Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings 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 worlds 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

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent science fiction writing.
John Varley's Persistence of Vision is superb writing, recommended highly.A previous reviewer gloated over the title piece, so I'll merely concur and note that other pieces (such as Phantom of Kansas) are nearly equally riveting.Out of print awhile, but should be reprinted.

the most beautiful 'social' SF story I have ever read
John Varley's novella 'The persistence of vision' deals witha group of deaf and blind people who take their lives in their own hand.Together they invent an entirely new way of living and communicating with eachother. Riveting.Ian Watsons book I do not know, but the double is worth buying for the second half anyway. Who knows, it might be equally good ... Read more

Product Description
Charles Fleetwood was one of Parliament's key officers in the actions that determined the constitutional and military consequences of the conflict between King and Parliament. Oliver Cromwell's 'Crowning Glory' - the final destruction of the Royalist armies at the Battle of Worcester in 1651 - was very much Fleetwood's too, as commander of the Parliamentarian left wing. Furthermore, as eventual Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth's army, there is much more to the man than this, yet little has been published about him. ... Read more

Product Description
1981 Locus Poll Award, Best Anthology (Place: 15). Compiled by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg, this is a mammoth anthology of great science fiction short novels, including: Beyond Bedlam, by Wyman Guin; Equinoctial [1978 Locus Poll Award, Best Novella (Place: 12)], by John Varley; By His Bootstraps, by Robert A. Heinlein; The Golden Helix, by Theodore Sturgeon; Born With the Dead [winner, 1974 Nebula Award, 1975 Locus Poll Award. Nominated, 1975 Hugo Award], by Robert Silverberg; Second Game [nominated, 1958 Hugo Award], by Katherine MacLean and Charles V. De Vet; The Dead Past, by Isaac Asimov; The Road to the Sea, by Arthur C. Clarke; The Star Pit [nominated, 1968 Hugo Award], by Samuel R. Delany; Giant Killer [nominated, 1996 Retro Hugo Award], by A. Bertram Chandler; A Case of Conscience [incorporated into the novel of the same name as Book One], by James Blish; Dio, by Damon Knight; Houston, Houston, Do You Read? [winner, 1976 Nebula Award, 1977 Hugo Award. 1977 Locus Poll Award, Best Novella (Place: 3)], by James Tiptree, Jr.; On the Storm Planet [nominated, 1965 Nebula Award], by Cordwainer Smith; The Miracle-Workers [nominated, 1959 Hugo Award], by Jack Vance. ... Read more

Product Description
DAW hardcover with dust jacket, Science Fiction Book Club reprint of mass paperback original, SFBC #5524, 1st club printing Aug. 1981 (code L39), 243 pages, cover art by John Gampert. Exclusive hadcover edition. 8vo (5.5" x 8.5" tall) 1982 Locus Poll Award, Best Anthology (Place: 7). Includes: Variation on a Theme from Beethoven, by Sharon Webb (1981 Locus Poll Award, Best Novelette (Place: 9)); Beatnik Bayou, by John Varley (nominated, 1980 Nebula Award, 1981 Hugo Award. 1981 Locus Poll Award, Best Novelette (Place: 2)); Elbow Room, by Marion Zimmer Bradley; The Ugly Chickens, by Howard Waldrop (winner, 1980 Nebula Award, 1981 World Fantasy Award; nominated, 1981 Balrog Award, 1981 Hugo Award); Prime Time, by Norman Spinrad (1981 Locus Poll Award, Best Short Story (Place: 11)); Nightflyers, by George R. R. Martin (winner, 1980 Analog Award. 1981 Locus Poll Award, Best Novella (Place: 1). nominated, 1981 Hugo Award); A Spaceship Built of Stone, by Lisa Tuttle; Window, by Bob Leman (nominated, 1980 Nebula Award; 1981 Locus Poll Award, Best Short Story (Place: 4)); The Summer Sweet, the Winter Wild, by Michael G. Coney; Achronos, by Lee Killough. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the best!
I read this back in the 1980's, and it made a great impact on me, especially the title story, which is the best, but I've never read anything by John Varley that I didn't enjoy.This is one of those books I refer people to who say they don't like sci-fi. The title story is about people with physical disabilities and the unique society they create. ... Read more

