[LMB] Lois-Bujold Mailing List FAQ
Michael Bernardi
mike at dendarii.co.uk
Fri Aug 31 07:35:51 BST 2007
Last-Modified: 19 December 2006
Version: 3.9.1
URL: http://www.dendarii.com/bujold_lst.html
Other FAQS
----------
Lois-Bujold Mailing List Administrivia FAQ
(how to subscribe, set list options, filter mail):
http://www.dendarii.com/bujold_admin.html
Plot FAQ (plot questions, pronounciation guides):
http://www.dendarii.com/bujold_faq.html
Lois-Bujold Mailing List Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
---------------------------------------------------------
List Etiquette and Conventions
I On- and off-topic material
1. Why was the Lois-Bujold Mailing List created?
2. What kinds of messages are considered off-topic?
3. Are discussions of the list itself off-topic?
4. Why are off-topic messages a concern? I see them all the time.
5. What should list users do if a message they are about to post
is off-topic?
6. What other rules are there regarding off-topic messages?
7. What is the off-topic marker?
8. May I use variants of "OT:", like "OT", "(OT)" or "ot"?
9. What if a thread comes back on-topic?
10. I know my message had "OT:" on it, but it disappeared! What
happened?
11. Why not just moderate the list?
II Spoilers
1. What are spoilers?
2. When is it OK to discuss spoilers on the list?
3. How should posts with spoilers be marked?
4. How long are spoiler warnings necessary?
5. Is there another place where I can discuss spoilers freely,
especially prior to the material becoming publicly available?
III Excessive Quoting
1. What is meant by the term "excessive quoting"?
2. How much quoting is too much?
3. Why is excessive quoting a problem?
4. What can I do to avoid excessive quoting?
IV List Conventions, Abbreviations, and In-Jokes
1. Someone called "pizza" on my last post! What do they
mean? What should I do?
2. What does ObBujold mean?
3. What does WLW mean?
4. What are some other abbreviations used on the list?
5. Why do people substitute * for the vowels in certain words?
6. What does FILK: mean?
7. What does FIC: mean?
8. What is meant by "Watsonian" and "Doylist"?
9. How long can my .sig file be?
10. What's the problem with a period on a line by itself?
11. What is a "Bryant of books"?
12. Who is Yeltar? What is Bujoldia? Bujoldar? And what's
this about "we're all going to die"?
13. What is meant by a squid on the mantlepiece?
14. Who are the OT Thug, the Quote Pixie, and the Birthday Tixie?
15. How do I bring my birthday to the attention of the Birthday
Tixie?
16. What is Sherwooding, or a Sherwooded post?
17. I'm getting list mail in digest format. Are there any special
things I should be aware of before I reply to a message?
Pointers to More Bujold Stuff
1. Where can I find more information about Lois Bujold herself? Is
there a photograph of her available?
2. How can I contact Lois Bujold?
3. Is there a collection of quotes from Lois Bujold's books?
4. Are there Web sites with Lois Bujold content?
5. Are there Web sites with more information about the
Lois-Bujold Mailing List?
6. Is there a Bujold mailing list for fans living in my area?
7. What is star_creche?
8. Are there other Internet discussion groups for Lois's work?
9. What is Miles' Minions?
10. What is "Winterfair Gifts" and how can I get a copy?
Merchandising
1. Are there audiobooks of Lois's works?
2. Can I get Bujold T-shirts and other neat stuff?
3. Is any Bujold filk available on CD?
I. List Etiquette and Conventions
=================================
On- and off-topic material
--------------------------
1. Why was the Lois-Bujold Mailing List created?
The list exists for discussions of topics closely related to the
award-winning writing of Lois McMaster Bujold.
2. What kinds of messages are considered off-topic?
If a message does not contain any material directly related to
Lois' work, it is considered off-topic. General discussions of
writing and publication are definitely off-topic, since they do
not pertain specifically to Bujold's work.
3. Are discussions of the list itself off-topic?
No.
4. Why are off-topic messages a concern? I see them all the time.
Sometimes the list generates hundreds of messages every day, and
a large percentage of them are off-topic. Not all list users
have the time or the interest to read off-topic posts. Also, an
excess of off-topic posts slows down the list server, which can
disrupt ON-topic discussions. Keep in mind that the list and
archive is provided FREE by Melanie Harper, as a service to SF
fans. Mel too is a fan, but using her server's resources for
off-topic conversations is not very courteous.
