' trial for violating Vorloupulous's Law.
And Crossover(s):
There have been several crossovers with Axis Powers Hetalia - mostly involving incarnations of Barrayar, and most are deep in the archives of the Hetalia kink meme.
~This one (no title) is a depiction of Barrayar, and eventually Komarr and Sergyar, as Cordelia knows them.
~Triptych is another, quite different depiction of the three planets of the Barrayan Empire.
~The Shrine covers the time immediately after the closing of the first wormhole to Barrayar. What exactly did happen to the minority colonists (by the present day, only the French, Russian, English and Greek-speaking groups are left), especially the Japanese techies... and what influence did they leave on Barrayar?
~Quite a few Hetalia authors thought Barrayar would be somewhat Japanese, apparently. In Sibling Rivalry, Japan realizes why Eta Ceta has been sulking when he meets Barrayar.
~Also, authors want Japan fic, period, it seems (interesting, since he isn't a favorite in non-crossover fic). In Learning From History, Japan castigates the Cetagandan Empire for using nukes on Vorkosigan Vashnoi.
~On the Desk of Simon Illyan, by pendrecarc. Implied open marriage for Cordelia & Aral. A crossover I'd never thought to see, it melds the universe of The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner with the Vorkosigan universe. An epistolary fic, it covers intelligence reports, vid transcripts and intercepted messages surrounding the visit of Admiral Naismith to the Hephestian system.