I'm a fan of earlier John Varley work (his Heinlein pastisches didn't work for me, so I stopped reading his novels after he pivoted to those), so when The John Varley Reader came down to $1.99 for the Kindle I bought it. The book is a collection of his short stories, including the award winning ones like Press Enter. A fair number of them are set in the 8 Worlds series, which is some of the best science fiction you'll ever read (I still love Steel Beach).
Even better than getting to read all these great short stories (including one that was supposed to show up in The Last Dangerous Visions, which never got published), is that each story includes an introduction from Varley, frequently providing context as well as autobiographical information about how he came to write it. I thoroughly enjoyed these vignettes into his past, as well as how extraordinary his writing process is. For instance, while other writers enjoy workshopping their stories, he didn't. He'd write them, revised them, and then send them off.
He even explains the difference between the 8 worlds series and the Anna Louisa Bach stories, so by the time you start a new story you understand which universe you're in, and what to expect. The stories spend a lot of time on gender (since in the 8 worlds you can change your gender on a whim), and understandably many of the themes focus on the role of women in society. But they're good stories first and foremost, not preachy or have obvious plots twisted just to make a point.
I enjoyed the collection and can recommend it.
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