5. What should list users do if a message they are about to post is
off-topic?
Most importantly, consider sending it off-list, especially if
only a few people appear to be interested. Remember that there
are still some list users who must pay for their e-mail based on
the number of messages they receive (through long distance
charges, for example). Please be considerate of their
pocketbooks. If you feel that the message should be sent to all
list users, you should start the message subject with an
off-topic marker (see below).
6. What other rules are there regarding off-topic messages?
Off-topic threads should not continue for more than 3 days after
the original seed message. Changing the name of an off-topic
thread does *not* reset the 3-day clock. People who post
unmarked or "late" off-topic messages may get a strong message
from the OT Thug, one of Mike's Minions. Most importantly, an
excess of off-topic messages will dampen the enthusiasm of the
people who keep the list running, which could ultimately result
in the list's demise.
7. What is the off-topic marker?
An off-topic marker is the text "OT:" (without the quotes)
inserted into the subject header of a message. This indicates
that the message is off-topic. The off-topic marker makes it
easy for people to avoid off-topic discusssions if they so
choose, by using a filter in their e-mail client.
If there is an "Re:" and/or "Fwd:" in the subject line, simply
replace "Re:" and/or "Fwd:" with "OT:" to prevent subject headers
from becoming long and redundant (such as "Re: OT: Re: Miles").
8. May I use variants of "OT:", like "OT", "(OT)" or "ot"?
No. Mail filters are very literal, and filtering won't work if users
have to guess every possible variant of the marker. Also, some variants
may cause valid mail to be discarded unintentionally. For example,
filtering "ot" may cause the message "Re: Bothari" to be discarded.
The official marker must be unique enough to avoid accidents. Please
don't use variants.
9. What if a thread comes back on-topic?
Simply remove "OT:" from the subject header.
10. I know my message had "OT:" on it, but it disappeared! What
happened?
Some e-mail clients (particularly Outlook Express) have begun
clipping markers from the Subject line of posts, to avoid having
them pile up (such as "Re: Fwd: Re: Cazaril and the gods"). If
your e-mail client is prone to this, you can place the "OT:" at
the END of the subject line instead of the beginning, and foil it.
11. Why not just moderate the list?
Moderating a list of this size is a monumental task, and few
people have time for it. Also, many list users consider the
off-topic discussion an integral part of the list itself.
Because of the conscientious nature of our list's users,
off-topic markers have proven to be an excellent substitute
for a moderator.
Spoilers
--------
1. What are spoilers?
A spoiler is anything which gives away a plot point (or any other
detail) of a work before the entire work is publicly available.
Some people don't care about spoilers, but others would prefer to
know nothing about a work until they can read the whole thing.
Properly indentifying messages which contain spoilers is a list
courtesy for those who dislike them.
2. When is it OK to discuss spoilers on the list?
Discussion may appear on the list, suitably marked, as soon as
ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copies) appear. ARCs may be first spotted
by listees who are also reviewers and thus are sent copies by the
publisher, or may appear on eBay or similar venues.
3. How should posts with spoilers be marked?
Spoiler warnings are in 2 parts. First, put "SP:" in the
Subject line of any post containing spoilers. The second part is
to leave 12-15 lines above and below the spoiler material so that
those who read the digest version of the list can see where the
spoiler begins and ends. These should not be blank lines, as
some programs will telescope those--the best spoiler space is a
short sentence or phrase written vertically (one letter per
line). Do not use periods this way, as a period on a line by
itself will cause the remainder of the message to be truncated by
some mail servers.
When replying to a spoilered post, the guidelines on quoting
apply--quote only the material necessary to give context for your
comments. Be sure to preserve the leading and trailing spoiler
space, and to remove any trailing footer on the post you are
replying to. If your reply removes all the spoilers from the
post, remove the SP: from the Subject line and the spoiler space
from the message body. Do not use a Subject such as "No SP:" or
"SP: removed", as such a message would still be filtered by
e-mail clients looking for "SP:".
