Memory

SFBC Senior Editor Andrew Wheeler calls Memory, a Hugo and Nebula nominee by Lois McMaster Bujold, one of the best books in one of the best and most popular SF series of the past twenty years. That series, the Vorkosigan Saga, features Miles Vorkosigan, a physically handicapped military genius from the planet Barrayar, who may be short of stature but whose wit, charm and gallant spiritas well as his adventures in covert opshave captivated a legion of fans. In this book, first published in 1996, he faces the most threatening problem of his illustrious career.

Outwardly, Miles is in better physical shape than he's ever been. His new heart and lungs are entirely functional, the brittle bones that have plagued him since birth have been almost completely replaced by synthetics, and cryosurgery has even given him a few more precious centimeters of height.

There's just one hitch.

Ever since his death and cryo-revival, Miles has been having seizures. He's managed to keep them secretuntil he collapses during a rescue mission, nearly killing the man he was sent to retrieve. With a sinking heart, hoping his maverick luck will hold, he tries to cover up the cause of the near-disaster.

Big mistake. The lie is discovered, and he is forced to resign, losing the cover identity he had spent a decade perfectingthat of Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet.

Then Chief of Imperial Security Simon Illyan has a memory breakdown, and Miles suspects the eidetic chip Illyan had implanted years before. But when Miles tries to see his former boss, he is refused entry. Distraught, and seeing a way to redeem his situation, Miles sets out to investigate....