#the ophiuchi hotline

[facts-i-just-made-up]

Tell me something about the stars?

The stars have been landing here for eons. The firstborn star was Metyr, Mother of Fingers. But she was abandoned by the Greater Will when the Elden Beast came. Other stars fell, Astel the Stars of Darkness brought the Flame of Frenzy, Astel Naturalborn of the Void took the skies of the Eternal City. Many Fallingstar Beasts wreaked havoc across the Lands Between and Shadow Lands.

So it was that Radahn, Scourge of the Stars, used the gravity-magic he learned to care for his horse, Leonard, to hold the stars locked in place. This too locked the fate of the demigods, and thus Rani, protege of the Snow Witch, sought to have the husk of Radahn that remained after Malenia, Blade of Miquella, cursed him with Scarlet Rot, killed.

Indeed, upon his death the stars were freed and Rani was able to kill her Two Fingers with the Blade of Nokron, but another fate was altered- With Radahn dead, Miquella himself was finally free to incarnate him in the body of Mogh, Lord of Blood, and attain the consort that could finally make him a god.

Stars are also mostly plasma, and can range from 2,500K to over 35,000K in temperature in stars like Zeta Ophiuchi (talk about a HOTline!). Our nearest star is the Sun, around which the Earth orbits.

[alphamecha-mkii]

The Ophiuchi Hotline Cover Art by Ichrio Tsuruta

[jca-archive]

Ichiro Tsuruta, 1986

Book jacket illustration for The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley

[wiltkingart]

Do you have any book recs that are f/f or have female or nonbinary main characters, or or maybe no romance but have good like. Gender ..? I remember u recommended blindsight and I read it and loved it. So if have any other recs, doesn't have to be similar genre, but other recs without romance strictly? I think I like your taste in books

(sorry this was kind of a vague ask but I'd be interested in whatever recommendations u think of)

i have a few you might like!! unfortunately i don't seek/read nb books personally, but for f/f romance there's This Is How You Lose The Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar, of course. i do think it deserves the spike in popularity it got recently, especially if you eat up flowery writing like a starving beast. The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling is kind of a tame horror with f/f romance but i liked it more for the whole scary cave exploring plot, and the romance felt secondary anyway. Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear is space scifi about a lesbian MC whose salvaging mission uncovers a terrible crime. has some f/f interactions but does not end in romance.

and then for gender, the Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee series features a cis woman with a cis guy living in her head and the only way i can explain it is it comes off as one of the most Gender things ive ever read, even if the 2nd book's plot kind of sucks. it has a Lot of unique and cool scifi concepts too (math weapons and pretty geometry and living gunships), and other nb and trans side characters. plus the author is trans himself. The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley had a lot of unexpected gender moments (and casual bisexuality). it's a world where casual sex changes are normal, and it comes off surprisingly forward for being written in 1977. the writing feels smooth and modern, and is overall very weird (affectionate) with a cool female MC.

for something Not scifi, Gossamer Axe by Gael Baudino is an urban fantasy about a magical celtic harpist utilizing the power of heavy metal and friendship to save her lover still trapped in the faery realm they both tried to escape. so it's got an established romance but its more about the journey (and the music) to get her woman back.

tldr; for you personally I'd say Machineries of Empire, Ophiuchi Hotline, and Ancestral Night would be the strongest matches based on you being a Blindsight enjoyer and wanting little to no romance. hope this helps! :]

[deepdarkspaceblog]

The Ophiuchi Hotline (Eight Worlds Book 1)

[pulpscifi]

[ijustkindalikebooks]

My book haul today.

[manfrommars2049]

The Ophiuchi Hotline, John Varley, Orbit, 1978. Cover: Chris Foss. via CoolSciFiCovers

[mostlysignssomeportents]

On the occasion of John Varley's quadruple bypass

John Varley, a beloved, versatile, funny, and wildly imaginative sf writer, recently had a quadruple bypass and is recovering well, but this is America, so he's also in need of financial support through his recovery.

https://varley.net/nonfiction/news/sending-prayers-to-the-cosmos/

You can donate to Varley's recovery fund via Paypal, which will support the Varley family's new expenditures (Dan Prall already helped them by buying the recliner chair John's doctors want him to sleep in).

https://www.paypal.com/donate/paymentComplete

When I heard Varley had been hospitalized, I felt that cold grue in my stomach, the dread that has haunted me not merely through the covid months, but also over the past decade, as the cohort of writers I grew up on have entered their 60s and 70s.

The news that Varley's surgery was successful came as an incredible relief - and with it, the realization that I didn't need to wait for an obit to write an appreciation of the writers whose work I love so dearly.

