History Literature / EightWorlds

** preventing this drives the plot of "OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank".
** a pain fetishist assassin is quickly driven insane by a paralytic toxin that deadens all sensation except sight and sound in ''TheGoldenGlobe''.

Novels in the series include ''The Ophiuchi Hotline'', ''Steel Beach'', and ''The Golden Globe''. ''Steel Beach'' was nominated ofor a HugoAward in 1993. The 1979 short story, "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank", was made into a [[Film/OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank Made-For-TV movie]].

* {{Asexual}} a recognized orientation bound to be mentioned any time Varley introduces a character without apparent genitals. For example, Hildy briefly wonders what her apprentice Brenda's lack of genitalia implies before concluding that it's none of her business. Boss Tweed, a character in Opiuchi Hotline who actually is asexual, retains false genitalia specifically to head off this sort of speculation.

** ''The Opiuchi Hotline'': Having a partner who is attentive to your needs is more important than their nominal (or in some cases, purely notational) gender.

** Finally, ''The Opiuchi Hotline'' has literal [[MaleToFemaleUniversalAdaptor male to female universal adaptors]] that allow characters who go in for radically modified genitals to "dally" with their more conservative counterparts.

** One character in ''The Opiuchi Hotline'' is a spacer who has used MagicPlasticSurgery to [[{{Transhuman}} modify her body until she's literally just a cylinder with an arm on each end.]] Varley's protagonist gives her credit for coming up with a very creative solution for the question of where a crotchless woman would keep her genitals but Varley (perhaps wisely) [[FetishFuel doesn't specify what that solution was.]]

* {{Transhuman}}: The series is filled with transhumanism. Even though human genetic experimentation is technically illegal there's always surgery, symbionts, cybernetics and nanotechnology so it's not unusual for people to modify their bodies (sometimes radically) to suit a specific environment, fad, fetish, or job. While the people who go for the most radical physical modifications tend to be professional spacers (who tend to discard things like legs and feet that are not very useful in zero gravity) most people are so cyberized the lunar central computer admits to tapping the unused portions of their brains for additional processing power. In ''The Opiuchi Hotline'' society has become so fluid that the very concept of humanity is breaking down even as aliens who are even further along that path offer to adopt "human" as their cultural identity since they've lost nearly all semblance of their own.

* SpaceAmish: ''The Golden Globe'' includes genuine Amish living on the moon, who befriend Sparky at one point. They are just like the real Amish in that they are they are neither ignorant of nor resistant to the modern world surrounding them, they're just very particular about which aspects of that world they choose to accept.

* Transexual: common via EasySexChange.

* OurNudityIsDifferent: Hildy points out that even though nudity is entirely practical in Luna's artificial environments most people still wear some clothing, primarily as a means of personal expression. Many professions, guilds and unions have distinctive uniforms with varying degrees of formality--otherwise it's hard to tell who is working and who isn't, as some "professions" (like the Hod Carriers) involve nothing more than wearing the uniform while standing around. At least One cult ("The Barbies") rejects clothing entirely exactly because it is a means of personal expression.

* {{Narcicist}}: Hildy Johnson's festering TellMeAboutMyFather frustation is made all the worse by her mother Callie's tendency to treat her as an accessory. It's implied that anyone over 200 has to be at least a little narcicistic to avoid succumbing to WhoWantsToLiveForever. Ironically, though it's Callie who calls Brenda's attention to this problem on a societal level she does not appear to recognize it on a personal level; she certainly makes no effort to change.

* KingIncognito: Sparky Valentine is a metaphorical version, lampshaded by his final role: King Lear

* KingIncognito: Sparky Valentine is supposedly the greatest (and, as we later find out, certainly the richest) theatrical geniuses of his era, but he has spent most of his life as a fugitive living a hand-to-mouth existence as an itinerant actor in the outer solar system. The role that brings him back to Luna to face his fate? King Lear.

* KingIncognito: Sparky, if

* {{Narcicisst}}: Hildy Johnson's festering TellMeAboutMyFather frustation is made all the worse by her mother Callie's tendency to dismiss her as little more than an accessory to her own life.

* KingIncognito:Sparky Valentine.

