Robinson, Spider

Average customer rating:

A middling effort
I hate internal errors
The ghost of RAH!
Variable Star, by Spider Robinson
Like, dislike, and ambivalent

Variable Star
Robert A. Heinlein , and Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 076531312X
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Book Description

A never-before-published masterpiece from science fiction's greatest writer, rediscovered after more than half a century.When Joel Johnston first met Jinny Hamilton, it seemed like a dream come true. And when she finally agreed to marry him, he felt like the luckiest man in the universe.nbsp;There was just one small problem. He was broke. His only goal in life was to become a composer, and he knew it would take years before he was earning enough to support a family.But Jinny wasn't willing to wait. And when Joel asked her what they were going to do for money, she gave him a most unexpected answer. She told him that her name wasn't really Jinny Hamilton---it was Jinny Conrad, and she was the granddaughter of Richard Conrad, the wealthiest man in the solar system. nbsp;And now that she was sure that Joel loved her for herself, not for her wealth, she revealed her family's plans for him---he would be groomed for a place in the vast Conrad empire and sire a dynasty to carry on the family business.Most men would have jumped at the opportunity. But Joel Johnston wasn't most men. To Jinny's surprise, and even his own, he turned down her generous offer and then set off on the mother of all benders. And woke up on a colony ship heading out into space, torn between regret over his rash decision and his determination to forget Jinny and make a life for himself among the stars.He was on his way to succeeding when his plans--and the plans of billions of others--were shattered by a cosmic cataclysm so devastating it would take all of humanity's strength and ingenuity just to survive.

Customer Reviews:

A middling effort.......2007-06-24

This book is a strange one, with a strange history. Way back in 1955 (before my father was born), Robert Heinlein wrote a partial outline for a juvenile novel and, for whatever reason, opted not to write it. Fast forward a half-century, and Spider Robinson (whose Callahan's Bar stories are a must-read, by the way), was commissioned to write a novel from said outline. The results are mixed.

Don't get me wrong-I enjoyed myself through and through. It's a good, fun, brisk read. But it does have a few annoyances. 1) It chooses to, for no reason I can see, use not Heinlein's Future History, but rather an offshoot of Heinlein's Future History. Why? Those who don't know Heinlein well won't get it, and those who do know the History will be annoyed by the off-shooting continuity. I know I was. 2) It pulls one of my big pet peeves in science fiction-namely, pop culture references. As though people will be quoting The Simpsons in the 23rd Century. Right. 3) The deus ex machina at the end. I won't spoil it, but it's not foreshadowed or possible to pre-conceive at all. It's a cheat, and it bugged me. Personally, I thought that it was building to an entirely different ending (and my ending rocked, by the way), and so I was annoyed when the rug was pulled out.

However, let me repeat that the above represent mostly annoyances. I think that both Heinlein and Robinson fans will enjoy this one. It's a fun read. But not much more than a fun read, I'm afraid.

I hate internal errors.......2007-06-08

The first Heinlein I read was Farmer in the Sky in a US Army dependent's school library in Germany about 1950, and it started me on SF. I sat at his table at the L5 Conference in Houston at the Saturday night banquet in 1983 as one of the first two to register. Spider is also a longtime favorite of mine.

Spider took on an impossible task and the result is an interesting read-once for me. Definitely not in the top rank of either writer.

But what really bugs me is that despite multiple readings by many people before publication, two errors slipped through, and the greater share of the blame would seem to go to the editor and publisher.

The minor one is that the name of the Prophet Nehemiah Scudder is missing the 'h', as in Nehemia.

The second relates to internal consistency, always a bugbear of SF. Early in the voyage, Joel learns that his roomie Herb is a telepath who can communicate with his twin sister Li back on Earth. Later on page 128 [first edition], it's stated that only identical twins have this talent.

Without internal consistency, and explanations of differences from our world, it's fantasy; not SF. In our world, identical twins are the same sex. That's the definition of identical. Duh.

Good SF demands that we suspend some disbelief to enter the world of the author, but it also demands that the universe the author creates must be internally consistent, and that differences from our world be explained.

I might overlook this in a new author from a small publisher. But given the reputations of Spider and Heinlein, this just ruined the book for me, and dropped my rating by one star.

Didn't anyone with an attention span long enough to find this read it before it was printed?

The ghost of RAH!.......2007-05-08

I can see Heinlein in this book, but am disappointed in the modernization process Spider Robinson used.
I know Heinlein wanted to be a lot more graphic in his descriptions of Sexual encounters, and use language that is considered profane, but his editors were able to keep him from doing that.
I for one enjoyed the fact that he created cuss words and phrases rather than use the words we use today. I got a kick out of his catch sayings as well.
Spider use the "F" word way too much. He also does some fart jokes which don't stay in line with RAH's writing. For these reasons, I am disappointed. But, all in all, this is a good book, and is otherwise a good RAH novel.

Variable Star, by Spider Robinson.......2007-04-24

Variable Star was not written by Robert Heinlein. Its plot, characters, and setting may have been devised and drawn out by the late Science Fiction master, but the gaps most certainly show whenever Robinson attempts to fill them in. I'll admit that I'm quite a Heinlein fan, and I loved the first half of this book more than any another Heinlen I've read. It has a catchy premise that reels you into a fantastic world, with a main character that is perfect in his quirkiness and authenticity.

Most good works of fiction make the reader grip the page during the climax, putting all other responsibilities aside until the plot is resolved. Variable Star is the first book I've read in recent memory that made me feel this way during the exposition and the initial chapters. The setting, the characters, and other elements in the novel are fascinating, especially because it deals heavily with one man's internal struggle to make sense of his own world, instead of the bloody (and predictable) conflict-based plots that are all-too-common in SciFi today.

However, halfway through the book, this came screeching to a halt. The trademark Heinlein references (including everyone's favorite, line marriages) still kept flowing, but the writing seemed rushed, the plot seemed forced, and the characters simply became less believable. I won't ruin it, but the climax of the novel was brought on by one of the worst plot devices I've ever read in published fiction and solved by a deus ex machina that was only slightly better. I finished the book with my jaw agape, trying to piece together the sheer ridiculousness of the events I had just read. There is a fine line between unbelievable and absurd coincidences, and Robinson stepped far over it in an attempt to conclude what was obviously an unfinished Heinlein novel.

However, I was willing to suspend disbelief, and don't give the work such a low rating simply for being unpredictable. My greater concern was that Spider Robinson couldn't help but make a political point whenever he saw a chance. I know that Heinlein (like Orwell, Asimov, Gibson, Stevenson, and other SciFi authors) writes books that express political messages, but I've never seen this done so tactlessly. Robinson is obviously disturbed by America's reaction to the September 11th attacks and subsequent invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. However, instead of using fictional events as a metaphor, he has the gall to refer to them directly.

I almost had to put the book down at the point in the novel when one of the characters began referring to the "nineteen killers" and the "Christian superpower" that "crushed two tiny bystander nations." I'll admit that I'm as loony of a liberal as you'll get and agree with Robinson in principle, but this application was simply inappropriate for a science fiction novel set two hundred years in the future. I know that the Iraq war is a farce, Spider. I simply don't want to hear about it when I read a novel about colonizing the stars.

