Product Description
Isham Stone, the world's second-best assassin, goes into the ruins of a city after the greatest killer of all time, Wendall Morgan Carlson. But Carlson is guarded by ghosts--beings from an ancient civilization that shared the Earth with humans for millions of years, and who have now declared war on the human race, all thanks to the man Isham has come to kill. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Starts off great, but rapidly grows tiresome.
'Telempath' is really two stories in one.The original Hugo-Award winning novella occupies the first few chapters of the book, and serves as the starting point for the novel that follows.The opening chapters are engaging, thrilling, and Spider Robinson's description of humanity's destruction is terrifyingly vivid.Fans of apocalyptic fiction such as "World War Z" will find a lot to love.

Unfortunately, after a stellar opening, the book rapidly begins to sag.Readers will easily spot the point at which Robinson's novella ended and the expanded story began, because the change in tone and content is jarring.The story plods along dutifully, but never lives up to the promise of the opening chapters.In fact, as it nears the climax it degenerates into a syrupy mess.The final chapters are contrived and include retcons that make no sense.By the time I reached the drug-induced love-fest that Robinson calls his ending, I was thoroughly dissapointed.

This is not to say the book is entirely bad.Robinson is a skillful wordsmith, and he includes some very memorable turns of phrase.The tone of the book changes radically as it progresses, but some readers could interpret that as matching the changes in Isham's character.Isham's wisecracks and snide sense of humor are genuinely entertaining.The story's biggest fault is that Robinson detours into fantasy and endless moralizing rather than sticking to his strengths.

Hippies, vegetarians, and genuine optimists are likely to enjoy this book.The rest of us are better off stopping after the first half.

I have a love-hate relationship with this author.
Generally speaking, I am polar opposite of Spider's political beliefs.I also don't like the generally improbable and often far too fantastic scenarios he sets up.This book stretched my "buy the premise" abilities to their max.This book starts right off in a world where a scientist has unleashed a virus that causes mankind to max out our sense of smell.It suggests that we have the capability to smell even more than wolves and dogs (in spite of the much poorer design of our nose for that sort of thing) and this "ability" to smell so much more overwhelms most of humanity.I didn't buy any of this for a second.

BUT, he writes readable books with characters that are interesting and I generally finish them because I am interested to see what happens.I ended up going with 2 stars on this one because the ending was so weak.Overall, I enjoyed the read enough to finish the book though, so make of that what you will.

I tend to buy Robinson's books used so I don't have as much invested in the ones I am disappointed with - but I do still buy them.

Telempath
Telempath,
This book was written 1976 and is steeped in hippie ideology's. (Smoking pot to achieve a state of Zen and the ever famous, 'peace and love will conquer all.') The idea the book is based around intrigued me and is relevant to the problems we face in the world today; terrorism. The problem with the book is that the old hippie ideas don't hold water in the real world.

(ALL VIOLENCE)(CAN BE AVOIDED BY THE TRULY SERENE MIND)
This is straight from the book. Sometimes I felt the author was forcing his views on me as I read.(Not that I disagree with all his views.) I just don't like to be force-fed political view points while reading sci-fi.

The writing style at time's annoyed me. The author hadtendencies of introducing characters from nowhere then giving the ever famous (Info dump) to explain who they were. Why not work the characters into the story? What was the rush? The book is short as it is.

What could have been a very good story fell short of the mark. I read the reviews posted before mine and I couldn't disagree more with the high ratings. I'm hard pressed to give this book a 3 star rating, but I will. I like Spiders 'Callahan' stories but I had a very hard time digesting this book.

I know many praise Spider and look upon him as the next Robert Heinlein, and these followers will have a hard time with my review. I just want to say, "I tried to like the book. I really did." I just don't feel it's worthy of a 5 star rating. I gave it 3 stars, but It felt like 2 1/2

His first; not his best, but still a good read
"Telempath" follows the world's last assassin - Isham Stone - on his quest to avenge the death of 90% of civilization thanks to the creation of a virus that increases people's sense of smell by several thousand orders of magnitude.(Could you stand living in a city when suddenly every odor was a thousand times as strong and hammering at your brain?)Isham's quest leads us to the man who made this virus and to his latest endeavor: communicating with the "Muskies", ethereal beings who went unnoticed by mankind for eons until the creation of the aforementioned virus.What follows are revalations, betrayals, and eventually hope for the survival of mankind.

