Audiobooks

Spider Robinson titles available as unabridged Audiobooks:

	STARMIND by Spider and Jeanne Robinson read by Spider Robinson It is 2064, and Earth is enjoying an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity due to the Starmind, a universal overmind engineered by benevolent aliens. Art in all its forms flourishes, and composer Rand Porter has been offered the job of a lifetime: as a shaper of visual effects and music for the world's most famous zero-gravity dance company in High Orbit. But his beloved novelist wife, Rhea Paixao, has her roots sunk deep in the Earth in her beloved Cape Cod. And as they wrestle with their private dilemma, bizarre things — small miracles — are beginning to occur everywhere on Earth and throughout the entire Solar System. The human race and its evolutionary successors, the space-dwelling Stardancers, find themselves approaching the terrifying cusp of their shared destiny, an appointment made for them a million years ago, a make-or-break point beyond which nothing, anywhere, can ever be the same again.
	STARSEED by Spider and Jeanne Robinson read by Spider Robinson This sequel to Stardance returns to the rarified world of Top Step, an asteroid in orbit above 21st-century Earth. There, for the price of all one's worldly possessions, humans are able to live in a vaccum indefinitely by joining with a symbiotic lifeform that provides all needed nourishment. For Rain McLeod, a 46-year-old dancer whose failing body is about to end her career, the Starseed program is the only way to continue living her dream. But for others, including several religious groups and power hungry countries back on earth, the existence of Stardancers represents a threat to all humanity. When a missle attack threatens Top Step and Morgan's lover, Robert, is implicated as a prime suspect, Rain must choose between her private dream and the greater good in a world poised on the verge of an evolutionary leap.
	STARDANCE by Spider and Jeanne Robinson read by Spider Robinson Shara Drummond was a gifted dancer and a brilliant choreographer, but she could not pursue her dream of dancing on Earth. So she went to space, creating a new art form in three dimensions. And when the aliens arrived, there was only one way to prove that the human race deserved not just to survive, but to reach the stars. The only hope was Shara, with her stardance. "This captivating science-fiction novel is brought to life in a vivid and memorable reading by one of its authors. Who better to understand this complex work, both in its utter humanity and the complicated setting in which it exists? Spider Robinson reads with vigor and honesty, relating his tale of the unbelievable and fantastic in the most earnest of performances. The imaginative story focuses on Shara Drummond, a dancer who may save the human race with her talent. Spider's portrayal of Drummond doesn't differ much from the tone he employs for the story’s omniscient narrator, but there’s a slight shift in tone that gives credibility to each of the characters. A truly vivid tale!" --L.B. © 2008 AudioFile
	VARIABLE STAR Read by Spider Robinson. At his death in 1988, Robert A. Heinlein left a legacy of novels and short stories that almost single-handedly defined modern science fiction. But one of Heinlein's masterpieces was never finished. In 1955, he began work on Variable Star, a powerful and passionate tale of two young lovers driven apart by pride, power, and the vastness of interstellar time and space. Then he set it aside to focus on other novellas. The detailed outline and notes he created for this project lay forgotten for decades, only to be rediscovered almost a half century later. Now the Heinlein estate has authorized award-winning author Spider Robinson to expand that outline into a full-length novel. The result is vintage Heinlein, faithful in style and spirit to the Grand Master's original vision. "VARIABLE STAR is a novel that was outlined by the late Robert A. Heinlein in the early phase of his career. Spider Robinson, who offers full details in the afterword, used that outline to create this novel, which reads in equal parts like the works of both authors. Robinson narrates as well, and a better choice couldn’t be made. He’s got a pleasant, inviting tone that makes his narration feel like a friend telling you the most incredible story about where he’s been the last few years. The novel is full of philosophical insight, exploding things, and space travel. It’s everything you could ask for in a visit from an old and dear friend. Spider Robinson is a top-notch narrator, and this audiobook is a whole lot of fun." --signed “S.D.D.” in AudioFile, February/March 2008 issue http://www.audiofilemagazine.com Winnner of the 2008 Audiophile Magazine Earphones Award for Excellence Spider has been awarded the "Audiofile Earphones Award for Excellence" for his Blackstone Audio recording of VARIABLE STAR, presented by Robin F. Whitten, editor of Audiofile magazine, "The Magazine For People Who Love Audiobooks." Spider writes "I'm dead chuffed by the news, for myself and for Robert, and I thank Ms. Whitten most kindly." This is Spider's first audiobook award, although he was nominated for an Audie Award last summer for his Blackstone Audio reading of CALLAHAN'S LEGACY.
	THE FREE LUNCH Under the façade of the world's finest theme park lies a secret which could alter the course of human history. Mike and Annie, refugees from the world outside, find a home underground, behind the scenes of Dreamworld, a theme park where hope exists as it does nowhere else. But Dreamworld is threatened by a jealous competitor who kills what he can't have. As if this were not trouble enough, the two discover that each day there are more of the "trolls" who maintain Dreamworld than there were the day before. As the trolls continue to multiply, they must discover why, or it could mean the end of Dreamworld—and the real world. Knotted in conflict and turmoil, what was a wonderful, carefree place becomes a battleground on which Earth's future is at stake. Only Mike and Annie, two unconventional heroes, can save it.
