Fly through John Varley’s future-flung universe

It occurred to me as I read through John Varley’s various visions of the future in his short stories that the best new voices are the old voices. All 18 stories in The John Varley Reader: Thirty Years of Short Fiction brilliantly look forward into worlds of possibilities in science and technology that are only now beginning to be grasped in their entirety and implications.

The works in this book are far-reaching: bright, creative, innovative, and inventive. Many of his characters change sex like breathing—naturally and without apology. Cloning and body sculpting are integral to his vision. Each tale is carefully shaped to pull the reader into a world of detail, essentially saying, “There is all the time in the world to explore this story and this universe.” Varley treats his characters not as cardboard sexual stereotypes performing as backdrop to weird technology, but as fully human, with desires, ambitions, needs, hopes, and aspirations. They are entwined with the story; they are the story.

Even though it has been more than two decades since I read it, my personal favorite of what I have read of his short writing remains “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank,” in which Mr. Fingal, who appears to have no first name, returns from a computer tourist journey only to discover that his body has been lost. Virtual reality—two-way virtual reality—takes on new meaning, and it’s a sweetheart of a story.

As an additional bonus, read the preface to each story. The stories are previously published, with the exception of “The Bellman,” which contains an interesting recurring character, Anna-Louise Bach. However, the prefaces are “new”; these prefaces are entertaining and enlightening. For a real eye-opener, check the dates these tales were first published in the “Copyright and Permissions” page at the close of the book. The first one was published more than 30 years past.

The works remain rich, groundbreaking, and very vivid. Read, think, reflect, and be challenged. This book is satisfying; the tales are memorable, not always comfortable, but sturdy, solid, and whole. This science fiction presents truth.