Product Description
Ace hardback with dust jacket, Exclusively published by and for the Science Fiction Book Club, Oct. 2004, SFBC #1173161, 528 pages. 8vo (8.5" x 5.75") First hardcover edition, reprint of trade paper original. 18 stories, including Picnic on Nearside; Overdrawn at the Memory Bank [1977 Locus Poll Award, Best Novelette (Place: 10)]; In the Hall of the Martian Kings [nominated, 1977 Hugo Award, 1977 Nebula Award]; Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance [nominated, 1977 Hugo Award]; The Barbie Murders [nominated, 1979 Hugo Award. Winner, 1979 Locus Poll Award, 1995 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Classics]; The Phantom of Kansas [nominated, 1977 Hugo Award]; Beatnik Bayou [nominated, 1980 Nebula Award, 1981 Hugo Award]; Air Raid [nominated, 1977 Nebula Award, 1978 Hugo Award. Basis of film and novel Millennium.]; The Persistence of Vision [winner, 1978 Nebula Award, 1979 Hugo Award]; Press Enter [] [winner, 1984 Nebula Award, 1985 Hugo Award]; The Pusher [winner, 1982 Hugo Award, 1982 Locus Poll Award]; Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo [1987 Locus Poll Award, Best Novella (Place: 3)]; Options [nominated, 1979 Nebula Award, 1980 Hugo Award]; Just Another Perfect Day; In Fading Suns and Dying Moons; The Flying Dutchman; Good Intentions; The Bellman. ... Read more

Product Description
In the mid-21st century, time travel is used to send political prisoners to Hawksbill Station, a prison camp in the late Cambrian Era. When the latest arrival suspiciously deflects questions about his crimes and knowledge of 'Up Front', the inmates decide to find out his secret. (This story was used as the basis of the novel "Hawksbill Station".) Nebula Award(R) Nominee, Hugo Award Nominee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A classic novel still very much worth reading
I find it fascinating that so many SF novels that are considered classics are out of print.This one currently is not available (though used copies are always available in large quantities), but it has been printed and reprinted so often in the past that I'm sure it is just a matter of time before a new edition appears.Certainly it has more relevance at the present than at times in the past, when we have seen our political leaders more willing than ever to squelch political dissent and label those not agreeing with administration policy as unpatriotic and even un-American (ignoring Teddy Roosevelt's insistence that dissenting from public policies that one disagrees with is the essence of patriotism).

I am currently in the middle of a reading project in which I'm working my way through a number of dystopian novels.These present a number of ways in which society could go wrong, whether through ecological disaster (as in the novels of Kim Stanley Robinson) or economic and societal collapse (Octavia Butler's Earthseed novels), or political repression, as in George Orwell's 1984 or in this novel.What is remarkable about the best of these novels are the ways they highlight real possibilities within our own society.The most encouraging thing about America -- at least to date -- has been that we have remained remarkably tolerant of dissent.Even in the fifties and during the Bush years it has been possible to dissent with prevailing political policies.I see this -- though perhaps I'm being an optimist -- as the furthest swing toward intolerance of which we seem to be capable.But there have been times when we've branded as un-American those who don't agree with majority or dominant opinion (they are not the same thing).

I found the structure of this novel to be fascinating.The plot is simple:a totalitarian rightist regime is so intolerant of political dissent that it sends all major political prisoners back in time a billion years, well before the evolution of the dinosaurs.The principles of travel backwards in time were developed by a mathematician named Hawksbill (something that I found interesting, since even our greatest physicists are always great at math), hence the name of the station to which political dissidents are sent.The novel is told in both present narrative time and in flashbacks.What is interesting about this is that usually in novels the flashback is to an earlier date.Here the flashbacks are to the distant future, while the "present" exists in the late Cambrian period.

I found both central narratives to be very interesting and a lot of fun.The very end I found somewhat contrived, as if merely a way to wrap things up, rather than an end toward which the two narratives were leading.Still, this was one of those occasions when a classic SF novel fully lived up to its reputation.Hopefully it will be back in print sometime soon.

Not Free SF Reader
The authorities have come up with an unconventional but effective way of controlling dissidents.Send them back a billion or so years into the past.A bit hard to escape from there, really.