Like, dislike, and ambivalent.......2007-03-21

Oh, boy, I wanted to love, like, and treasure this novel. I can't. I have tried. Like Spider and so many others I discovered RAH when I was very young and read him voraciously and count him as one of, if not the, major influence in my life. (Is it not amazing that the previous sentence is repeated by people all over the world?) I have read and applauded Mr. Robinson's famous essay on RAH. I cannot imagine the daunting task, his unworthy feeling at being given the task of putting flesh on the bones of the outline and finishing an unfinished Heinlein novel. He could not turn down the offer of this project; yet he painted a large bull's-eye target on his forehead by doing so.

And for that target: the following slings and arrows. This reads many times as a square peg in a round hole. In truth, how could it not? Conceived in the 1950's and finished in the 21st century, the era that SF writers were earnestly using as a canvas. I started off enchanted by the quotes, play on words, names, and new twists on the Heinlein canon. By the end of the read this became a tiresome game when it became obvious that the book was more interested in being clever than advancing a plot. In addition, there were times when a character would make a point by hammering it home to the reader for page after page. Heinlein's juveniles were tightly plotted and did not assume that the reader needed handholding when he introduced technical or philosophical thoughts. These items advanced the character to the point it needed to for the novel's sake and then he went on. Here the reader is pounded upon until he cries uncle. I might say that Spider found Heinlein's "voice" - but this is the one RAH used when he preached too much in his final novels. (Yes, I know why and I was OK with it because it was the master speaking.)

Regarding the tangential infomercial for Buddhism; I didn't mind it -- much. But I kept hearing Lazarus Long whispering "One man's theology is another man's belly laugh."

The references to pop culture and current events were jarring within the narrative. This fictional world had been taken over by a theocracy and then had a revolution that overthrew it. The references to 20th/21st century events when the 18 year-old narrator was making a point were incongruous. E.G. the main character states that the first film to take space travel seriously was Star Wars. Hmmm...first I wanted to put my finger on the page and say "Whoa, let's discuss this for a second." Is Mr. Robinson aware of the details of spaceflight that are subtle, but there, in Destination Moon? And a few other non-Heinlein examples? But mostly I had trouble suspending the disbelief that a world two centuries from now having been through religious, moral, and economic revolution would have a young narrator referring to a space-opera from 1979. Gratuitous, I thought.

OK, now some praise. How can it be rated? A good experiment? The afterward makes clear that the publishers wanted SR to write his own novel based on Heinlein's ideas. Writing in another author's universe has been done before and the results are as varied as the writers. And what we have is a Spider Robinson novel. From that standpoint it is an OK effort on his part. But there are two names above the title of the book, forever linked. That will be enough to ensure that this will be judged differently from Spider's other work. I feel there will always be those who like, dislike, and the ambivalent. Nothing really bad about that. But it is not the resounding endorsement that an author cares for, either.

Time Travellers Strictly Cash (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon)

Average customer rating:

Wishful thinking?

Time Travellers Strictly Cash (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon)
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
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ASIN: 0812572289

Book Description

Human or otherwise, regardless of race, creed or dimension of origin, if you're looking for a good time in a place where the beer is always flowing, and the stories always out of this world, step up to the bar at Callahan's. There'll be tales--Oh, are there tales! Like the one about a loud-mouthed time traveler who capitalized on a rip in the space-time continuum; or the one about Ralph the talking, gin-drinking German Shepherd created by a demented genius shrink. But don't believe us. Ask Ralph. He'll tell you himself. Also don't forget to watch out for the deadly toasts--especially the Melba toast! And above all, remember....Time Travelers Strictly Cash.

Customer Reviews:

Wishful thinking?.......2003-05-29

Robinson's Callahan books are always emotional wringers, and though this is not restricted to Callahan stories, the others also have that same empathy. You may see some of the same stories (Fivesight, God is an Iron) elsewhere, but in this collection they also come with anecdotes and a bit of explanation that can be as entertaining as the stories themselves. I highly recommend it, not least because it is ideally structured to read in small doses, and so can fit into a busy schedule!

Average customer rating:

Nice idea, but dreadful execution
Bar jokes, beers for everyone, and smash your glass, Sir!
Some of us at Callahan's are pretty fair empaths....
A marvelous blend of sci-fi, humor, and compassion
Aorta Try to Quit Laughing!

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812572270

Book Description

Callahan's Place is the neighborhood tavern to all of time and space, where the regulars are anything but. Pull up a chair, grab a glass of your favorite, and listen to the stories spun by time travelers, cybernetic aliens, telepaths....and a bunch of regular folks on a mission to save the world, one customer at a time.

Customer Reviews:

Nice idea, but dreadful execution.......2005-10-18

I didn't like this book one little bit. Not to say it's offensive. Just dull, predictable, and, well, I hate to say this, but immature.

Let me preface this by saying that Spider Robinson has some sweet ideas about humanity. His notion that a bunch of people getting together to share their pain and joy is very nice. It's not that I'm cynical (Well, I AM cynical) but it just never comes across as very believable.

None of these characters seem real to me at all. Worse, they all seem like the same guy. They all find the same things funny. They all talk the same, all have the same attitude about life. And never once did I find them remotely interesting, hence it was hard to find them very likable.

As for the humor, I guess I just don't get it. It's lifeless stuff without much punch. And puns? Dear God, who outside of a ten year old thinks puns are that funny? Maybe one or two, but come on, a whole book of them gets old fast.

Robinson's immaturity is the real handicap, made evident by his unsophisticated sense of humor and lack of in depth characters. Even more obvious, like a little boy uncomfortable with the opposite sex, there are very few female characters in the story, which doesn't really bother me, but says something about the writer.

That said, there are plenty of people who enjoy Callahan's, even love it. I guess I'm just not one of them.

Bar jokes, beers for everyone, and smash your glass, Sir!.......2004-02-15

Callahan's Place is a mysterious little bar in the wilds of Suffolk County, owned and operated by a large, red headed, pudding faced Irishman named Mike Callahan. Callahan's place is where people from all over time and space and earth gather just to be together and to expel the demons that haunt them. Most notable for every drink in the place costing 50 cents, you put a dollar bill on the bar, drink your drink, and either gather your 50 cents in change or choose to make a toast and smash your glass in the large fireplace that Callahan sweeps out daily. Most choose to smash their glass.

There is a mystery to Callahan's, it is a place that has some mystical power to heal the wounds of the soul, a power that seems to be solely comprised of camaraderie and friendship.

In Callahan's every Monday is the Fireside Fill-More Sing-a-Long, every Tuesday is Punday, every Wednesday is Tall Tales Night, and everyday is a celebration of life.

This frivolous and bawdy tale is told by one Jake Stonebender, a man who lost his wife and daughter in an automobile accident and came to Callahan's to find healing. He introduces us to Mike Callahan himself, plus Old Doc Webster, a large, red faced doctor who is always present; Fast Eddie Costigan, the piano player; Mickey Finn, the alien sent to destroy the world who winds out a regular at Callahan's; young Tommy Janssen who kicks his herion habit to join the happy ranks at the bar; Rachael, whose extended mortality only makes her more aware of death; and many others.

