The Golden Globe

"This is an engrossing novel by one of the genre's most accomplished storytellers." —Publishers Weekly All the universe is a stage...and Sparky Valentine is its itinerant thespian. He brings Shakespeare—a version of it anyway—to the outer reaches of Earth's solar system. Sparky can transform himself from young to old, fat to thin, even male to female, by altering magnetic implants beneath his skin. Indispensible hardware for a career actor—and an interstellar con man wanted for murder...

Sparky Valentine makes his way from planet to planet as part of a motley theater troupe—the perfect guise for an interstellar con man wanted for murder.

VOYA

This beautifully-crafted science fiction novel will grip readers with its non-stop action. The book is centered on a vagabond actor with a price on his head, whose stage father makes Mrs. Gumm (Judy Garland's mother) look like Parent of the Year. Actor Kenneth Catherine Valentine, a.k.a. Sparky, travels the solar system with his hibernating bichon frisée, Toby; his amazing life-supporting travel trunk; and a guardian angel with the familiar stage name of Elwood P. Dowd. Sparky is pursued by the police, and by an unstoppable Charonese mafia killer as his troubles multiply geometrically. His running began when he was training to play Hamlet, and he hopes to end his career with Lear-if he can live long enough to get back to Luna and the Golden Globe. In flashbacks Sparky leads the reader into his past as he tries to stay alive in the present. Now one hundred years old, Sparky spent twenty-two years as a child star, controlled by his father. Why he abruptly left his successful career for an anonymous life as a theater bum is the mystery that lures the reader. His immediate problems are equally riveting. He, his trunk, and his dog survive an eighty-four-day space flight, as well as a dash around an incomplete space station and a hair's breadth escape on a luxurious ship controlled by a friendly computer ominously named Hal. Woven in with the James Bond-esque fights and getaways are details about the future that will captivate science fiction addicts (including ones readers could predict, such as the issue of protection from computer invasion of privacy). The reader needs, occasionally, to put the book down to catch her breath, but it is impossible to leave it for long. VOYA Codes: 5Q 4P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being better written, Broad general YA appeal, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12 and adults).

John Varley is the author of the Gaean Trilogy (Titan, Wizard, and Demon), Steel Beach, The Golden Globe, Red Thunder, and Mammoth. He has won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards for his work.