Spider's first novel is based on his Hugo-award winning story, "By Any Other Name" (available in a recent paperback collection with that very title).The work beyond the original short story/novella contains the early strains of themes that run throughout Spider's work - communication by thought, understanding of human nature, the sanctity of life, etc.But these strains aren't quite the virtuoso melodies one hears in the "Callahan" and "Stardancer" books.The book ends (like most of Spider's books end) with a happy ending... but dammit, it was almost TOO happy for my tastes.

I encourage readers to pick up the collection "By Any Other Name" and read the novella first.If it tickles your fancy, try "Telempath".And if you haven't read "Stardance" yet, then shame on you!Buy it right now!

Ignore the stupid cover
Baen Books just has a hard time with cover art, I guess. But this time they've underdone themselves.

Anyway, grab this book while it's back in print. It's the novel-length expansion of Spider Robinson's novella "By Any Other Name," and it's great from start to finish.

I guess I can tell you a little bit of the plot without spoiling anything. Isham Stone lives in a world in which most of civilization has collapsed, and he's going to get the man responsible. Okay, that's all I can say without giving things away.

I _can_ say that the story is told with all of Spider's trademark humaneness and wit, with no punches pulled but also with none of the gloom-and-doom pessimism that marks "noir" SF. Because this book squarely faces a number of interesting and difficult problems, _and works them through to resolution_, it's actually a profoundly hopeful story despite its apocalyptic backdrop.

Spider is one of my favorite two living SF writers (the other being James Hogan), and this is about as close as Spider comes to writing "hard" SF. Get it while it's available; Spider is incapable of writing a dull word. ... Read more

Product Description
Under the facade of the world's finest theme park lies a secret which could alter the course of human history.

Mike and Annie, refugees from the world outside, find a home underground, behind the scenes of Dreamworld, a theme park where hope exists as it does nowhere else. But Dreamworld is threatened by a jealous competitor who kills what he can't have. And if this were not trouble enough, Mike and Annie discover that each day there are more of the "trolls" who maintain Dreamworld then there were the day before. As the "trolls" continue to multiply, Mike and Annie must discover why....or it could mean the end of Dreamworld--and the real world.

Knotted in conflict and turmoil, what was a wonderful, carefree place becomes a battleground on which the fate of Earth's future is at stake. And only Mike and Annie, two unconventional heroes, can save it.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

a checklist of Spider's favourite themes
I like Spider Robinson.But if you've read enough of his work, there are recurrent themes that you can't get away from: smart people don't get enough respect in our culture, smart kids get even less respect, shared pain is lessened and shared joy is increased, time travel probably isn't a good idea, Irish coffees are the best thing ever, Heinlein is nothing short of a god.

It's been awhile since I've read anything by Spider, but I have read it all.I keep on returning because he's got a good eye and a gift for storytelling (so long as it's along one of his themes), and I like his themes.So reading this book was like buying a new colour of my favourite sweater: nothing new, nothing groundbreaking, but the packaging is different enough that I feel like it's something new without having to break outside of my comfort zone.

Mike is a young kid whose homelife sucks, so he decides to break into his favourite theme park and live his life there.His favourite theme park is Dreamworld, which is what Disneyworld would be in a more perfect world than the one we inhabit.He successfully gets in, and is befriended by Annie.Annie has been living in Dreamworld since it opened.

Annie knows that something is fishy in Dreamworld.Every day, two more employees leave than clocked in at the beginning of the day.She and Mike set out to figure out the mystery, concerned that it's a plot by the bad guy who runs Dreamworld's competitor, Thrillworld.Concurrently, the bad guy who runs Thrillworld is also trying to figure out what's going on.Annie and Mike figure out the secret.The extras are actually time travellers.They corner some of the time travellers, and discover that they're from a future so bleak that they decided to go back in time to try to give their forebears their knowledge (including how to get a perfect roast from any coffee bean).

The culmination of the plot has Annie and Mike discovered in Dreamworld, so they must leave.The book is open to the sequel in which they infiltrate Thrillworld and get the bad guys to stop doing bad things.

