J John Herbert Varley was born in Austin, TX on August 9, 1947. He attended Michigan State University, and has been a writer since 1973. Varley won a special Locus Award in 1976, and several other Locus Awards, a Nebula Award in 1978 and 1985, a Prix Apollo in 1978, and is a regular nominee for awards.

His first published work, the short story "Picnic on Nearside", was released in 1974 and was the first work in his "Eight Worlds" Series. This cycle of novels and stories, which include The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977), the collections The Persistence of Vision (1978) and Blue Champagne (1986), Steel Beach (1992), and The Golden Globe (1998), takes place in a future Solar System that has been colonized by human refugees fleeing an alien invasion of Earth.

He is also well known for his "Gaea" trilogy of novels: Titan (1979), Wizard (1980), and Demon (1984), which involve the human exploration of a massive artificial satellite orbiting Saturn that turns out to be controlled by Gaea, a living intelligence. Other novels of Varley include Red Thunder (2003), Mammoth (2005), and Slow Apocalypse (2012).

Varley has won the Hugo Award three times: in 1979 for Best Novella ("The Persistence of Vision"), in 1982 for Best Short Story ("The Pusher"), and in 1985 for Best Novella ("Press Enter"). In addition, "The Persistence of Vision" won the 1979 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and "Press Enter" won it in 1985. He has won the Locus Award ten times, and has also received the 1979 Analog Award for Best Serial Novel or Novella (Titan), the 1982 SF Chronicle Award for Best Novella ("Press Enter"), the 1999 Prometheus Award for Best Libertarian SF Novel ( The Golden Globe), the 2004 Endeavor Award for Distinguished Novel or Collection (Red Thunder), and the 2004 Asimov's Readers Poll Award for Best Novelette (The Bellman).