Varley is hugely influential upon me. I could never have written my 2003 debut novel DOWN AND OUT IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM without stories like his 1976 OVERDRAWN AT THE MEMORY BANK - a story that prefigured many of cyberpunk's central tropes.

Varley's short fiction is incredible - not just Hugo winners like THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION but also perfect gems like THE OPHIUCHI HOTLINE and THE BARBIE MURDERS - but they all add up to even more than the sum of their parts.

Much of Varley's work has been set in his "Eight Worlds" universe, where humans have been evicted from Earth by a mysterious alien race called "The Invaders," with the rump of the species being pushed out to the Moon, nearby planets, and the asteroid belts.

Varley's stories happily plunder one another for details of this scenario, lifting characters, technologies, and settings, but they make no pretense to being a "future history" of internal consistency.

The Eight Worlds stories and novels are only consistent with one another when it makes the story better - but when it doesn't, they jettison inter-tale consistency in favor of narrative. For me, the fact that writers could do this came as a jaw-dropping revelation.

Varley annihilated the pretense that an sf writer is some kind of oracle who knows the future - a bit of ghastly fatalism in that it implies that the future is knowable and thus will arrive irrespective of our choices today.

Instead, Varley treats his stories as entertainments and allegories, freed from the "Robert A Timeline" constraints, which allows him to collage his best ideas into new works, a kind of fan-service that is pure delight, freed from the tedious pretense of consistency.

This revelation led directly to my novel Walkaway, which incorporates ideas, props and scenarios from DOWN AND OUT IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM, EASTERN STANDARD TRIBE, and my other novels, without lumbering the story with the necessity to make it fit in with their continuity.

Varley is an unabashed plunderer, particularly of Heinlein, mashing up Heinlein tropes with contemporary ideas, progressive politics, and other delights to make new works that both pick apart and celebrate Heinlein's work.

This was always lurking in his work, but it became very explicit with novels like STEEL BEACH (1992), an absolute ROMP of a book that crosses THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS with the then-ascendant cyberpunk genre conventions (which Varley helped invent) to outstanding effect.

I just re-read STEEL BEACH and found it every bit as delightful as I had in the early 90s, when I hand sold hundreds of copies of it as a bookseller. It's also the direct ancestor of Ian McDonald's MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS-riffing trilogy.

https://memex.craphound.com/2015/09/22/ian-mcdonalds-luna-new-moon-the-moon-is-a-much-much-harsher-mistress/

Varley's work embodies the collaborative spirit of sf, as tropes are ruthlessly plundered and reworked  without apology. It's a process that's wonderfully described in my mentor Judith Merril's Hugo-winning memoir, "Better to Have Loved":

https://memex.craphound.com/2003/08/11/science-fiction-prefigured-the-creative-commons/

"Whereas in other literary fields you wouldn’t dare take an idea from another writer and use it, because that would be considered plagiarism, science fiction people loved to build on each other’s stories.

"The business of giving away ideas and promoting other people’s work was a part of the community at large. The Futurians did this to an amazing extent. For example, every Futurian had a pen name that included the family name Conway. A good number of the stories that appeared in science fiction magazines at the time were written by someone-or-other Conway."

In other words, amateurs plagiarize, artists steal.

Think of the way that Varley's symbiotic alien spacesuits were beautfully plundered by Spider and Jeanne Robinson for their own Hugo-winning STARDANCE.

http://spiderrobinson.com/books.html

I found so many revelations in Varley's work: just the proliferation of "disneylands" on the Moon was an wonderfully economical bit of storytelling, an entire implied history of a notoriously bullying corporation in tatters after an invasion, all in a single, lower-case "d."

And then there's the RED THUNDER books, wherein Varley took apart and reassmbled Heinlein's "juvies" as parables about the paranoid, post-9/11 America, a country that occupied Iraq, Afghanistan and itself:

https://memex.craphound.com/2006/04/17/the-novel-heinlein-would-have-written-about-gw-bushs-america/

I don't think I'd have written LITTLE BROTHER - a book I thought of as an anti-authoritarian riff on HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL - if I hadn't read RED THUNDER.

Varley's work is worth aspiring to: a perfect mix of wildly imaginative and just plain *fun*. His most recent novel, IRONTOWN BLUES, is an Eight Worlds hard boiled noir novel starring an uplifted dog detective.

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/08/29/john-varleys-irontown-blues-noir-doggy-science-fiction-from-one-of-the-fields-all-time-greats/

Varley runs a shop for signed copies of his books, though shipping is slow ("We are strictly a kitchen-table operation. Your book will be carefully selected from our shelves, lovingly hand-wrapped, and decorated with real US Postage stamps").

https://varley.net/shop/

If you're looking for a title to order from the shop, may I recommend 2004's "The John Varley Reader: 30 Years of Short Fiction."

https://varley.net/collection/the-john-varley-reader/

Image: Arthur Jene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Varley.jpg

CC BY-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[fanlit]

The Ophiuchi Hotline: Full of interesting ideas. https://t.co/3GeqHu8QRU … https://t.co/FlyNg5rupe #SFF (from the archive)

[cyprinodont]

Finished Ophiuchi Hotline which was midly disappointing despite having great characters. He totally sets everything up for a sequel and then just left us hanging, writing side stories in the same universe, for 41 years!

