John Varley

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John Varley
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See first quotes from John Varley

58 Quotations from John Varley

antispinward adv. 1977 J. Varley Ophiuchi Hotline (1994) 31 She faced the sun, which was a small but very bright disc just to anti-spinward of Saturn.
areologist n. 2004 J. Varley Red Thunder xxix. 352 Most geologists—or areologists, as some preferred to be called—believed the Valles had been eroded by running water, just like the Grand Canyon.
autodoc n. 1992 J. Varley Steel Beach xiii. 226 I’d been told it would sustain him for eight hours independently, indefinitely when hooked into an autodoc.
bot n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 465 A few months back, I woke up and my mouth tasted like peppermint. I looked into it, turns out it’s a new sort of 'bot.
cryosuspension n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium xi. 139 At this stage his face was a simple cartoon, so ineptly drawn that Walt Disney must have been spinning in his cryo-suspension fluid.
cyborg v. 1976 J. Varley Bagatelle in Galaxy Science Fiction Oct. 16/2 Something always distracted me. So when I heard of this place where they would cyborg me and get rid of all that, I jumped at the chance.
cyborged adj. 1976 J. Varley Bagatelle in Galaxy Science Fiction Oct. 11/2 ‘It’s a cyborged human connected to a bomb, probably a uranium device,’ he said. ‘I've seen the design. It’s just like one that went off in Johannesburg three years ago. I didn’t know they were still making them.’
cyborged adj. 1976 J. Varley Bagatelle in Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Oct. 16/1 ‘Don’t bother me,’ he said, loudly. ‘This is getting interesting. So if what you say is true,’ he went on to Hans, getting up and pacing intently back and forth, this time inside the line of barriers, ‘maybe I ought to look into this myself. You really like being cyborged better than being human?’
dimension n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium iv. 70 The integrity of the body is preserved through a dimension we can’t sense.
downtime adv. 1983 J. Varley Millennium ii. 21 I fall downtime to the beginning of the universe.
earthborn n. 1974 J. Varley Picnic on Nearside in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Aug. 101/2 They say that’s what drove people to the Farside: the constant reminder of what they had lost, always there in the sky. It must have been hard, especially to the Earthborn. Whatever the reason, no-one had lived on the Nearside for almoost a century. All the original settlements had dwindled as people had moved to the comforting empty sky of Farside.
earthgirl n. 2008 J. Varley Rolling Thunder iv. 29 She’s not an imposing figure, certainly not on Mars. Maybe a little bit less than average height for an Earth girl.
farside n. 1974 J. Varley Picnic on Nearside in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Aug. 101/2 They say that’s what drove people to the Farside: the constant reminder of what they had lost, always there in the sky. It must have been hard, especially to the Earthborn. Whatever the reason, no-one had lived on the Nearside for almoost a century. All the original settlements had dwindled as people had moved to the comforting empty sky of Farside.
future history n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 567 This story appears to be part of a future history of mine, often called the Eight Worlds. It does share background, characters, and technology with earlier stories of mine, which is part of the future history tradition. What it doesn’t share is a chronology… Consider this a disclaimer, then. Steel Beach is not really part of the Eight Worlds future history. Or the Eight Worlds is not really a future history, since that implies an orderly progression of events.
gate n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium ii. 17 Since you are Chief of Snatch Team Operations, someone at the Gate had the foolish notion you could be of help straightening it out.
generation ship n. 1979 J. Varley Titan (1987) 100 You've read the stories of generation ships where something went wrong and everybody slipped back to savagery?
groundhog n. 1976 J. Varley Bagatelle in Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Oct. 10/1 What are you…get your hand off me you…you groundhog.
holo n. 1977 J. Varley Ophiuchi Hotline (1994) 57 She had seen trick holos like this at funhouses, but none so perfect.
holocam n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 10 She had one green, normal eye, and the other one was red, without a pupil. My eyes were the same except the normal one was brown. The red-eyed holocams of the press never sleep.
holocam n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 148 The holocam is a partly mechanical, partly biologic device about the size of a fingernail clipping that is implanted inside the eye, way over to one side, out of the way of your peripheral vision.
holovision n. 1976 J. Varley Bagatelle in Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine Oct. 15/1 At night, it was Hans' habit to sit on his vibrating bed and watch the holovision until one o'clock. At that time, his kitchen would prepare him a late snack, roll it to him in his bed, and he would retire for the night.
hull v. 2008 J. Varley Rolling Thunder xii. 152 Now, if we were hulled, if all the air leaked out, I’d at least be able to breathe for a few hours before I froze solid.
hyperdrive n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 332 So I slammed the Blackbird into hyperdrive and listened to the banshee wail as the old ship shuddered and leaped into the fourth dimension.
hyperspace n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 332 A year went by. Well, sort of a year, though my ducking in and out of the fourth dimension and hyperspace royally screwed all my clocks.
Luna n. 1979 J. Varley Titan (1987) 8 They felt the money could be better spent on Earth, on Luna, and at the L5 colonies.
Luna n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 95 I felt oddly at peace, lying in the moonlit darkness (there was a charming notion: Luna looked tiny and dim compared to a full Earth) listening to the rain falling on the canvas.
