Book review: Irontown Blues

(This is a nonspoilery review of the novel Irontown Blues by John Varley, published in 2018.)

Irontown Blues is about a very forties-ish private detective named Christopher Bach who works out of a shabby office in the Acme Building. One day, a beautiful dame wearing a veil comes into his office and hires him to solve an unusual problem. And this would be the start of a classic hardboiled detective novel, except that it takes place centuries in the future, Christopher's office is on the moon, and the beautiful dame has been infected with paraleprosy.

Book review: Demon

This is a review of Demon, the third book in the Gaean trilogy, written by John Varley. There are minimal spoilers. Although a review of the third book of a trilogy will by its very nature spoil events in the first two books.

Book review: Wizard

This is a review of Wizard, the second book of John Varley's Gaean trilogy. Although I'm not including spoilers, the fact that this is the second book of a trilogy means that if you haven't read the first book, I'm going to spoil some of it for you.

Book review: Titan

This is a book review of Titan, by John Varley. Titan is the first volume of Varley's Gaean trilogy.

Book review: Dark Lightning

Dark Lightning, released this week (August 2014) is the fourth and final novel in John Varley's "Thunder and Lightning" series.

Slow Apocalypse by John Varley

What would happen if the world's supply of oil was suddenly gone? And specifically, what would happen in Los Angeles, a city created artificially out of the desert?

Slow Apocalypse begins in present day Los Angeles, where Dave Marshall, a formerly successful but now struggling comedy writer, is researching aspects of a military plot of what he hopes will be the next big dramatic movie. He is fortunate enough to stumble upon advance notice of what the rest of the world will soon find out – that the world as we know it is over, and things are about to change dramatically.

Rolling Thunder by John Varley

[This is a book review of Rolling Thunder by John Varley, first published in 2008. Rolling Thunder is the third book of Varley's 'Thunder and Lightning' series.]

This installment is my favorite of the series. (So far, anyway -- a fourth book is planned.) Rolling Thunder is about the experiences of Patricia Kelly Elizabeth Podkayne Strickland-Garcia-Redmond, who goes by Podkayne. In keeping with the generational nature of the series, Podkayne is Ray's daughter and Manny and Kelly's granddaughter, and she tells the story in first person. As you might expect, since Podkayne of Mars is a novel by Robert A. Heinlein, there are many Heinleinian references, especially in the final chapters.

Red Lightning by John Varley

[This is a book review of Red Lightning by John Varley, first published in 2006.]

Red Thunder by John Varley

[This is a book review of Red Thunder by John Varley, first published in 2003.]

Red Thunder feels a lot like a John Varley interpretation of a Heinlein juvenile. I love nearly all of Robert A. Heinlein's works, including his juveniles; they're science fiction classics for a reason. I love Varley's works as well. You'd think a combination of the two would ring all of my bells. And they sort of do now. But when I first read this book, I was very much entertained -- but I was also mildly disappointed and confused.

Mammoth by John Varley

[This is a book review of Mammoth by John Varley, first published in 2005.]

Millennium and Mammoth are both time travel novels by John Varley, but they are completely dissimilar. Millennium is apocalyptic. Mammoth is more of a romp.

The Golden Globe by John Varley

[This is not a rundown of the Golden Globes. It's a book review of The Golden Globe by John Varley, first published in 1998.]

The Golden Globe is John Varley's third "Eight Worlds" novel and something of a companion volume to Steel Beach. It takes place in the same general time period – 200 years after the Invaders have exiled the human race from Earth – and it is also a first person story by a centenarian. This time, it's Kenneth Valentine, aka Sparky, former child star and solar system fugitive.

Steel Beach by John Varley

[This is a book review of Steel Beach by John Varley, first published in 1992.]

"In five years, the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman.

Millennium

[This is a book review of Millennium by John Varley, first published in 1983.]

"All time travelers are pessimists."

The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley

[This is a review of the novel The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley, first published in 1977. John Varley is my favorite science fiction author. This is my first review of his first novel. I haven't done a lot of book reviews, so be kind.]

It's six hundred years in the future, and the human race has been permanently exiled from Earth by alien Invaders that prefer cetaceans to humans. The remnants of humanity live on the moon as well as pretty much any airless rock and inhospitable planet in the solar system that can hold them.

John Varley

As an adolescent, I loved Edgar Rice Burroughs; as a teen, I was obsessed with Robert A. Heinlein. I've gone through other faves since, but currently, my favorite science fiction author is John Varley. And I'm happy to report that he is still writing.