Editing Lois McMaster Bujold (section)

==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. By 2010, Baen Books claimed to have sold two million copies of Bujold's books.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/bujold_interview/| title=A Conversation With Lois McMaster Bujold| author=Jeremy L. C. Jones| magazine=[[Clarkesworld Magazine]]| access-date=2012-04-01| archive-date=2011-09-18| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918115842/http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/bujold_interview/| url-status=live}}</ref>

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 fiction|detective]]. In ''[[A Civil Campaign]]'', Bujold explores yet another genre: a [[High society|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.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.dendarii.com/reading_order.html| title=The chef recommends| author=Lois McMaster Bujold| access-date=2015-09-23| archive-date=2015-09-23| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923213525/http://www.dendarii.com/reading_order.html| url-status=live}}</ref>