io9
John Varley's new novel Rolling Thunder, about the adventures of a Martian military brat, will hit bookstores in early March. But for those of you who aren't enjoying an advance copy like I am, I recommend you kick back this weekend with a classic Varley novel from 1979: Wizard, the second in his Gaia Trilogy. It's a quest tale set inside a vast, ancient cybernetic creature known as Gaia who houses several ecosystems and many species in her habitat-like body. Humans discover her in the Saturn neighborhood, and quickly start to immigrate — especially when they find out that Gaia is willing to heal sick people she deems worthy.
The main characters in Wizard are all pilgrims on a quest to be healed, and their interactions as they come to know one another are almost as fascinating as the alien world itself. A lesbian witch with epilepsy joins forces with a schizophrenic who just wants to find love as a unified personality, and they're joined by a host of others — including a native Gaian creature called a Titanide.
The Titanides are one of Varley's greatest creations: a combination of whimsy and vast social experiment engineered by Gaia. They are centaurs with three sets of genitals who can reproduce in a seemingly-infinite variety of combinations: everything from self-fertilization to 12 parents is possible, and Varley includes a handy chart at the back of the book with every possible combination.
But Titanide sexual politics are merely one feature of Varley's strange world. For Gaia herself is a character, and she's been slowly going insane. And the crazier she gets, the more demented and intriguing her bioengineered creations. If you love world-building, Wizard is a treat. All the more so for its compelling characters, whose relationships and hardships you'll genuinely care about by the end of the novel. Pick up a copy at your local beloved science fiction bookstore, or find it here.
And if you love Wizard, you can go back and read the space-operatic, lesbian love-story prequel, Titan; and check out the sequel, Demon, which is the batshit crazy tale of Gaia at war with herself.
Comments
Awesome trilogy, I recomend all 3. Could be a decent movie if it wasn't for those pesky centaur sex organs hanging out all over the place. Oh and the kinky Centaur-Human sex.
Looks interesting, and brings a question to mind: is there an io9-type blog out there that caters to fantasy? Are there cats out there talking about their love for Robert E. Howard and how awful that Dungeon Siege movie was? 'Cause that'd be a nice little scoop of ice cream alongside my io9 cake.
I read this series in about sixth grade I think, and it is one of my favorite ever. I read Wizard first though, and the others much later. What made me pick it up when I first found it was the illustrations of the topless Titanides.
I also recommend his ode to Heinlein: "Steel Beach". Varley is always good times.
I read Steel Beach. Actually I forced myself to read all but the last 5 pages. I literally could not go on any further, it was so goddamn bad. I didn't even care how it ends.
But This trilogy sounds good. Actually I did once read the first chapter or so of Wizard; I remember the centaurs with "cocks the size of a baby's arm" and Gaia demanding that you be a "hero" before she will heal you, because she can't waste her time listening to just anybody. Intriguing, but I got sidetracked. Probably by a manual for some now-defunct programming language like Unicon...
I can recommend the Gaia trilogy. It's a fun read, and has some interesting ideas.
Varley's a genius. His early work was especially brilliant.
-Kle.
Loved Steal Beach, I should re-read. Isn't that the one that start off by talking about his penis? These sound interesting, although, I'm not always keen on young adults as main POVs. This huge "cybernetic" creature sounds like it could be a Culture ship. Or a weirdo ship from the Order.
@Jeff-Minor: You're right. Steel Beach starts with my favorite SF line ever: "In five years, the penis will be obsolete." But actually it may have been superseded by my new favorite Varley line, from his forthcoming _Rolling Thunder_: "Nothing like a loaded glock in a leather holster to put a little respect into overeager frat boys."
I loved this trilogy- but I'll be damned if I can remember if I read any Varley after this...
I've read that trilogy 4 times now I think. What a fabulous series to turn into a screenplay.
Sigh.....
God, I had almost forgotten about this series. I was 10 when I read it. Now I want to dig it up on Amazon's used book site, or my local used book store.
It was so richly detailed and fleshed out. Great stuff.
It seems a little dated, as if we were to be shocked for centuries in the future by lesbian sex. But it was fun, in a hippie-dippie sort of way
I really enjoyed Steel Beach and the sequel The Golden Globe.
Here's his bibliography: [www.varley.net]
It looks like Rolling Thunder is part of a triology with Red Thunder and Red Lightning
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