John Varley, author of groundbreaking science fiction, died on December 10.
Varley burst upon the scene in the late 70s with a series of stories that were breathtaking in their imagination. He won Hugo and Nebula awards with the stories “The Persistence of Vision,” “The Pusher” and “Press Enter []” and put forth an amazing body of work, with stories like “In the Hall of the Martian Kings” (a favorite of mine), “Air Raid,” “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank,” and “Options.” Most were set in his “Eight Worlds” future history, where humans were scattered all over the solar system after aliens destroyed Earth.
His novels included Millennium, the Ophiuchi Hotline, and the Gaen Trilogy: Titan, Wizard, and Demon.
He was a major influence in my writing life. Indeed, if it wasn’t for him, I would have a writing life. After finishing Titan, I started writing seriously, cranking out two stories a month to start and continuing to keep writing every day. I had dreamed about being an SF writer, but that book caused me to do something about it.
I have no idea why. But I do know I owe him much.
RIP
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