Month: April 2026

Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold, Book #8 of the Vorkosigan saga.

Introduction

Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold is the eighth novel of the Vorkosigan saga. Lord Miles Vorkosigan uses his alias, Admiral Miles Naismith. He is the leader of the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. This time, the fleet is at Jackson Whole. Jackson Whole is run by gangsters who have illegal cloning businesses. Miles must rescue his brother Mark from the gangs and disrupt the cloning operation. Will the brothers perform their mirror dance and escape Jackson Whole in one piece?

Summary

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Recommendation

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Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61909.Mirror_Dance

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?

Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold

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. 

Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold

In Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold, Miles uncovers a terrorist plot. Can Miles save Komarr from itself or will the planet fall into anarchy?

Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold

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?

Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold

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?

Links Continued

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold

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?

Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold

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?

Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold

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?

Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold

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?

Links Continued

Warriors Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

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?

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

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?

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold

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.

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

Writing Progress Report April 2026

This is my Writing Progress Report April 2026.

On March 27, 2026, I attended Detroit Penguicon at the Westin Southfield-Detroit. This is the Penguicon banner at the hotel.

Writing Progress from March 2026.

I wrote four blog posts for my website, garydavidgillen.com. Including my writing progress report for March 2026, which I linked below.

Writing Progress Report March 2026

In March 2026, I presented a short story named Cruising the Moons of 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 March 2026.

Events from March 2026.

I attended Cleveland Concoction, from March 6, 2026, to March 8, 2026. They held the conference at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio.

This is a link to the ConCoction website.

http://www.clevelandconcoction.org/

I also attended Detroit Penguicon at the Westin Southfield-Detroit from March 27, 2026, to March 26, 2026. I attended the opening ceremonies and seven panels. This year’s theme was Rising from the Ashes.

Writing Goals for April 2026.

In April 2026, I plan to write four blog posts for garydavidgillen.com, including my Writing Progress Report for April 2026.

I plan to work on a story for the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call in April 2026.

In April 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 April 2026.

The next conference I plan to attend is the Confluence Conference, held near Pittsburgh, PA, from July 24, 2026, to July 26, 2026. They will have the conference at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. I attended the Confluence in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, (2021 was cancelled due to COVID), 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore

Introduction

In Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore, Hodge is a historian living in a world where the South won the Civil War. They call it the war of Southron Independence. He lives in a much-reduced North and wonders how his history was shaped. He gets the chance to see the past as it happens. Will the North win this time and bring the jubilee to the South?

Summary

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore is said to be a memoir by Hodge, a historian from the world where the South won the Civil War. Hodge grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. When he turns 17, he seeks his fortune in New York City. The South is a superpower, while the North is lesser. The South and Great Britain are allies, while the German Union and the Spanish empire are allied against them. Hodge gets a job in New York City and learns about the state of the world. He forms his desire to be an historian from living in New York.

The war of Southron Independence facinates Hodge and especially the battle of Gettysburg, which the South won which led the South to winning the war. He has an opportunity to see the battle firsthand. His goal was to be an observer only, but the reality did not follow his plans.

Recommendation

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore is an alternate history and time traveling novel that raises interesting questions. Would the world be a better place if the South had won the war? Would it be different? Can events change the course of history? Hodge raises these questions and more in the novel. He portrays the uninvolved observer. But not choosing is still a choice. He had a wonderful life in his timeline with Catalina, but he had to learn what he wanted to learn which cost him in the end. This novel is a tragedy to me, a well written tragedy. I’m glad a read this novel.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61355290-bring-the-jubilee

This novel has one alternate history narrative while the following novel has four alternate history timelines.

In The Female Man by Joanna Russ, four identical women, separated by chance, come together for a reason revealed only at the end of the novel. The novel explores how their different upbringing shapes each of these women. It was disturbing and thought-provoking.

Female Man by Joanna Russ