Callahan's Legacy [Mass Market Paperback]

Spider Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1997

For years, Callahan's was the place where friends met to have a few drinks, tell a few jokes, and occasionally save the world. Until that unfortunate incident with the nuke a few years ago....

But Jake Stonebender and his wife have opened a new Callahan's, Mary's Place, and all the regulars are there: Doc Webster, Fast Eddie the piano player, Long Drink McGonnigle, and of course the usual talking dogs, alcoholic vampires, aliens, and time travelers. Songs will be sung, drinks will be drunk (and drunks will have drinks), puns will be swapped...and as a three-eyed, three-legged, three-armed, three-everythinged alien flashes through space toward the bar, it just might be time to save the world again....

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is the fifth book in the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon series, a short read that once again brings together the Callahan regulars in a plot that combines the usual group therapy, the best/worst puns ever to see print and epic, world-saving deeds. This time around the gang must save Earth from a decidedly nasty alien, and only group telepathy will do the trick. Spider Robinson, whose cutting wit and keen insights are in full force, takes the opportunity to dive deep into the psyche of his various mainstay characters, making for some darkly intimate reading. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Puns, palindromes and assorted witticisms abound in this latest addition to science fiction's longest running in-joke, first presented in book form in Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (1977), most recently in The Callahan Touch (1993). Robinson, who has won a Hugo, a Nebula and a John W. Campbell Award, follows his usual formula here. Lovable narrator and bartender Jake Stonebender, who took over from lovable narrator and bartender Mike Callahan after Mike decided to go time-traveling, gradually introduces the large cast of oddball drunks and barflies who inhabit the Long Island tavern known as Mary's Place (which itself replaced Callahan's Place after that tavern blew up in a nuclear explosion two episodes ago). The regulars include at least one alien, an Artificial Intelligence, a supernatural being or two and a talking dog named Ralph Von Wau Wau. As usual, a couple of new oddballs wander into the bar and tell their stories. Then a crisis arises?here, occasioned by an alien lizard-cyborg bent on the destruction of Earth. The boys soon take care of the situation, however, by drinking a lot of beer and Irish coffee, telling jokes and not losing their cool. Plot is secondary in the Callahan stories. What Robinson's many fans look for above all is humor, wordplay and a complicated web of allusions to favorite rock lyrics, classic SF stories and previous Callahan tales. They get plenty of each here and should feel right at home, again.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (September 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812550358
• ISBN-13: 978-0812550351
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm, moving, laugh-out-loud funny, and a joy to read., November 4, 1999

By 

Ron Currens (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Callahan's Legacy (Mass Market Paperback)

Spider Robinson's Callahan's regulars once again save the world from certain destruction. No other author combines puns, palindromes, poetry and prose like Robinson. This book has it all -- sex, music, philosophy, outrageous humor, wonderful characters, and a message. Impossible to read it without having fun -- if you like words, you'll love this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars End of an era?, January 9, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (York, PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Callahan's Legacy (Mass Market Paperback)

Although not the best books in the "Callahan's" series, my money is on LSTB, Legacy is a very good read. After the initial shock of the impending doom of Mary's Place, the byplay of the characters in recounting the events was interesting and, as always, lots of fun. Wouldn't everyone like the ability to dispose of millions like Buck, or maybe be immune to pain like Acayib? "Callahan's" readers may be a bit disappointed at first, but read on and enjoy. I'm sure we've not heard the last of Jake and the gang yet.

3.0 out of 5 stars the book is a re-hash of old callahan stories, January 9, 2008

By 

clifford "akitonmyers" (Portland, OR, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Callahan's Legacy (Mass Market Paperback)

this book is ok. Callahan stories by Spider Robinson are always fun to read and this one is no different. However, the story... the plot... its a re-tread of old Robinson stories. He uses pretty much exact story arcs from past stories.

If you like Spider Robinson, I would totally recommend old Larry Niven short stories from the 1970's. I think that Robinson based Callahan's on a re-occuring Niven character/bar.