top of page

Spider Robinson

Spider.jpg

Spider Robinson was born in the Bronx, NY, in 1948, the year Robert A. Heinlein married Virginia Gerstenfeld—and in 2006 he became the only author ever to collaborate with Mr. Heinlein on a novel, VARIABLE STAR. Since 1973 he has published over thirty-five books, and won three Hugos, a Nebula, the John W. Campbell Award, and numerous other international honours.

He moved to Canada in 1974, and became a Canadian citizen in 2004. His Callahan’s Place stories inspired the creation of the long running Usenet newsgroup alt.callahans and other cybernetworks. From 1995-2004 he published an op-ed column (“The Crazy Years,” later called “Future Tense”) in Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. In 2006 he became the first Writer In Residence at Vancouver’s H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, and in 2010 he was named sixth Writer In Residence at the Vancouver Public Library. He has written songs with David Crosby and Todd Butler, and recorded original music with Amos Garrett and Michael Creber. His award-winning podcast Spider On The Web has appeared regularly since 2007, and he has been Toastmaster at two World Science Fiction Conventions.

He was married for 35 glorious years to Jeanne Robinson, a dancer, writer and Buddhist priest with whom he co-authored the Hugo- and Nebula-award winning THE STARDANCE TRILOGY.  In 2004, they were both separately invited by First Lady Laura Bush to appear at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. Since Jeanne’s death in May 2010, Spider has lived alone on an island in Howe Sound, British Columbia.  He suspects his granddaughter Marisa Alegria da Silva might just be the long-awaited Maitreya Buddha, who will bring enlightenment to all sentient beings.

Titles

Callahan’s Place books
         Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon
         Time Travelers Strictly Cash
         Callahan’s Secret
         Off The Wall at Callahan’s

Lady Sally’s House books
         Callahan’s Lady
         Lady Slings the Booze

Mary’s Place books
         The Callahan Touch
         Callahan’s Legacy
         Callahan’s Key
         Callahan’s Con

Stardance books
         Stardance (with Jeanne Robinson)
         Starseed (with Jeanne Robinson)
         Starmind (with Jeanne Robinson)

         The Stardance Trilogy (Stardance, Starseed, Starmind)

Deathkiller books
         Time Pressure

         Mindkiller
         Lifehouse

         The Lifehouse Trilogy

         Deathkiller (Time Pressure + Mindkiller)

Very books
         Very Bad Deaths
         Very Hard Choices

Variable Star (Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson)
God Is An Iron and Other Stories (collection)
The Free Lunch
By Any Other Name (collection)
User Friendly (collection)
Night of Power
Melancholy Elephants (collection)
The Best of All Possible Worlds (anthology)
Antinomy (collection)
Telempath

The Crazy Years: Reflections of a Science Fiction Original

Awards

  • Robert A. Heinlein Award for Lifetime Excellence in Literature, 2008

  • American Library Association, Best Book for Young Adults, CALLAHAN'S CROSSTIME SALOON, 1977

  • American Library Association, Best Book for Young Adults, THE FREE LUNCH, 1977

  • Hugo Award, Best Novella, STARDANCE, shared by Jeanne and Spider Robinson, 1977 

  • Hugo Award, Best Novella, BY ANY OTHER NAME, 1976

  • Hugo Award, Best Short Story, MELANCHOLY ELEPHANTS, 1983 

  • John W. Campbell Award, Best New Writer, 1974

  • Pat Terry Memorial Award, Humorous Writing (from the Sydney, Australia, Science Fiction Foundation), 1977

  • Nebula Award, Best Novella, STARDANCE, shared by Jeanne and Spider Robinson, 1977

variable star.jpg
crosstime saloon.jpg
lifehouse.jpg
bottom of page