Good book?Sure.If geeks went to the beach, this would be great beach reading.(As a geek myself, I feel pretty comfortable saying this!)Great book?No, it's not there.There's too many obvious nods to Heinlein.There's even too many obvious nods to Spider himself -- isn't it a bit arrogant to include Callahan's Bar as one of the best parts of Dreamworld?Even without those minor annoyances, it's ground that Spider has walked in the past.To be fair, it's more of a cohesive novel than some of his Callahan's books.This time, it doesn't feel like a set of short stories, as most of the Callahan's books do (and, in fact, some of them are just that).

If you're new to Spider, this isn't a bad book to start with, although I prefer some of his earlier non-Callahan's fiction.If you like Spider, then this will feel like your favourite sweater.If you think Spider's too repetitive, then this is a good one to skip.

Calling Hollywood...Hello Hollywood?
With the current dearth of decent plots in Hollywood -- whatever ELSE could explain the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie??? -- one wonders if any of Spider's excellent novels has been optioned.

And if not, WHY NOT?

This novel, like John Varley's "Red Thunder," just cries out for a screen adaptation.The plot is imaginative, the characters strong, the action is fun and there is some real boxoffice potential here as a light summertime action flick.I can see some great acting roles for Little People (without making them into Munchkins or Chocolate Factory elves).The lead actor role is a starmaking opportunity for SOMEONE.

Hello, Hollywood, is anybody listening???

TANSTAAFL!Well...
Dreamworld is an amusement park in the near future.For more than a decade it has provide fantasy, happiness, and safety to all of its customers.Young Mike has decided he wants to live there in secret.He has set up an elaborate plan to get in and avoid security.But just as he is getting in he runs into Annie, a woman who did the same thing thirteen years earlier.Annie decides to take Mike under her wing and teach him what he needs to know to live "Under."

Soon after Mike's arrival, trouble begins.Outside competitors want to take the park and its reputation down.They make a discovery at the same time Annie does.There are more employees leaving the park each day than come in.Where are the extras coming from?The story then follows the three parties, Annie and Mike, the competitors, and the extras.We slowly learn what is going on and why and reach a conclusion that some may find a little short or weak but which really works with the rest of the book.

Spider Robinson has crafted a wonder place populated by countless references to popular and obscure works of fiction.The park is believable and that really helps the story along.Mike and Annie are wonderful characters and I would love to see a sequel in the future.This book is simply fun and delightful.Check it out.

Trolling for trolls
"The Free Lunch" is a cheerful amalgam of Heinlein plotlines, staunch characters spouting Heinleinisms, and even a few of his settings rolled in as amusement park attractions.This book must have been written for the fans of RAH's so-called juvenile science fiction, of which I am one.Old and decrepit though I may be, I can still quote whole paragraphs of "Have Spacesuit Will Travel" from memory.

As with all tributes, "The Free Lunch" falls a bit flat if you are expecting something signed, sealed, and proofread by the Master.This is an imitation of Heinlein from one of his talkier novels, with computers instead of slide rules, and the author never did quite convince me that I would want to actually live in his Dreamworld theme park.

So TANSTAAFL ("there ain't no such thing as a free lunch") as the Master once said.Get over it.Mike and Annie make "The Free Lunch" worth reading.Annie is a sort of human midget Mother Thing, only a bit rougher around the personality.Mike is a male Pee Wee ("I'd rather dance with the kitchen stool"), young and sort of sexless (except for an involuntary boner when he wakes up in Annie's hide-out under Dreamworld), and very, very smart.He and Annie, aka the Mother Elf band together to outwit the owner of a rival theme park, who wants to destroy Dreamworld.While keeping an eye on the bad guy's thugs and hiding from Dreamworld's employees, Annie notices that more trolls are leaving the park at quittin' time than showed up for work in the morning.

Are the extra trolls employed by the master thug?Are they aliens from outer space who have found a great place to beam down?What?

If you're tired of gore-and-guts Alien-Dreamcatcher-Matrix ripoffs, this book is a trip back to 1960s SF (with holographs and the occasional boner).

Dreams Worth Fighting For
Fairs and theme parks are an almost irresistible attraction to the young and the young at heart, places where the everyday cares of the world can be safely ignored for a while as you indulge in a little bit of fantasy and just plain fun.And just a little bit into the future, there may be a new theme park, one that draws on the images and ideas of fabulists such as Robert Heinlein, Barry Hughart, and yes, even the Beatles of Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields to create its attractions. For anyone with a smidgen of liking for the fantastic, for things which are a little bit beyond the current world, such a theme park might just be heaven.

