My Favorite Science Fiction Collection the John Varley Reader

John Varley is one of my favorite science fiction authors (others include Neal Stephenson, Terry Pratchett, Max Barry and Connie Willis) but Varley is the only one of those who writes a lot of short stories. The John Varley Reader is the "best of John Varley" as chosen by the author, and with introductions by him

John Varley is a master of the craft of science fiction, so much so that, when he does something unexpected, you know it's intentional. He is also in love with interesting ideas. There are 18 John Varley stories in this collection and they are all good, but two stand out, and they illustrate how Varley likes to play games with our expectations.

The Persistence of Vision is a post-apocalyptic story of a United States that is in a more-or-less permanent depression following a (relatively small) nuclear war. It tells the story of a man who hitchhikes across country, and finds a commune that was set up by and for a large group of deaf-blind people.who were victims of a 1964 outbreak of German measles. Given that, one might expect a dark and depressing tale, full of morals about the folly of war. But instead we get a tremendously uplifting story about human survival, but much more than survival - about human capability and about the capacity for joy. We also get a great lesson on the nature of ability and disability. It's an amazing story that will stay with you for a long time

PRESS ENTER on the other hand, is a near future story about an America not much different from ours, and people not much different from us. Yet it is darkly foreboding and, with not a hint of horror story, is one of the scariest things I've ever read. It is a story of human fear and weakness. It will also stay with you for a long time. Don't start it right before sleep, if you get troubled by this sort of thing.

In other stories, Varley muses on what would happen if people could have their lives stored in computer, and, thus, be very very hard to kill; about what life would be like if humans could live in outer space while in symbiosis with an alien life form. about how a little girl could survive, only with a bunch of dogs, on a spacecraft where everyone else had died of an incredibly infectious disease and about how a person who spends much of his life traveling at nearly the speed of light could develop relationships with people on Earth who age and die.

If you're expecting simple minded, easy reading, science fiction adventure, this is not for you. (I like that kind of SF too, if it's well done). But if you want to think about interesting ideas and have your thoughts provoked, and if you like literate writing, then this most definitely IS for you.