The Thunder and Lightning Series

by John Varley

Red Thunder, Red Lightning, and Rolling Thunder—“action-packed, science-packed homages to Heinlein’s best work”—now in one volume (Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing).   Enjoy all three novels in Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author John Varley’s Mars saga!  Red Thunder As Chinese and US spacecraft compete to be the first to land on Mars, a former astronaut, his cousin, and four teens from Florida have a chance to beat them both—thanks to an inventive new power source that can propel them to the Red Planet within three days. No guts, no glory . . .  Red Lightning Son of one of the first men on Mars, Ray Garcia-Strickland is over the Red Planet and its gravity-dependent tourists. And when an unknown object hits Earth and causes a massive tsunami, he’ll get his own chance at interplanetary adventure . . .  Rolling Thunder Stationed on one of Jupiter’s moons, Podkayne, a Martian navy lieutenant and daughter of Ray Garcia-Strickland, is finally realizing her dream of being a singer when disaster strikes. Put into a state of suspended animation, she awakens ten years later to face her—and humanity’s—greatest challenge . . .  Praise for the Thunder and Lightning Series   “Superior science fiction.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer   “Fast paced . . . engaging characters.” —Rocky Mountain News   “Much more than a simple adventure story, full of poignant moments and relevant social commentary.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review   “The heart-pounding space race is on . . . in this riveting SF thriller . . . with hilarious, well-drawn characters, extraordinary situations presented plausibly, plus exciting action and adventure.” —Publishers Weekly

Genres: Science Fiction

1295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 22, 2020

About the author

Full name: John Herbert Varley.

John Varley was born in Austin, Texas. He grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, and graduated from Nederland High School. He went to Michigan State University.

He has written several novels and numerous short stories.He has received both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Reviews

[Bill Ramsell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewers have called John Varley "The Official Heir to Heinlein." I feel that's true in that he often writes good stories with extremely annoying characters. No spoilers. These books are worth reading, but sometimes the protagonists can be annoyingly chirpy.

[Konrad Underkofler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally a fun read, a product of the era it was written in. Formulaic but good, no big surprises. All three novels kept my interest.

[Rob Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book was slow starting, but enjoyed the later parts of the book. The second book in the series was my favorite. I really enjoyed it. The third book was a bit slow, although I did like the mystery of it. Varley is a great writer, who often has poignant insight into our world. His creation of characters is wonderfully rounded.