4. How long are spoiler warnings necessary?
Any discussion should have spoiler warnings for two months after
the date of first publication. (Discussion of sample chapters
and other fragments should always be spoilered.) Decision of the
exact date of publication is the prerogative of the list owner.
5. Is there another place where I can discuss spoilers freely,
especially prior to the material becoming publically available?
Yes, there is a special YahooGroups mailing list,
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bujold-spoilers/">bujold-spoilers</a>,
for discussion of Bujold's work within the
spoiler period. With the change in list policy (Sept. 2006) to
allow on-list discussion as soon as ARCs appear, the main difference
between the lists is that bujold-spoilers does not required tags and
spoiler space.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bujold-spoilers/
Excessive Quoting
-----------------
1. What is meant by the term "excessive quoting"?
Quoting refers to quotes of other people's posts to the list. It does
not refer to quoting of Lois McMaster Bujold's material, although
excessive quoting of that should be avoided too, for other obvious
reasons.
2. How much quoting is too much?
If less than 50% of the lines in a message are original material,
it should not be posted to the list.
Posting a long post in its entirety with a one-liner of agreement
is singularly uncouth.
3. Why is excessive quoting a problem?
It is redundant, it takes up hard disk space, and it takes up
download time, just like off-topic discussions.
It also makes your valuable contribution harder to read and
assimilate.
4. What can I do to avoid excessive quoting?
Remove irrelevant lines and replace them with a notation like
"<snipped>", if necessary - or paraphrase the whole thing. Be
careful to correctly attribute the text you quote or paraphrase
to the original poster. You can replace <snipped> at the
beginning or end of text with an ellipsis (...).
Never include headers and sig. files unless they are relevant to
your post.
Quotes which have long lines should be edited to less than 70
characters
so that the resulting quotations, after line cutting, which can
occur in
a number of e-mail programs, does not cause the final quoted text
to look
like this.
Nested quotes should be edited to identify the "speakers", rather
than relying on multiple >>>>s. e.g:
JB > Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb.
SC > Barbrhu, barbrhu, barbrhu, barbrhu, barbrhu.
RS > Brouhaha, brouhaha, brouhaha, brouhaha, brouhaha.
The Quote Pixie (James Bryant) has had a number of posts from
people telling him that the discipline of minimising quotes is
useful in producing posts which are themselves more succinct.
Details of the Quote Policy can be found at
http://www.jbryant.eu/pages/quotes.htm
List Conventions, Abbreviations, and In-Jokes
---------------------------------------------
1. Someone called "pizza" on my last post! What do they mean?
What should I do?
In December 2001, Marna Nightingale used "Pizza?" in a post as an
example of a polite way of saying, "No thanks, but I'd like to remain
friends. Why don't we get some pizza?" when a friend proposes
sexual intimacy. "Pizza?" was quickly adopted as a code word used to
defuse a potentially heated discussion without fault on either side,
as in "Let's drop the subject and stay friends."
A call of "Pizza?" indicates that the caller felt the language in a
post was becoming inflammatory. Note that pizza is not to be
called on a *subject* preemptively--the actual language being used
must be getting heated, or loaded so that a heated exchange seems
likely, or headed flameward. A post which includes a pizza call
should be so noted in the subject line, in addition to the current subject.
If three people call for pizza on a thread, list discussion of it should
cease immediately. (Remember, however, that e-mail arrives erratically
and some people read the list in digest format, so a few posts may arrive
after three calls for pizza are made.)
If you feel that your comments were not, in fact, headed into a
sensitive area, it is recommended that you discuss this OFF-LIST
with the people who called pizza. If they agree the topic may be
re-introduced to the list.
2. What does ObBujold mean?
This phrase migrated from Usenet and from other mailing lists.
ObBujold means an "Obligatory Bujold" reference, in an attempt to
bring an off-topic thread back into the fold.
3. What does WLW mean?
WLW stands for Write, Lois, Write. This mantra was coined to
encourage Lois to continue writing her "Next Thing".
4. What are some other abbreviations used on the list?
Some are abbreviations of titles of Bujold's books:
DD = Dreamweaver's Dillemma
SoH = Shards of Honor
TWA = The Warrior's Apprentice
BoI = Borders of Infinity
EoA = Ethan of Athos
ACC = A Civil Campaign
CoC = Curse of Chalion
PoS = Paladin of Souls
HH = The Hallowed Hunt
TSK = The Sharing Knife
TSK:B = The Sharing Knife: Beguilement
LMB is a common shorthand for Lois McMaster Bujold.
