Spider on the Web

Spider on the Web 43 - Little Brother 2

Fri, 16 May 2008 18:23:44 -0700

Little Brother 2
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

XXX WARNING. Fiction readings of Cory Doctorow's LITTLE BROTHER and my VERY HARD CHOICES. Music by James. Raymond.

Spider on the Web 42 - No Talking, Just Great Music

Fri, 09 May 2008 15:19:48 -0700

No Talking, Just Great Music
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

All music this week: an eclectic selection from all directions. Sounds and sweet airs by Amiri Baraka with Air, Stan Getz & Kenny Barron, Graham Nash, Todd Butler, Michael Friedman, Breeze Cayolle, Doug Cox & Salil Bhatt with John Boutte, and Colin MacDonald.

Spider on the Web 41 - Little Brother

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:00:44 -0700

Little Brother
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

Explicit Language Warning; more music from Bowen Island; a reading from LITTLE BROTHER by Cory Doctorow.

Spider on the Web 40 - Music of 3 Islands

Sat, 03 May 2008 10:59:13 -0700

Music of 3 Islands
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

XXX WARNING; an all-music podcast by 10 different artists; music: Tom Rush, Shael Wrinch, Shari Ulrich

Spider on the Web 39 - Very Hard Choices 2

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:34:26 -0700

Very Hard Choices 2
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

XXX WARNING; reading from VERY HARD CHOICES; music: Dave Frishberg, Good Brothers, Todd Butler

Spider on the Web 38 - Very Hard Choices

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:20:20 -0700

Very Hard Choices
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

XXX WARNING; reading from VERY HARD CHOICES; music: Leon Bibb, and Spider with Todd Butler.

Spider on the Web 37 - Very Bad Deaths 2

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:16:58 -0700

Very Bad Deaths 2
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING. Readings from VERY BAD DEATHS; NEW music by Amos Garrett, Duke Robillard & New Guitar Summit.

Spider on the Web 36 - Remarkable Women

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:06:08 -0700

Remarkable Women
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

Spider offers music by & prose about some remarkable women: Gale Mead, Carla Bley, Blossom Dearie, Dori Leggé, and the Bunny. XXX EXPLICIT WARNING! Adult language and outrageous sexual situations.

Spider on the Web 35 - No Science Fiction, Only Music

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:34:07 -0700

No Science Fiction, Only Music
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

Spider has so much good music backed up inside him, he's about to explode. Here are performances by Jeff Healey, Moe Scarlett, Jordin Kare, Seth Augustus, Chirgilchin, Dorrie Leger, Matt Richard, Les Finnigan, and David Qualey.

Spider on the Web 34 - Rocket Ship Galileo

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:26:26 -0700

Rocket Ship Galileo
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

Spider reads the first chapter from Robert Heinlein's ROCKET SHIP GALILEO, excerpted from his Blackstone Audio recording.

Spider on the Web 33 - Callahan's Legacy

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:22:29 -0800

Callahan's Legacy
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

EXPLICIT WARNING. Spider reads from CALLAHAN'S LEGACY, and bids farewell to the late great bluesman Jeff Healey.

Spider on the Web 32 - Not Fade Away/Orphans Of Eden

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:39:48 -0800

Not Fade Away/Orphans Of Eden
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

Two complete short stories from USER FRIENDLY, plus caustic, mystic or acoustic music from Todd Butler, Janis Ian, Salil Bhatt & Doug Cox, and Rob Bowen & Stan Gadziola.

Spider on the Web 31 - Very Bad Deaths

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:12:40 -0800

Very Bad Deaths
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

This week I read excerpts from VERY BAD DEATHS (whose sequel VERY HARD CHOICES comes out in June), and also bring you a selection of serious music by the Colin MacDonald Pocket Orchestra, semiserious filk music by Nate Bucklin, and gloriously goofy unreleased word music by Lord Buckley and friends. WARNING! Explicit language!

