| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1949|11|2|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
| occupation = Novelist
| nationality = American
| alma_mater = Ohio State University[2]
| period = 1985–present
| children = 2
| spouse =
| genre = Science fiction, fantasy
| website = {{URL|dendarii.com}}
}}Lois McMaster Bujold ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Bujold.ogg|b|uː|ˈ|ʒ|oʊ|l|d}} {{respell|boo|ZHOHLD|'}}; born November 2, 1949) is an American speculative fiction writer.[ She is one of the most acclaimed writers in her field, having won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record, not counting his Retro Hugos. Her novella "The Mountains of Mourning" won both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. In the fantasy genre, The Curse of Chalion won the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the 2002 World Fantasy Award for best novel, and both her fourth Hugo Award and second Nebula Award were for Paladin of Souls. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award.[1] In 2013 she was awarded the Forry Award.[2] She has won two Hugo Awards for Best Series, in 2017 for the Vorkosigan Saga[3] and in 2018 for the World of the Five Gods Series[4].]
The bulk of Bujold's works comprises three separate book series: the Vorkosigan Saga, the Chalion Series, and the Sharing Knife series.
Biography
Bujold is the daughter of Robert Charles McMaster[5][6] and attributes her early interest in science fiction, as well as certain aspects of the Vorkosigan Saga, to his influence. He was editor[7] of the monumental Nondestructive Testing Handbook[8] generally referred to as McMaster on Materials.
Bujold writes that her experience growing up with a world-famous father is reflected in the same experience that her characters (Miles, Fiametta) have of growing up in the shadow of a "Great Man". Having observed this tendency in both genders, she wonders why it is always called "great man's son syndrome", and never "great man's daughter's syndrome."[9] Her brother, an engineer like their father, helped provide technical details to support her writing of Falling Free.[10]
She has stated that she was always a "voracious reader".[11] She started reading adult science fiction at the age of nine, picking up the habit from her father. She became a member of science fiction fandom, joined the Central Ohio Science Fiction Society, and co-published StarDate, a science fiction fanzine in which a story of hers appeared under the byline Lois McMaster. Her reading tastes later expanded and she stated she now reads "history, mysteries, romance, travel, war, poetry, etc"[11]
She attended Ohio State University from 1968 to 1972. While she was interested in writing, she didn't pursue an English major, feeling it was too concerned with literary criticism instead of literary creation. [11]
Bujold married John Fredric Bujold in 1971, but they divorced in the early 1990s. The marriage produced two children, a daughter named Anne (born 1979) and a son named Paul (born 1981).[12] Daughter Anne Bujold is a Portland, Oregon metal artist, welder,[13] and vice president of the Northwest Blacksmith Association.[14] Bujold currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[15]
Inspiration for Writing
Bujold had been friends with Lillian Stewart Carl since high school, where they "collaborated on extended story lines [but where] only a fragment of the total was written out."[11]. However, she stopped writing after that, being busy with marriage, family, and a career in hospital patient care.[16]
It wasn't until her thirties[16] that she returned to writing. Bujold has credited her friend Lillian Stewart Carl's first book sales with inspiring her to return to the field: "it occurred to me that if she could do it, I could do it too." [11] She originally planned to write as a hobby again, but discovered the amount of work required was too much for anything other than a profession, so she decided to turn professional. With support from Carl and Patricia Wrede,[17] she was able to complete her first novel.
Science fiction
Lois Bujold wrote three books (Shards of Honor, The Warrior's Apprentice and Ethan of Athos) before The Warrior's Apprentice was finally accepted, after four rejections. The Warrior's Apprentice was the first book purchased, though not the first Vorkosigan book written, nor would it be the first one to be published. On the strength of The Warrior's Apprentice, Baen Books agreed to a three-book deal to include the two bracketing novels. Thus began her career in writing in science fiction. By 2010, Baen Books claimed to have sold 2 million copies of Bujold's books.[18]
Bujold is best known for her Vorkosigan saga, a series of novels featuring Miles Vorkosigan, a physically impaired interstellar spy and mercenary admiral from the planet Barrayar, set approximately 1000 years in the future. The series also includes prequels starring Miles' parents, along with companion novels centered on secondary characters. Earlier titles are generally firmly in the space opera tradition with no shortage of battles, conspiracies, and wild twists, while in more recent volumes, Miles becomes more of a detective. In A Civil Campaign, Bujold explores yet another genre: a high-society romance with a plot that pays tribute to Regency romance novelist Georgette Heyer (as acknowledged in the dedication). It centers on a catastrophic dinner party, with misunderstandings and dialogue justifying the subtitle "A Comedy of Biology and Manners".
