Dreamweaver's Dilemma is a collection of stories and essays by Lois McMaster Bujold; it contains two Vorkosigan-universe stories, one of which was previously published, but the other of which can only be found in this collection. I chose to read the volume relative to where it was originally published; it came out in 1995, between Mirror Dance (1994) and Memory (1996).
Dreamweaver's Dilemma: Short Stories and Essays by Lois McMaster Bujold |
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Collection published: 1995 Contents originally published: 1985-95 Acquired and read: February 2026 |
The title story, "Dreamweaver's Dilemma," is the Vorkosigan story original to this volume, though my understanding is that it was written very early on, possibly even first; it's set hundreds of years before the rest of the "saga" and thus its ties to it are fairly light. Like a lot of Bujold's short fiction, I am discovering, it is sort of a murder mystery; a woman who is a "dreamweaver" (someone who composes immersive psychic experiences) comes to realize one of hers may have been used for nefarious purposes and thus tries to figure out what's going on. I would say it's fine but not great; perhaps predictably, my favorite part was the joke about Cleveland!
What is great is "The Mountains of Mourning," which was a reread for me, as it was also collected in Borders of Infinity (1989). (The cover blurb trumpets this is as the story's first hardcover appearance.) Great story, one of my favorite Miles tales, and well worth the excuse of a reread even though I read it less than a year ago!
Other than those two, we have four other pieces of short fiction. One, "The Adventure of the Lady on the Embankment," is a passable piece of Sherlock Holmes pastiche; it's probably not a surprise that Bujold does an excellent Watson. The other three are similar in that they're all what Farah Mendlesohn would call "intrusion fantasies": all stories of the fantastic intruding in an ordinary domestic space. My favorite of these was "Barter," where an overworked stay-at-home mother makes a trade with an alien salesman for a device that makes her life at home much easier! A quick and cute story.
Finally, there are essays, both by and about Bujold. I found the ones giving insight into Bujold's life and process the most interesting; if you like good "behind-the-scenes" material about an author you enjoy, this material is solid. She is never not an entertaining writer!
Every five months I read a book in the Vorkosigan saga. Next up in sequence: Memory
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