Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson with wife Jeanne at the 2004 Necronomicon.

Spider Robinson (allegedly born Paul Robinson on November 24, 1948 - although Spider himself has denied this claim as to his birth name) is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author.

Biography

Born in New York City, Robinson has lived in Canada for the past 30 years, primarily in the provinces of Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

Writing history

His pen name may be attributed to his slender build as a youth as well as his public admiration of Minneapolis-based musician Spider John Koerner.

He worked as a book reviewer for Galaxy Science Fiction magazine during the mid- to late 1970s and later contributed book reviews to the original anthology series Destinies. In 1996â€"2005, he served as a columnist in the Op-Ed section (and briefly in the technology section) of the Globe and Mail.

Robinson's first published novel, Telempath (1976), was an expansion of his Hugo award-winning novella "By Any Other Name". The first edition had cover art by 'Powers'.

In 2004, he pronounced himself "overjoyed" to begin working on a lengthy 1955 novel outline by the late Robert A. Heinlein in order to expand it into a novel, thus making it a collaborative effort. The book will be titled Robert A. Heinlein's Variable Star and is scheduled to be published in late 2006. A recent posting on Robinson's official website says "I've delivered the novel VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson to editor Pat LoBrutto at Tor Books, more than two weeks before deadline; hardcover publication is scheduled for October 2006. Based on an outline Robert created in November 1955 (when I was 7), it will be his 53rd book, and my 33rd..."

Robinson is also an admirer of mystery writer John D. MacDonald. Lady Sally McGee from the Callahan's series is apparently named in honor of Travis McGee, the central character in MacDonald's mystery novels. The lead character in Lady Slings The Booze frequently refers to Travis McGee as a role model. In Callahan's Key the patrons make a visit to the marina near Fort Lauderdale where the Busted Flush was usually moored in the McGee series. In the photos section of Robinson's official website is a photo, taken by Jeanne, of Spider "at the address (now demolished) of 'The Busted Flush,' home of John D. MacDonald's immortal character Travis McGee: Slip F-18, Bahia Mar Marina, Fort Lauderdale FL."

Similarly important to Robinson is writer Donald E. Westlake and Westlake's most famous character, John Archibald Dortmunder.

Between the end of Chapter 5 and the start of Chapter 6 in Robinson's novel Lifehouse (1997) is a list of the aliases used by a con man character, containing an impressive number of cultural references (including McGee, Dortmunder, and several Heinlein characters, plus other SF and popular fiction allusions). One extremely clever subtlety is the inclusion in the list ofaliases includes names that were aliases for others: James Tiptree, Jr, the pen name used by SF writer Alice Sheldon, and "Sebastian Tombs," which was an alias often adopted by the character "Simon Templar" in many novels by Leslie Charteris.

Robinson's style may be described as humanistic (or sentientistic) and humorous. He has frequently encouraged a positive attitude towards world issues, claiming that a pessimistic world view will yield pessimistic results. Frequently in his writing, the conflicts center around a science fiction issue with a human solution, following Theodore Sturgeon's definition of a good science fiction story.

Published works

Stand-alone novels

Telempath (New York: Berkley, 1976)
Night of Power (1985)
The Free Lunch (2001)
Very Bad Deaths (2004)
Robert A. Heinlein's Variable Star (2006)

The Deathkiller Trilogy

Mindkiller (1982)
Time Pressure (1987)
Lifehouse (1997)

The Stardance Trilogy

Written in collaboration with his wife, Jeanne Robinson.
Stardance (1979)
Starseed (1991)
The Star Dancers (1997) (omnibus edition of Stardance and Starseed)
Starmind (1995)

The Callahan's Series

*Callahan's Place
*Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (1977)
*Time Travelers Strictly Cash (1981) (contains several non-Callahan's stories as well)
*Callahan's Secret (1986)
*Callahan and Company (1988) - (omnibus edition of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Time Travelers Strictly Cash, and Callahan's Secret)
*The Callahan Chronicals (1997) - (retitled republication of Callahan and Company)
*Lady Sally's
*Callahan's Lady (1989)
*Lady Slings the Booze (1992)
*Kill the Editor (1991) - (an excerpt from Lady Slings the Booze, published in a special edition)
*Mary's Place
*The Callahan Touch (1993)
*Callahan's Legacy (1996)
*The Place
*Callahan's Key (2000)
*Callahan's Con (2003)
Off the Wall at Callahan's (1994) - (a collection of quotes from other books in the series)

Short story collections

Antinomy (1980)
The Best of All Possible Worlds (1980) - (collection of works by other authors edited and introduced by Robinson)
Melancholy Elephants (1984 - Canada; 1985 - United States)
True Minds (1990)
User Friendly (1998)
By Any Other Name (2001)
God Is an Iron and Other Stories (2002)
The Crazy Years (2004) - (a collection of his articles for the Globe and Mail)

Discography

Belabouring the obvious (2000)

Collected Essays

The Crazy Years: Reflections of a Science Fiction Original (2004)

Awards

*Campbell award (best new writer) (1974)
*Hugo award for best novella (1977) By Any Other Name (later expanded into Telempath) and best short story (1983) Melancholy Elephants
*Nebula award for best novella (1977) Stardance (with Jeanne Robinson)