Month: May 2026

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold, Book #14 of the Vorkosigan saga.

Introduction

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold is the Fourteenth novel of the Vorkosigan saga. Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan is on a fact-finding mission on Kibou, the planet where people are routinely put in cryo-suspended animation. Jin is a homeless boy who helps Miles. Miles learns far more than he expected.

Summary

In Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan wakes up hazy. A terrorist group kidnapped and drugged him, but he got away from them.

Jin, a 12-year-old homeless boy, finds Miles and takes him to the place he squatted on.

Miles has amnesia, but his memories are coming back. He must find Armsman Roic and get to the Barrayaran consulate to report in.

Roic is imprisoned by the terrorists and must escape so he can help Miles, his employer.

Miles, Roic, and Jin investigate what is going on in Kibou. They must uncover the Kibouan plot to take over the Barrayaran colony of Komarr and defeat it.

They are helped by Durona, an Escobaran specialist in cryonic suspended animation, Consul Vorlynkin from the Barrayaran consulate, and Jin’s mom.

Recommendation

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold is another excellent novel in the Vorkosigan saga. Miles thwarts a plot in his unorthodox way. Roic saves the day more than once. Jin feels like a twelve-year-old most worried about his animal friends. The only sad thing is that this is the last novel in the series which features Miles as the main character. I’m glad he went out this way.

Links

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

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7841670-cryoburn

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?

Mirror Dance 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?

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

Links Continued

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?

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold

Links Continued

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 wants?

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

Links Continued

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?

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

City and the City by China Mieville

City and the City by China Mieville

Introduction

City and the City by China Mieville is a noir police procedural set in two overlapping cities that share the same location as each other. Borlu is the detective that must travel between the two cities and try not to lose his sense of place as he investigates a case. Will Borlu get lost between the City and the City and never return to his old life?

Summary

In City and the City by China Mieville inspector Tyador Borlu of the city of Beszel extreme crime squad investigates the murder of a woman. A group of kids saw someone dump the body from a van.

Borlu talks to constable Lizbyet Corwi about the case. Borlu sees an old woman who he thinks he should not be able to see. He looks way and pretends she’s not there.

Borlu and Corwi work on the case. The victim’s name is Fulana Detail. None of the leads are panning out. Then Borlu gets a break from a caller from Ul Qoma. Beszel is the city and Ul Qoma is the other city. The two cities are side by side and interwoven. The caller said he knew Fulana from when she was in the Ul Qoma underground.  Fulana’s name was Marya in Ul Qoma. The caller feels he is in danger and Borlu should investigate the Beszel underground. Borlu believes the caller. It means though that if he pursues the case, he will be in breach, he cannot investigate a case that originates from Ul Qoma.

Being in breach carries significant consequences, so Borlu must be careful if he wants to catch the murderer of Fulana. He pursues the case as far as he can.

Recommendation

City and the City by China Mieville is a challenging novel to read, but it is a great novel. Once the reader understands the relationship between the two cities and the meaning of the word breach, then the novel makes sense. Borlu was the perfect noir detective. His conflict was real and earned. I’d like to rerad more of the novels of China Mieville in the future.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of City and the City by China Mieville

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4703581-the-city-the-city

Another book that reminds me of City and the City is The Fifth Season. Both books are Science Fiction but are on the boundary with Fantasy because they explore concepts that have an element that cannot be explained through physics.

In The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin, Essun, Damaya, and Syenite, all face hard choices in the Broken Earth of the Stillness. Will they survive?

Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

Writing Progress Report May 2026

This is my Writing Progress Report May 2026.

In April 2026, I took a cruise on the Adventure of the Seas. This is a picture of the ship docked at Coco Cay on April 16, 2026.

Writing Progress from April 2026.

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

Writing Progress Report April 2026

In April 2026, I presented the revised Chapter 1 of my expanded short story named Chemithury to the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call.

I wrote 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 April 2026.

Events from April 2026.

I did not attend an event in April 2026.

Writing Goals for May 2026.

