I am so excited to finally share the mysterious new project I’ve been hinting at for months! For most of 2026, my good friend Sam Parrish and I have been putting together a new podcast called Definitely Fiction. We’re kicking it off with a read-through of The Vorkosigan Saga, a series of wonderful Sci-Fi novels by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Each episode focuses on a new book in the series and features an in-depth conversation about the characters, storylines, and themes we found most engaging. The places and cultures Bujold imagines are multi-faceted and fascinating, and our topics range from technology and logistics to politics and war, to love, death, family, friendship, honor, romance, and more. We also learn a lot of cool new words, like “flinders” and “riverine.”

You can listen via RSS, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or most anywhere you get podcasts. And, for the first time with one of my shows, you can also watch it on Patreon or YouTube. (We hope you’ll consider supporting us on Patreon; that’s the only way we’re making money on this thing, and unlike YouTube, Patreon does not insert ads into our videos.)

Here’s our launch trailer:

Because Sam and I both live in Portland, we’ve been able to record in person, which is a first for me. With a few exceptions, Triple Click and my Strong Songs guest segments have been recorded remotely, via video call. I’ve never made a show where my co-host and I routinely sit together while we talk. I’ve enjoyed recording in person immensely; among other things, it makes editing a lot easier.

It’s also been interesting, and a lot of fun, to produce my first video podcast. I’ve written in the past about my ambivalence regarding podcasting’s great pivot(s) to video. And I don’t think Definitely Fiction needs to be a video show; it’ll always work just fine as an audio podcast. But I’ve wanted to expand my production toolkit to include video, and this has been a great way to do that. It’s fun to learn new things: how to edit a multi-cam video, how not to seem frantic on camera, how to set up lights so that I don’t look like a ghoul, how to color grade, how not to color grade, what color grading even even is, lol. Still working on that last one.

If you listen to the show, you will hear some new theme music at the start and end of each episode. I like to joke that I start new podcasts just so I can write podcast theme songs; that IS a joke, but I had so much fun writing this theme song that it’s kind of also not. I’m very happy with how the theme came together, and will share an extended cut of it in the near future. I’m still editing the music video, but it should be done within the next week or two.

Now, you may have read the title “The Vorkosigan Saga” and thought, “…uh, the Vorkosiwhat?” I get it, it’s a weird word and a lot of people have never even heard of these books. It’s also a long series, and our 17-episode reading order might look intimidating at first glance. Please allow me to give you a brief pitch for these books, why I love them, and why I think you might love them, too.

Lois McMaster Bujold is a celebrated sci-fi and fantasy author; the Vorkosigan saga alone has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards. (Her Sharing Knife series is also great, if you’re looking for something more in the romance/fantasy realm.) Bujold published the Vorkosigan books from 1986 to 2018, and while the series started strong, she only became a sturdier writer as she went. My wife Emily initially (okay, repeatedly) recommended the series to me; I had never heard of it. When I finally started, I joyfully devoured the entire thing over the course of about a year. Yet another reminder that Emily knows what she’s doing.

Despite the wacky title, the Vorkosigan books are not dense, difficult science fiction. Quite the opposite - each one is an immensely readable, characterful adventure with near-perfect pacing. Collectively, they tell the story of Miles Vorkosigan, the sole heir of a powerful family on a distant planet ruled by a military aristocracy, burdened with severe physical disabilities thanks to a failed assassination attempt when he was in the womb.

Over the course of the series, Bujold follows Miles from birth through middle age. In that time, he grows from a headstrong young charmer into a brilliant military strategist and intelligence operative, as well as a thoughtful leader and an honorable man. Each novel, novella, and short story tells a different standalone story, and each is filled with intergalactic intrigue, diplomacy, romance, humor, and adventure.

Miles is the series’ primary protagonist, but Bujold wrote several of the books from the viewpoint of other characters. A few particularly strong entries focus on Miles’s mother, Cordelia Naismith; the first two books in our internal-chronology reading order, 1986’s Shards of Honor and 1991’s Barrayar, are told from Cordelia’s point of view during the period leading up to Miles’s birth. That story, collected into an omnibus titled Cordelia’s Honor, makes for a strong, largely self-contained introduction to the series, and to Bujold’s style. Barrayar, in particular, represents (imo) some of her finest work.

Definitely Fiction’s episodes on those two books are both live now on all platforms. We figure they’ll give people a chance to see what this series is about, and how we plan to cover it. Our episode on 1986’s The Warrior’s Apprentice, the first book starring Miles, will run on September 15, and The Vor Game episode will follow two weeks later, on October 6. We’ll be publishing a new episode on the first Tuesday of each month after that, with our Vorkosigan series concluding at the end of 2027.

I definitely hope that Definitely Fiction finds its way to some of Bujold’s many fans, at least as much as I hope they can forgive the pronunciation inconsistencies in our first few episodes, lol. But I hope just as much that some of you out there who don’t know the series will use our show as an excuse to give these books a shot. If you do, I hope that you’ll have the same joyful experience I did, when I read them for the first time. I’m a little jealous that I can’t do that again.

As I mentioned, we’re funding Definitely Fiction entirely via Patreon. We aren’t selling ads, because podcast ads are annoying, and we won't have sponsors or anything. (YouTube puts ads on everything, so I’m not counting that.) Starting with the Warrior’s Apprentice episode, Patreon supporters will get extended episodes with a few exclusive bonus segments at the end, as well as, I’m sure, some other little extras that we’ll start doing as we think of them. Mostly, though, our patrons will be helping support an independent podcast, made by a couple of guys who really like making it.

I hope you enjoy Definitely Fiction, and that if you do, you’ll help me and Sam spread the word! We’re psyched, and just speaking personally I’m thrilled to be making something new with one of my best friends.

I’ll leave you with this pic of Appa, who has taken to hanging out with me, Sam, and Emily while we’re in the studio recording. She hasn’t kicked that tripod yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Take care, and keep listening (and reading!) -
~KH
9/3/26 - Portland, Oregon