For Mike, a twelve year old who has had to face cares and responsibilities that would try the best efforts of most adults, Dreamworld is more than a temporary haven. It's a place where he can live, sheltered from the world, and even hidden from park employees, helped by the other non-regulation denizen of this park, Annie, sometimes known as the Mother Elf. Ah, but there's something really strange happening in Dreamworld - at the end of the day shift, there are more employees leaving the park than arrived in the morning. And the arch-nemesis of this park, Alonzo Haines, proprietor of the competing park Thrillworld, would dearly love to find out who these `extras' are, as a lever to destroy Dreamworld. The battle to save the park is joined, and Mike and Annie find themselves in a fight to save not just their adopted home, but perhaps the entire universe.

Clearly, this is a fun book, written very much in the mold of some of Heinlein's juveniles, and echoes of The Mother Thing and the older Hazel Meade are clearly present in the character of Annie, while Mike evokes something of Kip and Thorby. Those who don't recognize those names will not be lost, as they are fully realized, engaging personalities, while for those who do these items provide a greater ambience and they will be treated to a great trip down memory lane. This is true also of the many references within this book to other authors and books - all of them are deserving of a read, but if you haven't read them, it won't detract from your enjoyment of this novel.

This being a Spider and not a Heinlein novel, there is a fair amount of Spider's specialty present, his penchant for puns and ironic humor, as evidenced most by some of the chapter titles like Out of Kin Troll. This adds a different flavor to this book, and those who like Spider's Callahan's Bar series will not be disappointed here. The plot itself is well developed, although there is nothing startling new or different here, and there are a few places where the action may give one a feeling that `this is just not a believable set of actions for a 12 year old', but in general this is a smooth read, with each new scene developing logically from the prior one.

Not a great book, but one where you can sit down for a few hours and just lose yourself in its nicely imagined world, and experience a nice adventure.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Essential Reading
Find and buy a copy of this book, if you think of yourself as human: it is one of the few places to find a copy of "The Man Who Traveled in Elephants" AND "Our Lady's Juggler" - both essential reading, even if they're the only fantasy you ever read. The former tale is the story Heinlein was proudest of, and the latter is his choice as the best least-reprinted story - and no other English translation of Anatole France's little gem is worth the paper it's printed on. Find this book and buy a copy. The other stories in it are fine, but the last two are worth the price of admission all by themselves.

a bedtime story book for thinking people
A long time fan of spider's this is the book i turn to for that point in time when somrthing new is too much and callahan's too punny.

Not an anthology but a Unique Collection of favorite stories
BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS (Ace Books, Science Fiction, 1980)by SpiderRobinson.

Here is why this book is so exceptional.

Spider Robinsonpicked his favorite short stories from each of his favorite authors - notthe most popular or the ones with the most awards, just the best accordingto him, the ones he really loved.

He then wrote an introduction for eachone of these stories, explaining, in his refreshing style, who the writeris, why he picked this particular story and how did the author reacted tohis choice.Yes - and that's how this book develops a parallel anthology - he also contacted each of the authors and asked each one of them to pickone of their favorite stories by someone else and write an introduction forit.

When asked to handle this project by Jim Baen, Ace's science fictioneditor, Spider Robinson recalls, in the foreword, how he "wasdrooling" at the idea and said "My favorite stories plus myfavorite writers' favorite stories ?Christ, that sounds like the best ofall possible worlds.""Yeah," (said Baen) "that's myworking title."

This book is a gem.It starts with Larry Niven's"Inconstant Moon" and follows with Niven's choice "Spud andCochise" by Oliver La Farge - an unforgettable "western thatblooms into fantasy, compelling awe, laughter and belief."

The nextone is "Need" by Theodore Sturgeon - my own favorite - andSturgeon then picked "Hop-Friend" by Terry Carr.Following that,we have The Duel Scene from William Goldman's "The PrincessBride" and Goldman picked Robert Sheckley's "SeventhVictim".The next one is Dean Ing's "Portions Of ThisProgram..." who then chose "They Bite" by Anthony Boucher.

Spider Robinson's last pick is an exquisitely touching story by RobertA. Heinlein (his introduction is a wonderful read in itself), "The ManWho Traveled in Elephants" which recreates magically a Fellini-likeatmosphere combined with the All American, mid century charm of Capra's"It's A Wonderful Life".Not only is this story surprisinglyunHeinlein but Heinlein's own pick is another surprise, a sweetly naive andreligious story by Anatole France "Our Lady's Juggler" very aptlytranslated by Spider Robinson himself (who was turned off by the twotranslations which were available at the time).

