Book DescriptionA collection of stories and essays from the author of the popular 'Callahan's Saloon' series. Some are set in Callahan's beloved bar, all -- stories and essays -- are entertaining and thought provoking. "Nobody's perfect, but Spider comes pretty damned close." Ben Bova"If one were given the task of creating Spider Robinson from scratch, the best way to do it would be to snatch James Joyce from history, force-feed him Marx Brothers films and good jazz for the better part of a decade, then turn him loose on a world badly in need of a look at itself."- The Vancouver Sun"Spider Robinson is the hottest writer to hit science fiction since Harlan Ellison, and he can match the master’s frenetic energy and emotional intensity, arm-break for gut-wrench.”- The Los Angeles TimesAbout The AuthorSpider Robinson has published over thirty-five books since 1973, won three Hugos, a Nebula, the John W. Campbell Award, and numerous other international honours. In 2006 he became the first Writer In Residence at Vancouver’s H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, and in 2010 he was named sixth Writer In Residence at the Vancouver Public Library. He has written songs with David Crosby and Todd Butler, and recorded original music with Amos Garrett and Michael Creber. His award-winning podcast Spider On The Web has appeared regularly since 2007, and he has been Toastmaster at two World Science Fiction Conventions. He was married for 35 glorious years to Jeanne Robinson, a dancer, writer and Buddhist priest with whom he co-authored the Hugo- and Nebula-winning THE STARDANCE TRILOGY. For further information visit www.spiderrobinson.com.

Book DescriptionThe 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 señoritas, 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. . . .

Book DescriptionOpening night at Mary’s Place draws the refugees from the now-defunct Callahan’s Bar; and bartender Jake Stonebender quickly learns that Mary’s Place attracts as many bizarre events and persons – including a drunken leprechaun – as its beloved predecessor. The story, says Booklist, “hangs together on the strength of Jake's appealing voice and the bar scene, which is hip and witty.”Written by Hugo and Nebula-Award winning author Spider Robinson.From Library JournalWhen a creature that resembles a drunken leprechaun drops in unexpectedly at Mary's Place, bartender Jake Stonebender gets his first inkling that his establishment might just live up to his expectations as a special bar where unusual things happen. Like Robinson's other Callahan stories, this tale unfolds at a leisurely pace that contrasts delightfully with the strangeness of the events chronicled. A good choice for sf collections and for series fans.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistDoes this popular series (Lady Slings the Booze ) start to run thin? Yes, if you're expecting any sort of plot line; no, if you delight in its playfulness and intellect. Jake Stonebender is back--earnest, wisecracking, and elliptical--to tell us of the opening of a new bar called Mary's (rather than Callahan's) Place and to call forth the memories the series has created. A stranger named Jonathan materializes and announces that he is responsible for introducing AIDS to the human race. An intriguing debate about the origin of AIDS and moral responsibility in general follows but then drifts away--as bar conversations tend to do; other characters--such as "the Duck," "Fast Eddie" the musician, and those weird newlyweds Isham and Tanya--take stage. The story is a rambler, in other words, but more or less hangs together on the strength of Jake's appealing voice and the bar scene, which is hip and witty. It's coffeehouse science fiction, one might say. An acquired taste, but a good number of readers have acquired it, and Robinson has won many awards. John Mort