This is one of the things I like most about his writing. In the scifi-whodunnit The Barbie Murders the concept of changing your body without too much trouble is used by a cult of people who all look exactly the same — lack of genitalia (i.e., 'Barbie'-like) included.

Varley wrote very much like Heinlein, but with the edgier parts of libertarianism shaved off.

Anyone looking for recommendations for reading Varley would do well to pick up some short story collections like The Persistence of Vision, The Barbie Murders, or Blue Champagne.

For a solid trilogy I can recommend the Gaea Trilogy (Titan, Wizard, and Demon), but that includes a lot of (fun!) cultural references which may be a tad harder on readers under 40.

His Eight Worlds books are great fun to read too. Pick up The Ophiuchi Hotline and see what you think to get a feel for those. These can be read independently of each other.

For young adults and anyone looking to read some scifi not quite as heavy and more reminiscent of Heinlein's juveniles, the Thunder and Lightning four book series is quite entertaining. One prescient social development he predicted there is that for an event you weren't present at to be believable (like something shown in a news broadcast or viral video) you would want a friend or a friend-of-a-friend to confirm it. If nobody was actually there, it was probably fake.

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anon_cow1111 a day ago | parent | next [-]

>For a solid trilogy I can recommend the Gaea Trilogy (Titan, Wizard, and Demon),

I only read Wizard, how much am I missing out on the other two?

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egypturnash 20 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Demon has some interesting additions to the ongoing “Gaea fucks with Scirocco” relationship but is mostly about Gaea getting senile and watching too many old 1950s movies. Varley was clearly enjoying writing the latter part but it dragged for me.

Titan introduced the setting and went through different parts of Gaea. Wizard summarized the basics of this, if you want more details of what happened to Scirocco’s whole crew then they are in there.

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Freak_NL a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Strictly speaking, the beginning and the end of the whole saga. :)

I found the whole trilogy enjoyable, and quite unique. If you enjoyed Wizard, pick up the other two and (re)read the whole trilogy.

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anon_cow1111 a day ago | parent [-]

I found it pretty good as a standalone book, but what stuck me the most was this random interaction: I picked it up at a library discount sale, where they give you shopping bags and you can fill them up for a flat 10USD each. I was browsing and some old guy just walked by me and commented "oh YOU FOUND WIZARD! That's a good one" me- "I haven't read it before" him- "Oh if you like scifi you're in for a treat."

...But yes if the other two books are along the same lines, I might try going through the whole trilogy again, just... in order this time.

	▲	IAmBroom 20 hours ago \| parent [-]
		They are all three radical changes in story, but solidly entrenched in the same principal characters and worldview. It's a very satisfying trilogy.

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Stratoscope a day ago | parent | prev [-]

> In the scifi-whodunnit The Barbie Murders the concept of changing your body without too much trouble is used by a cult of people who all look exactly the same — lack of genitalia (i.e., 'Barbie'-like) included.

Did you see the Barbie movie? I bet you will enjoy it.

There is a scene where Ken and Barbie are rollerblading in Venice Beach, and some rude people are harassing them. They each announce, "I don't have a ..." (You can fill in the blank.)

And without giving too much away, there is another scene near the end that involves... Birkenstocks!