Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
In the second book of this series, it has been discovered that the
satellite that they are wandering around on is actually an honest to
goodness live sentient alien being, with a rather warped view of
humanity through the electromagnetic dreck we spew out into the void.

So the human characters, and this creature called Gaea are
antagonists, and the humans must deal with her mind. Who, exactly is
insane here though?


... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

You probably won't agree with me, but...
Varley, born in 1947, seems to have grown up as a hippie, which is reflected in his "free love" kind of plots and subplots. I'm an 80s child out of touch with the hippie community and have grown up in a post-AIDS world were "free love" is an irresponsible act. Sex in sci-fi is all fine and great (as is in reality, too) but the sheer amount of it in Varley's short stories is a tad too much, especially when the "free love" involves children. Sometimes I wondered if Varley could separate himself from his ideas.

The Phantom of Kansas - 4/5 - Woman reincarnates in self-bodily form only to be murdered again and again: artistic expressions with predictable sex scene from Varley but warm enough ending.

Air Raid - 5/5 - Human mutants warp jump into a 1979 airliner and mimic the stewardesses: so many excellent traits wrapped into 14 pages including grisliness, mutations and far-flung future history.

Retrograde Summer - 3/5 - Mercury sibling meets Lunarian sibling and confront mutual upbringing and hence separation: typical Varley fixation with a light religious twist and metaphoric ending.

The Black Hole Passes - 2/5 - Human-on-Holo masturbation act in deep space awaiting alien signals: another Varley fixation takes place in the Ophiuchi Hotline universe which is could easily have taken a different path.

In the Hall of the Martian Kings - 5/5 - Mars explorers cum colonists survive in the adaptable terrain: excellent take on possible Mars life forms, perhaps the best I've seen!

In the Bowl - 1/5 - 11-year-old jailbait attempts to entrap 68-year-old tourist into adoption or marriage or coitus while rock hunting: If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance - 2/5 - Human symbiosis attempts to compose musical score and "make music" with their agent accomplice: focus on five page musical/sexual threesome, music history subplot boring, little merit.

Overdrawn at the Memory Bank - 3/5 - Man experiences different reality after awaking from becoming a temporary lioness: one of the "what is reality?" stories, better take on it than most.

The Persistence of Vision - 2/5 - 47-year-old hippie/wonderer creates coital relationship with 13-year-old and her blind/deaf utopian community: plot partly reverberates Sucharitkul's "Inquestor Series (1982)" but not up my alley.

Not Free SF Reader
There are only 9 stories here, but most of some length, novelettes and novellas, including the best story here, the last, and the 'title track'.

A very high quality collection, and all science fiction.

Persistence of Vision : The Phantom of Kansas - John Varley
Persistence of Vision : Air Raid - John Varley
Persistence of Vision : Retrograde Summer - John Varley
Persistence of Vision : The Black Hole Passes - John Varley
Persistence of Vision : In the Hall of the Martian Kings - John Varley
Persistence of Vision : In the Bowl - John Varley
Persistence of Vision : Gotta Sing Gotta Dance - John Varley
Persistence of Vision : Overdrawn at the Memory Bank - John Varley
Persistence of Vision : The Persistence of Vision - John Varley


Recording robbed revenant revenge Rat.

4 out of 5


Plane crash Time Snatch paraleprosy repopulation.

4 out of 5


Clone twin meeting.

3 out of 5


Message filtering separation singularity
shakeup.

4 out of 5


Local accomodations mostly plastic.

4 out of 5


Venusian outfitting issues.

3.5 out of 5


Music lovers planted.

3 out of 5


A man's virtual vacation is extended rather too long.

3.5 out of 5


Communication fuller but lots weirder with fewer senses.

4.5 out of 5




4.5 out of 5

Where should I start...
Powerful. Enjoyable. Thoughtful. Fascinating. Funny. Gifted.First-Rate. Original.
Nine stories that show us the future of man, with his flaws, his merits and his outward spread from Earth.John Varley thinks big also.In many of his stories it is pointed out that mankind was kicked off of the planet Earth by...somebody.
See, that is the best part.Many of the stories happen in a setting in which much of the background is unknown to us or just hinted at.But the heart of the stories are always people, their emotions and needs.Some sex too.
Many of the short stories were later used to create some very interesting movies.

mind-expanding fiction!
I'm so glad that I happened upon this book.Not only are the stories fascinating and interesting throughout, but they also have such an awesome vision of life and of people-- and although most of the stories take placein the future, the vision really is timeless.Varley understands so manythings that just aren't understood, he thinks about things that just aren'tthought about, and writes so well that it all (his thoughts) seems sonormal (and it is)... this book is definitely mind-expanding.

