History Literature / EightWorlds

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: People are often fitted with a portable force-field generator which operates automatically when they walk from pressurised to unpressurised areas. The force-fields merge when brought together so that people can embrace and even [[ZeroGSpot make love in vacuum]]. Meanwhile, in the rings of Saturn, the Symbs are humans who live in symbiosis with biological, semi-sentient spacesuits. They spend their entire lives in vacuum, the symbiotes providing them with all the oxygen they need and recycling their waste for nutrition via photosynthesis.

The basic premise is that in the not-too-distant future, as humanity is starting to settle other planets in the solar system, some SufficientlyAdvancedAliens come along and simply banish humans from Earth, without even an attempt at communication, let alone negotiation. Without access to Earth, humanity is forced to get along, as best it can, with the eight settled planets and moons of the system. Cut off from its cultural roots, society quickly grows in new and unexpected ways.

* CloningBlues: For a while, there is a law that only one person can own a genotype: all copies must be destroyed. So if you discover that you're an illegal clone, your only hope is to kill your progenitor and replace him/her. Cue several plots.

* AIIsACrapShoot:

* TerminallyDependentSociety: Without access to Earth, society is fragile and very dependent on technology. In ''Steel Beach'', when the Central Computer (CC) [[AIIsACrapshoot goes insane]], they realize just how dependent they are. Even the title ''Steel Beach'' is a metaphoric reference to the problem humanity faces trying to create and expand a society where they're dependent upon technology for everything right down to the air they breath.

* AnythingThatMoves: In ''The Golden Globe'', there's a drug that inflicts this. It's banned because male recipients have [[OutWithABang electrocuted themselves attempting to couple with light sockets.]] It's administered to [[EveryoneIsBi a rare straight character]] so that he'll sleep with his [[VoluntaryShapeshifting technically]] [[GenderBender male]] fellow actor playing Juliet. This performance only, Romeo attempts to hump Friar Laurence's leg! ItMakesSenseInContext.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: People are often fitted with a portable force-field generator which operates automatically when they walk from pressurised to unpressurised areas. The force-fields merge when brought together so that people can embrace and even make love in vacuum. Meanwhile, in the rings of Saturn, the Symbs are humans who live in symbiosis with biological, semi-sentient spacesuits. They spend their entire lives in vacuum, the symbiotes providing them with all the oxygen they need and recycling their waste for nutrition via photosynthesis.

* AnythingThatMoves: In ''The Golden Globe'', there's a drug that inflicts this. It's banned because male recipients have [[DeathBySex electrocuted themselves attempting to couple with light sockets.]] It's administered to [[EveryoneIsBi a rare straight character]] so that he'll sleep with his [[VoluntaryShapeshifting technically]] [[GenderBender male]] fellow actor playing Juliet. This performance only, Romeo attempts to hump Friar Laurence's leg! ItMakesSenseInContext.

Novels in the series include ''The Ophiuchi Hotline'', ''Steel Beach'', and ''The Golden Globe''. ''Steel Beach'' was nominated for a UsefulNotes/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 Ophiuchi Hotline who actually is asexual, retains false genitalia specifically to head off this sort of speculation.

* {{Transgender}}: Common via EasySexChange. Or, from the character's perspective ''uncommon'' due to EasySexChange: the very concept has become obsolete since the changes are complete and the "transition" takes a couple of hours at most.

** [[TheProtagonist The actor protagonist]] of ''The Golden Globe'' equipped himself with a penis that can be turned inside out for use as a vagina, primarily because it doubles his chances of getting roles.

* NoNudityTaboo: More due to obsolescence (sealed environments) than anything else. Most people still wear something as a means of personal expression or badge of office - otherwise how could you tell who's working from who's not? TheissTitillationTheory plays a hand as well; if everyone is nude, nudity is boring. For example, when Cricket is introduced in ''Steel Beach'' she's nude except for a blouse and a newspaper guildsman's fedora, and she mainly wore the blouse because she knew it would catch Hildy's eye better than nudity would.