Most of the remaining acronyms are Netspeak, such as
LOL = Laughing Out Loud
OTOH = On The Other Hand
IIRC = If I Recall Correctly
FAQ = Frequently Asked Question
AFAIK = As Far As I Know
ROTFL = Rolling On The Floor Laughing
ROTFLOLASTC = Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud And
Scaring The Cats.
A ridiculously over-complete list of Netspeak acronyms may be
found at http://members.aol.com/nigthomas/alphabet.html
5. Why do people substitute * for the vowels in certain words?
Several list members receive list messages through servers that
run "nannyware"--software which filters out messages that contain
certain forbidden words. Substituting * for the vowels in curse
words or anything likely to trigger such nannyware will allow
your messages to get through. Other means of disguising such
words (such as spelling them backwards, as "dratsab") will also
work, as long as listees can figure out the intended word.
Other terms might not trigger nannyware, but might be picked up
in Internet searches and lead trollers to the list. G*n c*ntr*l
and ab*rt**n are most commonly disguised.
Finally, in a long-standing list joke that originated in a
somewhat heated discussion on the relative merits of Bujold's
characters and David Weber's Honor Harrington novels, some
listees commonly write "D*v*d W*b*r" and "H*n*r H*rr*ngt*n".
6. What does FILK: mean?
Filk is folk music on science fiction topics. A FILK: tag on a
message to the lois-bujold list gives fair warning that the
message contains Filk, so that list members can avoid it or seek
it out as desired. If a filk song is written to the tune of an
existing song, a "TTTO" note ("to the tune of") is appreciated.
An archive of Bujold filk may be found at
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/Filk/
7. What does FIC: mean?
FIC: identifies messages which contain fan fiction, that is,
stories written in Bujold's universes by others. The FIC: tag
warns all those who loathe the genre, warns Lois since she's
interested in *not* reading them, and alerts those fanfic lovers
on the list.
An archive of Bujold FanFic may be found at
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/FanFic/
8. What is meant by "Watsonian" and "Doylist"?
The terms "Doylist" and "Watsonian" derive from the Sherlock
Holmes stories. Doylist is from Arthur Conan Doyle, the author,
and Watsonian from Doctor Watson, the narrator in the stories.
The terms are most often applied to explanations of
inconsistencies between (or even within) books or stories in a
series.
A Doylist explanation discusses inconsistences or plot in terms
of why the author did things that way. Lois Bujold's Doylist
explanation for some inconsistencies is "the author had A Better
Idea" in the later book.
A Watsonian explanation discusses the inconsistency or plot
point from the perspective of the story. Inconsistencies might
be explained by a character lying or being unaware of all the
facts.
9. How long can my .sig file be?
Your .sig should be as short as possible: four lines is a
suggested maximum, but one or two lines is even better. Unlike
Usenet, your .sig in an message to the list takes up space
in every recipient's mailbox--please be considerate and keep it
short. That cute graphic or quotation may be appreciated on
first usage, but may grow annoying to others with your later
posts.
10. What's the problem with a period on a line by itself?
A period on a line by itself is the SMTP mail protocol marker for
"end of message". While some mail servers look for occurances of
periods alone and buffer them, other mail servers will truncate
all of the message after the line with the period.
11. What is a "Bryant of books"?
The Bryant is a unit of books, originally used by Pouncer (Jeff
Melcher) in April 1998 and named for listee James M. Bryant. The
original size of the Bryant was 5000 books, which was something
less than the size of James Bryant's library at the time.
Shortly thereafter, the Bryant was re-defined as 1000 books.
In May of 1999, the OT Thug (Jeff Parker) proposed an expanded
set of measures for books, based on the (fictional) castle
library of the late Sir James Bryant, which were adopted with
some modifications by other listees. Those units are:
1 Bryant (B) = 4577 books
1 Habryant = 2289 books
1 Sitter (or Rhoom) = 1104 books
1 Dinky = 161 books
1 Wallshel = 23 books
1 Bedside = 17 books
The 4577-book Bryant is now generally referred to as the Old
English Bryant, and the 1000-book Bryant as the metric Bryant.
