John Varley’s short stories hit the science fiction magazines in the mid 1970s like a blazing comet, full of ideas and new ways of approaching the genre. I loved his work, and saw him as my generation’s Robert A. Heinlein, my favorite author. I haven’t changed that opinion, though he did settle down to more predictable writing in his later years. This is his first novel, published in 1977.

The story takes place in Varley’s distant future history where Earth has been taken over by Invaders who believe whales and dolphins are the only important species, and most humans have been expelled to the other worlds and moons of our solar system. There humans thrive with help from mysterious messages from space nicknamed The Ophiuchi Hotline that provide scientific advances, especially involving human anatomy and surgery, so that most people can change sex easily, and can make all kinds of other changes to their bodies. Lilo is a female scientist on Luna who’s gone too far, though, experimenting with gene manipulation, for which she’s sent to prison and execution. She’s saved by the agents of The Boss, who wants her for secret operations he’s conducting near Saturn and Pluto. Several clones of Lilo are made because she keeps trying to escape, but one finally makes it to the hidden base near Saturn, and is soon stirring up trouble there. Meanwhile, two other clones are making more trouble on Pluto and in the asteroid belt. Everyone is worried about a new ultimatum from the Ophiuchi Hotline: they want payment for all the advice given, and threaten human destruction if they don’t get it. Lilo and her friends on Pluto decide to fly toward the source of the broadcasts to confront the unknown threat.

Fine writing, a complex plot you have to pay attention to, but rewarding if you do. Recommended.

Travers is best known for the Mary Poppins books, which I love, but this is actually my favorite book by her. It tells the story of Sabrina and James Lind of England, who are sent to America to protect them during World War Two, when their country was being bombed by Germany. Accompanying them for the sea journey, and turning up later in the land half, is Pel, a thinly-veiled version of the author. The book is the diary of Sabrina, which is most artfully convincing, including just enough misspellings and the misunderstandings of childhood, yet penetrating to the truth of events and people as only children sometimes can. The first half covers the sea voyage, when they make new friends and suffer the perils of seasickness, and in the second half they are delivered to their Aunt Harriet and Uncle George in America after traveling through Canada. Fortunately their new home is welcoming, and they again make new friends, but all the while the shadow of the war at home hangs over them. Sabrina’s impressions of America from a British child’s point of view are wonderful, and this book gets into hard truths and emotions in a way that the Poppins books don’t. Highly recommended.

This 1961 trade paperback reprints Pogo daily strips from, I guess, 1961 along with some new material, a finely lettered description of the contents is in the lower photo above. I quite enjoyed reading it again, and it’s recommended if you can find it.

I first read Teale’s four nature travelogs about the seasons (and one about spring in Britain) in the 1970s, and haven’t begun to reread them until now, but I’m finding them just as excellent and absorbing now as I did then. This is the third one written, published in 1960, the Autumn one was done earlier, but I’d rather read them in seasonal order. This time Teale and his wife travel mostly by car from New England along the Great Lakes, and then into the central midwest to the Rockies. Every short chapter is in a different place, each describes wonders of the plant, insect, animal, and natural world in ways that bring the unfamiliar and overlooked to life. Yes, some things are now out of date, but nature is perennial, and nothing here is irrelevant. I don’t read much non-fiction, and when I do it’s often nature related. This series by Teale is among the best I’ve tried, and well worth your time if you like nature adventures. And the writing will draw you in, as it does me. Recommended.

Science fiction anthologies were a staple of my youth, often found in local libraries, but this one was different. Published in 1967, it was a rare one with all new stories, and a monster at 544 pages. I bought it through the Science Fiction Book Club around 1968, and thought it daring and modern. Harlan Ellison’s mandate was “dangerous,” and some of these stories fit that bill well, but reading it today, they are far less shocking than they were at the time. Sex and sexual deviations, drugs, foul language, moral taboos, extreme violence, all were rare in the genre then, and all are common here and in today’s world. Ellison’s sometimes lengthy intros are a good part of the appeal, and authors also add afterwords to each one. The introduction is by Isaac Asimov. Many of the top authors of the time are here (with the exception of Heinlein and Clarke), as well as many that were starting out and became well-known later. The story that struck me as the most modern and cutting edge today was “Faith of Our Fathers” by Philip K. Dick, which is interesting because I had tried one novel by him at the time, and didn’t like it, so never read any others. That and others have some relevance to today’s politics and world situation, which hasn’t changed that much in some ways, while others are clearly products of the 1960s, including the peace and love movement, and those tend to seem more dated. In all, this is a worthwhile read despite its age, and recommended. The line art by Leo and Diane Dillon on the cover and for each story title is simple but effective.