* {{Transsexual}}: Common via EasySexChange. Or, from the character's perspective ''uncommon'' due to EasySexChange: the very concept has become obsolete since the changes are complete and the "transition" takes a couple of hours at most.

* {{Transexual}}: Common via EasySexChange. Or, from the character's perspective ''uncommon'' due to EasySexChange: the very concept has become obsolete since the changes are complete and the "transition" takes a couple of hours at most.

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]].

* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: more-or-less the premise of the whole series, if you substitute "colonists" for "astronauts".

* NoNudityTaboo: more due to obsolescence (sealed environments) than anything else. Most people still wear something as a means of personal expression or badge of office - otherwise how could you tell who's working from who's not? TheissTitillationTheory plays a hand as well; if everyone is nude, nudity is boring. For example, when Cricket is introduced in ''Steel Beach'' she's nude except for a blouse and a newspaper guildsman's fedora, and she mainly wore the blouse because she knew it would catch Hildy's eye better than nudity would.

* 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. For instance, when Hildy's friend Cricket is introduced wearing only a blouse and a hat. 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.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Played with. Getting kicked off of earth by alien invaders pretty much put the kibosh on most traditional human-centric religions, but people just went on to create a bunch of new religions anyway, including ones that worship the invaders, gluttony, or, in the case of the flacks, fame.

* SecondLawOfGenderBending: rendered irrelevant by EasySexChange.

* Transexual: common via EasySexChange. Or, from the character's perspective ''uncommon'' due to EasySexChange: the very concept has become obsolete since the changes are complete and the "transition" takes a couple of hours at most.
* TrulySingleParent: although it's technically illegal, it's a recurring theme:

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

* {{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 Ophiuchi Hotline who actually is asexual, retains false genitalia specifically to head off this sort of speculation.

** One character in ''The Ophiuchi 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.]]

** In ''Steel Beach'': Opening line: "'In five years, the penis will be obsolete' said the salesman." This subsequent pitch is mostly ignored by the protagonist, since exotic replacement equipment is so mundane advertisers announce the "sexual millenium" on a regular basis.

* TerminallyDependentSociety: Without access to Earth, society is fragile and very dependent on technology. In ''Steel Beach'', when the Central Computer (CC) [[AIIsACrapshoot goes insane]], they realize just how dependent they are.
* ThirdLawOfGenderBending: Despite being a serial GenderBender herself, Hildy Johnson, in ''Steel Beach'', insists that there are still "girl things" and "boy things" when it comes to dress and behavior, because otherwise there would be little point in changing gender in the first place. This serves to underscore that EasySexChange has become so easy in Hildy's world (you can get a sex change in a beauty shop or a tattoo parlor) that some people are willing to change sex just to facilitate a relationship or even just to suit their clothes.

* UnreliableCanon: The novels in the series frequently contradict each other when it comes to matters that could be called canon. Varley has admitted that he doesn't like going back to re-read his old works, and doesn't really care about the overall canon.

* NoNudityTaboo: more due to obsolescence (sealed environments) than anything else. Most people still wear something (even if it's just a hat or a blouse) as a means of personal expression. TheissTitillationTheoryNudity plays a hand as well; if everyone is nude, nudity is boring.

* PornWithPlot: Parodied in ''The Golden Globe'', where the audience expects graphic sex scenes in all media, leading to the actor protagonist performing a very... interesting... version of the balcony scene from Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet''.

* NoNudityTaboo: more due to obsolescence (sealed environments) than anything else. Most people still wear something (even if it's just a hat or a blouse) as a means of personal expression. TheisseTitillationTheoryNudity plays a hand as well; if everyone is nude, nudity is boring.

* NoNudityTaboo: more due to obsolescence (sealed environments) than anything else.

** ''OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank'' (and its infamous film adaptation) has a man whose consciousness is loaded into a computer to keep him alive after his body is misplaced.