When a new prisoner is sent back, the current top dog, an aging main with a recent serious injury has to try and hang onto his life, and work out what is up with the new guy.

Political Sci-Fi
This book is about political prisoners who are exiled back in time a billion years to the cambrian period in a place called Hawksbill Station. There is nothing but solid rock, no plants or animals on land, only in the sea. The story alternates between the cambrian and the present. Most of the men at Hawksbill are losing their minds because of the deprevation. I found those chapters interesting. The chapters from the present time focused on what landed the main character in Hawksbill. They aren't all that interesting, unless you like reading ca. 1960's political subversion. The writing is great, typical Silverberg, and a well told story. But I didn't like it enough to give it 5 stars.

Paleozoic gulag
Political prisoners are sentenced to exile one billion years in the past, before the appearance of the first land-dwelling lifeforms.The story alternates between the exiles in the past, ageing and battling mental illness brought on by their isolation, and the activities that resulted in their sentences.The primary character, Jim Barrett, struggles to maintain his deteriorating community while investigating the puzzle of a new prisoner who is unlike any of the others.The end is a bit unsatisfying--merely a conversation that wraps up the various plot points.Published in 1967, this novel nevertheless includes some startling predictions of later political developments, including an inconclusive presedential election that had very unfortunate results!

More straightforward but still good
Out of all the Silverberg books (or the classic ones at least) this has to be the most direct and least complex out of all of them.The plot is fairly simple, a rigid Earth government sentenced all its dissidents to astation billions of years in the past and with the way technolongy is, theycan only move time in one direction, that being back.So they're all stuckthere.The leader of the camp, Barrett, isn't the first one there but hasbeen there the longest but recently was crippled, making him doubt hiscontinued usefulness.The character of Barrett is fleshed out remarkablywell, showing both how such a man became a political activist and how heholds up against the pressure of being stranded forever.Silverberg alsoshowz us everyone else in the camp, and shows how they didn't take thepressure so well.If Silverberg had just stuck with the stories onHawksbill Station then the book would be little more than highlyentertaining genre SF but because of his deep delving into the charactershe manages to make several pointed political comments in general thataren't the least bit dated, which is the point.Definitely lacks some ofthe intensity of his later works, as well as some emotional involvement butstill stands head and shoulders above a lot of what is out there today. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Eight Worlds, the Ophiuchi Hotline, the Golden Globe, Steel Beach, the Persistence of Vision, the John Varley Reader. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 34. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Eight Worlds refers to a series of novels and short stories by John Varley, in which the solar system has been colonized by human refugees fleeing an alien invasion of the Earth. Earth and Jupiter are off-limits to humanity, but Earth's moon and the other worlds and moons of the solar system have all become heavily populated. There are also minor colonies set in the Oort cloud beyond the solar system itself. Faster Than Light travel is not (as yet) possible, though it's mentioned that test-flights will begin soon at the end of "The Golden Globe", and the species has not as yet managed to extend itself to other stars. The series mostly deals with the ways in which technology and necessity shape morality and society. Instant sex changes are considered a matter of fashion, rather than gender-identity, and many long-standing human sexual taboos no longer exist. Thus the stories are somewhat disturbing to some readers, and maintain a degree of controversy. The "Eight Worlds" story "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" (first published in 1976) was adapted into a TV movie in 1985, starring Raul Julia. The stories were written at different times and are not always consistent with each other. In particular, the novels "Steel Beach" and "The Golden Globe" seem to revise large portions of the original history (see Consistency, below). Varley has written that the Eight Worlds background should be regarded as a group of common characters and situations that appear in different stories rather than a single consistent setting. Several of the stories feature common characters, and these may be seen as linkin...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2081387 ... Read more

Product Description
Jerome Bettis is telling the story of his remarkable career in a lavishly illustrated new book with stunning photography from both on and off the field, an account of the 2005 season from training camp through the playoffs, plus an accompanying DVD highlighting his life and career. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Coffee Table book
This book gets a lot of attention on the coffee table in the living room, especially from the guys! Great conversation starter...especially for women who actually like football, as I do.

driving home: my unforgettable super bowl run
This was a christmas gift for our grandson, who is a steelers fan.
He was real excited to receive this as a gift. ... Read more

Product Description
Steel Beach -- Signed First Edition Leather by John Varley ... Read more