The author has stated that the series structure is modeled after the Horatio Hornblower books, documenting the life of a single person. In themes and echoes, they also reflect Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery character Lord Peter Wimsey. Bujold has also said that part of the challenge of writing a series is that many readers will encounter the stories in "utterly random order", so she must provide sufficient background in each of them without being excessively repetitious. Most recent printings of her Vorkosigan tales do include an appendix at the end of each book, summarizing the internal chronology of the series.
Bujold has discussed her own views on the optimum reading order for the Vorkosigan series in her blog.[19]
Fantasy
Bujold also wanted to break into the fantasy genre, but met with early setbacks. Her first foray into fantasy was The Spirit Ring. She wrote the book "on spec", shopped it around, and found low offers, sending her back to Baen Books, where Jim Baen bought it for a fair price in exchange for the promise of more Vorkosigan books. Bujold called this experience very educational; the book received little critical acclaim, and had only mediocre sales.
She would not attempt to break into the fantasy market again for almost another decade, with The Curse of Chalion. This book was also written on spec and offered up to a book auction. This time, she met with considerable critical and commercial success by tapping into a crossover market of fantasy and romance genre fans. The fantasy world of Chalion was first conceived as a result of a University of Minnesota course she was taking about medieval Spain in her spare time.
The next fantasy world she created was the tetralogy set in the universe of The Sharing Knife, borrowing inspiration for its landscapes and for the dialect of the "farmers" from ones she grew up with in central Ohio. She writes that her first readers who helped proofread it said she got it exactly right and they could recognize Ohio features in the descriptions and dialects.
Reviews
Sylvia Kelso, in the New York Review of Science Fiction, wrote in 1998:
{{bquote|Narrative impulsion is actually a constant in Bujold's work, as is her easy, almost transparent style with its occasional unexpected striking turn of phrase – "Death had a temperature and it was damned cold" (Komarr 27) – or its wickedly reshaped allusions: "The cream pie of justice flies one way" (Vor 336). The apparently effortless fluidity of both style and story may actually have militated against critical notice, in comparison to notorious stylists like William Gibson, or, again, Ursula Le Guin.[20]}}Awards
Hugo Awards
Wins- "The Mountains of Mourning" (1990)
- The Vor Game (1991)
- Barrayar (1992)
- Mirror Dance (1995)
- Paladin of Souls (2004)
- Vorkosigan Saga (2017) Special Award for Best Series
- World of the Five Gods (2018) Best Series
Nominations- Falling Free (1989)
- Memory (1997)
- A Civil Campaign (2000)
- The Curse of Chalion (2002)
- "Winterfair Gifts" (2005)
- Cryoburn (2011)
- Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2013)
- "Penric's Demon" (2016)
- "Penric and the Shaman" (2017)
Nebula Awards
Wins- Falling Free (1989)
- "The Mountains of Mourning" (1990)
- Paladin of Souls (2005)
Nominations- "Weatherman" (1991)
- Barrayar (1992)
- Memory (1998)
- A Civil Campaign (2001)
- Diplomatic Immunity (2004)
Locus Awards
Best Science Fiction Novel- Barrayar (1992)
- Mirror Dance (1995)
Best Fantasy NovelJohn W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Forry Award for Lifetime Achievement in the field of Science Fiction
Minnesota Book Award
WinsNominations- A Civil Campaign (2000)
- Paladin of Souls (2004)
List of works
{{main article|List of works by Lois McMaster Bujold}} References
1. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.nesfa.org/awards/skylark.html |title=Skylark Award| author=NESFA| publisher=NESFA| accessdate=2013-10-15}}
2. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.lasfsinc.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=175 |title=Forry Award| author=Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society| publisher=LASFS| accessdate=2013-10-15}}
3. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2017-hugo-awards/ |title=2017 Hugo Awards |website=The Hugo Awards}}
4. ^{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2018-hugo-awards/|title=2018 Hugo Awards|date=2018-03-15|website=The Hugo Awards|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-10}}
5. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.dendarii.com/tribute.html |title=Robert Charles McMaster - a tribute |publisher=Dendarii.com |date= |accessdate=2014-01-28}}
6. ^cf. a Memorial Tribute in his honor
7. ^{{Cite book|ISBN=0318215020 |title=Nondestructive Testing Handbook (9780318215020): Robert C. McMaster: Books |publisher=Amazon.com |date= }}
8. ^{{Cite web|title = The American Society for Nondestructive Testing|url = http://www.asnt.org/publications/handbook/third/thirdedition.htm|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120904181446/http://www.asnt.org/publications/handbook/third/thirdedition.htm|archivedate = 2012-09-04}}
9. ^{{cite book|last=Bujold|first=Lois Mcmaster|title=Young Miles|year=1997|publisher=BAEN|page=830}}
10. ^Bujold, Lois McMaster. Forward to Miles, Mutants, Microbes Omnibus edition, paragraphs 11 & 13
11. ^1 2 3 4 5 {{Cite web|url=http://dendarii.com/biolog.html|title=Lois McMaster Bujold, Biolog|website=dendarii.com|access-date=2019-03-10}}
12. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.dendarii.com/locus.html |title=Locus Lois McMaster Bujold Biography |publisher=Dendarii.com |date= |accessdate=2014-01-28}}
13. ^{{cite web|url=https://craftedincarhartt.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/anne-the-riveter-and-her-riveted-rabbit/ |title=Ann the Riveter and her Riveted Rabbit |publisher=CraftedInCarhartt.com |date= |accessdate=2015-12-26}}
14. ^{{cite web|url=http://blacksmith.org/board-directors/ |title=Northwest Blacksmith Association Board of Directors |publisher=Northwest Blacksmith Association |date= |accessdate=2015-12-26}}
15. ^{{Cite web|url=http://www.spectrumliteraryagency.com/bujold.htm|title=Spectrum Literary Agency - Lois McMaster Bujold|last=|first=|date=|website=www.spectrumliteraryagency.com|publisher=Spectrum Literary Agency|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2019-03-10}}
16. ^1 {{Cite web|url=https://amazingstories.com/2013/07/interview-with-award-winning-author-lois-mcmaster-bujold/|title=Interview with Award-Winning Author Lois McMaster Bujold|last=|first=|date=2013-07-03|website=Amazing Stories|language=en-US|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2019-03-10}}
17. ^{{Cite web|url=https://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/my-first-sale-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold-she-got-by-with-a-little-help-from-her-friends/|title=My First Sale by Lois McMaster Bujold, She Got By with a Little Help From Her Friends|date=2008-04-25|website=Dear Author|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-10}}
18. ^{{cite web |url=http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/bujold_interview/|title=A Conversation With Lois McMaster Bujold| author=Jeremy L. C. Jones| publisher=Clarkesworld Magazine| accessdate=2012-04-01}}
19. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.dendarii.com/reading_order.html |title=The chef recommends| author=Lois McMaster Bujold| accessdate=2015-09-23}}
20. ^Loud Achievements: Lois McMaster Bujold's Science Fiction in New York Review of Science Fiction, October 1998 (Number 122)
21. ^{{cite web |url=https://thefriends.org/minnesota-book-awards/minnesota-book-awards-winners/ |title=Minnesota Book Award Winners & Finalists| author=The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library| accessdate=2019-03-09}}
Further reading
{{refbegin}}
| last = BFN | first =
| author-link =
| last2 = Strickland | first2 = Diane
| author2-link =
| last3 = Slusser | first3 = Linda S.
| author3-link =
| last4 = O'Neil | first4 = James Francis
| author4-link =
| last5 = Tyson | first5 = Edith S.
| author5-link =
| last6 = Wehmann | first6 = Claudia J.
| author6-link =
| last7 = King | first7 = Richard L.
| author7-link =
| title = Booksearch: Favorite Writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy
| journal = English Journal
| volume = 82
| issue = 6
| pages = 83–85
| date = October 1993
| doi = 10.2307/820174
| jstor = 820174
| publisher = National Council of Teachers of English }}
| last=Carl
| first=Lillian Stewart, & Helfers, John
| title=The Vorkosigan Companion: The Universe of Lois McMaster Bujold
| year= 2008
| publisher=Baen Books
| location=Riverdale, NY
| isbn=978-1-4165-5603-9
| oclc=}}
| last=
| first=
| editor=Janet Brennan Croft
| title=Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays on a Modern Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy
| year= 2013
| publisher=McFarland & Co.
| location=Jefferson, NC
| isbn=978-0-7864-6833-1
| pages=
| chapter=
| oclc=}}
| last = Haehl | first =Anne L.
