John Varley

writer
Short Story

Air Raid


Mandy snatches doomed people from the past in order to populate her war-decimated time.
I had to choose between a panic if the fathead got them to thinking, and a possible panic from the flash of the gun. But when a 20th gets to talking about his “rights” and what he is “owed,&rdauo; things can get out of hand.
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  • Eloi Bronze Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story
No image currently available.
  • Science Fiction
  • No Time Phenomena
Novel

Millennium


When the snatchers leave two stun guns in the 20th century, we see the story from the viewpoints of Louise Baltimore (Mandy’s boss) and Bill Smith (head of an NTSB investigation, no relation to Woodrow “Bill” Smith so far as I know).
The crew had to stun just about everybody. The only bright spot was the number we’d managed to shuffle through during the thinning phase. The rest would have to go through on our backs.
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  • Eloi Bronze Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Millennium


Cheryl Ladd plays Louise Baltimore opposite Kris Kristopherson’s Bill Smith in this movie adaptation of Varley’s novel (1983), although on-screen credit is given only to his earlier short story “Air Raid” (1977). —Michael Main
For one thing, paradoxes can occur. Say you build a time machine, go backwards in time and murder your father when he was ten years old. That means you were never born. And if you were never born, how did you build the time machine? Paradox! It's the possibility of wiping out your own existence that makes most people rule out time-travel. Still, why not? If you were careful, you could do it.
A passenger jet flies into a starburst of light.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Novel

Mammoth


No image currently available.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel