Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold, Book #5 of the Vorkosigan saga.
Introduction
Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold is the fifth novel of the Vorkosigan saga. Miles and the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet escape the Cetagandans and arrive at Earth for repairs. Miles must juggle both of his identities, obtain the funds to repair the fleet, and defeat a plot to replace him with a double. Will Miles achieve his goals and rescue his brothers in arms?
Summary
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Recommendation
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Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold is the thirteenth novel of the Vorkosigan saga. Miles and Ekaterine are racing back from their honeymoon to see the birth of their children, but a mystery brews for Lord Auditor Miles Vorkosigan. An issue arises in Quaddiespace involving Komarr, Cetaganda, and the triumphant return of Bel Thorne. Will Miles solve the mystery before an environmental disaster is released in the universe?
In A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, Miles’s latest mission is his most difficult yet. He’s in love and wants to court the next Lady Vorkosigan, but everyone conspires against him, including her.Â
In Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold, death will not stop Miles Vorkosigan, but his boss Simon Illyan has an illness that might end Miles’s career. Can Miles figure out what happened to Illyan and what he should do about it before it’s too late?
In Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold, Dr. Ethan Urquhart must discover what happened to unusable ovarian samples. Will Ethan go off the planet, risk being corrupted, and solve the mystery of the unusable samples, or will he doom Athos by doing nothing?
In Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold, they send Miles Vorkosigan and his cousin Ivan to Cetaganda on a diplomatic mission. Miles becomes involved in a complex mystery. Will Miles foil the plot to destroy Cetaganda and save his home planet of Barrayar?
In The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold, they accused Miles Vorkosigan of treason. Will Miles play The Vor Game well enough to escape the treason charges made against him and secure the assignment he desires?
In Warriors Apprentice (Book #2 of the Vorkosigan Saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold, Miles Vorkosigan gets involved in another planet’s war. Can he escape the mischief he started?
In Barrayar (Book#7 of the Vorkosigan saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold, Lady Cordelia Vorkosigan faces an assassination and the birth of her son. Will she survive the regency and give birth to her son?
In Shards of Honor (Book#1 of the Vorkosigan saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold, Barrayaran Captain Aral Vorkosigan takes Betan Commander Cordelia Naismith as a prisoner. They take a hike in the jungle. What happens when they fall in love?
In Falling Free (Book #4 of the Vorkosigan saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold, space engineer Leo Graf must decide between retiring or risking his life protecting his students. The novel is a fun, self-contained space opera romp.
I attended the SF conference, Cleveland Concoction at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio. They held it at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 6 to 8, 2026. I also attended Cleveland Concoction in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, and 2025. (2020, 2021, and 2022 were canceled because of COVID-19).I attended the opening ceremony and three panels. This year’s theme was The Ragnarok of the Rings. Celebrating the Vikings and the 25th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie.
They held the ceremonies in the Pegasus Room with 31 attendees.
Saturday, March 7 at 4 PM
Is time spent writing short stories worthwhile? A panel with Robert Moore, E. C. Wolfe, J. D. Blackrose, and Marcus Calvert.
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They held the panel in the Hayes B Room with 8 attendees.
Saturday, March 7 at 6 PM
Reading like a writer, a panel with H. T. Brady, E. C. Wolfe, J. D. Blackrose, and Clif Flynt
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They held the panel in the Hayes B Room with 7 attendees.
Saturday, March 7 at 7 PM
How much is too much? A panel with Marie Vibbert, Barbara Doran, Addie J. King, Clif Flynt, and Weston Kincade.
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They held the panel in the Hayes B Room with 10 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
Conference Recap Cleveland Concoction 2026 was wonderful. The Bertram Conference Center is nice. My star of the con was Ashley Berry. She was the Con Chair for 2026, gave an impressive performance at the opening ceremonies, and wrote an interesting word from our Con Chair in the 2026 program. It was a bummer that they changed the time for the Confused Greenies improv of What went down in goblin town, so I had to miss it. Maybe next year. The con returns in March 2027 with the theme of A Star Noir.