Along the way we hear fantastical stories by young Jim McDonald about his telepathic brother Paul, the Meddler who tells a tale of time travel to save a beautiful singer, Tony Telasco who refused to kill anyone in `Nam and went from booze to smack to mediation to Callahan's, Fogerty and his telekinetic powers during the Third Annual Darts Championship of the Universe, and even Broodseven-Sub-Two Raksha, who spins a tale of incubating the earth for his people in order to harvest it.

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon is only 205 pages, and while I enjoyed the bawdy humor and basic plot of the story, I did find it to be just a little dry in the telling. But, since this is the first in Spider Robinson's series, I am looking forward to reading more sequels, and hoping that he falls into a more liquid and flowing niche with this fun tale. Enjoy!

Some of us at Callahan's are pretty fair empaths...........2004-02-11

I love these Callahan stories. It took me a while to realise why I love them. You see, Callahan's is the current reincarnation of the legendary Inn at the Crossroads. It is a place where travellers and strangers and seekers and lost souls can tell their stories. Nothing is a surprize at Callahans, for anything can happen there. For the price of a drink you can tell your story- and have it respectfully listened to by people who will try to help you if they can- or at least sincerely try to understand. Needless to say, this is not your modern sports bar....

Did I mention that the clientel of Callahan's are not just your ordinary Outsiders? It is not at all uncommon for time travellers, aliens, mutants, to cross the threshold. As long as you don't pull any rough stuff there, all are welcome at Callahan's.

The funny thing is, places like Callahan's do actually exist. You don't find them, or even here about them, unless you really need to find them. They are havens outside the world where good fellowship, respect, and empathy still maintain a toehold in this brave new world.

If you'll excuse me, I feel a need to hurl yet another glass into the fireplace....

A marvelous blend of sci-fi, humor, and compassion.......2003-07-13

"Callahan's Crosstime Saloon," by Spider Robinson, is a collection of 9 linked short stories. All are set at the saloon of the title. Callahan's has a colorful collection of regulars and is often visited by aliens, time travelers, and humans with paranormal gifts. The book contains a fascinating introduction by Ben Bova entitled "Spider Robinson: The SF Writer as Empath."

This book is a great blend of humor and science fiction. Robinson puts inventive spins on classic sci-fi themes. He also deals effectively with such down-to-earth issues as war, motherhood, and personal loss. The book is also full of puns--the Callahan's regulars observe a Punday contest.

Along the way Robinson invokes Isaac Asimov and Charles Fort. The book as a whole is grounded by a real compassion for the human (and nonhuman!) condition--this is sci-fi with both brains and heart.

Aorta Try to Quit Laughing!.......2002-10-13

These were the stories that kick-started Robinson's writing career. Originally appearing in Analog, they met such a warm reception and requests for more that Spider was almost forced to oblige, even though these stories have only a bare minimum of that 'hard science' feel that is the normal requisite for stories in that magazine.

The reason these stories got that kind of reception is simply that they deserved it. All happen within the confines of Callahan's bar, a most congenial place that people seem to find just when they need it, for the patrons of this bar are always willing to listen to and help anyone who truly needs it. Fully loaded with humanity even when dealing with aliens out to destroy our world or turn us into their own private feed cattle, these stories are tightly plotted, filled with recognizable people from just down the street, and just wacky enough to engage both your interest and your funny bone. Just to add icing to the cake, most of these stories are also loaded with puns (most especially in those stories that occur on Tuesday night, officially designated PunDay), some of them quite good and original, and guaranteed to raise a groan or two. And then there is Tall Tales Night, where some really, really tall ones get told just as sidelights to the main story.

Book Description

<B>July 12, 1939</B> Perry Nelson is driving along the palisades when suddenly another vehicle swerves into his lane, a tire blows out, and his car careens off the road and over a bluff. The last thing he sees before his head connects with the boulders below is a girl in a green bathing suit, prancing along the shore....

When he wakes, the girl in green is a woman dressed in furs and the sun-drenched shore has transformed into snowcapped mountains. The woman, Diana, rescues Perry from the bitter cold and takes him inside her home to rest and recuperate.

Later they debate the cause of the accident, for Diana is unfamiliar with the concept of a tire blowout and Perry cannot comprehend snowfall in mid-July. Then Diana shares with him a vital piece of information: The date is now January 7. The year...2086.

When his shock subsides, Perry begins an exhaustive study of global evolution over the past 150 years. He learns, among other things, that a United Europe was formed and led by Edward, Duke of Windsor; former New York City mayor LaGuardia served two terms as president of the United States; the military draft was completely reconceived; banks became publicly owned and operated; and in the year 2003, two helicopters destroyed the island of Manhattan in a galvanizing act of war. This education in the ways of the modern world emboldens Perry to assimilate to life in the twenty-first century.

But education brings with it inescapable truths -- the economic and legal systems, the government, and even the dynamic between men and women remain alien to Perry, the customs of the new day continually testing his mental and emotional resolve. Yet it is precisely his knowledge of a bygone era that will serve Perry best, as the man from 1939 seems destined to lead his newfound peers even further into the future than they could have imagined.

A classic example of the future history that Robert Heinlein popularized during his career, For Us, The Living marks both the beginning and the end of an extraordinary arc of political, social, and literary crusading that comprises his legacy. Heinlein could not have known in 1939 how the world would change over the course of one and a half centuries, but we have our own true world history to compare with his brilliant imaginings, rendering For Us, The Living not merely a novel, but a time capsule view into our past, our present, and perhaps our future.

The novel is presented here with an introduction by acclaimed science fiction writer Spider Robinson and an afterword by Professor Robert James of the Heinlein Society.

Download Description

From Grandmaster Robert A. Heinlein comes a long-lost first novel, written in 1939 and never before published, introducing ideas and themes that would shape his career and define the genre that is synonymous with his name. July 12, 1939 Perry Nelson is driving along the palisades when suddenly another vehicle swerves into his lane, a tire blows out, and his car careens off the road and over a bluff. The last thing he sees before his head connects with the boulders below is a girl in a green bathing suit, prancing along the shore.... When he wakes, the girl in green is a woman dressed in furs and the sun-drenched shore has transformed into snowcapped mountains. The woman, Diana, rescues Perry from the bitter cold and takes him inside her home to rest and recuperate. Later they debate the cause of the accident, for Diana is unfamiliar with the concept of a tire blowout and Perry cannot comprehend snowfall in mid-July. Then Diana shares with him a vital piece of information: The date is now January 7. The year...2086. When his shock subsides, Perry begins an exhaustive study of global evolution over the past 150 years. He learns, among other things, that a United Europe was formed and led by Edward, Duke of Windsor; former New York City mayor LaGuardia served two terms as president of the United States; the military draft was completely reconceived; banks became publicly owned and operated; and in the year 2003, two helicopters destroyed the island of Manhattan in a galvanizing act of war. This education in the ways of the modern world emboldens Perry to assimilate to life in the twenty-first century.

