The Barbie Murders and Other Stories

Rating:
Summary: Not his best, but very good anyway
Review: I find Varley's short stories are generally better than his novels. The stories in The Barbie Murders are not quite his best (look for "The Persistance of Vision" -- also out of print) but still worth the time. Favorites: title story, Equinoctals, Picnic on Nearside.

Rating:
Summary: Not his best, but very good anyway
Review: I find Varley's short stories are generally better than his novels. The stories in The Barbie Murders are not quite his best (look for "The Persistance of Vision" -- also out of print) but still worth the time. Favorites: title story, Equinoctals, Picnic on Nearside.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but more variety would be nice
Review: The stories in this collection are very enjoyable, and if you've read The Ophiuchi Hotline, some of them provide excellent background for that novel's characters and events, especially a great story featuring Parameter-Solstice. I would have liked more variety between the stories, though. They're all set in Varley's "occupied Earth" universe, and while they have do have interesting plots, they contain the same themes in the background: sexual ambiguity, body manipulation, etc. I'd like to see Varley move away from this general setting and try something different.

I agree that this book should be put back in print, along with Ophiuchi Hotline, Persistence of Vision, and a mass-market edition of Millennium. It's hard to understand why Varley's best work is either out of print or in expensive trade editions, while his worst work (Steel Beach, Titan) is still available.

Rating:
Summary: When is this book coming back into print?
Review: When in God's name is this collection coming back into print? No wonder sf readers often have no sense of history when good, relatively recent stuff like this is unavailable. For shame.