Callahan's Secret (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon Series) [Mass Market Paperback]

Spider Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2002

Callahan's Place is open for business, and all of the "regulars" are here--a talking dog, an alcoholic vampire, and two telepaths--enhancing their joys by drowning their sorrows. Everyone, that is, but Mickey Finn, a seven-foot tall alien in danger of enslavement at the hands of a traveller from across the galaxy...

Come inside, pull up a chair, order a drink, make a toast, and let Spider Robinson introduce you to the most unique patrons to frequent any establishment, at a bar where the most important law is "shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased." And if there's time left at the end of the night, just maybe they'll save the world...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If I didn't think it understated the achievement, I'd nominate Spider Robinson...as the new Robert Heinlein!" --The New York Times

"Robinson's creative imagination is admirable" --Publishers Weekly

"Spider Robinson is the Tom Robbins of the 21st Century." --John Varley

About the Author

Spider Robinson, winner of three Hugos and a Nebula, was born in the Bronx and raised on Long Island, and has been a Canadian resident for 30 years. Holder of a bachelor's degree in English from the State University of New York, he worked as a folksinger and journalist before publishing his first story in Analog in 1973. He now lives with his wife Jeanne Robinson (co-author of the Hugo- and Nebula-winning Stardance trilogy) on an island outside Vancouver, B.C., where they raise and exhibit hopes.

Eleven of his 31 books are set in Callahan's Place, a fabulous tavern founded by a time traveler, where puns flow as freely as beer, and smell far worse. The most recent is Callahan's Con [Tor July 2003]. He has contributed a regular editorial column, "Future Tense," to Canada's national newspaper, The Globe & Mail, since 1995. In 2000, he released Belaboring the Obvious, a CD of original music with the legendary Amos Garrett ("Midnight at the Oasis") on lead guitar, and in 2001 he was a celebrity judge at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (April 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812572297
• ISBN-13: 978-0812572292
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,933,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Last Days of the Tavern, December 13, 2007

By 

Paul Camp (Chattanooga, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Callahan's Secret (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

_Callahan's Secret_ (1986) is the third collection of stories about Callahan's crosstime saloon. In an introduction, Robinson stated that this would probably be the last of the Callahan books. It wasn't. But I think that it is fair to say that the later stories were "second cycle Callahan tales." A number of things come to and end in this collection.

There are four stories in the collection, all novelettes from _Analog_: "The Blacksmith's Tale," "Pyotyr's Story," "Involuntary Man's Laughter," and "The Mick of Time." A comparison between these tales and the stories in the first collection, _Callahan's Crosstime Salooon_ (1977), shows a marked difference. The later stories are more skillfully plotted, more smoothly written, and a bit more bawdy. Also, the jokes, tall tales, and puns are-- if you can believe it-- more clever and outrageous.

We sometimes have a tendency to underrate humorous fiction. Great fiction must be serious and solemn. Humerous fiction can be _good_, you understand. But not great. We forget that doing humor really well can be deucedly hard. In any event, I am giving top rating for these stories. They are some of the best of the Callahan's Place stories. They are great fun and great writing.

5.0 out of 5 stars Not, in my opinion, as good as its predecessors., February 22, 2009

By 

James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Callahan's Secret (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

Admittedly, that's praising with faint damns, and for that reason, I still rate it at five stars; it is still delightful, but I was ever so slightly disappointed by it based on what I'd come to expect from "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" and "Time Travelers Strictly Cash". Granted, the first two stories were as good as any in the previous books, and the third was, in some ways, even better. But the last one, in addition to being a downer that I just don't expect when reading "Callahan's" stories, was just flat-out implausible. I mean, I can accept the incredibly powerful alien out to destroy the earth. I can accept the fact that he looks like a slightly oversized cockroach. I can accept the fact that he is defeated and destroyed by a bunch of wisecracking, punning barflies, two of whom happen to be telepathic and three or four of whom happen to be time travelers.

But the idea that Finn would have failed to protect Jake's guitar in the same way that he protected his clothes? Preposterous. Given that in a previous story, we'd seen how important "Lady MacBeth" was to Jake, and how traumatized he was by her apparent demise, it cannot be suggested that it never occurred to Finn to protect her. Just ridiculous. Nor is it possible that he DID protect her, that she is lying out somewhere in the woods, and neither Finn nor Mary thought to mention that little detail to Jake.

Come on, now, Spider, I challenge you to fix this oversight somehow in a future story.

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Spider Robinson, September 18, 2008

By 

EMTP EJ "EJ" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Callahan's Secret (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

I love Spider Robinson's work. This story is a great part of the Callahan saga and leads to 'the next thing', with more fantastic, yet believable characters banding together to save the world. We also learn more about Callahan and why he has wanted to run his place the way he has. Depending on which version you read this story from, you may also learn a bit more about Spider and his connection with Callahan...
This might be better for older teens, at least, as there is more than one love scene and perhaps some language from time to time that they may be ready for at that age.