12. Who is Yeltar? What is Bujoldia? Bujoldar? And what's
this about "we're all going to die"?
In December 1997, Doug Muir postulated that the alien known as
Yeltar-3, a lurker on the Bujold list, abducted all the members
of the list to populate a colony on Bujoldia (Digest
971215-1037). Bujoldia is an Earth-like planet, Yeltar provides
some basic tools, but the listees, collectively, have to have the
necessary skills to survive. Much discussion ensued on the
probable survival of the colony as various bits of information on
the biology, geology, and other facets of Bujoldia were trickled
out. Despite many listees' arguments, Doug continued to maintain
that "we're all going to die" in less than a year. Eventually
the hidden identity of Doug as Yeltar-3 was revealed (Digest
971223-1067). Debra Fran Baker's twenty-years-later tale in
Digest 971219-1054 provides a nice summary, with Doug's "Bite us
Yeltar" addition later in the same digest.
In the midst of the Bujoldia discussion (Digest 971217-1046),
Elizabeth Twitchell countered with a decription of another colony
planet, Bujoldar. Bujoldar is a central library world, and is
well stocked with chocolate and pecans (as Pat Wrede states these
are necessary if we hope to attract Lois herself to the planet).
Many listees immediately declared their preference for Bujoldar.
Revivals of the Bujoldia/Bujoldar discussions have occurred
periodically, most recently in June 2002.
13. What is meant by a squid on the mantelpiece?
A squid on the mantelpiece is a reference from the Turkey City
Lexicon (http://www.sfwa.org/writing/turkeycity.html), a document
that defines terms of use in science-fiction writing workshops.
The squid is contrasted with Chekhov's quote about pistols over
the mantelpiece, which addresses the point that a plot element
should be deployed in a timely fashion and with proper dramatic
emphasis.
When list discussion tackled the topic in February 1999 Pouncer
dragged the squid to Barrayar, and a squid has been periodically
placed on the mantel of Vorkosigan House since.
14. Who are the OT Thug, the Quote Pixie, and the Birthday Tixie?
These are the List Creatures, also known collectively as Mike's
Minions (Mike being Michael Bernardi, the list owner). See the
OT FAQs for the role of the OT Thug and the Excessive Quoting FAQs
for the Quote Pixie. The Birthday Tixie sends birthday greetings
to list members. More information on the List Creatures may be
found in the piece "A Short Listory" at
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/FanFic/listory.html.
15. How do I bring my birthday to the attention of the Birthday
Tixie?
Send your birth date (year is optional) in a message to the list
and the Birthday Tixie will add you to the list. Be sure to
use a subject for your message that will alert the Birthday
Tixie to look at the message: "Attention Birthday Tixie" is
an example that should work.
16. What is Sherwooding, or a Sherwooded post?
Early listee Anton Sherwood frequently consolidated his
single-topic replies to posts from many people into one message,
often paraphrasing the material to which he was responding to
save space. In July 1998, Paula Sanch used "Sherwood" as an
adjective to describe this type of post, and the phrases "a
Sherwooded response", "a Sherwood", "Sherwooding", and so forth
entered the list vocabulary.
Sherwooded posts on multiple unrelated topics are difficult to
handle for those who read by subject, and should be avoided if
possible.
17. I'm getting list mail in digest format. Are there any special
things I should be aware of before I reply to a message?
Yes. You should always replace the digest subject line with a
meaningful subject. If you are replying to a post, the best
option is to copy the subject of that message and paste it into
your subject line.
Be sure to delete the rest of the digest from your reply.
Remember that you are reading messages later than list members
who receive messages directly. Before you reply, please read the
entire digest or check the current messages on the Web to see if
your point has already been made. Also consider this lag time
before posting to a thread which may have been called for
exceeding the 3-day limit or which may have been pizza'ed.
II. Pointers to More Bujold Stuff
---------------------------------
1. Where can I find more information about Lois Bujold herself?
Is there a photograph of her available?
