The Barbie Murders

According to the start of this book, it has also been called the Barbie Murders. Yet more of Varley's high quality burst of short fiction collected. No particular standouts, just overall above average to good work for the whole book, with nothing remotely in the ordinary range. Some of the stories again are in settings used before, The Barbie Murders, etc. A 3.67 average here, so rather good. Picnic on Nearside : BAGATELLE... Read Full 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... Read Full 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.

Varley is one of the greatest writers of SF of the last 20 years. Why is it that major book publishers let what amount to classic short stories go out of print?! Shame on you! If you can find a used copy of this book, buy it! You will not be disappointed, Varley's vision of the future is sharp, haunting, and intelligent!

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.