SPIDER ROBINSON (1948 – ) is a Canadian/American Science Fiction author living in British Columbia, Canada. His Science Fiction is often loosely autobiographical, either having himself as a character, or some variant with similar habits and mannerisms. Before settling on Bowen Island in B.C., Robinson spent time in the back to the land movement. Themes of libertarianism and ecology often come up in his stories. He is also a frequent collaborator, and has co-authored several novels with his wife Jeanne Robinson as well as one with one of his favourite authors, Robert A. Heinlein. Indeed, a Spider Robinson novel often displays deep affection for the writings of other authors including those of Robert A. Heinlein, John D. MacDonald and Donald E. Westlake. Robinson has been honoured with both Hugo and Nebula awards for his fiction and is an active podcaster and audiobook narrator. His fiction has been wonderfully audiobooked by publisher Blackstone Audio.
Podcast:
Spider On The Web
CATEGORY: [MUSIC / STORIES]
PODCAST FEED: http://www.spiderrobinson.com/iTunes_feed.xml
Features essays, reviews, and fiction by Spider Robinson as well as other author’s fiction.
Podcast Fiction:
The Guy With The Eyes
By Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Spider On The Web
Podcast: July 2008
A Callahan’s Place short story.
Orphans Of Eden and Local Champ
By Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Spider On The Web
Podcast: June 2008
Two stories from the collection God Is An Iron and Other Stories
Soul Search
By Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Spider On The Web
Podcast: June 2008
From the collection God Is An Iron and Other Stories
Not Fade Away and Orphans of Eden
By Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Spider On The Web
Podcast: March 2008
Two short stories from User Friendly.
Melancholy Elephants
By Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcast: Spider On The Web
Podcaster: November 2007
“She sat zazen, concentrating on not concentrating, until it was time to prepare for the appointment. Sitting seemed to produce the usual serenity, put everything in perspective. Her hand did not tremble as she applied her make-up; tranquil features looked back at her from the mirror. She was mildly surprised, in fact, at just how calm she was, until she got out of the hotel elevator at the garage level and the mugger made his play. She killed him instead of disabling him. Which was obviously not a measured, balanced action–the official fuss and paperwork could make her late. Annoyed at herself, she stuffed the corpse under a shiny new Westinghouse roadable whose owner she knew to be in Luna, and continued on to her own car. This would have to be squared later, and it would cost. No help for it–she fought to regain at least the semblance of tranquillity as her car emerged from the garage and turned north. Nothing must interfere with this meeting, or with her role in it.”
Commercial Audiobooks:
Stardance
By Spider & Jeanne Robinson: Read by Spider Robinson
7 CD, 8 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433244827
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. The Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Stardance series pioneered the concept of zero gravity dance, which even sparked the interest of NASA and shortlisted co-author Jeanne Robinson for a seat on a space shuttle to become the first actual free-fall dancer in space. Though the Challenger explosion canceled that dream, now Jeanne is being given a second chance to choreograph dance in space…on film. See Stardance Home Pagefor more.
Starseed
By Spider and Jeanne Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
7 CDs – 8.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433245558
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 vacuum 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.
Variable Star
By Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
9 CD, 11 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9780786158843
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.
Very Bad Deaths
By Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
10 CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0786182431
|READ OUR REVIEW|
Callahan’s Con
By Spider Robinson; Read by Barrett Whitener
8 CDs – Approx. 10 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 0786183470
|READ OUR REVIEW|
Callahan’s Key
By Spider Robinson; Read by Barrett Whitener
9 Cassettes – Approx 12.5 Hours
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0786125519
|READ OUR REVIEW|
The Callahan Chronicals
By Spider Robinson; read by Barrett Whitener
12 cassettes – 18 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0786124601
|READ OUR REVIEW|
Narrated by Robinson:
Rocket Ship Galileo
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Spider Robinson
5 CDs, 4 Cassettes or 1 MP3-CD – 5.5 hrs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9780786162765 (CDs), 9780786147892 (cassettes), 9780786172092(MP3-CD)
|READ OUR REVIEW|
Day Million and We Purchased People
By Frederik Pohl; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 67 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcast: Spider On The Web
Podcaster: August 2008
The Persistence Of Vision
By John Varley; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Spider On The Web
Podcast: November 2008
Wandering the roads and rails of a future USA, our narrator learns the art of living in a dead economy. Only a mysterious wall on the New Mexico/California border and a collective of the blind-deaf keep his wandering feet from moving on.
In Fading Suns And Dying Moons
By John Varley; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Spider On The Web
Podcast: January 4th 2009
The story of an unstoppable alien invasion of Earth. Curiously the aliens look human and speak English (and every other language on Earth) and constantly reference Edwin Abbot’s Flatland: A Romance Of Many Dimensions. Their mission? Seize all of the butterflies on the planet.