Lois McMaster Bujold Books

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Lois McMaster Bujold is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. She has attributed her love for science fiction to her father. Robert Charles McMaster was a professor of Welding Engineering.

To pass the hours he spent on the plane as he flew from one consulting gig to another, Robert would buy science fiction magazines and novels. And once he was done with them, he would pass them on to Lois.

As such, even as a child, Lois did a lot more reading than her peers. Born in 1949, Lois started writing in Junior High, though most of her stories were imitations of works she loved.

Then she went to high school and attempted to produce more complex stories in collaboration with her best friend Lillian. But none of their efforts produced results. In college, the novelist considered taking English on as a Major, but she quickly found that the critical aspect of the course did not appeal to her.

Lois McMaster Bujold had a desire to create. But she did not know just how serious she was about publishing as a career. That might explain how she ended up in East Africa on a biology study tour and at The Ohio State University Hospitals from where she worked as a pharmacy technician.

When she finally quit her job to go start her family, Lois had no idea that she had taken her first step towards a career in publishing. She had more than enough time on her hands to experiment with her stories.

Though, writing did not come easy for her. She tried, as she had done in high school, to put a few ideas on paper but nothing stuck. It wasn’t until Lillian, her best friend from high school wrote and successfully published her own novels that Lois found the strength to give fiction writing a series shot.

With the help of her friends and family, the author produced a novelette as practice. Then she moved on to larger, more challenging works, finally delivering Shards of Honor, her very first novel in 1983.

Lois, who was already in her 30s when she started writing seriously, is best known for the Vorkosigan Series of books which follow the exploits of an interstellar spy. She has produced multiple novels following Miles Vorkosigan, the protagonist, and the secondary characters he meets on his journey.

The novelist’s specialty is science fiction. She attempted to break into fantasy when she wrote The Spirit Ring. The book was a failure and it compelled Lois to return to the Vorkosigan books.

She found more success with The Curse of Chalion, her second fantasy novel which she wrote nearly a decade after The Spirit Ring.

Lois McMaster Bujold Awards

The author has received Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Minnesota Book Awards for novels like The Mountain of Mourning, Falling Tree, Barrayar, and Komarr, to mention but a few.

Best Lois McMaster Bujold Books

Lois garnered quite a bit of popularity for showing more support for the fanfiction written about her characters than most other authors in her field, with some of the best titles in her bibliography including:

The Mountains of Mourning: Miles has just graduated from the academy, and the newly minted officer of the Barrayan Empire is looking forward to his first mission. But first, he decides to journey home. The 20-year-old wants a moment to catch his breath before the next phase of his life begins.

He doesn’t expect his father to deploy him to an isolated village in the mountains. Neither is he prepared for the case of infanticide that awaits him. Miles must identify the murderer and then ensure that the old laws which encouraged the disposal of imperfect infants are put to rest.

The Vor Game: Miles V would like to think that he’s a good soldier. He has a handicap but that couldn’t keep him from successfully completing his time at the Military Academy. Miles knew that he had done enough to earn a decent assignment.

But his superiors disagreed. They thought he had a problem with authority. And as a reaction to his insubordination, they decided to assign him to a remote military base on an island.

But the soldier’s spirit wouldn’t be quenched. He was still determined to prove himself regardless of the challenges presented. He did not expect to wander into a plot constituting a young emperor that was all too eager to escape his duties.

When Does The Next Lois McMaster Bujold book come out?

Lois McMaster Bujold doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Testimony of Mute Things and was released on October, 23rd 2025. It is the newest book in the Penric and Desdemona Series.

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