Customer Reviews:

There was a reason it wasn't printed before........2007-06-15

This is an exploration of Heinlein's philosophy very thinly disguised as fiction. The plot would have made a fairly good short story, but..... There are certainly many things pointing at the stories making up his Future History, but the only reason to add this to your library, or even to read it is a dedicated drive to read everything he wrote.

As a life long Heinlein fan, who owns nearly everything he wrote (even the juveniles), I am glad that I did not see this before his any masterpieces. Get a copy of Stranger in a Strange Land, Man Who Sold The Moon, Starship Troopers, or The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress instead.

"Seminal" doesn't necessarily mean "good" but worth the read anyway.......2007-02-04

I've rated "For Us the Living" as three stars, in a dismal attempt at a compromise between its historical importance/interest (five stars), and the quality of the book itself (one or two stars).

From a historical point of view, those of you who are RAH fans will find this, his first novel, to be a fascinating work. Though written in the late 1930's, it was only published posthumously (in 2004). In it you will find most of the themes that pervade his later novels.

What appears to have sunk this book in the eyes of his potential publishers (and you will agree with them), is that this book was written mainly as a platform for the exposition of Heinlein's rather radical (for the time) theories and convictions: it also had too many ideas, too thin of a story, and too little character-development to be a good novel.

I agree with Spider Robinson (the writer of the Forward in this edition), that from this experience Heinlein learned if he was to successfully put his ideas across, as well as make a living as a writer, he first and foremost had to tell a good story. His subsequent career vividly illustrates how well he learned that lesson.

bad,really bad.......2007-01-21

This book is about a man who died in 1939 and was transported in to the future.Sounds like it could be a good read,well it's not.Most of the book deals in reeducation.History,math,economics,customs.Long on education and very short on storey.I read for entertainment.Been to school once didnt like it then dont like it now.No wonder he never sold this storey when he was alive.This book can be summed up in 5 words,got insomnia read this book!

Everything is a Matter of Perception.......2006-10-17

I am not a book reviewer. I am a book reader. What I love about this book is its look at a different way of being. This one happens to center on economics. Fine by me. "Mr. Heinlein please tell me a story centered around economics" and he did. I use this book as a way to broaden peoples perception about the world around us. The fact that things don't have to stay the way they are and won't even if we want them to. I also found it very interesting that right after I finished this book there was a news post about some guy who was selling his services to people who had mortgages and telling them that they didn't owe anything to the bank because it was illegal for the bank to issue a mortgage This book makes me want to go out and learn more about our economic system. I think if nothing else comes of this that that is enough.

A Heinlein Outline.......2006-09-18

I miss Robert Anson Heinlein. The first science fiction book I ever read was "Time for the Stars." From that point forward I was hooked on science fiction and my favorite author became and remains Robert A. Heinlein. I purchased this book shortly after it came out, with more than a little trepidation. For better or worse, I agree with the majority of the reviews.

This book is not a book as such. It is more an outline of grander stories that required much more development. In this book you can see many of the seminal ideas that Heinlein used in his later books. In a few cases this story could easily have served as an introduction or part of a collection of Heinlein's works, especially for his future history series. Thus, for Heinlein fans, and perhaps, more appropriately, to use the original source of the term "fan," Heinlein fanatics, this book is a treasure of thoughts and concepts.

From a writing viewpoint the book is quite dated, and well away from the polish that Heinlein would apply to his later books. The lead character, Perry Nelson, is gawky and uncomfortable, and it is difficult for us to relate to him. Perry lived too far in our past, and even too far in Heinlein's past. Technology has provided us with a perspective that makes this book a story of another era. And yet, it has charm for those of us who grew up with Heinlein and bought every new book as it was published.

Heinlein was always an interesting writer, even if you disagreed with his philosophy or with his predictions. Heinlein has said himself that the views of his characters are not always his views, which leads me to believe that often his lead characters were philosophical foils, promulgating an idea just to see how it would play out. Though the results were sometimes uneven, and many stories come across as preachy, once upon a time many of the stories he told could only be told and sold as a science fiction story.

Heinlein was a great fan of the future. He believed in traveling to the moon and beyond. He believed that ultimately mankind will raise itself out of the muck to create something greater and grander. He frequently pointed out and predicted that we have and would stumble along the way, but he was perpetually optimistic that we have a great and glorious future, if we will only reach out and touch it. This book is the fuse that started it all; a beginning, and it contains no ends. For the ends you have to read the rest of his books.

For those of you who do not know Heinlein, I beg you not to buy this book. You will not understand it, you will not like it. You will wonder why you didn't spend your money on something more valuable, like mulch for your garden. If you loved Heinlein's books, and you have read all or most of those 40+ books, then I recommend this book to you. You will grok it in fullness. I miss Robert Anson Heinlein.

Average customer rating:

Early Release
Creative
Grim but spideresque outlook on the future of race relations
Insightful and thought provoking.
Night of Power too close to the truth.

Night of Power
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Very Bad Deaths
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User Friendly

ASIN: 0743499174

Book Description

The place: a future New York City torn by racial tension and ripe for rebellion. The revolutionaries have high technology and careful planning on their side, their soldiers are well trained and sworn to secrecy, and their plans are unsuspected . . . until the Night of Power. Caught in the middle of the insurrection are Russell and Dena Grant and their daughter Jennifer, a 13-year-old whose genius-level intelligence saves her lifer more than once after insurrection breaks out. As an interracial couple, the Grants face the problems every couple does-but the Night of Power becomes the ultimate test, of their loyalty to each other and to their separate races.</p>

Customer Reviews:

Early Release.......2007-04-12

"Night of Power" (1985) is Spider's third or fourth novel and as such isn't quite up to the standards of his later work. In it he wrestles with white liberal guilt over the state of race relations in America. The long interior monologues by the narrator/author get preachy and wan, the characters are cartoonlike, and the action is way over the top. However as with any Spider book there are moments of sublime pleasure and delicious wordplay, and if the novel helped him work through some of the very real issues involved then it was certainly a therapeutic project. It's interesting to see several threads appear which would later be woven into his body of work.

Creative.......2006-01-31

This book left me with really strong feelings. Intellectually, I understand this as an indicator of a good read, but it was really unsettling. While I agree wholeheartedly with Michael's message, I would never, under any circumstances, support his methods, or conclude that it would get the results he sought. It was disturbing that seemingly intelligent people that I'd grown to like a lot, would let themselves get so caught up in the decisions that were forced upon them. Actually, Russell didn't until his choices were totally eliminated.

Mr. Robinson is an excellent creator of the written word, so it deserves 4 stars for that reason alone, but the end eclipsed the entire book - the ultimate commitment made by the 14 year old, Jennifer, and its acceptance, was creepy and ruined an otherwise wonderful, apocalyptic adventure.

Grim but spideresque outlook on the future of race relations.......2005-09-10

Robinson had written this in the mid-eighties, when Reagan's policies seemed to indicate a less "melting-pot" but rather WASP-oriented domestic policy. When this book went out of print, it also seemed that the idea had gone out of fashion, and it read more like a fantasy instead. It appears this book has gone to "in print" status in a very timely manner - the criticism on the treatment of the people who were affected the most by the Katrina desaster seems to echo in the story of those who would not believe peaceful co-existence between the races was possible without segragation in the territorial sense. The thrilling story of a man who would come to New York City because his black wife, a dancer, would be able to dance once more in public before age would make her retire, is made all the more poignant because recent advances in technology would make success of a revolution much more likely. So go totally unprepared, read this story with as little information as possible, and you will enjoy it the most. Spider Robinson was in a peak of his creativity (in the 80s eclipsed only by "Mindkiller") when he wrote this one.

