Miles's journey continues in 1991's The Vor Game, a Hugo-award winner that combines Bujold's 1990 novella Weatherman, in which Miles braves rough winds and rougher command at the remote Camp Permafrost, with a broader tale of intrigue at the Hegen Hub. Not all paths... one path.

Watch video versions free on YouTube, listen free on your favorite podcast player, or go ad-free, get bonus segments, and support the show by joining the Patreon.

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SEPTEMBER 2026 PATRONS

Hand of Gregor
Joshua Ram, Mike Krieger

Eyes of Illyan
Quotidiaphile, Jordan Stafford, Travis Lee, Louise M, Josh S, lostinthemath

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💰 SUPPORT DEFINITELY FICTION!
Patreon Membership | One-Time Donation

🎨 SHOW ART by Tom Deja, Bossman Graphics

🎸 THEME MUSIC by Kirk Hamilton

📚 VORKOSIGAN SAGA READING ORDER
1. Shards of Honor
2. Barrayar
3. The Warrior's Apprentice
4. The Vor Game
5. Cetaganda
6. Ethan of Athos
7. Brothers in Arms
8. Borders of Infinity
9. Mirror Dance
10. Memory
11. Komarr
12. A Civil Campaign + Winterfair Gifts
13. Dreamweaver's Dilemma + Falling Free
14. Diplomatic Immunity
15. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance
16. The Flowers of Vashnoi + Cryoburn
17. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Series protagonist Miles Vorkosigan takes the reins in 1986's The Warrior's Apprentice, his first main-stage appearance in both internal and publication chronologies. Forward momentum!

Watch a video version of this episode on YouTube or on Patreon.

Sign up for the Definitely Fiction Patreon to support the show and get longer episodes with Patreon-exclusive bonus segments.

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💰 SUPPORT DEFINITELY FICTION!
Patreon Membership | One-Time Donation

🎨 SHOW ART by Tom Deja, Bossman Graphics

🎸 THEME MUSIC by Kirk Hamilton

📚 VORKOSIGAN SAGA READING ORDER

1. Shards of Honor
2. Barrayar
3. The Warrior's Apprentice
4. The Vor Game
5. Cetaganda
6. Ethan of Athos
7. Brothers in Arms
8. Borders of Infinity
9. Mirror Dance
10. Memory
11. Komarr
12. A Civil Campaign
13. Dreamweaver's Dilemma + Falling Free
14. Winterfair Gifts + Diplomatic Immunity
15. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance
16. The Flowers of Vashnoi + Cryoburn
17. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Cordelia's adventures continue with Lois McMaster Bujold's 1992 political thriller Barrayar. Kirk and Sam had a great time discussing this tremendous book.

Watch a video version free on YouTube, listen free on your favorite podcast player, or go ad-free, get bonus segments, and support the show by joining the Patreon.

VOR-CABULARY:

• Katas - a set combination of positions and movements performed as an exercise
• Bolero - a loose waist-length jacket open at the front (comes up multiple times as something Drou is wearing)
• Vassal Secundus - Aral uses it to refer to his position as someone who is sworn directly to the Emperor
• Vassal - a person under the protection of a feudal lord to whom they have vowed homage
• Secundus - Latin term meaning second or following
• Punctilio - a minute detail of conduct in a ceremony or in observance of a code
• Cosset - to pamper or treat as a pet
• Riverine - relating to, formed by, or resembling a river
• Sobriquet - nickname, referring to Aral’s title “the Butcher of Komarr”
• Inveigled - to win over by wiles
• Paroxysm - a sudden outburst, fit, or attack (as of emotion)
• Caravanserai - an inn surrounding a court in eastern countries where caravans rest at night
• Teratogenic - Harming embryonic/fetal development. Used in contrast to mutagenic, which means altering DNA.
• Iatrogenic - a condition induced unintentionally by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures
• Prole - proletarian, the laboring class
• Sibilant - a sound resembling that of the s or the sh in sash
• Commensal - A relationship between two kinds of organisms in which one obtains food or benefits from the other without damaging or benefiting it. Used by Cordelia when she is thinking about horses.
• Flinders - Splinters, fragments. Describes Cordelia’s slippers after escaping into the mountains.
• Suasion - the act of influencing or persuading
• Grubstake - material assistance (such as a loan) provided for launching an enterprise or for a person in difficult circumstances
• Duenna - an elderly woman serving as governess and companion to the younger ladies in a Spanish or Portuguese family
• Raff - as in riffraff, disreputable persons
• Villi - small finger-like projections, such as those in the small intestine that absorb nutrients from food
• Belike - casual, noncommittal expression in the Dendarii hills, meaning “maybe” or “perhaps”
• Marquetry - Inlay or veneer forming decorative patterns
• Sere - dry
• Sitzkrieg - Referring to a period of inaction after Germany invaded Poland and the UK and France declared war to start WWII, but before any Allied operations in Europe. Also known as the Phoney War. A play on blitzkrieg.