Well worth seaching for
A friend recommended this to me, and amazingly my local used bookstore had a hardcover copy!These are some of the BEST short stories I have read!Right up there with Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.There is not one clinkerin the bunch.Especially liked Phantom of Kansas, Hall of the MartianKings, The Persistance of Vision.Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was quirkyand fun.(I also saw a low-budget movie version on theSci-Fi Channel) Air Raid seems to be a precursor to Millenium.

If you happen to see acopy of this, grab it fast!You won't be sorry. ... Read more

Product Description
& 8-page color section & 23 b/w photos & 5 maps & 8 x 11.A comprehensive guide to Yellowstone fish and their habitat& Full-color plates of all species in the park& Historic black and white photos& Appendix with hundreds of lakes and streamsPraise for the first edition of Yellowstone Fishes". . . the best reference to date for anglers plying the waters of this popular and much-visited park."--Sports AfieldThis richly illustrated, thoroughly researched book covers all the species of fish and every aspect of their existence in one of the most famous sport fisheries in the world. First published in 1983 as Freshwater Wilderness, it was hailed as one of the finest works ever done on the National Parks, and appealed to anglers, naturalists, and lovers of fine nature writing.This edition includes much new material, including the impact on fish of the 1988 forest fires and the introduction of non-native species; an expanded chapter on angling; updated taxonomy; and an assessment of recent management policies. It also provides an overview of the entire Yellowstone watershed, from backcountry streams to the major rivers and lakes. Watercolors of fish species by Michael Simon.John D. Varley, a fisheries biologist, is former chief of research for Yellowstone Park and current director of the Yellowstone Center for Resources.Paul Schullery, a former Yellowstone Park ranger and executive director of the American Museum of Fly Fishing (1977-1982), is senior editor at the Yellowstone Center for Resources. He has published widely on fly fishing, including Stackpole's Shupton's Fancy."Though the average angler has little reason to notice any changes yet, and though today's fishing is if anything better than it was in 1983, a variety of threats to the integrity of these extraordinary resources have emerged since we wrote the first edition of this book."-- from the introduction to Yellowstone Fishes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Not Free SF Reader
A very fine collection, polished off with the most excellent thriller novella Press Enter.In fact, the average here is a rather high 3.75, which is very fine.

A couple of the stories are related being in the same future history and sharing a character or two, also consecutive, Blue Champagne being the first.

One writing joke piece that is perhaps more of interest to those at least vaguely related to the industry, but entertaining enough.

Award nominations and Year's Best inclusions happened for 3/4 of these stories, so again, quality stuff this collection.

Blue Champagne : The Pusher - John Varley
Blue Champagne : Blue Champagne - John Varley
Blue Champagne : Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo - John Varley
Blue Champagne : Options - John Varley
Blue Champagne : Lollipop and the Tar Baby - John Varley
Blue Champagne : The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged) - John Varley
Blue Champagne : The Unprocessed Word - John Varley
Blue Champagne : Press Enter - John Varley

Little girl story.

3.5 out of 5


Golden Gypsy s3xtape sidekick shocker.

4 out of 5


Station disease girl dogshow.

4 out of 5


Transgender tryouts.

4.5 out of 5


Mother love hunt black hole sneaky convo.

3.5 out of 5


Nuked list.

3 out of 5


Typing production discussion.

3 out of 5


Electronic entity killer discovery.

4.5 out of 5




4.5 out of 5

Sip Carefully
Like most short story collections, this is something of a mixed bag. But as it contains some examples of Varley at his best, and his best is at the top of the field, it is an important collection for any serious fan of his, and good reading for everyone.

"The Pusher" is a very quiet story that will bring to the fore some unconscious assumptions most people have when hearing about an adult male interacting with an pre-adolescent female. In this case, those assumptions are exploded by the story's middle, and there is a serious investigation of just what types of emotional stress a near-light speed traveler would be subjected to, and what he can do about it. A unique look at a problem that just might be somewhere in humanity's future.

The title story, "Blue Champagne", didn't do very much for me, though it shows a remarkable imagination in its construction of a very unique champagne 'glass' and a very different approach to help for nerve damage that the medical profession is only now beginning to attempt. But it should be read before the next story "Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo" both for some common background elements and a shared character. "Tango" is the best story here, an achingly emotional story about a girl raised in isolation by a computer on a space station that had been decimated by a plague so virulent that it was projected to wipe out all human life if it ever escaped from the station. Now the station's orbit is deteriorating and it must be destroyed, and the girl can't be rescued. Finely written, with some twists that are not expectable, and not overplayed.

