Unfortunately I struggled with this. It's clearly one of those books that was written because the author had to write something. Quite frankly, it's a bit of a mess and doesn't do the name Spider Robinson any justice at all. It contains a few callahan's stories, some other none callahan's stories and an awful lot of gumph in between these stories which is simply the author filling-in... a great deal of filling-in in fact.

My advise would be to simply scip this one and go straight onto the next. I wish I had.
( )

Really enjoyed bits. Really don't care for speech transcriptions, however clever - and I recognize the cleverness here - they're just not my thing. So, loved the stories, didn't love the speeches, and was neutral on the reviews. ( )

More stories from Callahan's Crosstime Saloon and just as good as the originals. ( )

While this book does have four Callahan stories, it isn't all Callahan. There's a mix of science fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction essays. I particularly liked the essay on Robert Heinlein. I'm sad the next book isn't on Kindle.

About the language -- before giving the book to a young teen, you may want to see if you think it is appropriate. I didn't think it was *that* bad and I have a low tolerance for out-of-place, "shock" vulgarity. ( )

More fun, in the best saloon in all of time and space.

(Who knew that OMNI would just vanish overnight? They were a home for some of my favorite authors.)

There's a brief afterword by the author for each story (because that's what this one is, mostly, is republished stories). There's a foreword (by the author). This book isn't all Callahan's (which you knew, if you've read the Foreword, or the book). It's still early Spider Robinson, and that's enough. At least it is for me.

(One of the descriptions of the book is so incredibly detailed and useful, that I'm copying it here. Thanks, ISFDB, it's a beauty)

"Ol' Man Heinlein" is a song at the end of "Rah, Rah, R.A.H.!" and is not listed in contents.

Mirror/rorriM, Off the Wall has the second "Mirror" as reversed font. It also uses a comma after the reversed "Mirror" on title story page though not on ToC. It is Mirror, Mirror on individual story's data page.

Serpents' Teeth on title story and ToC pages, but Serpent's Teeth on individual stories' data page.

Spider Versus the Hax of Sol III is on essay title page. It is Spider vs. the Hax of Sol III on ToC and Spider Vs. the Hax of Sol III on individual stories' data page.

Soul Search on title story page and ToC and Soulsearch on individual stories' data page.

Most stories and essays have a "Concerning (title)" after. Exceptions have it before the story, Rah Rah R.A.H! and The Web of Sanity. Commentary appears to be by Spider Robinson. Spider Versus the Hax of Sol III has a "Concerning (title using vs.)" before and "Also concerning (title using vs.)" after the essay. ( )