Links
I attended the SF conference, Cleveland Concoction at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio. They held it at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 7 to 9, 2025. I attended 11 activities. My star of the con was Marie Vibbert. The con returns in March 2026.
I attended the SF conference, Cleveland Concoction at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio. They held it at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 8 to 10, 2024. I attended the opening ceremony, eight panels, two author showcases, and the closing ceremony. This year’s theme was the Neverending dungeon. My star of the con was Becca Lynn Mathis. The con returns from March 7 to March 9, 2025.
I attended the SF conference, Cleveland Concoction 2019, at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio. They held it at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 1 to 3, 2019. I attended the opening ceremony, four panels, and the closing ceremony. This is a link to my conference recap.
I also volunteered in the Programming Department for four hours and in the ConSuite for four hours.
I attended the SF conference, Cleveland Concoction at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio. They held it at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 9, 2018, to March 11, 2018. The 2019 convention was from March 1 to 3, 2019, and I realized that as I was writing a recap for that conference, I had not posted a recap for the 2018 conference. This is a recap of last year’s conference. I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, two author showcases, a performance, and the closing ceremony. I also volunteered in the ConSuite for eight hours.
This is my recap for the SF conference, Cleveland Concoction from 2017. They held it from March 10, 2017, to March 12, 2017. I attended nine activities and volunteered in the Con Suite for twelve hours.
This collection has ten stories that are not part of the cosmere universe. An overarching plot, which he calls the cosmere, connects the author’s works. The author set the stories of the cosmere on a group of worlds that people travel to through magical means. These are science fiction and fantasy stories not set in the cosmere. They previously published nine of these stories, while publishing the story Moment Zero here for the first time. All the stories in this collection are excellent, but I will comment on each, starting with the one I like most.
Summary
Moment Zero Summary and Recommendation
Moment Zero is a science fiction novella involving two detective partners at work and in life. A time travel incident occurs, and they must work together to avoid an apocalyptic future.
Moment Zero is the longest story in this collection, and it was published here for the first and only time. The author writes in the postscript that he wanted to tell a story about two people fighting through time to avoid the apocalypse and to show the end of a failed relationship. I thought it was the best story in the collection.
Snapshot Summary and Recommendation
Snapshot is a science fiction novella about two detective partners sent into a simulation of the previous day to determine the circumstances of a crime that was committed that day.
This was a nice serial killer thriller. The twist comes at the end, revealing an interesting secret about the relationship between the main character detectives. The author writes in the postscript that he worried it was too on the nose, but I think that’s what makes it good.
Perfect State Summary and Recommendation
Perfect State is a science fiction novel about a simulation where real-born people inhabit a fantasy land surrounded by machine-born NPCs. Real born are the masters of their simulation, but there are other simulations where other real born people are located. What happens when they put two real-born people together?
The author writes in the postscript that he wanted to write about a reverse Matrix, where the real born have reasons to be happy inside the simulation. I felt like he accomplished that goal in the story. He debated whether to include or delete the final scene. At one time, he did, but he felt that without the final scene, the story is incomplete, so the final scene is in this collection. I think his reasons are valid, and I am glad that he chose to include them here.
I Hate Dragons Summary and Recommendation
I Hate Dragons is a humorous fantasy short story. Skip’s special talent is that he smells good to dragons. Also, he can understand spoken words as written to the annoyance of his employer, Master Johnston. Skip is the dragon bait and Master Johnston’s crew are dragon killers. The story follows from that setup.
It’s a great, funny story. The author writes in the postscript that he wrote this story in response to a prompt from his podcast, Writing Excuses, in January 2011. The prompt was to write a story with dialogue only. No dialogue tags or descriptions are allowed.
This is a link to the story on his website. Extended versions of the story are also found at that link.
Defending Elysium is a science fiction novelette. Jason comes to the orbital station Evensong to find a missing operative sent by his company. An extraterrestrial being is murdered, and things get more complicated. How are these two events connected?
This story is set in the same universe as the author’s Skyward series. It’s one of his earliest written stories.
Mitosis is a superhero science fiction novelette. David is a Reckoner, a group that defeated Epics, strong supervillains. Another Epic surfaces and David must defeat it, or it will kill many citizens of David’s city.
