John Varley

"Air Raid" (as by Herb Boehm) (exp. into "Millenium") © IASFM, Spr 1977 The Persistence Of Vision, 1978 --short story : 1978 Hugo --short story : 1978 Nebula --short fiction : 1978 Locus /3 --short story : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /19 --/ third place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ adventure award --/ shock value ---------------------------------------------- "Bagatelle" (Anna-Louise Bach series) © Galaxy, Oct 1976 The Barbie Murders, 1980 --novelette : 1977 Locus /9 --/ third place sf story --/ idea award --/ adventure award --/ emotion award --/ shock value "I am rated at fifty kilotons,-the bomb said with a trace of pride" This is how this story starts - not with a whimper, but with a bang. Not just one thrilling bang, but many (you are going to get a lot of bang for youre buck, said the cheesy metaphor expert). You also are going to get vintage Varley at the top of his form, which is a lean mean concept car form, not your average soccer wagon blob. When Varley's good, he is very, very good (and maddeningly controversial). When he is bad, you get such rambling and conceited stuff as the "Steel Beach", for example. Here, he has a ball... a bagatelle (a game akin to billiards, with 9 balls) with a nuclear terrorism threat. Nothing funny about that, except a lot of black, chocolaty-dark humour, which receds into an ultraviolet "mad scientist" laugh, resonating over a classic terrorist thriller plot - prepare thyself, for this is going to happen sooner or later. Almost as mad as doctrine of "assured mutual destruction" is the story's concept of "getting rid of conventional armaments and replacing them with reasonably priced hydrogen bombs that would be distributed equally thoughtout the world." You can not even trust the world with candy, not to mention sentient bombs who boast about their megatonne load. "Luckily there are enough humans that losing a few hundred thousand of them to little nukes now and then had no net effect and apparently about the same social effect as the annual tobacco related death rate" or - on other words - "it doesn't bother the anthill much, no matter how many ants get killed..." You have to agree, it's "a conversation starter" story, even today, 30 years later. review: 25-Oct-06 (read in 2003) ---------------------------------------------- "Beatnik Bayou" (Opiutchi Hotline series) © New Voices in SF # 3, ed. G. Martin, 1980 --/ cool sf novella "Equinoctial" © Ascents of Wonder, ed. D. Gerrold, 1977 The Barbie Murders, 1980 --novella : 1978 Locus /12 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ style award "The Funhouse Effect" © F&SF, Dec 1976 The Barbie Murders, 1981 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award "Good-Bye Robinson Crusoe" © IASFM, Spr 1977 The Barbie Murders, 1980 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award "In Fading Suns And Dying Moons" © Stars, ed. J. Ian, 2003 The John Varley Reader, 2004 --short story : 2004 Locus /13 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ awesome scale "In The Bowl" © F&SF, Dec 1975 The Persistence Of Vision, 1978 --novelette : 1976 Locus /7 --novelette : 1977 Nebula --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ style award "In The Hall Of The Martian Kings" © F&SF, Feb 1977 The Persistence Of Vision, 1978 --novella : 1978 Hugo --novella : 1978 Locus /6 --international fiction : 1978 Ditmar --novella : 1978 Jupiter W --/ third place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award --/ adventure award "Lollipop and the Tar Lady" © Orbit # 19, 1977 The Barbie Murders, 1980 Blue Champagne, 1986 --/ third place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award --/ adventure award "M&M, Seen As A Low-Yield Thermonuclear Device" © Orbit # 18, 1976 --/ cool sf story "Manikins" © Amazing, Jan 1976 The Barbie Murders, 1980 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ style award "Millenium" (nv) (exp. of "Air Raid") © IASFM, Spr 1977 book: Pocket Books, 1980 --novel : 1984 Hugo --finalist : 1984 Philip K. Dick --sf novel : 1984 Locus /3 --/ third place sf novel --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ adventure award --/ shock value --/ awesome scale "Options" © Universe # 9, 1979 Blue Champagne, 1986 --novelette : 1980 Hugo --novelette : 1980 Nebula --novelette : 1980 Locus /2 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award "Overdrawn At The Memory Bank" © Galaxy, May 1976 The Persistence Of Vision, 1978 --novelette : 1977 Locus /10 --/ third place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ style award "The Persistence Of Vision" © F&SF, Mar 1978 The Persistence Of Vision, 1978 --novella : 1979 Hugo W --novella : 1979 Nebula W --novella : 1979 Locus W --international fiction : 1979 Ditmar --novella : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /3 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ style award "The Persistence Of Vision" (coll) (in UK as "In The Hall Of The Martian Kings") © 1978, Quantum Books --single author collection : 1979 Locus W --1980 Apollo W --sf paperback : 1980 TABA --all-time collection : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /8 --/ third place sf collection --/ wonder award --/ style award "The Phantom Of Kansas" © Galaxy, Feb 1976 The Persistence Of Vision, 1978 --novelette : 1977 Hugo --novelette : 1977 Locus /4 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award "Press Enter [] " © IASFM, May 1984 Blue Champagne, 1986 --novella : 1985 Hugo W --novella : 1985 Nebula W --novella : 1985 Locus W --novella : 1985 SF Chronicle W --foreign short fiction : 1987 Seiun W --novella : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /26 (tie) --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award "The Pusher" © F&SF, Oct 1981 Blue Champagne, 1986 --short story : 1982 Hugo W --short story : 1982 Nebula --short story : 1982 Locus W --short story : 1982 SF Chronicle W --short story : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /41 (tie) --/ third place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award --/ idea award --/ style award "Retrograde Summer" © F&SF, Feb 1975 The Persistence Of Vision, 1978 --novelette : 1976 Nebula --novelette : 1976 Locus /4 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ style award "Steel Beach" (nv) (Eight Worlds series) (prequel to "The Ophiuchi Hotline") © Ace Books, 1992 --novel : 1993 Hugo --sf novel : 1993 Locus /5 -- novel : 1993 Prometheus --foreign novel : 1995 Seiun --/ cool sf novel --/ shock value "Tango Charlie And Foxtrot Romeo" © Blue Champagne, 1986 Tango Charlie And Foxtrot Romeo / The Star Pit (Tor Double - with Samuel Delany) --novella : 1987 Locus /3 --foreign short story : 1991 Hayakawa W --foreign short fiction : 1992 Seiun W --/ third place sf novella --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ adventure award ------------------------------------------------

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