A worthy dream!
The Flowers of Vashnoi (Vorkosigan Saga #14.1)
by Lois McMaster Bujold
A tightly worded, short story continuing the lives of Ekaterin, Lady Vorkosigan and Lord Miles set in the Vashnoi exclusion zone, an area destroyed during the Cetagandan invasion of the planet Barrayar. That exclusion zone is part of Miles' inheritance. Underneath this delightful novella beats the complexity of Miles and his world, it's dark history, and recovery. Fans will identify immediately, knowing the stories behind simple statements. Scientist Enrique Borgos and Ekaterin have been experimenting with Brother Mark's bioengineered butterbugs with a view to revitalizing areas that are in restricted radiation zones. The rad bugs have been redesigned to consume vegetation in these areas, absorbing the radiation. Think radiation pooping dung beetles, sort of. Ekaterin had been part of the project helping with their design making them more colorful to represent danger. That color attracts some interesting guests.
Later when Ekaterin ponders the colorful bugs she "dreamed of gardens of moving lights, molten with color, where children, their future-faces as elusive as butterflies, played and were not poisoned." A worthy dream.
But for now a visit to the test site reveals some of the rad bugs have gone missing from the experimental plot. The finding of them opens up more of the past, and a quandary.
We are treated to delightful snapshots of Miles as a father and a husband, via Ekaterin's amused reflections such as trying "not to let her mind sketch parallels with hyperactive toddlers" when thinking about Miles and his energy levels. And then there's breakfast time, "Miles was helping, sort of—both twins seemed more interested in using their food to bomb the Hassadar Count’s Residence cats, swirling under their high chairs, a more entertaining and quasi-military exercise to which Miles had allowed himself to be diverted." Hmm!
I must say reading this novella made me quite nostalgic for Miles type adventures. I feel a joyous reread of much of the series coming on.
A Subterranean Press ARC via NetGalley
Hardcover edition 2019
****
by Lois McMaster Bujold
A tightly worded, short story continuing the lives of Ekaterin, Lady Vorkosigan and Lord Miles set in the Vashnoi exclusion zone, an area destroyed during the Cetagandan invasion of the planet Barrayar. That exclusion zone is part of Miles' inheritance. Underneath this delightful novella beats the complexity of Miles and his world, it's dark history, and recovery. Fans will identify immediately, knowing the stories behind simple statements. Scientist Enrique Borgos and Ekaterin have been experimenting with Brother Mark's bioengineered butterbugs with a view to revitalizing areas that are in restricted radiation zones. The rad bugs have been redesigned to consume vegetation in these areas, absorbing the radiation. Think radiation pooping dung beetles, sort of. Ekaterin had been part of the project helping with their design making them more colorful to represent danger. That color attracts some interesting guests.
Later when Ekaterin ponders the colorful bugs she "dreamed of gardens of moving lights, molten with color, where children, their future-faces as elusive as butterflies, played and were not poisoned." A worthy dream.
But for now a visit to the test site reveals some of the rad bugs have gone missing from the experimental plot. The finding of them opens up more of the past, and a quandary.
We are treated to delightful snapshots of Miles as a father and a husband, via Ekaterin's amused reflections such as trying "not to let her mind sketch parallels with hyperactive toddlers" when thinking about Miles and his energy levels. And then there's breakfast time, "Miles was helping, sort of—both twins seemed more interested in using their food to bomb the Hassadar Count’s Residence cats, swirling under their high chairs, a more entertaining and quasi-military exercise to which Miles had allowed himself to be diverted." Hmm!
I must say reading this novella made me quite nostalgic for Miles type adventures. I feel a joyous reread of much of the series coming on.
A Subterranean Press ARC via NetGalley
Hardcover edition 2019
****
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