Lunarian n. 1977 J. Varley Ophiuchi Hotline (1994) 26 Most Lunarians knew little selenography.
Lunarian n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 28 Shoes. If Lunarians wear them, they tend to be the soft kind, like moccasins, or socks.
message rocket n. 1975 J. Varley Black Hole Passes in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 9/1 He recorded on a chip the size of a flyspeck and loaded it into a tiny transmitter and fired it off parcel post in a five-stage, high-gee message rocket.
nanobot n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 206 I synthesized a nanobot that goes after the things that would normally rot in your mouth while you are sleeping, and changes them into things that taste good.
nanobot n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 130 The term ‘nanobot’ means a very small self-propelled programmed machine, and that includes many other varieties of intracellular devices than the ones currently under discussion.
nanobot n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 165 The nanobots in the pills were too cheap to salvage; when they'd done their work they simply turned themselves off in your kidneys and you pissed them away.
nearside n. 1974 J. Varley Picnic on Nearside in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Aug. 101/2 They say that’s what drove people to the Farside: the constant reminder of what they had lost, always there in the sky. It must have been hard, especially to the Earthborn. Whatever the reason, no-one had lived on the Nearside for almost a century. All the original settlements had dwindled as people had moved to the comforting empty sky of Farside.
nearside n. 1977 J. Varley Ophiuchi Hotline (1994) 7 I was in the Terminal Institute for Enemies of Humanity, three kilometers beneath Ptolemaeus, on the Nearside.
neutronium n. 1977 J. Varley Ophiuchi Hotline (1994) 18 Far down the slope of the hole, halfway to infinity, a tiny mass of neutronium that had been Lilo was orbiting at almost the speed of light, releasing energy as it was stressed to the limits of matter before it finally decayed into oblivion.
overmind n. 1979 J. Varley Titan (1987) 286 The satellite brain that held sway over the territory was a tool of the overmind, and had not as yet developed a personality of his own.
overmind n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 345 We’re guided, at first by the survivors of the Invasion who got us through the early years, and now by the overmind they created.
Planet Earth n. 2003 J. Varley Red Thunder xx. 216 They were all opposed to the newly christened International Power Administration and in favor of staying on a polluted and threatened Planet Earth, and many of them threw rocks and Molotov cocktails to prove how passionately they loved the Earth.
Planet X n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 259 The scrambler denatured her voice, made her sound like a creepoid from Planet X.
Plutonian n. 1 1998 J. Varley Golden Globe 78 What a shame no Plutonians actually came out here for a sleigh ride, or to picnic by the little brooks a-gurgling.
ramscoop n. 1979 J. Varley Titan (1987) 19 A real big fusion ramscoop. The machinery is in the hub, electromagnetic field generators to funnel the interstellar hydrogen into the center, where it gets burned.
skin job n. 1 1979 J. Varley Wizard (1986) 35 I like to get a three- or four-day skin job as much as the next person, but I get tired of it.
skinsuit n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium ii. 17 I'd been feeling like I'd shrunk inside my skinsuit.
slideway n. 1977 J. Varley Ophiuchi Hotline (1994) 63 Most ship pilots are like slideway operators nowadays.
slideway n. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 120 Every small temperature regulator, every security camera, every air fan and water regulator and slideway and tube car…every machine in Luna is in a sense a part of my body.
spaceport n. 1977 J. Varley Ophiuchi Hotline (1994) 170 The singular personage named Javelin lived in her ship, the Cavorite, which was currently stationed at the Pluto spaceport—the real one, as opposed to the vast plain over Florida which was the landing facility for shuttles.
spaceworthiness n. 2003 J. Varley Red Thunder (2004) iv. 34 The Mark II had just received its spaceworthiness certificate from NASA.
stunner n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium ii. 19 Shortly after the twonky alarm, one of your girls lost her stunner on the plane.
super-scientist n. 1975 J. Varley Black Hole Passes in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 27/1 ‘What would Maryjane Peters, superscientist, have done?’ He could hear the pleased note in her voice, though she tried not to show it.
timeline n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium vi. 86 The temporal technicians took the pulse of the timeline, checking for damage.
time machine n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium vi. 91 It shifts around in some multidimensional fashion, and when it’s through, no time machine ever existed.
timestream n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium iv. 69 The timestream is littered with these blank areas.
topside adv. 1991 J. Varley Steel Beach (1993) 16 The Nipple offices were topside because, when the rag was founded, topside meant cheap.
tri-D n. 1979 J. Varley Titan in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Feb. ix. 133/2 ‘Haven’t you ever seen The Sea Witch?’ ‘I don’t know. Has it been on the treedie?’ ‘It’s a flat movie starring good ol’ John Wayne.’
uptime adv. 1983 J. Varley Millennium ii. 25 Uptime, it was already being prepared.
vidscreen n. 1983 J. Varley Millennium ii. 22 Phil Silvers and Ed Sullivan were on the vidscreens.
vidscreen n. 1984 J. Varley Demon (1987) 8 The resulting burst of gamma radiation produced an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that blew out every telephone, vidscreen, transformer, and electric sheep-shearer from Woomera to Sydney, and caused the sewage system in Melbourne to run backward.
wetware n. 1984 J. Varley Press Enter in Asimov’s Science Fiction May 122 ‘He sure was a tricky bugger. Definitely some glitches in the wetware.’ She tapped the side of her head meaningfully.