Cryoburn is a science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold

Lois McMaster Bujold

Lois McMaster Bujold is an American author of science fiction and fantasy works. Bujold is one of the most acclaimed writers in her field, having won the prestigious Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record. Her novella The Mountains of Mourning won both the Hugo...

, first published in October 2010. Part of the Vorkosigan Saga

Vorkosigan Saga

The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. Most of these were published between 1986 and 2002, with the exceptions being “Winterfair Gifts” and Cryoburn...

, it was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel

Hugo Award for Best Novel

The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

 in 2011, as Bujold's ninth Best Novel nomination. Also in 2011, it was one of the top five finishers in the poll for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel

Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel

Winners of the Locus Award for Best SF Novel, awarded by the Locus magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year....

.

Plot summary

Cryoburn takes place six or seven years after Diplomatic Immunity. Miles is 39 years old. He is sent by Emperor Gregor

Gregor Vorbarra

Gregor Vorbarra is the Emperor of the Barrayaran Imperium in the sci-fi series the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold.As of CryoBurn, Gregor Vorbarra is the current Emperor of Barrayar...

 to the planet Kibou-daini ("New Hope") to investigate White Chrysanthemum Cryonics

Cryonics

Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...

 Corporation. WhiteChrys, a major "cryocorp", to which sick or dying people go to be frozen in hopes of one day being revived and cured, is opening a subsidiary on Komarr

Komarr

Komarr is a planet in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga series of novels and stories.Discovered centuries prior to the Vorkosigan Saga, Komarr is undergoing a major terraforming project to make the outside air breathable. During this centuries-long program, the Komarrans are confined to domed...

, arousing suspicions. The narrative follows three points of view: those of Miles, his Armsman Roic, and Jin Sato, a local Kibou-daini boy.

At a conference, an attempt is made to kidnap Miles and the other attendees. Miles avoids capture because an allergic reaction to the drug used on him causes him to go extremely hyperactive, and escapes into the below-ground Cryocombs, where the frozen are stored. Roic is caught along with Raven, a cryo-revival specialist from the Durona Group who assisted in reviving Miles after his death on Jackson's Whole (detailed in Mirror Dance

Mirror Dance

Mirror Dance is a Hugo- and Locus-award-winning science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. Part of the Vorkosigan Saga, it was first published by Baen Books in March 1994.- Plot summary :...

).

When Miles finds his way back to the surface, he encounters Jin, an eleven-year-old boy living with his chickens and other pets in a disused building. Jin introduces him to a society of outcasts living in abandoned facilities. This helps Miles piece together what is really going on.

Publication history

Lois Bujold announced the name of the book on her blog: "My editor, playing the part of the Supreme Court, has kindly cast the deciding vote in this close election: the new Miles book shall henceforth be known as CryoBurn." The other two choices under consideration were Cold Breath and Cryopolis.

Bujold read the first two chapters at Denvention 3

66th World Science Fiction Convention

The 66th World Science Fiction Convention , also known as Denvention 3, was hosted in Denver, Colorado, USA on 6–10 August 2008, at the Colorado Convention Center and . The organizing committee was chaired by Kent Bloom...

 in August 2008. The first five chapters of an Advance Reader Copy (unproofed) are available on the publisher's website for free. The full-length electronic Advance Reader Copy was made available through Webscriptions on August 3, 2010. The hardcover version of Cryoburn also comes with a CD-ROM containing E-Book

E-book

An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...

versions of the omnibus editions of the Vorkosigan Saga.