Melancholy Elephants [Mass Market Paperback]

Spider Robinson (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (June 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812552318
• ISBN-13: 978-0812552317
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,266,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robinson is transcendant in the short story medium., December 4, 1997

By 

Russ Laughlin (New Castle, DE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Melancholy Elephants (Mass Market Paperback)

For anyone who has driven the back routes of New York, hoping to be lucky enough spend an evening at Callahan's. If you dream of being a stardancer, or even just living to see one.... BUY THIS BOOK! I know, it may be out of print, and there may be some lead time on getting it, but each and every story is worth the wait. "Half an Oaf" will have you in stitches as it looks into the possibilities of time travel available to the masses. "High Infidelity" is a bawdy tale, which hilights the joy of a relationship that WORKS. The title story poses some very pointed questions about the nature of art and creation in a world flooded with information. If you love the way Spider tells a tale, these tales MUST become part of your collection.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Spider Robinson, with a magic word, September 20, 2008

By 

EMTP EJ "EJ" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Melancholy Elephants (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is from 1985.
It contains the title selection and 11 others, including 'Rubber Soul' and "Concordiat to 'Rubber Soul'", which is of interest to Beatles fans.

There is also a story about a time-traveling gangster called 'Chronic Offender'. In this story, on page 124, he uses the word 'muggles', which is pretty funny.
This is a good book to complete a Spider Robinson collection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, classic Spider, September 17, 2010

By 

Philip J. Thomson - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Melancholy Elephants (Mass Market Paperback)

The title story is very good, in the classic SF mode. It's brief and taut, pulling the reader into a setting that feels real.
My favorites, though, are the final two stories, "Satan's Children" and "Not Fade Away"
The former is a story of Truth hitting the world in chemical form. It's intriguing, interesting, and also simply fun to read.
The latter describes humanity's far future, and describes a beautiful goal for us, something to hope for.