This anthology is notreally an anthology as we know it.Spider Robinson's world - past andpresent - is revealed throughout and we also get a glimpse into the worldsof his favorite writers as they candidly recall their reactions to theirfavorite stories.It is, in the best sense of the word, a Collection, onewhich touches the heart and caresses the mind.In that sense and so manyothers, it is Unique.

This truely is the Best of all Possible Worlds
This book is amazing in that every story in it is exceptional. During the 10 or so years that I have been collecting Spider, I have only seen one copy of this book. People who read this one tend to hold tightly to it and only loan it to close friends. One of the most amazing items about this book, is that all of the stories could have been written by Spider. This book holds gems that may not have seen the light of day for quite some time. Among these stories are the very best Heinlein and Sturgeon stories in print. All in all, I cannot recommend this collection highly enough.

Classic short stories that are hard to find anywhere else
The essence of this collection is that Spider Robinson picked his favorite short story, actually an excerpt from his favorite book (the swordfight on the Cliffs of Insanity from "The Princess Bride") and then contacted the author of that piece - William Goldman - and asked him what his favorite story was. Spider then contacted that author... and so on. The result is a unique collection of stories that provide insight into what affects these authors.

The book was published quite a few years back and I do not have a copy so I cannot list all the stories but I can say that no other collection has ever had the impact on me that this one did. If you ever wondered what Authors read and remember, find a copy and hang onto it - I've been trying to find a replacement copy for 12 years. ... Read more

Product Description
A diverse and surprising collection of crime fiction stories with elements of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Writers include: Spider Robinson,, Terence Green, Tanya Huff, Andrew Weiner, and more. ... Read more

Product Description
See how it all began! In Before They Were Giants, editor James L. Sutter collects the first published stories of 15 of science fiction and fantasy's most important authors, including winners of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, New York Times bestsellers, and members of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Along with these often rare or never-before-anthologized stories, all 15 authors provide brand-new retrospective critiques and interviews discussing the stories' geneses, how publication affected their lives, and what they know now about writing that they wish they'd known then. Contributors include Ben Bova, Charles Stross, China Mieville, Cory Doctorow, David Brin, Greg Bear, Joe Haldeman, Kim Stanley Robinson, Larry Niven, Michael Swanwick, Nicola Griffith, Piers Anthony, R. A. Salvatore, Spider Robinson, and William Gibson. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great introduction to some talented authors
While the quality of writing this working isn't always spectacular - this is, after all, the very first works of most of these authors - this collection is remarkable for three reasons.First, the choice of authors - Greg Bear, Ben Bova, William Gibson, Joe Haldeman, China Mieville, Charles Stross, etc - is a hit list of Sci Fi Authors That You Simply Must Read, and their first works are indicative of their huge talent.Second, each story is followed by an interview with its author, who wax nostalgic on their first published story, their experience in print publication, advise to new authors, etc.Finally, this book is published by the remarkable Paizo Publishing, a group of terrifically talented people working out of Washington State who have set the bar in terms of quality role playing game publishing.

Mostly pointless
Before They were Giants is an anthology without a theme, a collection of the "first published" works of a wide range of living SF writers.There are 15 short stories in about 200 pages, which includes a brief questionnaire with answers by each author (itself generally two or three pages long).As a result, there is a real grab-bag of things here, with "sci-fi" being pretty widely interpreted and the authors involved ranging from Piers Anthony to China Mieville.

As a result, by operation of the simple law of averages, there are bound to be a few things here you like.The bad news is, its probable there will be quite a bit more you either dislike or are indifferent to.Its also billed as a primer for aspiring writers - which it may very be of some use as, I have no idea - but as a result it also straddles into teachiness in places at the expense of fun.Throw in the fact that this is, by definition, the rawest works of the authors involved, and the book becomes of more use as a curiosity striving for "importance" than a book trying to be "fun".

Two and half stars might be fairer than two, but I cant rate in half stars, and can't give it three stars just for meaning well and trying hard. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Worst novel about time travel I have ever read.
"Time Pressure" by Spider Robinson was a HUGE disappointment.The dust cover states, ".."the New Robert Heinlein...Gerald Jonas" but does not warn us which period in Heinlein's career.If you are looking for good writing like "Starship Troopers" or "Tunnel in the Sky" then that Heinlein is totally absent from the writing of "Time Pressure."

