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Callahan's Key

By: Spider Robinson
Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
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Publisher's summary

Nobody blends good science with bad puns as brilliantly as Spider Robinson. Now he's back with the latest chapter of the Callahan saga: an improbable tale of impending doom, a road trip, space, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.

The universe is in desperate peril. Due to a cluster of freakish phenomena, the United States' own defense system has become a doomsday machine, threatening the entire universe. Only one man can save everything-as-we-know-it from annihilation. Unfortunately, he's not available. So the job falls instead to bar owner Jake Stonebender, his wife Zoey, and their superintelligent toddler, Erin, not to mention two dozen busloads of ex-hippies and freaks, Robert Heinlein's wandering cat, a whorehouse parrot, and misunderstood genius-inventor, Nikola Tesla, who is in fact alive and well.

©2000 Spider Robinson (P)2003 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Fans and the uninitiated alike will devour this intoxicating blend of character comedy and hard sci-fi, for [Spider] Robinson's writing remains as potentially addictive and as full of earthy delight as [Jake] Stonebender's famed Irish coffee." (Publishers Weekly)
"[Spider] Robinson resembles [Robert] Heinlein in his mild anarchism; oft-cited, never described sex; and characters that think they're smarter than the rest of us, and are." (Booklist)
"I'd nominate Spider Robinson as the new Robert Heinlein." (The New York Times)

What listeners say about Callahan's Key

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Most Excellent

I love Spider Robinson and dearly wish The Place was real and wish I could be there. I will take Jamison, brown sugar and double cream in my own God's Blessing. Thanks

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2 people found this helpful

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fantastic always

this was as wonderful as when I read it the first time. the narration was great and the whole story was made more by it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Purchase Callahan's Chronicles First!

I really enjoyed this book, but would suggest to anyone to purchase Callahan's Chronicles first, without that you miss out on a lot of background, as well as some of the spirit of the novel. This one doesn't have the heart of the Callahan's Place, but, none the less, it still holds its own, with a great fun story that keeps you wrapped up. Audible - More Spider Please!!

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Callahan's Key Was Outstanding

One audio book that you can not wait to finish. I listen mainly on the way back and forth from work and found myself sitting in my driveway wanting to hear more.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The best ever

highly recommend anything from spider Robinson or Robert Heinlein they are the best writers ever

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Thoroughly Amusing !

Not my first Spider Robinson experience, and even better than I expected. The story is saturated with colorful characters in one amusing situation after another. Never a dull moment.
I had no idea this title is one of the latest in a "Callahan" series, it is a complete and independent story. I would recommend starting at the beginning, which is where I'll be going next, but it isn't necessary.
I think it's worth mentioning that the author is not subtle in his tribute to Robert A. Heinlein, as well as John D. MacDonald and possibly Robert Asprin. Which is a good thing!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I wish this place really existed

I am a BIG Spider Robinson Fan. I have all of his Callahan books as well as the 2 books about Sally. I was really happy to see this on Audible, and I see that they now have the Callahan Chronicles. I hope Audible gets all of the Callahan titles and some of Spider's other work like "Free Lunch". It is a must have for anyone who likes to combine humor with sci-fi.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Callahan's Key (Unabridged)

Always enjoy Spider when he visits Callahan's bunch. Barrett is great in his presentation.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Keeps the plot. loses the emotion

"Shared pain is diminished, shared joy is increased." That was the motto of "Callahan's Chronicles," the first of the Spider Robinson's Callahan books available via Audible. That first audio book (actually a compilation of three Callahan story collections) dealt with crazy, wild, innovative personal problems of individuals and the crazy, wild, and innovative solutions they found.

All of that is lost by the time we get to "Callahan's Key." I listened for 1 1/2 chapters, then I couldn't stand it anymore: It was just plot, plot, plot. The layers of super-powers, special abilities, and strange circumstances established in the earlier books were just feeding off each other. Where was the shared joy? Where was the diminshed pain? I heard none of that.

It doesn't help that apparently there are two intervening books between "Callahan's Chronicles" and "Callahan's Key": "Callagan's Legacy" and "Callahan's Touch." These are not available from Audible at the time I write this review. Plot elements from these earlier books are constantly refered to in "Key"; it makes things hard to follow.

About the only good thing I can say about this one is that the reader, Barret Whitener, is still excellent. But he can't turn dross into gold.

If you loved the characters from "Callahans Chronicles," you'll get more of them here. But if you listened to the stories for that central motto, "Shared pain is diminished, shared joy is increased," you'll be disappointed in "Callahans Key."

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

psychedelic dream of an old hippie

I found this book to be mildly entertaining, with few OK puns that were greatly diluted by the mediocre ones. This sci-fi is pretty low on "sci" and not too high on original "fi". The most annoying recurring phrase was "he was right...". It repeated too many times throughout the book and tasted like yet another spoonful of sugar in the same cup of tea. I was somewhat bored. However overall, it is not the most horrible piece of literature I was exposed to.

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14 people found this helpful