On his way to his betrothal, young Lord Penric comes upon a riding accident with an elderly lady on the ground, her maidservant and guardsmen distraught. As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is The Bastard, "master of all disasters out of season", and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric. From that moment on, Penric's life is irreversibly changed, and his life is in danger from those who envy or fear him.

Set in the fantasy world of the author's acclaimed novels THE CURSE OF CHALION, PALADIN OF SOULS and THE HALLOWED HUNT, this novella has the depth of characterization and emotional complexity that distinguishes all Bujold's work.

“Bujold’s delightful latest tale of Penric … is another winner in Bujold’s already strong series.”
- Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review on “The Prisoner of Limnos”

“Series fans and fantasy readers who seek well-drawn characters will love this tale.”
- Publisher’s Weekly on “Mira’s Last Dance”

“Best-selling author Bujold follows her Hugo-nominated “Penric and the Shaman” (2017) with another adventure featuring the sorcerer Penric and his resident 200-year-old chaos demon, Desdemona. ... Series fans will be delighted with this tale, which begs for continuation.”
- Booklist on “Penric's Mission”

“Set in the ‘World of The Five Gods’ (The Curse of Chalion; Paladin of Souls; The Hallowed Hunt), Bujold’s novella takes series fans back to a well-known realm in an exciting new adventure. The varied voices, especially between Pen and Desdemona, add a fun slant to a serious tale."
- Library Journal on “Penric and the Shaman”

“Bujold follows ‘Penric’s Demon’ with another brief tale set in her World of the Five Gods, this time combining supernatural sleuthing with finely drawn characters and a panoply of emotions... This is a wonderful expansion of her World of the Five Gods."
- Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review on “Penric and the Shaman”

“Fans of the Chalion tales will again be drawn in by the intrigue of the religious dynamics, the fantasy aspects of the "magic" and the complexity of character that Bujold is so masterful at creating.”
- RT Book Reviews on “Penric’s Demon”

Lois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children. She began writing with the aim of professional publication in 1982. She wrote three novels in three years; in October of 1985, all three sold to Baen Books, launching her career. Bujold went on to write many other books for Baen, mostly featuring her popular character Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, his family, friends, and enemies. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages. Her fantasy from Eos includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife series. In 2020, Bujold received the Damon Knight Grand Master Memorial Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. www.dendarii.com

Review

Bujold again captivates with rich characterizations, fascinating world-building, and tense conflict. This story is novella length, and the greatest disappointment a reader may have in it is that it is too short and ends a bit abruptly; this by no means detracts from the worthiness of the story. Fans of the Chalion tales will again be drawn in by the intrigue of the religious dynamics, the fantasy aspects of the 'magic, ' and the complexity of character that Bujold is so masterful at creating.

-- "RT Book Reviews (4 stars)"

Bujold returns to her World of the Five Gods universe with a novella filled with a satisfying blend of strong characters and wry humor...Bujold creates a goodhearted, if somewhat naive, fellow in Penric and a fascinating, multivoiced character in Desdemona. The banter between the two and the bizarre situation that Penric finds himself in add levity to this fantasy road story.

-- "Publishers Weekly"

From the Author

Author's Note :

A Bujold Reading Order Guide

The Fantasy Novels

My fantasy novels are not hard to order. Easiest of all is The Spirit Ring , which is a stand-alone, or aquel, as some wag once dubbed books that for some obscure reason failed to spawn a subsequent series. Next easiest are the four volumes of The Sharing Knife --in order, Beguilement, Legacy, Passage , and Horizon --which I broke down and actually numbered, as this was one continuous tale divided into non-wrist-breaking chunks. It has a sequel novella, "Knife Children".

What were called the Chalion books after the setting of its first two volumes, but which now that the geographic scope has widened I'm dubbing the World of the Five Gods, were written to be stand-alones as part of a larger whole, and can in theory be read in any order. Some readers think the world-building is easier to assimilate when the books are read in publication order, and the second volume certainly contains spoilers for the first (but not the third.) In any case, the publication order is:

The Curse of Chalion
Paladin of Souls
The Hallowed Hunt

In terms of internal world chronology, The Hallowed Hunt would fall first, the Penric novellas perhaps a hundred and fifty years later, and The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls would follow a century or so after that.

