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
Disneyland and California Adventure
Though everyone was smiling and having a great time … I saw a lot of people who weren’t clapping after the big musical numbers. I don’t think it was that they were rude, or unappreciative, believe it or not, I think they just don’t go to Disneyland with the mind-set for clapping. Think about it. In 95% of the attractions, you see the famous audio-animatronic robots. Why clap for them? They’re just mannequins, controlled by computers. I even wonder if some of the people there weren’t sure if these were real people up on the stage. Weird, huh?
More details »Novels
Millennium
In the skies over Oakland, California, a DC-10 and a 747 are about to collide. And in the far distant future, a time-travel team is preparing to snatch the passengers, leaving prefabricated smoking bodies behind for the rescue teams to find. And an air disaster investigator gets a phone call that changes his life … and the world as we know it.
This novel was based on John’s ...
More details »Movie Reviews
Ida
(pronounced EE-dah)Ida was raised postwar in a Catholic convent in Stalinist Poland and is very devout. She wants to take her vows, but the Head Penguin tells her she must meet her aunt first, the only surviving member of her family. She doesn’t want to, but obeys, only to learn that she is actually Jewish. The two set off on a road trip to find out what happened to Ida’s parents and Aunt ...
More details »Collections
The Persistence of Vision
This is Varley’s first story collection — a multiple award winner. It won the Locus Award and the Prix Apollo for Best Single Author Collection. The title story also won a Locus Award and a Hugo and a Nebula. Five other stories were near awards.
PBS turned “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank” into a 3-(out of ...
More details »Short Fiction
The Funhouse Effect
Ever been in a situation that kept getting worse and wonder about hitting the bottom? On the way to the sun, there might be more than one bottom…
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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