![]() ![]() The book revolves around Hildy Johnson, a newspaper reporter for Luna, now the most populous and important world since the Invasion. ![]() ![]() While The Ophiuchi Hotline was typical mid-century science fiction, with an occasional glimmer of humour and wit, Varley’s new style of prose is wonderfully funny, laced with dry observations and laconic philosophy. Varley’s prose, on the other hand, has become far better. This is the only major change from the original series, in storyline terms at least. The only book from the original series I’ve read is The Ophiuchi Hotline, written in the 1970s, which revolved around an aspect of the Eight Worlds conspicuously absent from Steel Beach: a hotline of data streamed towards Earth from the star Ophiuchi, providing new technology which gives the human race a leg-up in surviving in exile. The original gist of the series is that humanity has been evicted from Earth by an unknown alien force dubbed “the Invaders,” forced to eke out a living on the other eight worlds of the solar system (Pluto’s recent demotion messes up the name a little, I guess). Steel Beach by John Varley (1992) 481 p.Īfter a decade-long hiatus, John Varley returned to his Eight Worlds series with Steel Beach, and the change is considerable. ![]()
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