''Titan'' is a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novel by American writer
John Varley John Varley may refer to:
* John Varley (canal engineer) (1740–1809), English canal engineer
* John Varley (painter) (1778–1842), English painter and astrologer
* John Varley (author) (born 1947), American science fiction author
* John Silvest ...
, the first book in his
Gaea Trilogy
The ''Gaea Trilogy'' consists of three science fiction novels by John Varley. The stories tell of humanity's encounter with a living being in the shape of a 1,300 km diameter Stanford torus, inhabited by many different species, most notably the ...
, published in 1979. It won the 1980
Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
The Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award f ...
and was nominated for both the
Nebula Award
The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...
for
Best Novel in 1979, and the
Hugo Award
The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...
for
Best Novel in 1980.
Plot
A scientific expedition to the planet
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
in 2025, aboard the ship ''Ringmaster'', discovers a strange satellite in orbit around the planet. Commanding the ship is Cirocco Jones, a tall
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
career woman, aided by astronomer Gaby Plauget, the clone twin physicists April and August Polo, pilot Eugene Springfield, physician Calvin Greene and engineer Bill (whose last name is never given).
As they reach the satellite they realize it is a huge hollow torus, a
Stanford torus
The Stanford torus is a proposed NASA design for a space habitat capable of housing 10,000 to 140,000 permanent residents.
The Stanford torus was proposed during the 1975 NASA Summer Study, conducted at Stanford University, with the purpose o ...
habitat. Before they can report this, the ship is entangled in cables from the object. The crew is rendered unconscious and later wake up inside the habitat. Initially separated, Cirroco and Gaby find each other and travel together through the world inside the torus to find the rest of the crew.
They find Calvin living as a companion inside a ''Blimp'', an intelligent gasbag a kilometer long, one of many that swim forever in the air inside the habitat. Calvin can speak to the blimp and understand its responses, which consist of whistles. His blimp's name is ''Whistlestop'', in human terms. Calvin helps Gaby and Cirocco find the other crew members (except April). He ultimately decides to leave his human companions to live with the blimp permanently.
The remaining companions encounter the
Titanides, strange
centaur
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
-like beings who speak a language based on music. Cirocco finds she has the ability to speak their language. The Titanides are in a perpetual state of war with the Angels, birdlike humanoid creatures. They fight because of an impulse that occurs when they are near each other, but do not know why they have the impulse.
The humans learn from the Titanides that the torus itself is alive, and a controlling intelligence, called ''Gaea'', lives in the hub of the torus 600 km above them. Cirocco, Gaby, and Gene decide to climb up to this place using the support cables that maintain the structure against centrifugal force. During the journey, Gene's behavior becomes increasingly erratic. He rapes and assaults Gaby and leaves her for dead, and then rapes Cirocco. However, Gaby is not dead and rescues Cirocco, cutting off Gene's ear with a hatchet and destroying his face. The two women continue climbing for months. High in one of the spokes of the great wheel they find April, who has been transformed into an angel. She, like the other Angels, is solitary by nature, and can hardly bear to be near them.
Finally reaching the hub, they discover Gaea, who presents herself as a frumpy middle aged woman. She explains that the great wheel is very old. Some of the regional intelligences around the rim have rebelled against the center, and it was one of these regional intelligences that captured the ''Ringmaster'' and altered its crew, not Gaea herself. Gaea rescued them and, unable to change them back, placed them where they would be happy.
Gaea has been watching television signals from Earth and is obsessed by movies, especially from Hollywood's Golden Age. Having seen war movies, and deciding that humanity will inevitably declare war on her, the Titanide-Angel war was a way for her to practice.
Gaea offers to give Cirocco a long life and unusual abilities in exchange for being Gaea's agent at the Rim, her ''Wizard''. Cirocco accepts, with the condition that the war between the Titanides and Angels must stop.
Awards
*Nebula Award nominee, 1979
*Locus Award winner, 1980
*Hugo Award nominee, 1980
References
External links
Titanat Worlds Without End
Gaea the Mad Titanfan site of the Gaean Trilogy
{{Locus Award Best SF Novel
American science fiction novels
1979 American novels
1979 science fiction novels
LGBT speculative fiction novels
Novels by John Varley
Space exploration novels
Fiction set on Titan (moon)
Berkley Books books
Fiction set in 2025