| author-link =
| title = Miles Vorkosigan and the Power of Words: A Study of Lois McMaster Bujold's Unlikely Hero
| journal = Extrapolation
| publisher=Kent State University Press
| volume = 37
| issue = 3
| pages = 224–233
| date = Fall 1996
| url = | doi =
| id =
| issn = 0014-5483}}
| last=James
| first=Edward
| editor=
| title=Lois McMaster Bujold (Modern Masters of Science Fiction)
| year= 2015
| publisher=University of Illinois Press
| location=Champaign, IL
| isbn=978-0-252-08085-2
| pages=
| chapter=
| oclc=}}
| last = Kelso
| first = Sylvia
| author-link =
| title = Lois McMaster Bujold: Feminism and 'The Gernsback Continuum' in Recent Women's SF
| journal = Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts (JFA)
| volume = 10
| issue = 1 [37]
| pages = 17–29
| date = Winter 1998
| url = | doi =
| id =
| issn = 0897-0521}}
| last=Kelso
| first=Sylvia
| editor=Sylvia Kelso
| title=Three Observations and a Dialogue: Round and About SF
| year= 2009
| publisher=Acqueduct Press
| location=Seattle
| isbn=978-1-933500-28-7
| pages=
| chapter=Loud Achievements: Lois McMaster Bujold's Science Fiction
| oclc=430954881}}
| last=Lennard
| first=John
| editor=John Lennard
| title=Of Sex and Faerie: Further essays on Genre Fiction
| year= 2010
| publisher=Humanities-Ebooks
| location=Tirril
| isbn=978-1-84760-171-1
| pages=70–111
| chapter=Of Marriage and Mutations: Lois McMaster Bujold and the Several Lives of Miles Naismith Vorkosigan
| oclc=}}- {{Cite web|author=Lennard, John |url=http://bracketyjack.livejournal.com/55942.html/ |website=LiveJournal |title=Absent Gods, Absent Catastrophes: The Sharing Knife and The Lord of the Rings |date=August 21, 2014 }}{{dead link|date=April 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- {{Cite journal
| last = Lindow | first = Sandra J.
| author-link =
| title =The Influence of Family and Moral Development in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Series
| journal = Foundation: the International Review of Science Fiction (Foundation)
| volume = 30
| issue = 83
| pages = 25–34
| date = Autumn 2001
| url = | doi =
| id =
| issn = 0306-4964}}- {{Cite web|author=McMaster Bujold, Lois|url=http://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/my-first-sale-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold-she-got-by-with-a-little-help-from-her-friends/|website=Dear Author|title=My First Sale by Lois McMaster Bujold: She Got By With a Little Help From her Friends|date=April 25, 2008}}
- {{Cite book
| last=Wehrmann |first=Jürgen
| authorlink=
| editor=Margarete Rubik and Elke Mettinger-Schartmann
| title=A Breath of Fresh Eyre: Intertextual and Intermedial Reworkings of Jane Eyre
| edition=
| year= 2007
| publisher=Rodopi
| location=Amsterdam, Netherlands
| isbn=978-90-420-2212-6
| pages=149–165
| chapter=Jane Eyre in Outer Space: Victorian Motifs in Post-Feminist Science Fiction
| chapterurl=
| url=
| doi=
| id=
| oclc=144615405}}
| first = Regina
| last =Yung
| authorlink =
| title = Reading Her Machine Flesh: Permutations of the Cyborg Body
| version =
| publisher = University of Alberta (Canada)
| date = 2007
| url =
| degree= M.A.
| accessdate =
| oclc=261212307}}{{refend}} External links
{{wikiquote}}{{commons category}}- {{official website |dendarii.com }}
- Interview by Clarkesworld Magazine (November 2010)
- Official forum (to which the author regularly contributes) at IBDoF
- {{isfdb name|13}}
- {{IBList|type=author|id=331|name=Lois McMaster Bujold}}
- Lillian Stewart Carl's web page, where the Vorkosigan Companion is discussed
- A Reader's Companion to A Civil Campaign—Compiled by members of the Bujold chat-list and freely available at the Bujold Nexus
- {{LCAuth|n85225298|Lois McMaster Bujold|36|}}
{{Bujold}}{{Authority control}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Bujold, Lois McMaster}} 18 : 1949 births|Living people|20th-century American novelists|21st-century American novelists|20th-century American women writers|21st-century American women writers|American fantasy writers|American science fiction writers|American women novelists|Hugo Award-winning writers|Nebula Award winners|Ohio State University alumni|Writers from Columbus, Ohio|Vorkosigan Saga|Women science fiction and fantasy writers|Novelists from Minnesota|Science fiction fans|Novelists from Ohio