Insightful and thought provoking........2001-11-14

I recently re-read "Night of Power" - a few weeks after the tragedy of Sept. 11 in NYC. I'd always felt the events in Spider's book to be insightful, but somehow... in the light of real life events, it was almost too painful to read. But still, as with most of Spider's works, it ends with hope. After it's all over, there's hope. We need to keep working toward that end.

Night of Power too close to the truth........1996-08-26

This is one of Hugo and Nebula award winning author, Spider Robinson's earliest books. The American-born author, now living in Canada paints a grim but possibly accurate picture of the possible future between white and African Americans. As with all of Robinson's books, the characterisation is excellent and the plot well developed. An excellent story that holds you until the last page.

Average customer rating:

Worst Spider Robinson book I have read
How are the mighty fallen....
More Callahan, please
About the worst of the Callahan books, sadly...
We keep buyin' em, he keeps writin' em...

Callahan's Key
Spider Robinson
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553580604
Release Date: 2001-05-01

Amazon.com

What's Jake Stonebender's standard fee for saving the universe? That's easy: "A bar, and enough money and clout to run it." It's time for Jake to save the day yet again, with a lot of help from the rest of his pun-happy, cosmically strange crew. And no more kiddie stakes like in the previous Callahan books, when mere humanity was on the line. Nope, Jake needs to save the totality of the universe. From, of all things, the quest for knowledge. What does that mean? Well, it's got something to do with a classified satellite called the Deathstar, a hurricane named Erin, a superenergetic cosmic ray in the wrong place at the wrong time, the Soviet space station Mir, and a shamelessly enormous volume of Irish coffee. But as any Callahan fan will duly attest, all of this is really beside the point.

Books in this series (this one included) showcase the Münchhausen-style storytelling skills of Nebula- and Hugo-winner Spider Robinson. Putting one of cinema's most robust tropes into service--calling the team back together, à la Oceans 11--and doing a bang-up job at it as usual, Robinson should please old fans and win new ones. If nothing else, you'll surely come to love the eclectic cast of dozens, including everybody from a talking baby (Jake's teleporting, superhacker daughter) to a talking German shepherd (Ralph Von Wau Wau) to--why not?--the forgotten father of the 20th century, Nikola Tesla. --Paul Hughes

Book Description

Nobody blends good science with bad puns as brilliantly as Spider Robinson, as his legion of devoted fans will attest. Now he's back with the latest chapter of the Callahan saga -- an improbable tale of impending doom, a road trip, space, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.

The universe is in desperate peril. Due to a cluster of freakish phenomena, the United States' own defense system has become a perfect doomsday machine, threatening the entire universe. And only one man can save everything-as-we-know-it from annihilation.

Unfortunately, he's not available.

So the job falls instead to bar owner Jake Stonebender, his wife, Zoey, and superintelligent toddler, Erin.

Not to mention two dozen busloads of ex-hippies and freaks, Robert Heinlein's wandering cat, a whorehouse parrot, and misunderstood genius-inventor Nikola Tesla, who is in fact alive and well....

Customer Reviews:

Worst Spider Robinson book I have read.......2007-06-25

I have loved Callahan books.
I have lover almost everything by Spider Robinson before this book.
I had great expectations before I started to read this one. Sadly I had to be very disappointed. It seems Spider has material for a short story, and got a contract for a novel. Never have I encountered such amount of padding in any book before. There literary pages and pages of pure, unadulterated padding. There are paragraphs full of names, which are repeated a few pages later. There are sidetracks in the story which lead nowhere, and have no relation with the main plot of the story, and have practically no entertainment value at all.
This might have been a fine short story, but this is a horrible novel.

How are the mighty fallen...........2004-06-17

I am a HUGE fan of Spider Robinson, but this excursion strained my fanhood beyond belief. The first three Callahan's books (collections of short stories) were witty, compelling, and worth re-reading. The rest, such as The Callahan Touch and Callahan's Key (Callahan's Lady and Lady Slings the Booze are exempted) were masturbatory crap. Mr. Robinson has forgotten the lessons he learned at the master's knee (that would be Heinlein) and engaged in a witless journey to the Florida Keys (albeit a location that deserves attention) that promotes purposeless drug use and fornication with minors (granted, super-genius minors). Mr. Robinson, I loved both you and Heinlein. But Heinlein knew how far was too far. A man traveling 2000 years into the past to court his mother was plausible. A toddler propositioning her father is not. And frankly, people who smoke dope are just not that amusing, unless you are interested in debating the relative merits of various brands of potato chip. You are in a select in-group that is composed of intelligent people--don't make the rest of us feel stupid by peppering your books with references to other readers, writers, musicians, etc., without explaining them. Heinlein educated us, you just flaunt your "superior" knowledge. I have an IQ of 163, but your tangents left me clueless as Heinlein's never did. I think you need to go back to the rules you had to follow when writing the short stories. And guess what--you can't make the world more accepting of sex by creating a toddler with a foul mouth.

More Callahan, please.......2003-09-29

If insanity is your thing, try the group that hang out with Jake Stonebender and whatever bar they haven't destroyed yet. The puns come fast and furious and the friendship is always on tap at the place where the motto is "shared pain is lessened, shared joy increased."

In Callahan's Key, the third entry from the second Callahan series (i.e., not starring Mike Callahan, proprietor of Callahan's Place in the first series), Jake Stonebender (the proprietor of Mary's Place until it was destroyed by a small nuclear weapon), his wife Zoey, and their superintelligent toddler Erin, take off with the usual gang of misfits to Key West to find a location for another bar. While in Travis McGee Land, they meet up with a whole new bunch of misfits, including Robert Heinlein's cat, Pixel, star of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. Travel along with them in their two dozen buses on a Keseyesque journey to their new home, wherever that is.

Spider Robinson specializes in this kind of light SF, where the characters matter more than the plot (such that there is). He makes writing look easy as the words just roll off his mind into yours with no need for any real processing. But as we all know, being funny stuff usually takes more work than being serious. Thus, the talent of Spider Robinson is awed the world over.

About the worst of the Callahan books, sadly..........2003-01-07

It's not a total stinker, but boy, does this thing drag on, and on, and on, and on... The move to Florida seems to take about 20 chapters or so, and Spider don't really bother much with plot for the most part. It's a meandering ramble of a book, and I don't prefer that to the format these have taken before. It's a whole lot of "Oh, isn't Florida COOL?" That is what really drags this book down, not to mention makes it rather dull. I still like the characters, but they need more purpose than to wait around until the 1990's. And as someone else put it, saving the world again is getting well, boring. Can't they do something else for a change? Hell, take them off-planet for all I care, just do something different.

