I have not read this book

[james_davis_nicoll]

So this is not a review of the book. It is a review of the blurb intended to entice me to buy it.

I do not care for this blurb but am curious how other people react to it.

Comments

[redbird]

Aimed directly at the Church of Heinlein, though the "if they can just get their minds off shopping and boys" reads as though he's trying to reassure the reader that the girls are red-blooded heterosexual Americo-Martians.

Also, who names twins Cassandra and Pollyanna?

[bibliofile]

Not just Cassandra and Pollyanna but Cassandra Ann and Pollyanna Sue.

I'm hoping it's satire, because otherwise geez it's kinda wrong.

[mab_browne]

My immediate impression is of either an unpromising YA novel, or else some sort of satire. Because seriously, Pollyanna Sue?

[zeborah]

I was indifferent verging on meh until I got to the ellipsis, and then I vomited in my mouth a little bit.

[karinfromnosund]

It doesn't tell us anything. I suppose I'd shrug and put it back on the shelf. And not bother checking out the previous books.

[wordweaverlynn]

First thought: This would have been ridiculous even when Playboy was hot stuff.


Second thought: At least they're not jailbait.

Third thought: Other than that little detail, they sound actually worse than most female Heinlein characters.

[tangaroa]

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Pull the other one -- it's got bells on.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I have this vague feeling Podkayne is a Heinlein reference from cultural osmosis. I did read some Heinlein in high school--for a high school in South Korea the library had some sf stocked--but that particular book (?) was not one of them.

Pollyanna is the really happy girl from some children's book? I don't know the other references.

I am equivocal about Varley after not having read very much of him (a couple short stories). Based on that and the description, you could not pay me enough to read this book, but in all fairness right now I want grimdark space explosions and cheerful psychopaths [1], not (I think) skiffy adventure that has stuff about Mars in it.

[1] I don't want this stuff all the time, just some of the time.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I am very fond of the early Eight Worlds but I don't think you'd like it. You might like his Anna Louise Bach SF procedurals. Or this (it's short):

http://www.varley.net/Pages/Manhattan.htm

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether John Varley has the financial depth necessary to establish a precedent by suing his publisher's marketing department.

A pity if not.

My reaction

[ccamfield.livejournal.com]

Boring... boring... boring... W T F???

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Yup. Silly names, Heinlen reference, Heinlein reference (all kind of boring), WTF???

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

No.

...

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

I would not read that book.

I am grateful to the blurb for letting me know this.

[andrew barton (from livejournal.com)]

He wasn't trying at all. He could have jammed way more Heinlein references into that space. D+ for effort.

[redbird]

He could have, but at the cost of not hitting us over the head with Cassandra and Pollyanna.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

It is baffling.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

...This is a joke, right? This wasn't supposed to be posted till April 1, right?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

As the kids say these days, This. This is my reaction.

[remus-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I have read the first book in this series, so I understand all the references in the blurb. The series is dynastic; we're following the descendants of the original protagonists through four (or more?) books. The characters have those names because the original characters were big sci-fi geeks, so they named their children after Heinlein characters.

The blurb had me up until 'shopping, boys, and skypool'.

This is John Varley's attempt at a YA series and the first book is pretty good. I don't know what level of juvenile he's aiming for, however. Each book seems to be aiming younger and younger.

[seawasp]

Yeah, not working for me either. And when the author of "Let's write a book filled with Golden Age in-jokes" says that, your marketing department's dropped the ball SOMEWHERE.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

I don't actually see anything very wrong with the blurb as a blurb, but I am no connoisseur of same.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

Based on that blurb, it's clearly a parody, so it stands and falls based on how funny the actual book is. The blurb itself has a "trying too hard" vibe to it, but if I was in the mood for a wacky sci-fi comedy I might leaf through the and see if the writing is funnier than the blurb is.

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

Weellll... I'm not sure it's clearly a parody, though I hope, for the sake of all humanity, that it is.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

teen angst always trumps saving the Universe.. duh.. and EWH..

plus the port on the planet looks like a glowing sphincter.

[tandw.livejournal.com]

...the port on the planet looks like a glowing sphincter.

After you mentioned that, I realized that with the four radial extensions on the left side it looks like some cover artist was making a goatse reference.

The blurb sounds dire.

[kla10.livejournal.com]

Teenage slice-of-life with anvil-dropping Heinlein references? Given my experience with the one Varley I've read (Millenium), I suspect it *could* be a decent book. Whether it is or not? Not worth the gamble

[kla10.livejournal.com]

Also, I'm finding that background image *way* more interesting than the blurb.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

The character names make me think of Heinlein; "Rolling Thunder" makes me think of an anecdote I heard once involving a complicated percussion device and the Grateful Dead.

Grateful Dead + Heinlein = DOES NOT COMPUTE

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

I think it's a Rolling Stones reference. As in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones_(novel)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Definitely not for me. Too many stupid in-jokes for long-term Heinlein fans, and a plot summary that makes me suspect I would soon be throwing the book at something.

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

"Now they are halfway to another star in the gigantic spaceship Rolling Thunder, nearing the speed of light, when their father announces that the ship must be stopped."

Halfway? Near the speed of light? Why am I suddenly seeing Chico Marx in a fake beard?

"So now I tell you how we fly to America. The first time-a we start-a, we get-a half way across when we run out of gasoline and we gotta go back. Then I take-a twice as much-a gasoline. This time we were just about to land, maybe three feet, when what do you think? We run out of gasoline again. And back we go again and get-a more gas. This time I take-a plenty gas. Wella we getta half way over ... when what do you thinka happen? We forgota the airplane."

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Maybe their father just means it's turnaround time and they have to decelerate back down the rest of the way.
(Probably not)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I thought you meant the blurb from Cory Doctorow on the cover, which seems like the opening move in a bait-and-switch.

(I think Varley would do better to cut out the Heinlein pastiches and instead try to pastiche himself circa 1975.)

[seth ellis (from livejournal.com)]

"There are few writers whose work I love more than John Varley's, purely love. So why are you hurting me so bad, John Varley?"