"Titan" by John Varley. NY: Berkley/G. P. Putnam, (1979). First edition. Jacket art by Ron Walotsky
In the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama,” and Larry Niven’s “Ringworld,” John Varley’s “Titan” is an astronomically huge wheel-shaped structure in orbit around the planet Saturn. Captain Cirocco “Rocky” Jones and her crew aboard the ship “Ringmaster” discover the awesome structure and, as they approach, they realize it is hollow and can only be an artifact of alien intelligence. Before they have a chance to establish orbit around it, it sends out tentacles, pulls the “Ringmaster” apart, and draws the crew deep inside its bowels. There they remain, isolated from one another, in a state of near-total sensory deprivation, while the alien intelligence works its mysteries on their minds.
After an unknown period of time, Rocky and her crew are disgorged into Titan’s incredible internal world – an organic fairyland which they share with centaurs, harpies, angels, mudfish, not-quite-kangaroos, whale-like things that sail through the sky and other products of some truly wild imagination. Though this world seems benign, almost a paradise, Rocky is too well trained to accept it at face value. She sets about to find her crew, re-establish her command, and find out what makes this place tick.
"Titan" by John Varley. NY: Berkley/G. P. Putnam, (1979). First edition. Jacket art by Ron Walotsky
In the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama,” and Larry Niven’s “Ringworld,” John Varley’s “Titan” is an astronomically huge wheel-shaped structure in orbit around the planet Saturn. Captain Cirocco “Rocky” Jones and her crew aboard the ship “Ringmaster” discover the awesome structure and, as they approach, they realize it is hollow and can only be an artifact of alien intelligence. Before they have a chance to establish orbit around it, it sends out tentacles, pulls the “Ringmaster” apart, and draws the crew deep inside its bowels. There they remain, isolated from one another, in a state of near-total sensory deprivation, while the alien intelligence works its mysteries on their minds.
After an unknown period of time, Rocky and her crew are disgorged into Titan’s incredible internal world – an organic fairyland which they share with centaurs, harpies, angels, mudfish, not-quite-kangaroos, whale-like things that sail through the sky and other products of some truly wild imagination. Though this world seems benign, almost a paradise, Rocky is too well trained to accept it at face value. She sets about to find her crew, re-establish her command, and find out what makes this place tick.