	THE CALLAHAN CHRONICALS (anthology of the first three volumes, CALLAHAN’S CROSSTIME SALOON, TIME TRAVELERS STRICTLY CASH, and CALLAHAN’S SECRET) Read by Audie-Award winner Barrett Whitener. This omnibus edition contains the trio of books that introduced the world to Mike Callahan, Jake Stonebender, Doc Webster, Mickey Finn, Fast Eddie Costigan, Long-Drink McGonnigle, Ralph Von Wau Wau, and the rest of the regulars of Callahan’s Place in the stories that helped Spider Robinson to win both a John W. Campbell Award and a legion of fans. "Some of the stories are marginally science fiction, but most involve some kind of science fiction idea engendered in one of the characters. Telepaths, time travellers, extra-terrestrials, and even Spider Robinson himself are among the bar's visitors. Robinson is able to reach an emotional depth not often seen in science fiction. Each story is touching in its own way, and they often reach peaks of joy and depths of pain, all within minutes of audio. In short, these stories pack an emotional punch. " -- full review at SFFAudio.com
	CALLAHAN’S KEY Read by Barrett Whitener 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. "Set in 1989, though published and written in 2001, Spider Robinson’s Callahan’s Key is a mighty funny tale. But that is not a shocker. Nobody except Douglas Adams does science fiction humor better than Spider Robinson. But what was a shock is that novel makes any sense at all. With a cast of literally dozens of speaking characters, the only thing that keeps the lunatic asylum of a novel from going completely off the rails is the first person perspective. Well mostly that..." -- full review at SFFAudio.com
	CALLAHAN’S CON Read by Barrett Whitener In the discreet little Key West bar that Jake Stonebender established, Fast Eddie Costigan learned to curse back at parrots as he played the house piano, the Reverend Tom Hauptman learned to tend bar bare-chested without blushing, and Long-Drink McGonnigle discovered the margarita and several senoritas. Nobody even noticed them save the universe. "Full of brain-smearing puns and gawdawful song parodies Callahan's Con is guaranteed to entertain anyone who enjoys Robinson's Hugo award winning fiction. Myself, I come for the jokes and stay for references. Callahan's Con is proof that not only can Robinson like to write in the style of Heinlein - as he did in the previous installment, Callahan's Key, - but also that he can write in the style of Mystery Writers Of America Grandmaster Donald E. Westlake! Interestingly this means that that Jake's first person perspective is stretched-out to include multiple viewpoints - as is the Westlake's Dortmunder novels. I'm not sure how Robinson did it, but he managed to convey other character's perspectives in a way I can only describe as fictionalizing the fiction." -- full review at SFFAudio.com
	VERY BAD DEATHS Read by Spider Robinson Russell Walker retreats from the shock of his wife’s death by becoming a hermit in the woods of British Columbia. There he finds himself thrust into a precarious role as intermediary between a telepath called Smelly--so sensitive he can't stand to be near most people--and Constable Hilda, a skeptical police officer who needs Smelly's insight to track down a monstrous serial killer. "Every now and then you run across an author/narrator who is good enough at narrating that you'd like to see him narrate some other author's books too. Harlan Ellison is that good, for example. And so is Spider Robinson. He reads in such a comfortable, personable way that it's easy to imagine that this guy you know popped in for lunch and is telling you this story over the kitchen table. I enjoyed his reading so much that I wondered first how good his Callahan Chronicals would be read by him, and further, how Spider would be narrating another author's work, like, say, a Heinlein novel. The answer? He'd be pretty damn good." -- full review at SFFAudio.com
	CALLAHAN’S LEGACY Read by Spider Robinson It’s more than twenty years since Spider Robinson revealed the existence of Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, and the original bar is gone. Mike Callahan is gone, too, but his spirit lives on in the new bar, named Mary’s Place for his daughter. On this particular day, nothing seems to be going right for Jake Stonebender, proprietor of Mary’s Place.
	ROCKET SHIP GALILEO by Robert A Heinlein read by Spider Robinson From Robert A. Heinlein, the grand master of science fiction and the author of such novels as Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, comes this classic story about pioneers at the dawn of space exploration. Ross Jenkins, Art Mueller, and Morris Abrams are not your average high-schools students. While other kids are cruising around in their cars or playing ball, this trio, known as the Galileo Club, is experimenting with rocket fuels, preparing for their future education at technical colleges. Art’s uncle, the nuclear physicist Dr. Donald Cargraves, offers them the opportunity of a lifetime: to construct and crew a rocket that will take them to the moon. Cargraves believes their combined ingenuity and enthusiasm can actually make this dream come true. But there are those who don’t share their dream and who will stop at nothing to keep their rocket grounded.