There do seem to be a lot of OCs about. I found myself skimming last night an enormously lengthy piece about the re-discovery of Barrayar, which had some really good ideas* in a pretty bog-standard plot (Vorkosgans good! rival Counts bad!), which I thought could have been used much more profitably, OCs and all, in a different sort of narrative.

*I don't know whether the author is correct, geologically, that Barrayar might have poor coal/oil reserves given its native ecology, but he certainly made me think about this as a fairly crucial point for the first time.