The Callahan Chronicals

This omnibus edition contains the trilogy of science-fiction books that introduced the world to Mike Callahan and all of the regulars at Callahan's Place.

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon is the neighborhood tavern to all of time and space, where the regulars are anything but. These time travelers, talking dogs, alcoholic vampires, and cybernetic aliens really, truly care about each other.

Time Travelers Strictly Cash is the policy. Lay your money on the bar and after drinking, make a toast and throw the glass into the fireplace. It's an odd tradition, but one that's led to some interesting stories.

Callahan's Secret may be one that nobody would guess, or it may be as simple as listening to all those post-toast stories. After all, shared pain is lessened and shared joy is increased—a concept that could, after a few drinks, lead to saving the world.

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.