Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

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

Sunset Boulevard

Sunset transforms itself many times in its almost 25-mile length. The first part, like several others, is old, and heavily Hispanic, and hilly. It looks like they did a lot of digging in the early days. Sheer sandstone walls rise all around you, with greenery spilling down. And as everywhere in L.A., there are flowers. Tons of flowers, year round.

More details »

Novels

Rolling Thunder

Lieutenant Patricia Kelly Elizabeth Podkayne Strickland-Garcia-Redmond – otherwise known as Podkayne – is third-generation Martian with a planet-sized chip on her shoulder. Her grandfather Manny was one of the first men to set foot on Mars. So Poddy has some equally planet-sized shoes to fill…

That’s why she’s joined the Music, Arts, and Drama Division ...

More details »

Movie Reviews

The Gingerbread Man

A bit of an odd history here. Robert Altman had never done a straight thriller before and wanted to try it. The screenplay is credited to “Al Hayes,” which is John Grisham. Seems it was based on a novel he abandoned, and then sold as a screenplay. But he didn’t like Altman’s insertion of profanity, so the pseudonym. It got fairly good reviews from the critics, not so much from the ...

More details »

Collections

Superheroes

Superheroes is an anthology edited by John Varley and Ricia Mainhardt of superhero stories written by some of today’s top fantasy and science fiction writers, with an introduction by Varley. These modern-day heroes champion justice in an age where good and bad aren’t always black and white. Varley’s story: “Truth, Justice and the ...

More details »

Short Fiction

Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe

Ever want to get away from it all? Traveling to faraway places is not the only possibility.

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 ...

More details »