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💰 SUPPORT DEFINITELY FICTION!
Patreon Membership | One-Time Donation

🎨 SHOW ART by Tom Deja, Bossman Graphics

🎸 THEME MUSIC by Kirk Hamilton

📚 VORKOSIGAN SAGA READING ORDER

1. Shards of Honor
2. Barrayar
3. The Warrior's Apprentice
4. The Vor Game
5. Cetaganda
6. Ethan of Athos
7. Brothers in Arms
8. Borders of Infinity
9. Mirror Dance
10. Memory
11. Komarr
12. A Civil Campaign
13. Dreamweaver's Dilemma + Falling Free
14. Winterfair Gifts + Diplomatic Immunity
15. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance
16. The Flowers of Vashnoi + Cryoburn
17. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Kirk and Sam kick off their full series read-through of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga with her 1986 novel Shards of Honor.

Watch a video version free on YouTube, listen free on your favorite podcast player, or go ad-free, get bonus segments, and support the show by joining the Patreon.

VOR-CABULARY

• Casuistry - specious or deceptive reasoning (the meaning as used in this book)
• Saturnine - sullen, gloomy, or sour, also a word LMB loves and is honestly pretty great
• Pith - to kill an animal by piercing or severing the spinal cord
• Gavotte - a dance
• Hagridden - to be harassed or tormented
• Stygian - Of the river Styx. Very dark, gloomy, or forbidding.
• Batman - someone assigned as personal servant to a (most often British) military officer

--------------------------------------------------------------

💰 SUPPORT DEFINITELY FICTION!
Patreon Membership | One-Time Donation

🎨 SHOW ART by Tom Deja, Bossman Graphics

🎸 THEME MUSIC by Kirk Hamilton

📚 VORKOSIGAN SAGA READING ORDER

1. Shards of Honor
2. Barrayar
3. The Warrior's Apprentice
4. The Vor Game
5. Cetaganda
6. Ethan of Athos
7. Brothers in Arms
8. Borders of Infinity
9. Mirror Dance
10. Memory
11. Komarr
12. A Civil Campaign
13. Dreamweaver's Dilemma + Falling Free
14. Winterfair Gifts + Diplomatic Immunity
15. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance
16. The Flowers of Vashnoi + Cryoburn
17. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Welcome to Definitely Fiction! Hosts Sam Parrish and Kirk Hamilton introduce the first book series they'll be covering: The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Watch a video version free on YouTube, listen free on your favorite podcast player, or go ad-free, get bonus segments, and support the show by joining the Patreon.

--------------------------------------------------------------

💰 SUPPORT DEFINITELY FICTION!
Patreon Membership | One-Time Donation

🎨 SHOW ART by Tom Deja, Bossman Graphics

🎸 THEME MUSIC by Kirk Hamilton

📚 VORKOSIGAN SAGA READING ORDER

1. Shards of Honor
2. Barrayar
3. The Warrior's Apprentice
4. The Vor Game
5. Cetaganda
6. Ethan of Athos
7. Brothers in Arms
8. Borders of Infinity
9. Mirror Dance
10. Memory
11. Komarr
12. A Civil Campaign
13. Dreamweaver's Dilemma + Falling Free
14. Winterfair Gifts + Diplomatic Immunity
15. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance
16. The Flowers of Vashnoi + Cryoburn
17. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen