The John Varley Reader

Thirty Years of Short Fiction

By: John Varley

Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Paul Boehmer, Gabrielle de Cuir, John Allen Nelson, Justine Eyre, Stefan Rudnicki, Susan Hanfield

From the moment John Varley burst onto the scene in 1974, his short fiction was like nothing anyone else was writing. His stories won every award the science fiction field had to offer, many times over. His first collection, The Persistence of Vision, published in 1978, was the most important collection of the decade and changed what fans would come to expect from science fiction.

Now, The John Varley Reader gathers his best stories, many out of print for years. This is the volume no Varley fan - or science-fiction fan - can do without.

©2004 by John Varley (P)2021 by Blackstone Publishing

Very good

Runs the gamut of human experience, a delight to savor. All about people's reaction to their lives done in SF styling. You're gonna love it.

Underrated

A well acted, read and presented collection of one of SF’s less popularly known authors.

a charming walk down memory lane

good stuff, charming and nostalgic 60's and 70's scifi. while listening i had several moments of recognition like, "oh so Varley wrote that!". for instance I have fond memories of the made for TV movie " overdrawn at the memory bank" from my youth. It was like a weird gem i had found, special and mine, and over the years it seemed not many people remembered or saw it. I did skip a couple stories because I got bored or the reader was annoying. eh, can't knock it out of the park every time. if you like predictable and gratuitous casual sex and nudity there is plenty to go around.

Some of Varley’s best

I love John Varley’s work and this collection is great reading that sticks with you. I especially enjoyed Jane Eyre’s reading of several of the better stories.

How did I miss this guy?

I’ve always been a huge sci-fi fan. How did I miss this guy?
I really enjoyed these original works by John Varley. They fulfilled a need I have for taking my imagination in a completely new direction of conceivable future possibilities. And they don’t denigrate anyone in the process. The story concepts age well.
Often on older sci-fi I have found a slight distaste that I have to chock up to ‘sign of the times’ when there are few, (if any), references to strong women characters. It’s a turn-off if the female characters are weak. These stories are balanced well.
I really enjoyed the authors introductions. They made the stories feel more interactive.
I also enjoyed the narrators. They did a great job and it was a good idea to have different voices in the delivery of - was it 22+ hours of delivery.
This book is great sci-fi for mature young adults to open minded mature adults. It might be a little too much for immature readers.
Well done!

Great Writing

I was really dazzled by some of the stories, and the narration was superb. Warning though, there is a lot of mention of sex, and some involving children or young adults in some of the stories.

Inventive, engrossing, poor technical production

I enjoy John Varley's stories and these are no exception. They are thought-provoking. The narrators did a decent job and I warmed to each of them over time. What I found frustrating was the production of the audio. Little things like no pause between sentences when going from one subject or section of a book to another, causing some significant confusion until you realize what happened.

John Varley

Been decades since I read John Varley. Discovering I could get credit just for reading science fiction was how I got suckered into being an English major, both a curse and a blessing.

3 Hugo & 2 Nebula awards. Great narrators.

Back in the 1970's, I started reading everything in SF&Fantasy. John Varley was my favorite writer for awhile, until he wasn't writing enough to be in that top spot. Now he's just one of my favorites, much like Buster Keaton is one of my favorite directors. Still, he was the great writer of my youth. I spent years waiting for his book Demon to be released.

This collection is part stories, part autobiography. It starts with the burning of his apartment, a place where I used to send him the zines I made back then. He goes on to describe more of his early life in wonderful detail, then the first story starts, Picnic on Nearside. After that, more autobiography, then the next story.

All wonderful stories, with wonderful narrators. Highly recommended.

that was really good!

more plz!

I had never read John varley and... well now I wish I had found him sooner!