Biographical information:
http://www.dendarii.com/biolog.html
Bibliographical information:
http://www.dendarii.com/biblio.html
The Photo Archive, with pictures from fan gatherings and some
posed portraits:
http://www.dendarii.com/photos.html
2. How can I contact Lois Bujold?
If you have a general question, consider posting to the
Lois-Bujold Mailing List or to the MilesToGo forum on Baen's Bar.
Lois reads both of these and sometimes will respond, or your
question perhaps can be answered by other Bujold fans.
Alternatively, you may send email to lois at dendarii.com.
3. Is there a collection of quotes from Lois Bujold's books?
Mike Bernardi <mike at dendarii.com> has created a random quote or
"fortune cookie" file from the Vorkosigan books. Various
programs can use this file to provide a quotation to appear on
your computer screen on start-up, or to incorporate as a .sig
into your e-mail messages. A Web random-quote generator that
uses this file is available at
http://www.dendarii.com/quotes.html.
The quotes file is in a format suitable for use with Jody R.
Cairns' <jodyc at cs.mun.ca> Utter program for DOS.
The Utter program can be found at
ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/ibmpc/dos/apps/quotes/utter/utter202.zip
The Lois Bujold Quote File in Utter format can be found in the
same directory as
ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/ibmpc/dos/apps/quotes/utter/lbq-v2ut.zip .
A earlier version has a filename of lbq-v1ut.zip. These are
zipped plain text files, with each quotation separated with a
tilde (~). The files don't include any quotes from books newer
than _Memory_. The text files can be edited into whatever format
is needed for your own random-quote generator or e-mail program.
Example quote:
Maybe we ought to send him to the salt mines for two weeks every year,
to keep him happy and content with his regular job.
-- Miles wonders about Gregor's state of mind
(Lois McMaster Bujold, The Vor Game)
4. Are there Web sites with Lois Bujold content?
Lois McMaster Bujold's official Web site is The Bujold Nexus
http://www.dendarii.com .
The Bujold Nexus Overflow Site has cover art, filk, fan art, fan
fiction, etc. and can be found at
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/Bujold.html .
Listee Bo Johansson's science-fiction Web pages:
http://hem.bredband.net/b104699/books/index.htm
have links to some of his fan art and to his "Vorkosigan ComConsole"
and "Quintarian Web Browser", skins for some versions
of popular Web browsers.
Links to other web pages with Bujold related material can be found at
http://www.dendarii.com/links.html .
The Lois McMaster Bujold Webring can also be found at
http://www.dendarii.com/webring.html .
Publisher Web Sites (many have sample chapters of some books):
Baen Books (Vorkosigan series print editions, some e-books as
"Webscriptions")
http://www.baen.com
HarperCollins/Eos (Chalion books; _The Sharing Knife_)
http://www.harpercollins.com/imprints/index.aspx?imprintid=518005
Tor (_Women at War_, edited by Bujold)
http://www.tor.com
Blackstone Audiobooks (audiobooks)
http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/search.cfm?search=Lois+McMaster+Bujold
Fictionwise.com (e-book versions of most Bujold books):
http://fictionwise.com
NESFA Press (_Dreamweaver's Dilemma_, hardcover editions of
_Shards of Honor_, _The Warrior's Apprentice_, _Ethan of
Athos_, _Falling Free_, _Borders of Infinity planned for 2007)
http://www.nesfa.org/press/
The Science Fiction Book Club (lower-cost editions, must be a
member of the book club to purchase)
http://www.sfbc.com
Easton Press (high-end leather-bound editions sold as part of
a subscription series, not available for individual purchase:
copies turn up on eBay occasionally)
http://www.eastonpress.com/
5. Are there Web sites with more information about the
Lois-Bujold Mailing List?
Official information on the mailing list, including the FAQs,
is maintained at The Bujold Nexus:
http://www.dendarii.com
Various items related to the Lois-Bujold Mailing List, such as
plans for upcoming cons, a summary of listee professions, and
MiniLoisCon writeups, may be found at Robert Parks' site:
http://bujold-list.info/
This site also has a mirror (now perhaps the primary copy) of
a Web version of Bujold List Bios put together by Dave Klecha.