I also really wasn't fond of the new omnipotent characters. This universe may be farfetched, but (a) the wishful thinking of bringing Nikola Tesla back from the dead, and (b) Erin, the genius toddler who's already handing out numbers for sex partners (EW ... I cannot BELIEVE he went there) and goes up in a shuttle went way beyond "credibility", if you know what I mean. I wouldn't mind if Erin met a horrible death. And I wish that Spider had made up his own genius inventor instead of resurrecting an old one so he could make him hip and cool as opposed to incredibly neurotic.

I gotta say that I wish I hadn't paid hardback price for this, but had borrowed a paperback in the library. Unless Spider takes a drastic turn from where he's meandered the characters to in this one, this series sadly needs to be put to bed. I just read Lady Slings The Booze and am feeling homesick for how things used to be.

We keep buyin' em, he keeps writin' em..........2002-12-18

...and so it goes. I bought this book because a "Callahan's" novel can give me a few hours of pure fun reading. I didn't expect Great Literature or even Great Science Fiction, and boy, did I not get them.

Let's not begrudge Robinson his success with these books. Many people enjoy them, and their purchases put money into his pocket and encourage him to write more of the same. If they become truly awful, enough people will stop buying them that they're no longer worth his effort, and he'll start writing something else. He hasn't hit that point yet.

So let's take it for granted that this book is 1) aimed primarily, perhaps even exclusively, at existing fans of the "Callahan's" series, and 2) a whale of a lot of fun if you are a member of the target audience. Now, let's pick at some of the things that went wrong...

First of all, this is more of a series episode than an actual story. The characters are already fully developed, none of them really change or learn anything. It's just "Callahan's Crew Takes a Road Trip". Sure, there's a feeble plot about Saving the Universe, but it fades into the background amidst the travelling adventures and fawning Key West travelogue. And let's face it, that plot device is getting old. I've honestly forgotten how many times the "Callahan's" characters have saved (pick one) the Human Race, the Earth, all of History, the Universe as We Know It, or the Entire Totality of All Creation. When the End of the World becomes banal, maybe it's time for something new?

Another thing that's become banal in the "Callahan's" series: super-powerful characters. Robinson has managed to write himself no less than three virtually omnipotent characters (Mike Callahan, Lady Sally, and Nikola Tesla). It's hard to bring any amount of tension to saving the world when you've got multiple people who can do pretty much _anything_. So in this book, he wisely places two of his heavyweights off-stage for valid plot reasons... and then introduces yet _another_ unreasonably powerful character in Jake's baby daughter. I found the character of Erin to be even more implausible than Tesla, and utterly annoying. It's possible to do a good job of writing a character who's much more intelligent and powerful than the humans around them. See Wylie's _Gladiator_, Weinbaum's _The New Adam_, Stapledon's _Odd John_, and even some of the better Superman comics. Robinson falls far short of this in his portrayal of Erin.

And speaking of badly portrayed characters: what's with Pixel? Unless I missed something, the cat serves no purpose to the story whatsoever. I like cats and I like Heinlein, but really, Robinson should know better than to throw in something that doesn't pass the "So What?" test. Well, no, I take that back. Robinson _always_ throws in stuff that fails the "So What?" test. But it's _interesting_ irrelevant material. Pixel is, well, just this cat who wanders in. From one of Robert Heinlein's worst books, even.

Customer Reviews:

Without a doubt A MUST READ!!!.......2007-02-13

Ahem.

Whilst reading this book, on page two, the TOP of page two, I laughed outloud so hard I sprayed milk outa my left nostral...which was kinda bad as I was in a Library at the time, but...

No kidding, it is simply THAT good! More than that though... When I read this book I was going through a lot of hard times, in fact, I was considering suicide. After reading it...

No, my problems didn't all disappear and I still needed a lot of help, but I FELT much better from all the laughing I had done and I was pleased that thanks to this author I had managed to Forget about my problems for awhile.

All I can say is if you want to have a read where you feel better after you put the book down and your problems seem to be (a little, anyway) lighter - pick this one up, you can't go wrong.

(Oh, ONE cavete' - There are a few loose ends and you might wish - As I Do - that Spider would write a direct sequel. Other than that, cool!)

Beware of Puns and Lack of Structural Integrity.......2005-03-03

My wife is a huge fan of all of Spider Robinson's books, so I have been reading them to see what all the fuss is about. Robinson is a master of language and a lover of puns and word games. Many of the puns are excruciating, and some take forever to set up. In fact, the entire second half of the book is basically a setup for a Dan Rather pun near the end.

The book suffers structurally from two flaws: the exposition lasts much longer than needed, and the second half of the book bears no relation to the first half. There are essentially two entirely separate stories. Much of Robinson's work first appeared serialized in magazines, so it's possible that these two stories were cobbled together to make a book.

Robinson does have some wonderful insights on human nature, but it takes some effort to sift through everything else.

A Hard-Boiled World Saver.......2004-05-13

Spider has always been known as a writer with a strong taste for slumming (sorry, I meant punning), coupled with outlandish situations and strong, personable characters that are easy to empathize with. For this book, he decided to pay homage to some of the great mystery/detective writers of yesterday, deliberately trying to emulate their styles, mannerisms, and at least for his protagonist, their characters. In doing so, he seemed to lose sight of the idea of telling a cohesive integrated story, as this book very much separates itself in to two separate plot lines that are really only marginally related to each other.

His protagonist is, naturally, a private eye, one who tries hard to imitate the role models defined by Chandler, MacDonald, Spillaine, and others. He is called on to investigate some strange goings on in the most incredible bordello ever devised, Lady Sally's Place, located just across the bridge from the UN. It's a place where the `artists' have `clients', where talking dogs and telepathic twins are considered normal, a place where everyone can satisfy their desires without guilt or fears. Our P.I. quickly accepts the impossibilities of this place, and by making consistent intuitive leaps (which will sometimes leave you gaping at the holes he jumps over), fairly quickly solves the original mystery, falls in love, and is accepted as being good enough to join the crowd at Lady Sally's. Most of this section is quite good, with puns flying, clues properly presented, and the scene well painted, although it will definitely help if you have read several other books in the Callahan series, as many of the characters introduced here are very much cameos, with their background buried in the those other stories. The concept of Lady Sally's place is one that should make you think, and might help give you completely different viewpoint on the `world's oldest profession' - but this item was covered better, with more grittiness and real-world activity, in Callahan's Lady.

But after solving the one mystery, the story takes off in a totally different direction, where the crowd of Lady Sally's is now engaged in a strong bit of world saving. The premise is good - nuclear weapons smuggled into the US and other countries by pacifists as the ultimate hammer to convince the world to abrogate war. Unfortunately, the solutions to finding these weapons and the plotters behind them is very far-fetched, from having Nichola Tesla (one of the early pioneers of electricity) whip up a super-duper circuit to pinpoint the weapon's location to the immediate acceptance by all concerned that this was really happening without any objective basis in known fact. This section is also much more serious than the first half, and the hard-boiled P.I. character that Robinson has so carefully constructed in the first half seems to get lost.

This book should probably have been published as two separate novelettes, given the disparity of plot line between the two halves. As it is, it makes for an enjoyable read, but is certainly not Spider's best, and not even one of the better Callahan series tales.

Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Wow!.......2004-03-19

This added feature to Callahan's Chronicles is truly a memorable and enjoyable read. The entertwining of the characters is only a feat that Robinson can pull off. Once again, Robinson has written a book that ever so slightly hits the political nerve to lighten one's mood- and quickly.

An excellent book.......2003-12-16

I personally enjoyed Robinson's books, but then again, they appeal to my somewhat immature personality. This book seemed, granted, to have been Robinsons attempts to intergrate a more direct line of plot into his story. While odd, it was very entertaining, and shocking, for this was the first "Lady Sally" novel I had read, and I read it 3 years ago, in 7th grade. My dad bought the books because he is a monster book freak. Soon after reading the second Lady Sally book, he dropped his interest in Robinson's work, which is unfortunate for me because there are still easily $100 of books I have to buy, in addition to a replacement for this particular book.

Book Description

The discreet little bar that Jake Stonebender established a few blocks below Duval Street was named simply The Place. There, Fast Eddie Costigan learned to curse back at parrots as he played the house piano; the Reverend Tom Hauptman learned to tend bar bare-chested (without blushing), Long-Drink McGonnigle discovered the margarita and several sentilde;oritas, and all the other regulars settled into comfortable subtropical niches of their own. Nobody even noticed them save the universe.Over time, the twice-transplanted patrons of Callahan's Place attracted a collection of local zanies so quintessentially Key West pixilated that they made the New York originals seem, well, almost normal. The elfin little Key deer, for instance--with a stevedore's mouth; or the merman with eczema; or Robert Heinlein's teleporting cat.For ten slow, merry years, life was good. The sun shone, the coffee dripped, the breeze blew just strongly enough to dissipate the smell of the puns, and little supergenius Erin grew to the verge of adolescence. Then disaster struck. Through the gate one sunny day came a malevolent, moronic, mastodon of a Mafioso named Tony Donuts Jr., or Little Nuts (don't ask). He'd decided to resurrect the classic protection racket in Key West--and guess which tavern he picked to hit first? Then, thanks to very poor accessorizing (she chose the wrong belt--and no, we're not going to explain that one), Jake's wife, Zoey, suddenly found herself in a place with no light, no heat, and no air. And no way home. The urgent question was where-precisely where--but that turned out to be a problem so complex that even the entire gang, equipped with teleportation, time travel, and telepathic syntony (you can look it up) might not be able to crack it in time.And while all this was going on, Death himself walked into The Place. But this time he would not leave alone. . . .

Customer Reviews:

Spider!.......2006-09-15

Having read this book makes me want to go back in time myself and visit Key West during the time period he was writing about! It will be interesting to see if Spider writes himself into a corner eventually with all of Erin's and Nikky's time traveling. There have been some errors I have noticed over time (the fate of Lady Macbeth, for example) in the Callahan's series. But being allowed time travel and aliens (both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial) can really save the world (and have a lot of fun doing it), or the universe, but it cannot keep loved ones from dying when it is their time, so things stay interesting. There are also some storylines that could be "fleshed" out (i.e. "Joe" Quigley and Arethusa's marriage/work and un-named child -- see "Lady Slings The Booze"). One of the things I like best about Spider is that he turns us on to writers, musicians, and geniuses some people have not heard of before (MacDonald, Koerner, and Tesla, etc.). For that he has earned a special place in the afterlife (if he doesn't spill too much whisky in the meantime)!

Why novels, Spider? Why?.......2005-06-05

The Callahan's short stories have always been among my favorites -- they're funny, uplifting, clever and sometimes deeply moving. Spider Robinson has written a wide variety of other short stories that are also intelligent and witty.

Unfortunately, none of the Callahan's novels are particularly good; it wasn't fun when Heinlein went off for a hundred-odd consecutive pages about how cool his characters were, and at this point that's what the Callahan's novels have degraded into.

The plot here is that Jake's new bar in Key West has been targeted by Tony Donuts, Jr., the son of an unmemorable villain from one of the Lady Sally books. They come up with this silly, over-elaborate plan to get Tony's mobster boss to whack him, focused on the time travel powers of Jake's irritating precocious daughter. The subplot also revolves around said daughter, as a Child Protection agent shows up, a bizarre cariacture of conformity who's identical to (and turns out to be related to) the bizarre cariactures of conformity that got Jake's previous bar shut down.

After a long sequence of Robinson trying and failing to write a sci-fi Carl Hiaasen novel, there's a wholly manufactured crisis that has nothing to do with the previous story -- because every Callahan's novel has to end with a repeat of the super-empath sequence from "The Mick of Time."

Save yourself some tsuris and go re-read the original stories -- or pick up one of Robinson's compilations of short stories, such as By Any Other Name. That's where he really shows his strength.

One of the best of a classic series........2004-09-14

The last few of the books derived from the old "Callhan's" series had seemed somewhat of a letdown from the older books; not that they were bad, but I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as I had the originals. I was beginning to wonder if it was me, not them; if I had changed sufficiently as I aged from my twenties into my forties that I could no longer appreciate the kind of story I'd enjoyed then.

I'm still not sure, but this book was definitely back on a par with the older entries in the series; it was flawed (so were they, if you looked hard enough) but it was good enough to overcome its flaws. More, it was good enough to overcome one of the flaws that really bothered me about the previous entry, "Callahan's Key"; I can't say too much without giving a spoiler, but suffice it to say that I don't expect Jake and the other Callahan's regulars to be insensitive jerks; they don't prejudge people simply because they're alien cyborgs, or sentient computer networks; it seemed wrong that they would prejudge someone just because she was (A) ugly and (B) had a silly name. The fact that they did made it pretty clear that Spider was, and that bothered me; in this book, we get his apology (via Jake).

If you've tried the Callahan's books before and found them pointless and silly, your opinion of this one will be the same. If you loved them all, you'll certainly love this one. If you've felt that they'd been slipping for a while, give this one a try; you may enjoy it. If you've NEVER tried the Callahan's books before, then if you like your science fiction WEIRD, well-written and moving in spite of being silly, you will probably enjoy this book, but you might want to read some of the earlier entries in the series first.

Callahan's Con is aptly named, cuz readers get conned fr 30.......2004-02-22

This is the first of Spider Robinson's books that I can honestly say sucked. Cal's Legacy wasn't real good, and I thought it time to retire Callahan's, but then Spider found the "key" and put out a fine installment. Yahoo, I bought his next book -- The Free Lunch -- in HC, and while not great, not bad, good enough to warrant shelling out for the HC of Cal's Con. Ohhh, if this were my intro to the wonderful world of Robinson, I would not return. If you haven't read, but are thinking of/wanting to, then may I suggest waiting for the SC; at least at ten bucks the disappointment won't be quite as monumental. Better idea, check it out from the library, cuz crap like it -- juevenile, illogical, and unimaginative -- should not be paid for. Bad enough it takes four hours to read. Heh Spider, I want a refund, or at least a discount on your next non-Callahan novel (I'm not giving up on him yet, but he's on, well, call it double-secret probation.)

Spider has done better in the past.......2004-02-01

I have loved all of Spider Robinson's books about the Callahan bunch! However, this book just didn't meet the standard of his other works..

