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The Black Hole Passes

John Varley

First published June 1975
Type Short Fiction
Length Novelette
Series Eight Worlds

Synopsis

When a distant star cluster is discovered to be beaming a stream of data to a location outside of the Solar System, a man and woman located in separate satellites in competition to capture and analyze the stream for useful information communicate with each other and fall in love; but they are endangered when a black hole follows a trajectory which passes near their stations.

Awards

YearAwardCategoryStatus
1976 Locus Poll Award Best Novelette Nominee/Finalist

Publications (16)

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
June 1975 The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1975 Mercury Press, Inc. MAGAZINE 5
1977 SF Choice 77 Quartet Books Anthology 80
July 1978 The Persistence of Vision The Dial Press/James Wade / SFBC Collection 71
July 1978 The Persistence of Vision The Dial Press/James Wade Collection 82
September 1978 In the Hall of the Martian Kings Sidgwick & Jackson Collection 82
October 1978 In the Hall of the Martian Kings Orbit / Futura Collection 82
August 1979 The Persistence of Vision Dell Collection 82
August 1979 The Persistence of Vision Dell Collection 82
March 1981 Quantum Special 2 Sidgwick & Jackson Omnibus 82
November 1984 The Persistence of Vision Berkley Books Collection 75
April 1988 The Persistence of Vision Ace Books Collection 75
September 2008 The Persistence of Vision Audible Studios Collection |5
August 2009 The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF Running Press Anthology 282
August 2009 The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF Robinson Anthology 282
August 2009 The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF Robinson Anthology
April 2013 Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe and Other Stories Subterranean Press Collection 291