6. Is there a Bujold mailing list for fans living in my area?
Several mailing lists have been set up for geographic areas,
generally for the purpose of arranging MiniLoisCons (meetings
of Bujold fans, sometimes on the occasion of Bujold visiting that
area). The exceptions are LMB-UK and Barrayar, which are general
discussion groups for fans in Britain and Ireland, and for
French-speaking fans, respectively.
Australia:
http://www.fireopal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lmb_oz
Britain and Ireland:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LMB-UK/
Atlanta:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bujold-atlanta/
Boston:
To subscribe, send email to:bujold-boston-subscribe at lists.ckdhr.com
France/French-speaking fans:
http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/Barrayar/
Minneapolis:
http://www.fireopal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mplsminiloiscons
San Francisco Bay:
To subscribe, send email to: lmb-sfbay-subscribe at berthillier.net
Washington, DC:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dc-dendarii/
7. What is star_creche?
Star_creche is a spinoff of the Lois-Bujold Mailing List, where listees can
discuss fertility, infertility, birth control, pregnancy, birth, babies,
child rearing, and other topics relating to reproduction issues at more
length than is desired on the main Lois-Bujold list. Most discussion is
about our universe: howver, some reproduction issues from Bujold's
universes may arise.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/star_creche/
8. Are there other Internet discussion groups for Lois's work?
The Baen Books Web Site has a forum/newsgroup devoted to Lois in
"Baen's Bar":
http://www.baen.com/bar/
Lois frequently posts there in her "Miles To Go" conference.
Baen's Bar can also be accessed via e-mail or a news reader: see
their start page for the details.
An e-mail list for discussing Bujold's books has been set up on
YahooGroups at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lois-bujold/
This list was initially a backup for times when the Lois-Bujold
list was down. Newcomers sporadically find this list and post to
it, but generally are quickly directed to the main Lois-Bujold
list.
An e-mail discussion list, LordV, has been set up for Bujold fans
who are members of the YahooGroups LordPeter mailing list (for
fans of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries).
Membership is generally limited to members of LordPeter, though
exceptions can be made. Contact the LordV list owner,
LordV-owner at yahoogroups.com, for more information.
The bujold-spoilers list on YahooGroups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bujold-spoilers/
is for free discussion of Bujold's work that is within the spoiler
period for the Lois-Bujold Mailing List.
VorkosiganHouse
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VorkosiganHouse
is a Yahoo list where Bujold fans can discuss any and all things
family-oriented. Recipes and other cooking topics are common.
9. What is Miles' Minions?
Miles' Minions is the official Lois McMaster Bujold Appreciation
Society. The Dendarii Dispatch is the newsletter of Miles'
Minions. The fan club and newsletter are currently inactive.
Past editions of the newsletter may viewed at:
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/dispatch/
10. What is "Winterfair Gifts" and how can I get a copy?
"Winterfair Gifts" is a novella-length story set during Miles'
and Ekaterin's wedding, which was published in a SF/romance
crossover anthology edited by Catherine Asaro called
_Irresistible Forces_. The anthology was originally scheduled
for February 2003, but was postponed by the publisher to February
2004 (for Valentine's Day) in order to make a stronger publicity
push. Other authors in the anthology are Mary Jo Putney, Jo
Beverley, Jennifer Roberson, Deb Stover, and Catherine Asaro.
The February 2004 release was a trade paperback. In January 2006
a mass-market sized paperback was released.
Because of the delay in the U.S. publication, "Winterfair Gifts"
was published first in early 2003 as a stand-alone version in
Croatian.
III. Merchandising
------------------
1. Are there audiobooks of Lois's books?
Unabridged audiobooks are being produced by Blackstone Audiobooks
http://www.blackstoneaudio.com
--The Curse of Chalion (read by Lloyd James)
--Paladin of Souls (Kate Reading)
--The Vor Game (Grover Gardner)
--The Warrior's Apprentice (Grover Gardner)
--Cetaganda (Grover Gardner)
Purchased for recording, but not yet available, are Memory, Komarr,
A Civil Campaign, Diplomatic Immunity, The Hallowed Hunt, and both
halves of The Sharing Knife
All these can be purchased on CD from Blackstone, or as downloadable
MP3 files from Audible.com (http://www.audible.com). Some are available
from Apple's iTunes music store.