Spider on the Web 30 - Soul from Hamburg to Halifax and back

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:16:25 -0800

Soul from Hamburg to Halifax and back
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

Overdue props, shout-outs and thanks to new friends and old; music by Stefan Gwildis, Bill Stevenson & Tom Easley, and David Qualey; plus 3 readings from The Crazy Years, debating the sentience of a strange race called the Yoominz of Sol III...

Spider on the Web 29 - Blues Train Band

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:19:03 -0800

Blues Train Band
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

Stop the presses, press all the stops, hold the phone, phone the hold and bring the poop to the poopdeck, by heck! Wake the kids and start kiddin' at the wake Jake, 'cause there's breakin' news about to break, news so good it's hard to take. I got news about blues for all of youse about which we will all enthuse. For the first time in its history, lentils and jadiemen, Spider on the Web #29 is going to bring you a world premiere of the brand new CD out of Massachusetts by New Bedford's notorious Blues Train Band.

There is also a reading of Chapter 19 from VARIABLE STAR.

Spider on the Web 28 - Mindkiller

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:07:37 -0800

Mindkiller
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

In Spider on the Web #20 I read you excerpts from all three of the novels represented in the LIFEHOUSE TRILOGY, the new hardcover omnibus just out from Baen Books. Because I was reading excerpts from all three books each one of them had to be very short and I ended up cutting at least one of them a lot shorter than I wanted to. I've decided to revisit it now: the short story "God is an Iron", which later became the second chapter of the novel MINDKILLER.Warning! Explicit language!

Musical selections will be performed by Spider Robinson.

Spider on the Web 27 - Time Pressure

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:48:26 -0800

Time Pressure
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

This week I'll read you an excerpt from my novel TIME PRESSURE, part of the LIFEHOUSE TRILOGY set in Nova Scotia at the end of the 60's. In this excerpt our misanthropic hippie-hermit-hero Sam has just witnessed the explosive arrival of a beautiful, naked time traveller named Rachel in the snowy woods, and brought her home to warm up. Warning! Explicit language!

Musical selections will be performed by Andrew York, Jonathan Edwards, and David Crosby.

Spider on the Web 26 - Lifehouse

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:19:03 -0800

Lifehouse
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

This week I'm going to read you a portion of one of the three novels contained in the LIFEHOUSE TRILOGY, available now in a single hardcover volume from Baen Books. Chapter One of the novel LIFEHOUSE, the conclusion of the trilogy which was my attempt to come up with a reason to be a good man that did not require a god with thunderbolts up his sleeve to enforce it -- what seems to me to be a rational man's substitute for religion. Warning! X-rated language!

Musical selections will be performed by Colin MacDonald, David Crosby, James Raymond, and Graham Nash.

Spider on the Web 25 - Book Reviews

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:19:57 -0800

Book Reviews
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

Welcome to SOTW #25 and the book reviews I promised of two SF novels by non-SF writers: Rafi Zabor's THE BEAR COMES HOME, and Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD. Warning! X-rated language!

Musical selections will be performed by the Charlie Haden Quartet, John Coltrane, Todd Butler, and Dory Previn.

Spider on the Web 24 - Zero-G Party

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:15:29 -0800

Zero-G Party
© 2008 by Spider Robinson

I'd really like to open this week with a live interview with my wife, the successful zero-gravity choreographer who has just come back from a trip to heaven at the end of the year 07. Sadly, she has begged off -- she's still in the middle of doing interviews for news media, dance media, science fiction media, and she's really beginning to hear herself answer the same questions over and over again. So I'm goin to open right now with a little bit of time travel, back to the late 80's when Jeanne and I are having one of the very few disagreements that we ever had over the course of our collaboration on the STARDANCE TRILOGY.

Musical selections will be performed by Johnny Winter and the Rubbico sisters.