"Press Enter " is the Hugo and Nebula Award winning story that will make all the believers in world-wide conspiracies, mystery fans, and the computer nerds very happy. This is a more plot driven story than some of the others here, but with more than enough character to engage your heart as well as your mind.

The only truly insignificant story here is "The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)", which is a compilation of very short vignettes of representative people from that book, who no longer exist. Happily it's a really short story. The rest of the stories are what I call average; quite readable and enjoyable, but not ones that will make you sit up and take notice or remember for very long.

There is something of a theme that runs through many of the stories here, that of the alienated, isolated individual trying to cope with the world, which gives these stories a feeling of darkness, a somberness tempered by Varley's resolutions to his character's problems.

A good introduction to Varley for those who haven't read any of his other work, with enough excellent stories to make you want to come back for more, and will repay your time spent reading with an expanded view of both the world and the human condition.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

a title
Some Science fiction has great ideas, others have great characterizations.The best stories in Blue Champagne stand out in my mind because they have both.Real emotional depth of character and a well-formed extrapolation of technology and its related issues.There are a couple stories which are throw aways/filler - manhattan phone book and varley yarns - but even these 'stories' are amusingly ironic and worthy additions

All his short stories are must-reads; novels are optional
I've read almost all John Varley's books and give my highest recommendation to ALL his collections of short stories: this one, Tango Charlie, Barbie Murders, etc. I loved the world he created and the way he continued it throughout all his short story collections. Read together, they present such regular features as symbs, an alien lifeforce that enters its human, after which the two coexist symbiotically in a most tender and intimate manner; their thus-transformed biochemistry is how both can work around Saturn's moons, where there's a continuing subplot of eco-monkey-wrenchers who are painting the rocks. Characters in the culture change their sex, not without soul searching, and experience their surroundings and relationships in enlightening new ways, and sometimes change back. I read everything I could get my hands on in one stream, and recommend your doing the same with all his short stories. They are wonderful read collectively. A couple of stand outs:Blue Champagne, about a gold cybernetic prostetis body for a paraplegic; Press Enter, about a unrelentingly evil computer; Tango Charlie, about a child who for years, with her pets, is the sole survivor on a space ship.(And it's been a decade since I read them). Enjoy!

Conversely, I found his trilogy to be mediocre, tolerable, okaysci fi fare. Fun if you need something to read.

Steel Beach gave me an ache. Without knowing a thing about the author's personal life, my immediate hit on it was that he's had too much psychotherapy, or something. I missed the brilliant voice of the short stories and could sense it there throughout Steel Beach, but it was as if the creative metaphors had been analyzed too much, taking most of the life out of them, or the talking cure wasstill going on but now in writing. The remaining glimmers and my respect for his past work kept me reading.

Still and all, a great sci fi writer. Don't miss the short stories, one more time!

Varley at his peak, don't miss Titan and Wizard as well.
When I read the Titan trilogy some years ago I was bowled over by Varley's creativity. His complex metaphors based on biblical images, his mathematical logic with the Titanide runes and reproduction, and his development of relationships that transcended like-species.These things and more all combined to make me scour the bookstores for more of his work.When I found Blue Champagne, I was delighted.It is, as the previous reviewer mentioned on the down-side, but haunting.The title-piece has stayed in my memory and continued to tease me with unanswerable questions.From that time on I watched for new Varley releases.Steel Beach ended my watching for new works.The title is apt, it was a grey/grey book.Strange beyond sad, no one to care for, and the sorrow for this reader was very real. Savor the Blue Champagne. It is a fine vintage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Out of Time
Louise Baltimore lives in the far distant future.Her job:to use the Gate to travel back in time, snatch those who would have died in a plane crash or some other tragedy, and transport them to her distant future so that they can be used to rebuild the Human species.Because where Louise Baltimore comes from, so far in the future, the accumulated poisons (nuclear, biological, etc.) of the preceding centuries has finally caught up with us.Those born in Louise's time suffer from massive genetic damage; it has become nearly impossible to produce viable offspring.So...Humanity is on the verge of extinction.

Bill Smith, a resident of the early 1980's, investigates plane crashes for a living.His latest job is to investigate the midair collision of two airliners over California.But this investigation is unlike any other in Bill Smith's career.For he will find something in the wreckage of these planes that should not be...and this discovery could lead to the end of, well...everything.

John Varley's Millennium is a fairly short novel that's main appeal will be to those who are looking for a quick page-turner.Varley admits in his note at the end of the story that time travel stories have been "extensively explored", implying that while his story might not be entirely unique, he hopes you enjoy his twist on the sub-genre.And, while Millennium may not go down in the pantheon of the greatest science fiction works of all time, it does do a good job of being a good story.Millennium is recommended to anyone who wants a quick diversion from everyday life. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more