[seascapesandsalt]

"Poetry is a normal byproduct of living." John Varley, ya'll. If you want some pre-solarpunk solarpunk , give him a try. This is The Ophiuchi Hotline, his short story collections are also divine. #solarpunk #speculativefiction #weekendreading #amreading

(click through to instagram for second page)

[theamazingstories]

John Varley is a highly respected author of science fiction. He’s known for his use of plausible science, compelling characters, and Big Ideas. (See his Gaean trilogy, Titan, Wizard and Demon for a perfect example of a really Big Idea).

He showed up in 1974 with his short story Picnic on Nearside and published his first novel The Ophiuchi Hotline in 1977 – both set in his ‘Eight Worlds” series. He wrote about futures with a densely inhabited solar system, fluid genders, gigantic theme parks in the moon, sentient black holes, mind uploading and more.

The 70’s and 80’s were a prolific period for him with four short story collections and five novels. However, in the early 80’s his short story Air Raid was optioned and John spent time in Hollywood adapting it for motion pictures under the name Millennium and wrote the tie-in novelization himself. This period extended to a ten-year hiatus from non-Hollywood writing while he worked on other unproduced screenplays.

Thankfully, John returned in 1992 with new short stories and a new novel, Steel Beach and hasn’t stopped writing since. Although, as he freely admits, he’s slowed down compared to the speed of his writing in his youth.

###

Kermit Woodall for Amazing Stories: Like many of your fans, I bought your latest, Irontown Blues the day it released. I enjoyed the return to your Eight Worlds universe and specifically to the son of one of your best-known characters, Anna Louise Bach. Tell us a bit about your goals with this novel.

John Varley: I don’t actually have any goals when I start a novel. There is no plan, I just imagine a character and a setting, and then I work it out as I go along. If there was a plan at all it was simply to finish the trilogy of Steel Beach and The Golden Globe. All three novels tie together at the end.

ASM: What were the ideas and themes that you wanted to explore in this story? Your Eight Worlds stories and novels often feature big ideas and I have a suspicion that one of the goals here was to explore an assumed reality behind libertarian utopia science fiction in that the need for law and order will impose social structures regardless of ideals. But perhaps that was just me?

JV: As I said, no goals. If any ideology creeps in it is unconsciously. I have no grand theories for politics or society in general, no axe to grind. I suppose these books are utopian in a way, in that in the greater society there is little violent conflict, but of course there will always be people who fall through the cracks, either willingly or because they are misfits, as the residents of Irontown in the novel. As for Libertarianism, I go along with those folks up to a certain point, and then they propose something completely stupid, totally Looney Tunes.

ASM: Intentional or not, I enjoyed the results. Even if I was reading too much into your process.

With your hero, Christopher Bach, we see a type of character you’ve not presented in the Eight Worlds before – a flawed character apparently suffering from PTSD (following a battle that occurred in Steel Beach). What led you to create this character?

JV: The three novels explore what it might be like in different professions in my far-distant universe. In Steel Beach it was a reporter, in The Golden Globe it was an actor. In Irontown Blues it is a private eye, a calling that is all but extinct. But Chris Bach lives in a noir world of his own making. Traditionally a noir private eye is a cynical and gloomy character, who still fights for justice. That is how Bach came into being.

ASM: Tell us more about Christopher’s companion, Sherlock (a dog with augmented intelligence and memory). While Sherlock initially reminds me of therapy dogs used for PTSD patients, he becomes much more in the novel. You also chose a unique way to present Sherlock’s thoughts within the story.

Why and how did you arrive at this approach?

JV: As sometimes happens, Sherlock quickly became the most interesting character in the book. I love him in a way I could never love Chris, because Sherlock is so pure, so dedicated. In many ways he was smarter than Chris, and he has unswerving loyalty, simply because that’s the way dogs are. Chris was Sherlock’s Alpha, a relationship humans don’t have. So I did my best to think like a dog. That was not so hard, because I am a dog lover. Sherlock had me laughing a lot as I wrote his words.

ASM: I’m a dog owner myself. I’ve noticed dogs appear in your fiction (most notably in Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo which also features Anna Louise Bach) – so what dogs are sharing your life right now?

