Melinda asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

In Falling Free, the name of the pirated Earth holovid the quaddies watch in the clubhouse is "The Prisoner of Zenda". That's the name of a real book (an abysmally-terrible 1894 adventure novel that spawned a whole genre of works featuring British people messing about with fictional Eastern European countries in political turmoil). Why the nod to that book? Some any metaphorical connection I've missed?

Lois McMaster Bujold Nothing metaphorical; it was just an adventure book (and movie, by the way) that would be utterly alien to the quaddies, but that modern readers would recognize, and thus recognize the absurd mismatch. (Well... maybe.) It has a sequel, Rupert of Hentzau, an early entry into the "let's explore the villain as a hero of his own tale" trope. I've read both, long ago.

Ta, L.

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