The golden globe
by John Varley · first published 1998
5mentions
3recommended by
5HN commenters
2009–2025first – last mentioned
60% recommend40% neutral
From back cover Ace paperback September 1999: All the universe is a stage -- and Sparky Valentine is its itinerant thespian. He makes his way from planet to planet as part of a motley theater troupe, bringing Shakespeare -- a version of it anyway -- to the outer reaches of Earth's solar system. Sparky can transform himself from young to old, fat to thin, even male to female, by altering magnetic implants beneath his skin. Indispensable hardware for a career actor -- and an interstellar con man wanted for murder...
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Nice to see a recommendation for one of John Varley's works (The Golden Globe). There is one sci-fi author who is underappreciated. His writing has touches of Heinlein. His Gaea Trilogy is really creative too.
on “Science Fiction Books I’ve Read (2018)” ↗I cannot recommend 'The Long Way' by Bernard Moitessier & 'The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst' highly enough. Both books cover how 2 contestants in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race could have won but did not, for rather interesting/different reasons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Moitessier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Crowhurst
on “Confessions of a Long-Distance sailor ” ↗Steel Beach and Golden Globe are both great books.
on “John Varley has died” ↗I'm reminded of the novel The Golden Globe, by john varley. In that novel very powerful AI handle most day to day operations of society, and it is mentioned by one of them that - technologically speaking - they could create the single most despotic…
on “Scientists build army of a million microrobots that fit inside hypodermic needle” ↗John Varley in the science fiction novel The Golden Globe envisioned a future where there are two separate AIs: one that is solely designed to help people, that knows everything, and a separate AI designed for law enforcement that is constrained to a limited…
on “'I was misidentified as shoplifter by facial recognition tech'” ↗