Spider on the Web 23 - Preflight Reading from STARDANCE

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:45:34 -0800

Preflight Reading from STARDANCE
© 2007 by Spider Robinson

Because of one particular person's desire to rise up -- my wife Jeanne -- I'm packing to go to Las Vegas. For those who don't know, this weekend my best friend and wife is getting a golden opportunity to experience zero-gravity in a series of parabolic arcs abord a modified 727 thanks to the generosity of Dr. Peter Diamandis, creator of the historic Ansari X-Prize. This week I'm going to give a reading from the STARDANCE TRILOGY, the novels that Jeanne and I wrote about dance in zero-gravity.

Musical selections will be performed by Crosby & Nash, and Janis Ian.

Spider on the Web 22 - More Great Music

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:20:12 -0800

More Great Music
© 2007 by Spider Robinson

My holiday pledge to you is: NO FRIGGIN' CHRISTMAS MUSIC. That's right friends, this will be a carol-free zone for the duration of the holidays.

Musical selections will be performed by Seth Augustus, Paul Pena, John Walker, Amos Garrett and Spider Robinson.

WARNING! Explicit language!

Spider on the Web 21 - Scienific Orthodoxymoron

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:16:08 -0800

Scienific Orthodoxymoron
© 2007 by Spider Robinson

So far these podcasts have careened from science fact to science fiction to science opinion, to silence-improving music. This week I'm going to try something new, and as dangerous as sweating dynamite: science dogma. We're going to discuss one of the newest and strangest mental diseases our species has yet developed: pursuing scientific facts with religious fervor.

Musical selections will be performed by Jaymes Raymond, the New Orleans Jazz Ramblers, Crosby & Nash, Amos Garrett, and Todd Butler.

WARNING! Explicit language!

Spider on the Web 20 - Stories and Strings

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:02:53 -0800

Stories and Strings
© 2007 by Spider Robinson

This week we return to some of what I do best: science fiction. You'll hear excerpts from three novels that make up the omnibus edition of THE LIFEHOUSE TRILOGY, just released by Baen Books, reprinting MINDKILLER, TIME PRESSURE, and LIFEHOUSE.

Musical selections will be performed by Doug Cox, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Amos Garrett, and Andrew York.

Spider on the Web 19 - The Crazy Years

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 21:56:05 -0800

The Crazy Years
© 2000 - 2007 by Spider Robinson

This week we break new ground with used, but timeless, material. It's time for what I call speculative non-fiction: a science fiction writer's take on world events, a futurist's thoughts on the recent past.

Crazy Years columns:
"Evil's Rootkiller" © 2000
"School will be ending next month" © 2003
"You Just Can't Kill for Jesus/Allah/Yahweh/Rama/Elvis..." © 2002
"Whatever" © 2003

Musical selections will be performed by Colin MacDonald, Breeze Cayolle and Spider Robinson.

Spider on the Web 18 - Awesome Music

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:33:45 -0800

Awesome Music You May Not Know -- Yet
© 2007 by Spider Robinson

I love reading you fiction, I love ranting about idiocy in the news, I love rhapsodizing about the frontier called the inner solar system, and we'll get to some of that, but I believe turning people on to great music is the most fun you can have with your pants on and one of the holiest chores there is. Here is music you may not know from Spider John Koerner, David Crosby and CPR, and a couple of my own originals including the song David Crosby and I wrote for my novel Variable Star.

Spider on the Web 17 - Melancholy Elephants

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 12:47:27 -0800

Melancholy Elephants
© 1983 by Spider Robinson

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.

Variable Star Chapter 8

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 21:00:21 -0800

VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
© 2007 Blackstone Audio
Read by Spider Robinson

The first thing I did when I woke next morning was to sit down at my desk and summon a list of Positions Available.

There were a lot more than I expected. It had apparently occurred to the expedition's planners that not only could nearly all the actual useful work of preparing to start this colony be safely put off until the last few years of the voyage... it probably would be anyway, humans being human. Therefore, it would be good to keep them all occupied doing some damn thing or other for the first eighteen or so years. Lots of helpful suggestions had been provided. The full list of jobs the Colonial Authority was willing to pay someone to do took well over three hours just to scroll down through at normal reading speed.

