The Ophiuchi Hotline

by John Varley

What if you had been kicked off your planet by an invading alien culture, what would you do? And how many of you would it take to do it?

John Varley takes us to the future of humanity - again - and its not pretty, but its not ugly, either. Its very, very human. The central character is actually the central characters, since cloning, memory retention and installation, and other technologies necessary for practical immortality have arrived. Of course, being only human, there is a wrinkle or two....

An alien culture, very advanced and perceiving humanity as little more than an infestation, removes humanity from Earth and flings them to The Eight Worlds - formerly colonies of Earth. But there's a plan to get Earth back. Do we really want to? Are the aliens right about humanity? Can we ascend to being their intellectual and moral equals? Or should we just blast 'em to hell?

This is quintessential Varley - imaginative, well-paced, and revolving around the central question "what is being human all about?" Its not one you'll ever put on your top ten list, but it fills the bill for good science fiction; it entertains and makes you think.