Melancholy Elephants

I love Spider Robinson's work a lot, because of his strengths and in spite of his occasional weaknesses. But this volume is special, one of my "desert island" books, the ones I don't ever want to live without. Distilled essence of much of what I love best in what Spider has to offer. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

This book is from 1985. It contains the title selection and 11 others, including 'Rubber Soul' and "Concordiat to 'Rubber Soul'", which is of interest to Beatles fans. There is also a story about a time-traveling gangster called 'Chronic Offender'. In this story, on page 124, he uses the word 'muggles', which is pretty funny. This is a good book to complete a Spider Robinson collection.

For anyone who has driven the back routes of New York, hoping to be lucky enough spend an evening at Callahan's. If you dream of being a stardancer, or even just living to see one.... BUY THIS BOOK! I know, it may be out of print, and there may be some lead time on getting it, but each and every story is worth the wait. "Half an Oaf" will have you in stitches as it looks into the possibilities of time travel available to the masses. "High Infidelity" is a bawdy tale, which hilights the joy of a relationship that WORKS. The title story poses some very pointed questions about the nature of art and creation in a world flooded with information. If you love the way Spider tells a tale, these tales MUST become part of your collection.