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

George Harrison Gets a STAR

When: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 11:30 a.m.

Location: In front of Capital Records on Vine

The biggest break in my career was getting into the Beatles in 1962. The second biggest break since then is getting out of them. ~George Harrison

We figured the crowds might be rather large for this one, so we resolved to get an early ...

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

Night at the Museum

When the museum closes, all the exhibits come to life and the new night watchman must deal with the chaos. A lightweight, inoffensive, and totally predictable summer movie that I’m sure I’ll forget all about within a year. But I have to wonder, do you think Ben Stiller and Hugh Grant were twins, separated at birth? A little of that stammering, hesitant, awkward delivery goes a long way. ...

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

Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance

Music and motion — it takes two to tango. Or does it take more?

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 »