Thrillin' at the MacMillan #8

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:06:16 -0800

SPACE GENERATION
© 2007 by Spider Robinson; all rights reserved

The first thing “space generation” makes me think of is the quantum ramjet, a hypothetical star drive I chose as the motive force for the starship Charles Sheffield in VARIABLE STAR, my new collaboration with Robert A. Heinlein. It would make use of quantum fluctuations in the energy of the cosmic vacuum to propel a ship up to relativistic speeds quickly, without burning any fuel. No such engine has been built yet—but the engineer who proposed it, David Froning, mentioned parenthetically that if a quantum ramjet were ever built, it might very well create new universes, every second it was in operation, as a side effect. It’s kind of hard to top that for space generation.

Variable Star Chapter 7

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:29:08 -0700

VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
© 2007 Blackstone Audio
Read by Spider Robinson

Jinny phoned two days later, about eight hours before we left.

Theoretically she should not have been able to. I'd contributed my phone to the ship's recycler on arrival, and gotten a new one - under a false name, using nonexistent credit, and paying a premium for a super-unlisted code. That account would vanish like a bubble when the first bill went unpaid, of course. But by then I expected I would no longer need one. I only needed it now to say goodbye to a few friends and acquaintances, and to dispose of my few remaining assets on Ganymede.

Thrillin' at the MacMillan #7

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 23:05:12 -0700

THE SKY IS ALIVE
© 2007 by Spider Robinson; all rights reserved

“Space Society” is an ambiguous topic, just as “Space Art” was. There’s more than one way to interpret it.

The easy way out would be to discuss some of the largest of the many organizations that exist to support the study of astronomy, cosmology, planetology and other space-related disciplines, or to encourage manned and/or unmanned spaceflight, or to promote orbital science, industry and/or tourism, or to call for demilitarization of space, or…

Variable Star Chapter 6

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:28:03 -0700

VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
© 2007 Blackstone Audio
Read by Spider Robinson

There were other candidates, of course, some of whom had been waiting years longer than I had, and a great many of them had more impressive skill sets or resources than I did, as well. But such decisions are rarely made fairly. What got me the berth - late starter, dead broke, and all - was a combination of three specific unfair advantages I had over my competitors.

Thrillin' at the MacMillan #6

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:56:11 -0700

SHOOTOUT AT THE O.S.T. CORRAL
© 2007 by Spider Robinson; all rights reserved

Ask Elliot Ness. The power of a law—its meaning—depends on who’s committed to enforcing it, and how far they’re prepared to go. In David Milch’s HBO series Deadwood, nobody seems prepared to enforce much of anything, and perhaps you’ve seen the dire consequences of such anarchy: the rights of prostitutes were not respected, men were sometimes cheated, wealth and power and information lay in the hands of a few, undertaking was handled by voracious swine, and foul language was heard in public. Nothing like the shining civilization of laws we enjoy today.

Variable Star Chapter 5

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:27:22 -0700

VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
© 2007 Blackstone Audio
Read by Spider Robinson

Like the fabulous Conrad compound, my apartment was mostly underground, and did not appear on any map. But there the similiarities ended.

For one thing, it was not located in the middle of a glacier somewhere, but smack in the midst of some of the most densely populated land in the U.S.N.A., the White Rock district of Greater Vancouver. For another, it was the polar opposite of opulent or luxurious, as comfortable as a coffin. Vancouver itself has a tradition of quasilegal "basement suites" dating back centuries to some World's Fair, or perhaps Olympics, but outlying suburbs like White Rock acquired theirs so recently that they're still illegal, hence unrecorded, hence unregulated, hence mostly shitholes. In sharp contrast to Conradville, it had only a single virtue to recommend it.

But right then, that virtue rated high in my scale of values: it was mine.

Thrillin' at the MacMillan #5

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:48:24 -0700

THE BEST UMBRELLA YOU CAN GET
© 2007 by Spider Robinson; all rights reserved

It’s probably apocryphal—the best ones usually are—but one of my favorite quotations is what Mahatma Ghandi is supposed to have responded when asked what he thought of Western Civilization. They say he replied gently, “That would be very nice.”

