John Varley has died

Source: Hacker News

A Brief Overview

John Varley died on December 10, 2025. He will be remembered by many as a celebrated science‑fiction writer, but his true significance goes deeper than his bibliography.

The Rise of the “Eight Worlds”

In the mid‑1970s Varley burst onto the scene with his Eight Worlds stories, set in a future where hyper‑powerful aliens have eradicated humanity on Earth to protect its whales and porpoises. Humanity survives throughout the Solar System, and the tales are marked by:

• Whimsical gender changes
• Holographic cities that collapse into shacks when the lights go out
• Memory banking that allows people to be “restarted” after death

Varley’s prolific output was so great that some works were published under pseudonyms, echoing an old pulp‑era practice.

Notable Works Outside the Eight Worlds

• “In the Hall of the Martian Kings” – revived the idea of intelligent life on Mars after the Mariner probes seemed to disprove it.
• “Air Raid” – made air travel terrifying again.
• Titan – initially appeared to be the opening of a classic trilogy.

For nearly a decade, many saw Varley as the new Robert Heinlein.

Hollywood Interlude

Varley’s career took a turn when he moved to Hollywood. He was hired to write, rewrite, and rewriter the script for Millennium (based on “Air Raid”). The project suffered from multiple director changes, and the final product pleased no one—especially Varley, as his novelization of the film makes clear. He later received increasingly large payments for scripts that never entered production.

Return to Print

After a prolonged absence, Varley returned to publishing. His writing remained strong, but his ideas no longer felt groundbreaking. In the interim, authors such as William Gibson and Neal Stephenson had pushed the genre’s frontiers forward. Consequently, Varley was viewed primarily as a very good science‑fiction writer—still admired, but no longer the singular visionary many had once celebrated.

Legacy

The loss mourned by most readers is that of a superb writer. Yet, for those who followed his early career, the true loss is the man who seemed to embody the resurrection of science fiction—the “New Heinlein,” the kwisatz haderach of the genre. His stories set a standard that inspired countless writers and readers.

“A decade ago, everybody was asking, ‘Who is John Varley?’ A decade from now, everybody will be asking, ‘Who is Isaac Asimov?’”
— Isaac Asimov, recalling a convention encounter with Varley.

That moment captures what made John Varley extraordinary.

Above: Photo taken from Worlds Without End. Go here to explore it.