Earlier audiobooks were unabridged multiple-reader editions produced
by The Reader's Chair, and were available on cassette tape and some
MP3-format CDs. The Reader's Chair is now out of business, though copies
of their editions may occasionally show up used. TRC offered nine titles
by Lois McMaster Bujold: Falling Free, Shards of Honor, Barrayar,
The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos,
Borders of Infinity, and Brothers in Arms. Mirror Dance was recorded,
but was damaged in production and never released.
2. Can I get Bujold T-shirts and other neat stuff?
Two vendors offer authorized Bujold merchandise.
-SoftWear Toys and Tees (run by Lois-Bujold list member Steve
Salaba) - http://www.softwear-tnt.com/loisbujold.html
T-shirts
Personalized photo ID cards (ImpSec, Siegling's, U. of Vorbarr
Sultana Student ID Card, etc.)
Barrayaran Passport (personalized)
Patches
ImpSec "eyes"
Seiglings shopping (tote) bag
-Pegasus Publishing - http://www.pegasuspublishing.com
T-shirts
Polo shirts
Patches
ImpSec "eyes"
Seiglings shopping (tote) bag
3. Is any Bujold filk available on CD?
Several filk CDs are available which include Bujold filk songs.
Visit the Bujold Filk Archive:
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/Filk/
and look toward the bottom of the page for links to pages for
the filk authors' pages. Both Echo's Children:
http://www.echoschildren.org
and Tom Smith:
http://www.tomsmithonline.com/
have CDs available.
---------------
FAQ History:
19 Dec 2006 - Version 3.9.1< - Changed spoiler page URL, birthday
information
17 Sep 2006 - Version 3.9.0 - Revised Spoiler FAQ to allow posts from
date of ARC, added acronyms, updated publisher list, revised
audiobooks, link check, revised "other lists" lists.
Sep 2003 - Version 3.8.0 - Added How can I contact LMB?, Winterfair
Gifts, list creatures, Birthday Tixie, Sherwooding,
bujold-spoilers, special digest considerations, Bo
Johansson's Web pages, availability of NESFA EoA.
May 2003 - Version 3.7.0 - Revised "pizza" and Reader's Chair,
added squid on the mantlepiece.
Oct 2002 - Version 3.6.0 - Added French mailing list, "pizza",
bujold-list.info, and Yeltar, removed MD from Reader's Chair
offerings.
Jun 2002 - Version 3.5.1 - Corrected credit for Old English
Bryant.
May 2002 - Version 3.5.0 - Added Bryant, geographic lists, and
star_creche FAQs. Changed Dendarii Dispatch URL. Changed
spoiler tag to SP:.
Jan 2002 - Version 3.4.1 - Added "periods on a line" and .sig
length FAQs.
Jan 2002 - Version 3.4.0 - Added more detail to spoiler FAQs,
added additional online resources (some moved from Admin
FAQ), added FILK, FIC, Doylist/Watsonian, general editing.
Incorporated the Off-Topic FAQ into the list FAQ because
of the significant overlap. Revision by Nancy Barber.
Dec 1996 - List FAQ further split to produce three FAQs.
Mar 1996 - FAQ split into two parts.
8 August 1994 - FAQ initially compiled by Michael Bernardi.
Credits:
General FAQ material was supplied by Lois McMaster Bujold, Locus,
Greg Slade, Suford Lewis, Michael Bernardi, and other members of
the Lois-Bujold Mailing List. The change to Question and Answer
format is due to Greg Slade.
The OT: FAQ material was compiled by Paul Freitas, after
discussions by Michael Bernardi, Greg Slade, Paula Matuszek, Bror
Heinola, Jeff Parker, James Bryant, and Paul Freitas.
Especial thanks to Melanie Dymond Harper <mel at herald.co.uk> for
hosting the LOIS-BUJOLD list, the Web page at dendarii.com, and
the list archive site.
This Lois McMaster Bujold (List) FAQ is being constantly
developed and is posted to the LOIS-BUJOLD list every other
month. Suggestions and corrections for this document should be
sent to lmb-faq at dendarii.com .
Copyright 1994/2006 by Michael Bernardi and Nancy Barber. This
file may be freely distributed provided that it remains unedited
from its current form. Sections may be quoted for reference
providing its source is given. It may be printed for personal use.
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