JV: I have always loved dogs. My last canine friend was a Shetland Sheepdog named Cirocco who improved my life for 19 years and 3 months. Her obituary can be found at my website:

https://varley.net/about/cirocco/

Damn. I just read it again, and as always, it made me cry. Best dog ever.

I have not had a dog since. Part of the time since 1999 we have been on the move and unable to keep a dog. Now we live in a house where the landlord doesn’t allow pets. Would I have one if he did allow it? I’m not sure. As it is, we go over to my mother’s house where my sister has a miniature schnauzer named Mojo when we feel like we need to pet a dog.

ASM: I don’t want to spoil any of the plot of the novel – but could you possibly talk about a bit about your choices in bringing back some elements from Steel Beach?

JV: The three novels were always meant to tie together. I didn’t know how that would happen, but the plot unfolded as I wrote it. That’s just how I work.

ASM: I’d like to talk to you about some of your other works. Recently you wrote a post on your blog about getting your famous story Air Raid anthologized again in the new Stephen King edited collection Flight Or Fright. You detailed some of its history when you originally worked on adapting it for film and then into a tie-in novel Millennium. In all your discussions, including your own depreciating assessment of the film, I’ve never seen you acknowledge that the film has become pretty much a cult classic. Personally, I’ve seen it airing on one cable network or another pretty much ever since it was released and usually more than once a year. What are your thoughts on this?

JV: It’s a cult classic? First time I’ve heard of it. Plan 9 From Outer Space is a cult classic, too, right? Didn’t it appear on Mystery Science Theater 3000? Oh, no, that was another of my stories, Overdrawn At the Memory Bank.

ASM: I don’t think it’s a cult classic like Plan 9 – it’s clearly a better picture (I know – that’s faint praise) but it does show up often enough to suggest it’s sufficiently popular to show infrequently on cable networks!

The biggest of your big ideas has to be the GAEA trilogy, Titan, Wizard and Demon – the story of a nearly unimaginably massive space habitat that also happens to be a living, growing and sentient being. Has there ever been any interest in bringing that to film (or to a series) and have you ever considered returning to that story universe for a future novel?

JV: Years ago some people were interested, but nothing came of it. The rights are now available, and in 2018 the technology is actually up to doing the setting justice. If only I could get the books into the right hands. They seem to be to be a natural for today’s film audience. Best idea: a 10-part mini-series, or even a second season, the continuing adventures of Cirocco Jones … I’d be happy to write the screenplays.

ASM: Has there been any interest in adapting your short story Press Enter for film/tv?

JV: It actually was filmed, some years ago. But for some reason it never played anywhere. I’ve never seen it. It’s quite frustrating.

ASM: A quick check on IMDB doesn’t show anything except a film with the same name but with an unrelated plot. Perhaps one of our readers knows something and will let us all know.

Now, speaking as a fan here, do you have any plans with the Eight Worlds in exploring the elements originally presented in The Ophiuchi Hotline – specifically the ultimate threat posed of humanity being pushed out of our solar system, the need/use of the Singularity cube, and what might be next?

JV: I’m afraid not. I seem to have run dry on that idea, though I think about it from time to time.

ASM: Well, I’m certainly sorry to hear that.

Finally, what’s next in the pipeline for you? What novels or stories are you working on?

JV: I wish I could tell you. Right now I’m between projects, with several ideas on the back burner. No idea which one will eventually come to a boil.

ASM: Well, we’ll all just have to wait then. Thank you for your time!

John Varley and his works can be visited at his website.

An Interview with John Varley, Author of the Recently Released Irontown Blues John Varley is a highly respected author of science fiction. He’s known for his use of plausible science, compelling characters, and Big Ideas.

[scififr]

Irontown Blues, par John Varley (Ace, aout 2018)

Un nouveau roman dans «  the Eight Worlds universe », après «The Ophiuchi Hotline » (« Le canal ophite », pour moi Collection Dimension SF chez Callman-Levy), « Steel beach » (« Gens de la Lune », collection Présences, Denoel ;  accessoirement un chef d’œuvre) et « The golden globe » (« Le système Valentine », Lune d’encre, Denoel). Voir ce wiki pour une liste exhaustive, nouvelles incluses.

Le héros vit sur la Lune et se prend pour un détective des années 1930-1940. Et il a un chien « augmenté » qui se nomme Sherlock…

Grandeur et décadence d’un grand auteur ! Ce n’est pas que ce soit vraiment nul. C’est juste très pauvre, en idées comme en style. Au fil des ans, la prose de Varley s’évapore et perd toute densité. Encore un roman et il ne restera plus rien que le vide intersidéral.

[deepdarkspaceblog]

The Ophiuchi Hotline

[fromthewastes]

The Ophiuchi Hotline By John Varley.  1977.  This edition, 1993.  Cover art by Todd Cameron Hamilton.