This story is set in the same universe as the author’s Reckoners series.
Firstborn Summary and Reccomendation
Firstborn is a science fiction short story. Dennison is overshadowed by the accomplishments of his older brother Varion. Varion is an experienced space fleet commander, who has never lost an engagement. Dennison always fails in his attempts. Dennison studies Varion’s record. What will Dennison do with his knowledge?
This story was originally published on Tor.com which is called reactor now. It’s one of his earliest written stories. The author writes in his postscript that he wanted to explore the topic of nature versus nurture in this story.
Dreamer is a phycological horror short story. Dreamer and Phi both want to find Longshot first. Who is going to win this battle and what that means is the subject of the story.
This story was first published in the Games Creatures Play anthology. It’s a short story that tells the message and finishes quickly. It’s hard to care for these characters because of what they are.
Brain Dump Summary and Recommendation
Brain Dump is a short story about genetic engineering. People can choose the brain that they want for their children. A couple wants a child and finds out the downside of the choice. There is always a negative consequence for any positive trait. They choose their own path.
This story gives a different take on designer brains.
Probability Approaching Zero Summary and Recommendation
Probability Approaching Zero is short flash science fiction story.
Not much there.
Recommendation
Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson. is a great anthology. I liked Moment Zro and Snpshot the most.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson.
Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson. Sixth of the Dusk is a trapper that has magical birds that help him. Dusk must travel to the dangerous Emberdark and discover a necessary secret or his people would lose their freedom to those who want to take it away.
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson. They published the original novella named Sixth of the Dusk in this anthology.
Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson. Dalinar Kholin’s forces fight the forces of the god, Odium. The fight ends with a contest of champions. Who will prevail in the contest of champions?
My review of Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson. Wax and Wayne must foil a plot started by the terrorist group called the Set to destroy their home and people.
My review of Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson. In book 3.5 of the Stormlight Archive, Rysn and Lopen must uncover the secrets of the lost island of Akinah, or it will doom Roshar.
My review of Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson, a collection with nine stories that are part of the cosmere universe. An overarching plot, which he calls the cosmere interrelated many of the author’s works. He set six stories on the worlds of his published novels, and three stories are about worlds that have not had a novel-length story treatment. All the stories in this collection are excellent.
On February 14, 2026, we went to the Fourteenth annual Cleveland Kurentovanje Festival and Parade. It’s a celebration of all things Slovenian and includes a parade on St. Clair Street in front of the Slovenian National Home as pictured above.
Writing Progress from February 2026.
I wrote four blog posts for my website, garydavidgillen.com. Including my writing progress report for February 2026, which I linked below.
In February 2025, I presented the short story named Bounty Hunter Jupiter to the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call.
I will write new short stories in January, February, and March. Last year I completed the novelette version of Chemithurgy. My plan is to expand the story to novella length in 2026.
I made five posts on my Goodreads account in February 2026.
Events from February 2026.
No events attended in February
Writing Goals for March 2026.
In March 2026, I plan to write four blog posts for garydavidgillen.com, including my Writing Progress Report for March 2026.
I plan to work on a story for the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call in March 2026.
In March 2026, I plan to make five posts on my Goodreads account.
In the past, I sent the stories, Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard to magazines.
The seven Flash Fiction Stories I sent out in 2020 and 2021 were Space-Dog Confession, Sleeping Sickness, Caliburnus, Popular Mechanics Re-brewed, Wormhole Generator, Runs with Scissors, and Principled Rogue.
Magazine submissions for 2021 were 4 unique stories submitted 4 times, with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 4 rejections. No submissions for 2022, 2023, 2024, or 2025.
I plan to submit short stories in 2026.
Planned Events for March 2026.
The next conference I plan to attend is the Cleveland Concoction, from March 6, 2026, to March 8, 2026. They will hold the conference at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio.
Another event I plan to attend is the 41st Annual Western Reserve Writers Conference at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Lyndhurst, Ohio on March 28, 2026.
This is a link to the Cuyahoga County Library website.
