VarleyLog
We Bought a Tesla!
Here’s what happened. Lee came across what looked like a tiny, yellowing IOU at the bottom of some ancient records. It was from the Tooth Fairy, and she said she was a little short of cash and would pay me a dime the next night. It was dated May 8, 1954. I was seven! She’s still in business, you know, the Tooth Fairy, so Lee tracked her down and demanded payment. The old biddy was not ...
More details »Looking Back
We’re Back
When we pulled into the driveway I noted the mileage for the whole trip: 4645.4. That’s a lot of miles. It was a circular route, of course … and I got to wondering just how long it actually was, if you stretched it out more or less straight.
Mapquest to the rescue! I tried a few routes from opposite corners of America.
“Key West to ...
More details »Novels
Red Lightning
“The heart-pounding space race is on,” exclaimed Publishers Weekly about Red Thunder, while The Washington Post called it “realistic – and funny.” Now, award-winning author John Varley continues the adventure with a novel featuring a new generation of spacefaring heroes…
“Mars sucks.” And if anyone’s allowed to say it, Ray ...
More details »Movie Reviews
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
Kerry Greenwood is an Australian writer who has so far penned twenty mystery novels about the formidable Phryne (Fry-knee) Fisher, a private detective in 1928 Melbourne. These stories and some new scripts have been made into two seasons of TV shows that Lee and I have found addictive. (I am also working my way through the novels, which are nice.)
Phryne is, some media critic said, ...
More details »Collections
Picnic on Nearside
Varley’s second story collection, originally published as The Barbie Murders and Other Stories in 1980.
Picnic on Nearside won the 1980 Locus Award for Best Single-Author Collection.
The title story, “Picnic ...
More details »Short Fiction
Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo
Anna-Louise Bach discovers new meanings to the expression “dog days.”
More details »Titan: An Overview
A Short Overview of Titan
Here's a very short but quite impressive video made by Jean-Paul Verne, a fly-through of Gaea from my trilogy. M. Verne wants to be involved if a movie ever gets made. Over the years many, many people have written to me wishing these books would be made into a movie. Naturally, I'd like that, too. Let's hope this is not as close as we'll ever get.
More details »Accidental Hippies
Accidental Hippies
Sometime not long after my high school graduation I was studying at Michigan State University when my long-time girlfriend dumped me. I entered such a state of depression that I could not continue in college. So I dropped out and decided to hit the road with Chris Kingsley, my best friend in the world. Chris had much more experience of life on the road than I did, had actually hitched to ...
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