The internal chronological order of the Penric tales is presently:

"Penric's Demon"
"Penric and the Shaman"
"Penric's Fox"
"Masquerade in Lodi"
"Penric's Mission"
"Mira's Last Dance"
"The Prisoner of Limnos"
"The Orphans of Raspay"
"The Physicians of Vilnoc"

The six first-published of these have been collected in two Baen Books paper editions, Penric's Progress , containing Demon, Shaman, and Fox, and Penric's Travels , containing Mission, Mira, and Limnos.

Other Original E-books

The short story collection Proto Zoa contains five very early tales--three (1980s) contemporary fantasy, two science fiction--all previously published but not in this handy format. The novelette "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" may be of interest to Vorkosigan completists, as it is the first story in which that proto-universe began, mentioning Beta Colony but before Barrayar was even thought of.

Sidelines: Talks and Essays is just what it says on the tin--a collection of three decades of my nonfiction writings, including convention speeches, essays, travelogues, introductions, and some less formal pieces. I hope it will prove an interesting companion piece to my fiction.

The Vorkosigan Stories

Many pixels have been expended debating the 'best' order in which to read what have come to be known as the Vorkosigan Books (or Saga), the Vorkosiverse, the Miles books, and other names. The debate mainly revolves around publication order versus internal-chronological order. I favor internal chronological, with a few caveats.

It was always my intention to write each book as a stand-alone so that the reader could theoretically jump in anywhere, yes, with that book that's in your hand right now, don't put it back on the shelf! While still somewhat true, as the series developed it acquired a number of sub-arcs, closely related tales that were richer for each other. I will list the sub-arcs, and then the books, and then the caveats.

Shards of Honor and Barrayar. The first two books in the series proper, they detail the adventures of Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony and Aral Vorkosigan of Barrayar. Shards was my very first novel ever; Barrayar was actually my eighth, but continues the tale the next day after the end of Shards. For readers who want to be sure of beginning at the beginning, or who are very spoiler-sensitive, start with these two.

The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game (with, perhaps, the novella "The Mountains of Mourning" tucked in between.) The Warrior's Apprentice introduces the character who became the series' linchpin, Miles Vorkosigan; the first book tells how he created a space mercenary fleet by accident; the second how he fixed his mistakes from the first round. Space opera and military-esque adventure (and a number of other things one can best discover for oneself), The Warrior's Apprentice makes a good place to jump into the series for readers who prefer a young male protagonist.

After that: Brothers in Arms should be read before Mirror Dance , and both, ideally, before Memory.

Komarr makes another alternate entry point for the series, picking up Miles's second career at its start. It should be read before A Civil Campaign.

Borders of Infinity , a collection of three of the five currently extant novellas, makes a good Miles Vorkosigan early-adventure sampler platter, I always thought, for readers who don't want to commit themselves to length. (But it may make more sense if read after The Warrior's Apprentice.) Take care not to confuse the collection-as-a-whole with its title story, "The Borders of Infinity".

Falling Free takes place 200 years earlier in the timeline and does not share settings or characters with the main body of the series. Most readers recommend picking up this story later. It should likely be read before Diplomatic Immunity , however, which revisits the "quaddies", a bioengineered race of free-fall dwellers, in Miles's time.

The novels in the internal-chronological list below appear in italics; the novellas (officially defined as a story between 17,500 words and 40,000 words) in quote marks.

Falling Free
Shards of Honor
Barrayar
The Warrior's Apprentice
"The Mountains of Mourning"
"Weatherman"
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Borders of Infinity
"Labyrinth"
"The Borders of Infinity"
Brothers in Arms
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
"Winterfair Gifts"
Diplomatic Immunity Captain Vorpatril's Alliance "The Flowers of Vashnoi" CryoBurn
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Caveats:

The novella "Weatherman" is an out-take from the beginning of the novel The Vor Game. If you already have The Vor Game , you likely don't need this.

The original 'novel' Borders of Infinity was a fix-up collection containing the three novellas "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "The Borders of Infinity", together with a frame to tie the pieces together. Again, beware duplication. The frame story does not stand alone.

Happy reading!

-- Lois McMaster Bujold.

About the Author

Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most honored writers in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, having won five Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards. Her second novel, The Warrior's Apprentice , introduced young Miles Vorkosigan, one of the most popular characters in science fiction. In 2011, she was awarded the Skylark Award for her significant contribution to science fiction. The mother of two, she lives in Minneapolis.