A lot of people will give you some variant of that same response if you ask them about space art. “Great idea. Somebody should try that.” “What space art?” I draw blanks with the idea all the time at social gatherings. Nobody seems to realize there is any.

Variable Star Chapter 4

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:47:52 -0700

VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
© 2007 Blackstone Audio
Read by Spider Robinson

The room was not small, but smaller than I had expected, and further surprised me by being furnished more like a den or a study than an office. At the far end of the room was a conversational grouping of four chairs. Rennick was just reaching the leftmost of the two that faced away from me. The two facing toward me were already occupied. In each sat a man who appeared to be approximately Rennick's age. The fourth chair, its back to me, was obviously the hot seat.

Thrillin' at the MacMillan #4

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:47:37 -0700

THEY SHOULDA MADE A PILE OF ‘EM...
© 2007 by Spider Robinson; all rights reserved

To my surprise, not even the wonderful Wizard Of Google can pin down exactly when the militarization of space became unstoppable. In the first place, China’s finally sussed out the secret to the Information Age: smother it with so much contradictory information nobody can say for sure just what you said, or when...much less why. And they’ve always known what to do about military information: lie.

Variable Star Chapter 3

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:13:14 -0700

VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
© 2007 Blackstone Audio
Read by Spider Robinson

"Joel. It's time to wake up, dear"

Yes, that was definitely her hair I smelled.

I had heard Jinny say just those words, in much that low throaty tone of voice, at the start of more than one pleasant dream. It was a novel experience to hear them at the end of one. Now if only everything else would continue to unfold as it usually did in the dream...

Thrillin' at the MacMillan #3

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:40:39 -0700

SPACE’S BEST KEPT SECRET
© 2006 by Spider Robinson; all rights reserved

The spiritual impulse can be a dangerous thing when it goes public. Ask anyone who was in New York five years ago, or anyone still alive in Baghdad today...It’s hard to talk about spirituality without talking about religion, and most of the world’s religions are, whether they admit it or not, mutually exclusive. That’s the only way I can explain the odd fact that spirituality is one of the least-known attractions of space travel.

Variable Star Chapter 2

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:40:29 -0700

VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
© 2007 Blackstone Audio
Read by Spider Robinson

The engine did not explode. It didn't even sound any louder than usual. The Mounties somehow failed to notice us blazing across their radar, or to log any complaints about shattered windows; we crossed the province unmolested. For most of the trip we were above atmosphere, so high that the horizon showed a distinct curve-we pretty much had to be at that speed, I think-but if the Peace Forces satellites noticed us, they kept it to themselves. Nineteen minutes later, the car finished decelerating, came to a dead stop and went into hover mode, glowing softly from the heat of our passage and reentry into atmosphere.

Thrillin' at the MacMillan #2

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:40:22 -0700

SUSTAINING THE THRILL
© 2006 by Spider Robinson; all rights reserved

Sustaining the planet means widely different things to all of us—so let’s try and define our aim. The phrase surely isn’t meant literally. Terra was sustaining herself just fine for millions of years before the first oxygen-producing lifeforms infested her and wrecked her nice methane ecosystem, dooming entire phyla to extinction.

Variable Star Chapter 1

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:31:13 -0700

VARIABLE STAR by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
© 2007 Blackstone Audio
Read by Spider Robinson

I thought I wanted to get married in the worst way. Then that's pretty much what I was offered, so I ended up going trillions of kilometers out of my way instead. A great many trillions of kilometers, and quite a few years - which turns out to be much the greater distance.

Thrillin' at the MacMillan #1

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:40:00 -0700

LET'S START WASTING MONEY IN SPACE by Spider Robinson (c) 2006 by Spider Robinson all rights reserved I've spent several decades rebutting silly complaints about money wasted in space. Dollars have been spent getting therebut every single buck stopped here, on the ground, in the pocket of some smart person. Furthermore, every dollar NASA spent earned thirteen dollars back. Look what it got them: a manned space program that barely exists and has little future.