But if you are looking for cardboard stereotypes, glorification of drug use, and giant elements of misogyny then you will find that in "Time Pressure" like in Heinlein's later books which were usually junk.

The basic story is about a guy in the woods who abuses drugs so much he can not tell reality.He encounters a time traveler who appears in a snow storm and of course is a naked woman without any hair.Robinson spends lost of ink describing her features in ways that would fit into a lap dance establishment.I found it all boring in the extreme.And of course the woman is immediately available for sexual encounters with the druggie while his friend watches.A letter to a "men's magazine" has about as much quality writing. The story degenerates from there on with further nonsense.

I have never read a worse book on time travel than "Time Pressure" by Spider Robinson.

Exquisite, Wistful, Inspiring
This book gave me hope. It gave me renewed faith in humanity. It's deliberate pacing may take some adjusting to, but the narrative strenghtens as it unfolds.Great characters with warmth and earthy humor.A truly erotic and life loving, hippie-sci-fi odyssey.

One of my favorite books ever
This was the first Spider Robinson book I ever read, and it drove me to acquire all the rest! I loved the plot turns, I was utterly surprised by the truth behind it, and I'm one of those people who always knows the plot after 5 minutes into a movie or tv show. I don't want to give anything away, but this book is intelligent, witty, sexy, and made laugh and cry, at different times. (For that matter the line, "From what year" will make me giggle whenever I hear it, just in recollection.) A few of the main chracters are living on a commune, so adult situations. There's a wide variety of character types, and an excellent portrayl of different people with different backgrounds living in a small community.
Spider writes very much in the style of Heinlein's adult work, and the same cautions apply. If plain speaking or sex bothers you, don't read it.For adults, this book is a delight.

Good SF, good character twists
The best thing about this book for me is how it twists around. For the first half you see everything strictly from the narrator's point of view, and everything he says seems rational and correct. Then you start to have a few doubts, and just as it occurs to you that in fact he's sort of a jerk, the plot twists, you (both) find out that some things weren't at all what they seemed (and others were exactly), and when the dust settles both you and the narrator are seeing things very differently.

As SF, this is good and solid (if slightly oldfashioned, being from the 80s), with nice treatments of telepathy, time travel, and the future of humanity. In general setting, I liked the whole Canadian Hippie Commune treatment; it's done convincingly, not as the easy stereotype it could have been.

I've seen a couple of people complain about the erotic parts of the book, and I have to admit I don't really understand it; the love scenes aren't particularly pornographic, and they *are* important to the plot. And why would anyone dislike love scenes anyway? But maybe that's just me. *8)

Tell me why...
Hello, I don't think this is a review so much as me venting, so consider yourselves warned. I read the first half of the book in a single sitting, saying, ah, a good book, at last... attractive plot, charming characters, wit, passages that make you go, now why didn't I think of that before?... Then I hit the four-way love scene and waded through it for a while. No, it really doesn't have all that much to do with the story line. And it's boring. And it's long. Maybe later it will turn out to be terribly relevant, but I haven't got the patience tonight. Maybe I'll come back to it when I'm in the mood for erotica. Maybe the actual book will pull me back later and I'll skip forward and read on. With thousands of books to choose from, right here in this room, maybe not. This is the first book of its quality that I've stopped reading in the middle, and it's such a shame. Live long and prosper. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Kliatt, published by Kliatt on March 1, 2008. The length of the article is 332 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Heinlein, Robert A. & Robinson, Spider. Variable star.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Audiobook review)
Author: Janet Julian
Publication: Kliatt (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2008
Publisher: Kliatt
Volume: 42Issue: 2Page: 48(1)

Article Type: Audiobook review, Brief article, Young adult review

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 1381. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The Best of Spider
Inventive, well paced, and relevant. If you are a Spider fan coming from his Callahan novels, you may not like this much. If you are looking for the best book Spider has ever produced, then this is the one.

Loved this book
This book is excellent, a science fiction mystery with multiple plot twists and fascinating ideas, and a positive, uplifting, the world will be a better place in the future ending. I loved the characters, and thought the characterization of the memory loss and the abused woman were amazingly accurate, close enough to my own emotions to make me have to set the book down for a bit and catch my breath. The book surprised me several times, a very hard thing to do, and I love reading all his work.

