Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson (born November 24, 1948) is an American-born Canadian Hugo Award- and Nebula Award-winning science fiction author.

Robinson was born in the Bronx, New York City, New York. He attended a Catholic high school, spending his junior year in a seminary, followed by two years in a Catholic college, and five years at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the 1960s, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English. While at Stony Brook, Spider earned a reputation as a great entertainer at campus coffeehouses and gatherings, strumming his guitar and singing in harmony with his female partner.

In his 20s, he "spent several years in the woods, deliberately trying to live without technology." In 1971, just out of college, he got a night job guarding sewers in New York City. He wrote his first published science fiction story, "The Guy with The Eyes", to get out of that job. In 1975 he married Jeanne Robinson, a choreographer, dancer, and Sōtō Zen monk, who co-wrote his Stardance Trilogy. They had a daughter, Terri Luanna da Silva, who once worked for Martha Stewart.

Robinson made his first short-story sale in 1972 to Analog Science Fiction magazine. The story, "The Guy With The Eyes" (Analog February 1973), was set in a bar called Callahan's Place; Robinson would, off-and-on, continue to write stories about the denizens of Callahan's into the 21st century. Robinson made several short-story sales to Analog, Galaxy Science Fiction magazine and others, and worked as a book reviewer for Galaxy magazine during the mid-to-late 1970s. In 1978–79 he contributed book reviews to the original anthology series Destinies.

Robinson's first published novel, Telempath (1976), was an expansion of his Hugo award-winning novella "By Any Other Name". Over the following three decades, Robinson on average released a book a year, including short story anthologies. In 1996–2005, he served as a columnist in the Op-Ed section (and briefly in the technology section) of the Globe and Mail.

In 2004, he pronounced himself "overjoyed" to begin working on a seven-page 1955 novel outline by the late Robert A. Heinlein to expand it into a novel. The book, titled Variable Star, was released on September 19, 2006. Robinson has always made his admiration for Heinlein very clear; in an afterword to Variable Star he recounts the story of how on his first visit to a public library a librarian named Ruth Siegel "changed my life completely" by sizing up the child in front of her and handing him a copy of the Heinlein juvenile novel Rocket Ship Galileo, after which "the first ten books I ever read in my life were by Robert Heinlein, and they were all great." Early in Robinson's career, Heinlein even helped to support Robinson financially during an especially difficult period; Robinson was especially grateful because he knew that Heinlein, who at the time was supportive of the war in Vietnam, knew of Robinson's fervent opposition to the war.

Robinson is also an admirer of mystery writer John D. MacDonald. Lady Sally McGee, from the Callahan's series, is apparently named in honor of Travis McGee, the central character in MacDonald's mystery novels. The lead character in Lady Slings The Booze frequently refers to Travis McGee as a role model. In Callahan's Key the patrons make a visit to the marina near Fort Lauderdale where the Busted Flush was usually moored in the McGee series. On Robinson's website there is a photo of him "at the address (now demolished) of 'The Busted Flush,' home of John D. MacDonald’s immortal character Travis McGee: Slip F-18, Bahia Mar Marina, Fort Lauderdale FL." Similarly important to Robinson is writer Donald E. Westlake and Westlake's most famous character, John Archibald Dortmunder.

Robinson's stance may be described as humanistic and humorous. He has frequently encouraged a positive attitude towards world issues, claiming that a pessimistic world view will yield pessimistic results. Frequently in his writing, the conflicts center around a science fiction issue with a human solution, following Theodore Sturgeon's definition of a good science fiction story.

Robinson has resided in Canada for nearly 40 years, primarily in the provinces of Nova Scotia and British Columbia. He formerly lived in "an upscale district of Vancouver for a decade," and has lived on Bowen Island since approximately 1999. He became a Canadian citizen in 2002, retaining his American citizenship. Spider and Jeanne's only grandchild, Marisa, was born in 2009, as Jeanne was undergoing treatment for "a rare and virulent form of biliary cancer". Jeanne Robinson died May 30, 2010. Their daughter Terri died on December 5, 2014, of breast cancer.

Robinson suffered a heart attack on August 31, 2013, but he recovered. Due to the health issues faced by his family over the last few years, he has not published a novel since 2008. However, Robinson reports on his website that work on his next book Orphan Stars is progressing, albeit slowly.

Novels and collections of linked stories

Omnibus volumes

• Callahan and Company (1988) - (omnibus edition of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Time Travelers Strictly Cash, and Callahan's Secret)
• Off the Wall at Callahan's (1994) - (a collection of quotes from books in the Callahan's/Lady Sally series)
• The Callahan Chronicals (1997) - (retitled republication of Callahan and Company)
• The Star Dancers (1997) (with Jeanne Robinson) (omnibus edition of Stardance and Starseed)

Short story collections

• Antinomy (1980)
• Melancholy Elephants (1984 - Canada; 1985 - United States)
• True Minds (1990)
• User Friendly (1998)
• By Any Other Name (2001)
• God Is an Iron and Other Stories (2002)
• My Favorite Shorts (2016; e-book only)

As editor

• The Best of All Possible Worlds (1980) - collection of works by other authors edited and introduced by Robinson

Discography

• Belabouring the Obvious (2000)

Collected essays

• The Crazy Years: Reflections of a Science Fiction Original (2004), a collection of his articles for The Globe and Mail

• John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (1974)
• Hugo Awards for:
  • Best Novella (1977) "By Any Other Name" (later expanded into Telempath)
  • Best Novella (1978) "Stardance"' (with Jeanne Robinson)
  • Best short story (1983) "Melancholy Elephants"
• Nebula Award for:
  • Best Novella (1977) "Stardance" (with Jeanne Robinson)
• 2008 Robert A. Heinlein Award (for Lifetime Achievement)
• Named a Guest of Honor at the 2018 World Science Fiction Convention

• JoPhan (August 20, 2016). "San José to Host 2018 Worldcon". Worldcon.org. Retrieved October 13, 2016.