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

I plan to work on Chapter 2 of the revised and expanded story named Chemithurgy for the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call in May 2026.

In May 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 May 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 conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, (2021 was cancelled due to COVID), 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Program Schedule & Information

https://fancyclopedia.org/wiki/Confluence_2026

Detroit Penguicon 2026 Conference

Detroit Penguicon 2026 Conference Recap

Introduction

I attended the Detroit Penguicon 2026 Conference at the Westin Southfield-Detroit from March 27, 2026, to March 28, 2026. I attended the opening ceremonies and seven panels. This year’s theme was Rising from the Ashes. I attended the conference in 2024, but they did not have it in 2025.

This is a link to the Con website.

https://2026.penguicon.org

This is my badge for Detroit Penguicon2026.

They set up the banner in the hotel lobby

This is the con logo: Rising from the Ashes

Summary

Detroit Penguicon 2026 Conference Recap

Friday, March 27th at 4 PM

Panel on The Art of the Short Story with Leslie Gulvas, Ken McGregor, Storm Humbert, and Jean Davis:

The panel discussed how to get ideas, write short stories, and sell your work. Do you pick a title before or after writing a story. Use a working title that probably changes before you finish, though writing for anthologies may require a certain story title. Short stories must start with a bang to capture the readers’ attention, so how do you do that? Start in the middle of the action with an action beat because you must grab the reader’s attention in your first 500 words or less. A great first line helps. Can you make a living as a short story writer? Not today, the compensation is minimal. The goal for today in writing short stories is to expose your brand to new readers who will read your novel length work next. 

They held the panel in Algonquin A with 15 attendees.

Friday, March 27th at 5 PM

Panel on The Evolution of Science Fiction with Ray Tabler, Stephanie Loree, David Weber, Evan Dicken, and Katie Spina:

In what ways has Science Fiction changed since its start? Why did these changes happen and what do they mean for authors now? Science Fiction came from the pulps of the 1940s and 1950s. What are the differences compared to today’s writings? More women are writing Science Fiction, women in the stories are no longer props, and science matters but humanity takes us farther. What is more important, settings or character? Readers connect to character, so that is more important. Mood is important. Last thoughts? Science fiction is now mainstream. Science Fiction is just a label.

They held the panel in Algonquin A with 32 attendees. (standing room only)

Friday, March 27th at 6 PM

Welcome to PenguiCon Opening Ceremonies:

The ceremonies started with an Honor Guard presented by the Royal Manticoran Navy.

Heather Williams is this years Con Chair and the moderator for the ceremonies.

She introduced the various department heads.

Heather introduced the authors, Tracy Barrett, Ryan Rose, David Weber, Jim Butcher, and Jennifer Blackstream.

She mentioned the reset room, the DIY room, the Gaming room, the picture backdrop at the hotel entrance, and the Consuite located upstairs.

They held the opening ceremonies in Algonquin B/C with 75 attendees.

Saturday, March 28th at 11 AM

Panel on What I Wished I Had Known with Jean Davis, Stephanie Loree, Ryan Rose, Katie Spina, and Ray Tabler:

The panelists discussed what they learned about writing, publishing and marketing in their career.

Where did it go wrong? Don’t be afraid to start over if you’re not feeling it.

What is your writing process? Try to write 500 words in 30 minutes to combat perfectionism. After the first draft write an emotional outline to see the complete journey of the characters. Asterisk the hard parts, move on, and come back to them later. Edit as I go.

How do you get from want to, to do it? Put in the work, rea more, and believe in the dream. Learn to accept the bad days as learning experiences. Be okay with your tastes exceeding your abilities when you start out.

They held the panel in Algonquin A with 15 attendees.

Saturday, March 28th at 1 PM

Panel on Self-Publishing 101 with Katie Spina, Sarah Hans, Tracy Barnett, Jennifer Blackstream, and Jean Davis:

Self-published authors discussed why they chose the self-published route and explained how they published their own books.

What made you choose self-publishing? Small press closed leading to self-publishing, no comparables so better to self-publish, and it’s very easy to do now so they did.

