I loved John Varley's stories when I read them the first time back in 1996. At the time, I gave his collections Blue Champagne and The Persistence of Vision four-star ratings. My notes from back then are pretty dodgy, so I can't tell you exactly what I found so appealing about his stories, but I can definitely tell you that their appeal has faded somewhat. When I read Varley for the first time, I don't remember being hit over the head by his hippie-dippy free-love viewpoint, but reading this collection, my reaction was shock at how front-and-center and consistent that viewpoint is.

In this collection, I truly liked "Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo", "Good Intentions" (primarily for the obvious secondary reading with George W. as one of the primary characters), and "The Bellman". Most of the other stories are pretty good, but not quite as good as I remembered.