Novels in the series include ''The Ophiuchi Hotline'', ''Steel Beach'', and ''The Golden Globe''. ''Steel Beach'' was nominated for a HugoAward in 1993. The 1979 short story, "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank", was made into a [[Film/OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank Made-For-TV movie]].

* AndIMustScream: preventing this drives the plot of "OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank". And a pain fetishist assassin is quickly driven insane by a paralytic toxin that deadens all sensation except sight and sound in ''TheGoldenGlobe''.

* AndIMustScream: preventing this drives the plot o"OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank". And a pain fetishist assassin is quickly driven insane by a paralytic toxin that deadens all sensation except sight aND sLund in ''TheGoldenGlobe''.

* AttractiveBentGender: In ''Steel Beach'', protagonist Hildy Johnson starts out as a fairly standard looking male but, [[EasySexChange after a high tech sex-change]] (a common motif in Varley's work), becomes a stunning woman. Unlike most examples of this, with Hildy it's intentional -- [[ MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial he/she doesn't care what he looks like as a man but wants to be the most attractive woman she can be]] (plus the body artist owes her a favor).

* AttractiveBentGender: In ''Steel Beach'', protagonist Hildy Johnson starts out as a fairly standard looking male but, [[EasySexChange after a high tech sex-change]] (a common motif in Varley's work), becomes a stunning woman. Unlike most examples of this, with Hildy it's intentional -- he/she doesn't care what he looks like as a man but wants to be the most attractive woman she can be (plus the body artist owes her a favor).

* OurNudityIsDifferent: Hildy points out that even though nudity is entirely practical in Luna's artificial environments most people still wear some clothing, primarily as a means of personal expression. At least One cult ("The Barbies") rejects clothing entirely exactly because it is a means of personal expression.

* InscrutableAliens: Those which took everybody from Earth.

* FormerChildStar: Kenneth Valentine of ''The Golden Globe'' is a seriously messed-up example, although, unlike the classic version, he's trying to hide from his past rather than wishing he could relive his glory days. He's actually a first-rate actor, but he avoids taking major roles because he doesn't want people to make the connection between him and "Sparky" (the role that made him famous as a kid).

** In ''Steel Beach'' "CC", the lunar Central Computer, has grown beyond human comprehension. Which could be a problem, considering it's literally linked to everything, including the population itself through their various implants. And it's hurting

* {{Transhuman}}: The series is filled with transhumanism. Even though human genetic experimentation is technically illegal there's always surgery, symbionts, cybernetics and nanotechnology so it's not unusual for people to modify their bodies (sometimes radically) to suit a specific environment, fad, fetish, or job. While the people who go for the most radical physical modifications tend to be professional spacers (who tend to discard things like legs and feet that are not very useful in zero gravity) most people are so cyberized the lunar central computer admits to tapping the unused portions of their brains for additional processing power.
** In the ''Opiuchi Hotline'' society has become so fluid that the very concept of humanity is breaking down even as aliens who are even further along that path offer to adopt "human" as their cultural identity since they've lost nearly all semblance of their own.

** in a more literal example, many lunar professions use hats as badges. For instance, reporters who want to be identified as reporters typically wear a battered gray fedora with a card that says PRESS tucked into the band.

** At the end of ''The Golden Globe'', the wreck of the Heinlein is refitted and relaunched as an interstellar starship.

* CompleteMonster: The Charonese. ANY Charonese.

** ''The Opiuchi Hotline'': Having a partner who is attentive to you needs is more important than their nominal (or in some cases, purely notational) gender.

* AIIsACrapShoot: "CC", the lunar Central Computer, has grown beyond human comprehension. Which could be a problem, considering it's literally linked to everything, including the population itself through their various implants. And it's hurting

* {{Fingore}}: In ''The Golden Globe'', Sparky slices off the thumb of an assassin who is after him. With a chainsaw. He keeps it in a thermos of dry ice. This might be partly revenge for the fact that the assassin had sliced off the fingers of a violinist friend of his.

* FreeLoveFuture: With gender-changes so commonplace, and even ExoticEquipment options available to all, traditional mores are hard-pressed to keep up. Though, of course, some traditionalists do still prefer the old ways. Varley does not shrink from exploring the positive or the negative implications