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

The Hood Ornament of Los Angeles

In Joseph Heller’s masterpiece, Catch-22, a man named Major views the birth of his son as a golden opportunity. He flirts with the idea of naming the newborn C. Sharp Major, or Sergeant Major, or Minor Major, but in the end goes whole hog and names him Major Major Major. Grown to be a man, Major Major Major is drafted, and as soon as the generals in the ...

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

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

I’m not a fan of concert movies, but there are a handful of exceptions, and this is one. It follows the triumphant tour of Joe Cocker and his band—actually more like a family, in the good old hippie sense—through North America, the tour that made him a big star. There has never been and probably never will be again a singer like Joe Cocker. The first time I saw him I seriously thought he ...

More details »

Collections

The John Varley Reader

The John Varley Reader is a representative collection of 18 of the science fiction short stories by John Varley, first published in paperback in September 2004. It features five new stories. Each story is preceded by an autobiographical introduction; until this book Varley had avoided discussing himself, or his works, in print.

More details »

Short Fiction

The Barbie Murders

We all want to be part of the crowd, but we all want to be unique. Sometimes the tension can be lethal.

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 »