A science fiction mystery novel set in Canada.
This is one of those sci-fi books that isn't overtly about futuristic hardware, but rather is set in the not-so-distant future and concerns amplified versions of germane social issues from today.As a result, the character development and social aspects of the plot are more prominently featured.Due to its slow start, I was worried that this book might not pass my 100-page test (in which I abandon a book after 100 pages if I am not into it), but I found it slowly growing on me until I was committed to finding out what happened in the end.The ending has a nice twist to boot.

The Power of Thought
Reaching the ultimate 'high' has been the goal of a considerable portion of the human race for a very long time. The methods used to try to reach that point have ranged from an incredible variety of mind-altering drugs to deep meditation to self-induced hypnotic trances. So when a new way of reaching that high comes along, direct electrical stimulation of the mind's pleasure center via a surgical implant and a small external device, is it any wonder that a significant number of people would jump for it? And once connected, that there would be some who desire its pleasurable effects so much that they would die happy remaining connected while their bodies waste away from dehydration and starvation?

From this beginning idea (which has also been the subject of treatments by authors such as Larry Niven), Spider goes not just one, but several steps further. Seeing that this technology is just the beginning of deep research into how the mind and memory really work, he envisions that it would eventually lead to knowledge of how to erase selective memories, how to index and store them, and eventually how to transfer them from one person to another.

The story is wrapped around this idea, beginning from Joe, a man missing some of his own memories and totally hidden from society's identification systems,finding Karen, nearly dead, hooked to one of these pleasure tasps, and his slow succoring of her back to health. When they go on a crusade to destroy the maker of such hideously addictive devices, they stumble across information leading them to believe there is one man who controls not just these devices, but has the power to erase a person's memories at will, a power so immense, and so impossible to trace, that he can do anything he desires. As a parallel track, we follow the story of Norman, an assistant professor whose life is falling apart, from his marriage to his job, whose older sister mysteriously disappears one day, and his search for her. Spider does a good job of tying together these disparate threads, with a conclusion that may seem a little over-dramatic but which drives home his thematic points.

His themes deal with just how absolute power may not corrupt, but instead ennoble, but with an under-text of 'end justifying the means'; of a possible goal of really being able to understand how someone else feels by actually 'reading' their thoughts; of identity and right to privacy; of when and to whom loyalty should be given; and 'Chinese' obligations. Some of his thoughts on these subjects seemed a little facile to me, not completely thought through or all consequences investigated, but they are all, within the context of this story, very thought provoking.

Joe, Karen, and Norman are all very well realized characters, in many ways very reminiscent of some of Robert Heinlein's character types, which is not surprising as Spider honors Heinlein as one of his main mentors. These characters have strength, intelligence, and inner integrity; character traits that are rarely seen in many modern novels.

A good read, a few surprising twists along the way, but perhaps not a deep enough delve into the ethical and philosophical questions he raises to really make this an outstanding novel.

The author struggles to understand human nature.
Perhaps the most annoying aspect of reading any Spider Robinson book, including this one, is witnessing the author's total failure to understand what makes human beings tick, in spite of obvious effort to do so.

This book contains a chapter which formerly appeared as a short story, in which a character describes how she was raped by her father as a child. Elsewhere, in another book, Robinson remarks that the rape story was told to him "verbatim" by the actual victim, whom he would love to hear from if she's out there somewhere. That fictionalizing her childhood trauma for the entertainment of his readers isn't the best way to get in touch doesn't seem to occur to him. ... Read more

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Sarah, the ballet dancing spider's talent for dancing (with her advantage of having eight legs) is truly put to the test as the farmyard animals decide to put on a show. ... Read more

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CONTENTS: ~ ~~ ~ NOVELETTES: Have You Heard the One...? [Spider Robinson]; The Humanoid Universe [Jack Williamson]; One Time in Alexandria [Donald Franson]; SHORT STORIES: Downeast Encounter [Thomas A. Easton]; Given A, Then Bee [Dean R. Lambe]; Rings of Death [Paul J. Nahin]; ARTICLES: Twilight Song [Jerry Pournelle]; Beyond First Contact [M. David Stone]; In the Beginning ... was Campbell [Frank Kelly Freas] ... Read more