Varley John. Picnic on Nearside

Picnic on Nearside includes nine astonishing stories from an author whose imagination has changed the genre and the way that people envision the future.Bagatelle. A disgruntled misfit turns himself into an atomic bomb; it's up to the intrepid A.L. Bach to stop him.The Funhouse Effect. Boy is hypnotized to think that an asteroid cruise ship is being taken over by militants; various hijinks ensue.The Barbie Murders. Ms Bach has to track down a killer living among a cult of identical females.Equinoctial. Interesting story of a human-alien symbiote bushwhacked out in the rings of Saturn, and her search for her children. Despite its religion-bashing undertones, this is the best story of the bunch. Varley shows us humanism in a very unexpected place.Manikins. A female shrink interviews a man-killer who is so convincing the shrink deludes herself into thinking the maniac is telling the truth about men's private parts being parasites.Beatnik Bayou. Boy encounters difficulties adjusting to a new teacher; gets in trouble unexpectedly.Good-by Robinson Caruso. Man, regressing to boyhood on a tropical island facsimile, is nearly killed by unexpected technical difficulty.Lollipop and the Tar Baby. Cloned "daughter" deep in space is told by a black hole that her mother is going to kill her. She decides to strike first.Picnic on Nearside. Boy and his friend ditch home, go live with hermit in an abandoned part of the Moon. Once again we're treated to the observation that people crave sin.