Customer Reviews

Callahan's Secret

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

_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.

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.

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.

Hilarious; but only if you have odd taste. i would suggest trying some of Robinson's other work such as Stardance if you're in the mood for true scifi. Callahan is a time traveler that runs a bar in long island. punning only allowed on days that end in -y. a little off color at times but never raunchy. I love it.