The John Varley Reader (99 page)

Bach jerked, showing surprising strength. Her sunken eyes slowly focused on Babcock's face, then she looked down at Joanna and grinned foolishly.

“Isn't she the prettiest thing you ever saw?”

AFTER WORD

Finally, a word about editors.

I can't recall ever meeting an author who didn't have a major or minor horror story about editors. John Brunner once told me that an editor took an entire major character out of one of his books. Just deleted all the sentences that referred to that character. The book made no sense at all. John didn't discover this until the book was published.

I said at the beginning that I feel I've been very lucky. One of the best things has been the editors I have worked with. I don't have a single editor horror story to tell. (Oh, sure, they always need the galleys back yesterday, but that seems to be standard industry practice, nothing anybody can do about it.)

When I was first getting started, Ed Ferman at
F&SF,
Jim Baen at
Galaxy,
and George Scithers and later Gardner Dozois at
Asimov's
were always wonderful, as were Damon Knight, Terry Carr, and David Gerrold. Later, when I started writing novels, I started off with two of the best in the business, Don Bensen and Jim Frenkel, then moved on to an all-too-short association with David Hartwell and John Silbersack. For many years now my editor has been Susan Allison at Penguin /Putnam/Ace/Berkley/Halliburton/Mitsubishi, or whatever they're calling the company these days. She is possibly the most patient editor in the world, and has never lost faith in me no matter how late I am turning in the manuscript. She edited the book you're holding right now, and wouldn't you know it, I finished these introductions a month late.

John Varley
January 2004
Oceano, California

COPYRIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS

“Picnic on Nearside” copyright © 1974 by Mercury Press Inc. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
(August 1974).

“Overdrawn at the Memory Bank” copyright © 1976 by UPD Publishing Corp. Originally published in
Galaxy
(May 1976).

“In the Hall of the Martian Kings” copyright © 1976 by Mercury Press Inc. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
(February 1977).

“Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” copyright © 1976 by UPD Publishing Corp. Originally published in
Galaxy
(July 1976).

“The Barbie Murders” copyright © 1978 by Davis Publications. Originally published in
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
(February 1978).

“The Phantom of Kansas” copyright © 1976 by UPD Publishing Corp. Originally published in
Galaxy
(February 1976).

“Beatnik Bayou” copyright © 1980 by John Varley. Originally published in
New Voices, Vol. 3,
Berkley Books: 1980.

“Air Raid” copyright © 1977 by Davis Publications. Originally published in
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
(Spring 1977).

“The Persistence of Vision” copyright © 1978 by Mercury Press Inc. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
(March 1978).

“PRESS ENTER ■” copyright © 1984 by Davis Publications. Originally published in
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
(May 1984).

“The Pusher” copyright © 1981 by Mercury Press Inc. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
(October 1981).

“Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo” copyright © 1986 by John Varley. Originally published in
Blue Champagne,
Dark Harvest Books: 1986.

“Options” copyright © 1979 by Terry Carr. First appeared in
Universe 9,
Doubleday Books: 1979.

“Just Another Perfect Day” copyright © 1989 by John Varley. First appeared in
Twilight Zone
(June 1989).

“In Fading Suns and Dying Moons” copyright © 2003 by John Varley. First appeared in
Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian,
Daw Books: 2003.

“The Flying Dutchman” copyright © 1998 by John Varley. First appeared in
Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny,
Avon Eos: 1998.

“Good Intentions” copyright © 1992 by John Varley. First appeared in
Playboy
(November 1992).

“The Bellman” copyright © 2004 by John Varley.