Callahan's Con

Having read this book makes me want to go back in time myself and visit Key West during the time period he was writing about! It will be interesting to see if Spider writes himself into a corner eventually with all of Erin's and Nikky's time traveling. There have been some errors I have noticed over time (the fate of Lady Macbeth, for example) in the Callahan's series. But being allowed time travel and aliens (both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial) can really save the world (and have a lot of fun doing it), or the universe, but it cannot keep loved ones from dying when it is their time, so things stay interesting. There are also some storylines that could be "fleshed" out (i.e. "Joe" Quigley and Arethusa's marriage/work and un-named child -- see "Lady Slings The Booze"). One of the things I like best about Spider is that he turns us on to writers, musicians, and geniuses some people have not heard of before (MacDonald, Koerner, and Tesla, etc.). For that he has earned a special place in the afterlife (if he doesn't spill too much whisky in the meantime)!

The last few of the books derived from the old "Callhan's" series had seemed somewhat of a letdown from the older books; not that they were bad, but I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as I had the originals. I was beginning to wonder if it was me, not them; if I had changed sufficiently as I aged from my twenties into my forties that I could no longer appreciate the kind of story I'd enjoyed then. I'm still not sure, but this book was definitely back on a par with the older entries in the series; it was flawed (so were they, if you looked hard enough) but it was good enough to overcome its flaws. More, it was good enough to overcome one of the flaws that really bothered me about the previous entry, "Callahan's Key"; I can't say too much without giving a spoiler, but suffice it to say that I don't expect Jake and the other Callahan's regulars to be insensitive jerks; they don't prejudge people simply because they're alien cyborgs, or sentient computer networks; it seemed wrong that they would prejudge someone just because she was (A) ugly and (B) had a silly name. The fact that they did made it pretty clear that Spider was, and that bothered me; in this book, we get his apology (via Jake). If you've tried the Callahan's books before and found them pointless and silly, your opinion of this one will be the same. If you loved them all, you'll certainly love this one. If you've felt that they'd been slipping for a while, give this one a try; you may enjoy it. If you've NEVER tried the Callahan's books before, then if you like your science fiction WEIRD, well-written and moving in spite of being silly, you will probably enjoy this book, but you might want to read some of the earlier entries in the series first.

Others have summarized the plot of this novel quite well. I would just like to add that I found it to be the most emotionally moving of all the Callahan's installments. OK, the plot (Tony Donuts Jr.?!) wasn't as original as some of Spider's other stuff, but so what? The gang's all here (puns and all), and he brings the saga of The Place more or less up to date with a story that left me very deeply moved.I was also very pleased with the handling of of the "feud" with a certain Ukrainian family. Much more in line with the "love everyone, not just those who agree with you" philosophy espoused by many of the the characters in these books.Bravo, Spider!

Callahan's Con is the ninth novel in the Callahan's Saloon series, following Callahan's Key. In the previous volume, the Callahan gang saves the universe for the second time and the earth for the third. They find a good use for group telepathy and launch their own missile into space. Jake's daughter Erin demonstrates a certain virtuosity with teleportation.In this novel, it is ten years later and Jake is confronted with his own worst nightmare, a bureaucrat who can take away his daughter. Everything they try to do to placate Senior Field Inspector Czrjghbczl of the Florida Department of Education backfires; for example, she sees entirely too much of Ralph and Alf and meets Lex the Merman under inauspicious conditions.Then the gang is confronted with a behemoth of a mobster starting the old protection racket in Key West. While bumping him off would not be difficult, his absence might well raise questions. And the gang definitely doesn't want any questions raised. However, Erin demonstrates her virtuosity with time travel to con Little Nuts into buying the Fountain a Ute for the Five Old Men.This novel is so zany that it almost makes sense. Drink a little Irish Coffee whenever you begin to regain your reasoning powers and you will finish the story in high style. Although the story ends in sorrow, the Callahan gang will probably return when needed.Recommended for Robinson fans and anyone else who enjoys fun stories with a modicum of plot.

The best books are the ones that make you feel deeply and this one does. Naturally, I laughed a lot, that's the nature of Callahan's in any of it's incarnations. But I cried, too, and that reminded me of the roots of what the Callahan stories were about.Now that the regulars have all settled down in Key West, enjoy this story of just a few days in the life of the denizens of "The Place". There are sprinklings of literary references throughout that are a lot of fun, too. Enjoy!