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Fictional bar/story series by Spider Robinson From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Callahan's Place is a fictional bar with strongly community-minded and empathetic clientele, part of the fictional universe of American writer Spider Robinson. It appears in the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon stories (compiled in the first novel of the same name) along with its sequels Time Travelers Strictly Cash and Callahan's Secret; most of the beloved barflies appear in the further sequels The Callahan Touch, Callahan's Legacy, Callahan's Key, and Callahan's Con, and the computer game.
 | This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. (May 2015) |
First edition | |
| Author | Spider Robinson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Vincent Di Fate |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
Publication date | 1977 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 170 |
| ISBN | 0-441-09034-6 |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1981 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-441-81277-5 |
| Publisher | Berkley Books |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1986 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-425-09082-5 |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1989 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-441-09073-7 |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1992 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-441-46928-0 |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1993 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-441-09075-3 |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1996 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-312-85776-4 |
| Publisher | Bantam Spectra |
|---|---|
Publication date | 2000 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-553-11163-9 |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
|---|---|
Publication date | 2003 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-7653-0270-5 |
In the book, the fictional bar is run by Mike Callahan. The regulars are welcoming and willing to listen to any visitor's problems, no matter how strange, but they do not snoop if a visitor is unwilling to share. Strange visitors and unusual events turn up frequently in the stories. Regulars at Callahan's include a talking dog, several extraterrestrials and time travelers, an ethical vampire, a couple of Irish mythological beings, and a parrot spewing obscenities. The stories make heavy use of puns. Irish whiskeys are the preferred beverage, with Tullamore Dew and Bushmills mentioned in nearly every collection of shorts or novel that references the saloon. The stories make an obvious homage to Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp's Tales from Gavagan's Bar and Arthur C. Clarke's Tales from the White Hart.
In the book, Lady Sally McGee, the madam of a house of excellent repute (and Mike Callahan's wife), stars in Robinson's Callahan's Lady and Lady Slings the Booze. The regulars at Lady Sally's brothel (where the employees are "artists" and the patrons are "clients") insist on the same empathy and humor as those at Callahan's, and they are just as likely to have fantastic backgrounds. Relatedly, nobody in Lady Sally's is forced into anything they are unwilling to do.
This is the source of Callahan's Law (also known as the Law of Conservation of Pain and Joy): "Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased—thus do we refute entropy." Stated another way: "Just as there are Laws of Conservation of Matter and Energy, so there are Laws of Conservation of Pain and Joy. Neither can ever be created or destroyed. But one can be converted into the other."
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon contains the following stories, virtually all of which were published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact:
Time Travelers Strictly Cash contains four Callahan stories and several non-Callahan stories and essays.
Callahan's Secret contains four Callahan stories; there is only Callahan material.
In 1987 Phantasia Press published a 1500-copy hardcover edition of Callahan and Company (ISBN 0-932096-48-4) which reprints the 18 Callahan's stories that appeared in the three previous books.
Callahan's Legacy contains three sections that were not separately published as stories.
All of the later works appeared as individual novels.
Some elements of Callahan's Lady and Lady Slings the Booze have been separately published in Pulphouse.
In 1997 Legend Entertainment released a graphic adventure game for the PC (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon), designed by Josh Mandel (of Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist fame), based on the series. The player controls Jake Stonebender (narrator of the books) through a series of bizarre adventures. Included in the game are several songs performed by Spider Robinson himself; these can be heard by talking to the pianist in the bar and asking for "one of your specialties".
The series has also been adapted as a setting for the GURPS roleplaying game covering the material of the first three Callahan's books and the first Lady Sally book.[1]
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