What do you do about formatting and covers? Canva, Mac Book, Affinity, Pixaby for images, and ISOCK Photo for images.

How much money do you put into your books? None because it’s all funded by Kickstarter, about $1000 per book, about $300 per book, and swap editing with another author.

Advice if you went back in time, how would you do better? Quit tweaking and get it out, get your social media bonus items together first,

How do you create a strategy to find your target audience? Keep being out there, giveaways, Book Funnel, and Freebie from a Friend.

They held the panel in Algonquin D with 24 attendees.

Saturday, March 28th at 2 PM

Panel on Paths to Publishing with Llewella Forgie, Jean Davis, Ray Tabler, Kyle Miller, Jarod K. Anderson, and Matt Betts:

The path to publication includes traditional published, small or medium presses, and self-published.

How do you decide which path you take? Weigh the pros and cons. It depends on the goal for the project.

Pros for traditional publishing are working with professionals and getting an advance. Cons for traditional publishing is that it takes a long time from writing to publishing. You need patience for this.

Pros for small press publishing are that you have freedom with your content.

Pros for self-publishing are control, your vision, and print on demand changed the experience.

Cons for self-publishing are the marketing is solely the author’s responsibility.

Advice for Agent Query letters. Never send a hard copy, send the first ten pages in a word document, follow the guideline for each submission, use comps in your letter.

They held the reading in the Algonquin A room with 26 attendees.

Saturday, March 28th at 3 PM

Panel on Outline Like a Pro with Llewella Forgie, Sarah Hans, Christine Daigle, Christian Klaver, and Matt Betts:

There are outliners and there are pantsers.

How do you use outlines for writing your novel? They are a pantser, an outliner who ignores their outlines, used to be a pantser, changes per project, and a converted pantser.

What program do you use? Scrivener, Plotter, and White Board.

How much to too much plotting? Get the basics down and then get to the writing. Write a four-page outline at tops.

They held the reading in the Algonquin D room with 12 attendees.

Sunday, March 29th at 11 AM

Panel on Finishing Strong by Writing a Great Ending with David Weber, Jennifer Blackstream, and Llewella Forgie:

The authors commented on what makes a great ending to a book or a series that will leave your readers satisfied.

What makes a great ending? It is set up by what comes before. The main characters all need their ending.

When do you stop? In a mystery it’s when who did it is revealed.

Should you put a surprise at the end? A promise that something is coming must end with a resolution that fits the project.

Writer’s Advice. Killing a character should be hard for you as a writer and you must live with that.

Writer’s Advice. Remember that the end of a book is a resting place for the writer and the reader, but not the characters.

They held the reading in the Algonquin A room with 26 attendees. (standing room only)

Recommendation – Conclusion

I felt the Detroit Penguicon 2026 went well and enjoyed attending it this year. My star of the Con was the author, David Weber. He gave insightful comments in all three panels I saw him in. I’m looking forward to attending the Con in 2027.

Links

This is my recap of the 2024 conference.

I attended the SF conference named PenguiCon at 1275 South Huron Street Ypsilanti, Michigan at the Ann Arbor Marriott, Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest from April 26, 2024, to April 28, 2024. I attended the opening ceremonies, three panels, and one author reading. This year’s theme was Open Source.

I felt the con went well and enjoyed my attendance. My star of the con was the author E.M. Anderson. They read two chapters from different novels in their author’s reading and gave insightful comments on their panel about writing. I was looking forward to attending again in 2025, but I have recently heard that it was cancelled.

PenguiCon Detroit 2024 Conference Recap

These are recaps of the two other cons that I went to this year.

This is my post about ConFusion Detroit 2026 Conference from January 30, 2026, to February 1, 2026. The theme was Magical ConFusion. I attended 8 events. My star of the con was Author John Scalzi.

ConFusion Detroit 2026 Conference Recap

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 attended 4 activities. My star of the con was Ashley Berry, the 2026 Con Chair. The con returns in March 2027 with the theme of A Star Noir.

Conference Recap Cleveland Concoction 2026