The Stardance Trilogy omnibus of Stardance, Starseed and Starmind

Average customer rating:

"This is what it is to be human....

The Stardance Trilogy omnibus of Stardance, Starseed and Starmind
Spider Robinson , and Jeanne Robinson
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1416520821

Book Description

Three novels complete in one volume.

Stardance: Shara Drummond was a gifted dancer and a brilliant choreographer, but could not pursue her dream of dancing on Earth, so she went to space, creating a new art form in three dimensions. And when the aliens arrived, there was only one way to prove that the human race deserved not just to survive, but to reach the stars. The only hope was Shara, with her stardance.

Starseed: Years later, another dancer of genius faced the end of her career when her body failed her, and Rain McLeod followed Shara into space. If she joined with a symbiotic lifeform that would let her live without artificial protection in the vacuum of space, she would take a quantum leap in human evolution.

Starmind: Rand Porter has been offered the job of a lifetime, as a shaper of visual effects and music for the world's most famous zero-gravity dance company in High Orbit. But his beloved novelist wife Rhea Paixao has her roots sunk deep in the Earth, in her beloved Cape Cod. And as they wrestle with their private dilemma, bizarre things-small miracles-are beginning to occur everywhere on Earth and throughout the entire Solar System. The human race-and its evolutionary successors, the space-dwelling Stardancers-find themselves approaching the terrifying cusp of their shared destiny, an appointment made for them a million years ago, a make-or-break point beyond which nothing, anywhere, can ever be the same again.

Customer Reviews:

"This is what it is to be human...........2007-01-08

This a master story teller plying his trade. First we have the story of a marvelous dancer and choreographer, Sharra Drummond. Trouble is, how many six foot tall stacked ballerinas do you know? So she ends up dancing in free space, where she can only stay for a short time before the calcium starts leaching from her bones. She is about to return to Earth when aliens show up. She dances for them a dance to tell them what it is to be hum that ends "this is what it is to be human - to PERSIST." And having overstayed her time in space she reenters the atmosphere and burns up. This is the way the original novella from Analog ends. Robinson extended it, and the ending is very different. It is a sustaining story, one that I have depended on again and again (I have multiple sclerosis.)
The heroine of the second novel of the trilogy, Rain Mcleod, is a very different sort of persistent. The third novel, Starmind, is an attempt to tell the ultimate fate of humanity and the universe. The trilogy is not hard science fiction, but it is literature, and mayhap great literature. It is a largely successful attempt to define what it is to be human.

Average customer rating:

Still read it.
Different than I expected.
A worthwhile new direction for an SF star
HUGE Disappointment
I wish I could put in words why I loved this book.

Very Bad Deaths
Spider Robinson
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 141652083X

Book Description

Aging baby-boomer Russell Walker wants only to retreat from the world and the shattering death of his beloved wife, into the woods of British Columbia. But the real world won't let him become a hermit. Instead, he finds himself thrust into the mystery of a series of mass murders by a monstrous sadist and serial killer who makes Hannibal Lector look like a boy scout. And he is caught in a frightening predicament: He is the only possible intermediary between a telepath called Smelly, so sensitive he can't stand to be near most people, and a skeptical police officer who needs to hear and believe what Smelly knows about the fiend. This involuntary trio may be the only ones who can catch the inhuman butcher before he kills again-if he doesn't catch them first.

Customer Reviews:

Still read it........2007-05-21

Anything by Spider Robinson is worth reading. The three stars are in reference to all the other stuff he has written, not compared to other books in general.

Having said that, I was a bit disappointed with this work. It seems more like the first shot in a proposed series than a work finished in Robinson's usual style. The premise is great, and it has Spider's usual touch in pointing out how bad telepathy would be for anyone accursed with it. The villian is classic Spider, too. Someone so evil, just so sociopathic, that it makes you want to retch takes a master touch to accomplish.

But I never felt like the book was really going anywhere. I felt like he got caught by a deadline halfway through his usual writing and had to finish before he was ready. The characters are beautifully crafted (as usual), and so real you want to meet them, but the plot seemed to sputter.

Anything by Spider Robinson is worth reading. His worst stuff is better than many authors' best. But I still felt like this wasn't his best effort.

Different than I expected........2007-01-12

This was quite a bit more down to earth than I expected. I had never read Spider Robinson before and with all the Heinlein comparisons, I expected very sci-fi material. This one isn't, really. It is more Dean Koontz or Stephen King (not horror as much as fantastic) with some Jonathan Kellerman (Alex Delaware novels) thrown in for good measure.

In other words, it is a mystery novel with a character that has a supernatural power. Overall, it was a pleasant read and worth checking out. I'm curious to see what his more sci-fi oriented books are like.

A worthwhile new direction for an SF star.......2006-11-10

Very Bad Deaths is a new direction for SF writer and erstwhile columnist Robinson. It is set in the real world -- if you make the small concession that the real world might contain at least one highly sensitive telepath -- and goes into depth with the questions about sadism that he flirted with in Lady Slings the Booze.

Like the suspenseful and weird Lifehouse, this book is a chamber piece, with only four onstage characters, all believable and at least two lovable. Depending on how much the reader has thought about sadism, pain and fear, and what her or his own personal horrors are, this book could be interesting to terrifying. Myself, I had to phone a friend at 4 a.m. for comfort. But now I am reading the book a second time.

If you love Robinson and this doesn't sound like him, don't panic. And do give it a try.

HUGE Disappointment.......2006-10-16

I have been an avid Robinson fan for more years than I care to admit, but, sadly enough, he has come to the point of just filling pages up with words in order to be able to sell a book.

He starts out with a truly great premise and then wanders all over the known universe to tell it. A huge portion of this book is devoted to: describing the scenic wonders of British Columbia (nothing to do with the story); slamming the United States (nothing to do with the story); slamming the Canadian police (very little to do with the story); and extolling the virtues of marijuana use (absolutely nothing whatsoeverr to do with the story line.)

I learned that the world's best coffee maker is made in Switzerland. Why that was relevant to the story, I haven't a clue. One sentence mentions the killer started when he was eight years old. This, I wanted to know more about. Nope. Just that one line.

Sorry, Spidey, you've lost it. I won't be spending any more time wondering when your next book will be out and won't be spending any more money when it does. You now join the graveyard of authors who were once great, but now just hook words together. Very sad.

I wish I could put in words why I loved this book........2006-10-10

I consider this book one of Spider's best. Yes, Spider's heroes are often Spider-like. Heinlein's heroes were all some aspect of him too. And yes, Just like Heinlein's did, Spider's libertarian outlook permeates his fiction. But I don't know that I consider these faults, especially in the face of the book's virtues.

The story is ultimately a story of weak, nearly powerless people risking not just their own painful deaths but the pain of knowing they might well fail in sparing someone else's painful death in order to stop a very evil thing from happening. Is the villian or hero believable? Maybe, maybe not. (You should meet some of my friends!) But the SPIRITS of the heroes are true to the core of humanity Spider values so much in his species, and the villian is very much the antithesis of that same spirit. And that makes Very Bad Deaths a Very Good Book.

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