Press Enter

Korean War veteran Victor Apfel discovers his neighbor, Charles Kluge, has died and bequeathed a significant inheritance to him. The Los Angeles Police Department is satisfied that Kluge has died by suicide, but a parallel investigation by Caltech computer expert Lisa Foo reveals that Kluge was hacking into dangerous, secretive government agencies that may have been involved in his death. Foo and Apfel become involved romantically as she follows Kluge's trail, exposing them to the same dangers.

• 1987: Seiun Award - Foreign Short Fiction (Best Translated Short Story){{cite web |url=http://prizesworld.com/prizes/sf/siun.htm |title=星雲賞受賞作・参考候補作一覧 |trans-title=List of The Seiun Awards Winners & Candidates |accessdate=2016-03-25 |language=Japanese }}
• 1985: Hugo Award - Novella
• 1985: Nebula Award - Novella
• 1985: Locus Award - Novella
• 1985: Science Fiction Chronicle Readers Poll - Novella[https://varley.net/story/press-enter/ Press Enter, Awards], varley.net

N. Katherine Hayles noted the novella exhibited "a phobic reaction to the connection [between humans and a computer network] as an unbearable form of intimacy", with the precise moment of connecting being when Apfel first receives an automated phone call at the start of the story. Foo is more explicitly described as a cyborg, both for her breast implants (which she uses for mammary intercourse, calling the act "touring the silicone valley") and her computer expertise.{{cite book |url=https://monoskop.org/images/e/eb/Wolmark_Jenny_ed_Cybersexualities_A_Reader_in_Feminist_Theory_Cyborgs_and_Cyberspace_1999.pdf#page=166 |title=Cybersexualities: A Reader on Feminist Theory, Cyborgs and Cyberspace |chapter=8 {{!}} The Life Cycle of Cyborgs: Writing the Posthuman |author=Hayles, N. Katherine |date=1999 |editor=Wolmark, Jenny |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=0-7486-1118-5 |pages=157–173 |author-link=N. Katherine Hayles}}{{rp|160;166}} Donna Haraway is displeased with the manner and violence with which one character is killed, calling it "excessive destruction".{{cite book |url=https://monoskop.org/images/e/eb/Wolmark_Jenny_ed_Cybersexualities_A_Reader_in_Feminist_Theory_Cyborgs_and_Cyberspace_1999.pdf#page=323 |title=Cybersexualities: A Reader on Feminist Theory, Cyborgs and Cyberspace |chapter=17 {{!}} The Promises of Monsters: A Regenerative Politics for Inappropriate/d Others |author=Haraway, Donna |date=1999 |editor=Wolmark, Jenny |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=0-7486-1118-5 |pages=314–366 |author-link=Donna Haraway}}{{rp|355}}

The names of many of the characters are inside jokes based on the computer brands and culture at the time: "Victor Apfel" combines the German for Apple with either (or both) the VIC-20 and/or Victor Technology, a popular European computer manufacturer; Lisa was the predecessor of the Macintosh, Foo a programming term for an otherwise unidentified object, "Kluge" a term (usually kludge) for a cobbled-together system, and so on with several other names.

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• {{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/Asimovs_v08n05_1984-05/page/n109/mode/2up |title=PRESS ENTER{{swatch inline|#000| }} |first=John |last=Varley |author-link=John Varley (author) |date=May 1984 |volume=8 |number=5 |magazine=Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine |publisher=Davis Publications |location=New York City |pages=110–168 |url-access=registration}}

{{John Varley (author)}}

{{Hugo Award Best Novella}}

{{Locus Award Best Novella}}

{{Nebula Award Best Novella}}

Category:1984 short stories

Category:Nebula Award for Best Novella–winning works

Category:Hugo Award for Best Novella–winning works

Category:Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction

Category:Short stories by John Varley (author)

Category:Locus Award–winning works