Antinomy

by Spider Robinson

HALF AN OAF - If you're buying a time machine, don't go to a discount house!

SATAN'S CHILDREN - One way to save the world is to blow its mind.

THE MAGNIFICENT CONSPIRACY - A free lunch is always the most expensive kind.

TIN EAR - How'd you like to play 'Name that Tune'. with life life as the prize?

PLUS * seven other superb stories * four horrible puns * a trible feghoot * four original songs, with E-Z Play chords * foreword, afterwords, illustrations, and a weapons list


9 • Introduction: Welcome to the Antinomy Mine • essay by Spider Robinson
13 • Antinomy • (1978) • novelette by Spider Robinson
48 • Afterword to "Antinomy" • essay by Spider Robinson
51 • Half an Oaf • (1976) • novelette by Spider Robinson
79 • Rhythms and 'Rithms • short fiction by Spider Robinson
79 • Tidbit: two puns • short story by Spider Robinson
80 • The Shamin' of the Shaman • short fiction by Spider Robinson
81 • Too Soon We Grow Old • (1978) • short story by Spider Robinson
98 • Valkyrie Ride • poem by Spider Robinson
98 • Tidbit: two songs • poem by Spider Robinson
102 • Feed Me Fire • poem by Spider Robinson
105 • When No Man Pursueth • (1974) • novelette by Spider Robinson
139 • Tidbit: afterword to "When No Man Pursueth" • essay by Spider Robinson
144 • Nobody Likes to Be Lonely • (1975) • novelette by Spider Robinson
186 • Tidbit: interleaf • essay by Spider Robinson
188 • Satan's Children • (1979) • novella by Spider Robinson
229 • Three-Time Winner • short fiction by Spider Robinson
229 • Tidbit: a triple Feghoot and a cartoon • short story by Spider Robinson
231 •  Cartoon: "Sorry, Mr. Griffin: he says he can't see you now." • interior artwork by Spider Robinson
232 • Apogee • (1978) • short story by Spider Robinson
236 • A Standing Joke • short fiction by Spider Robinson
237 • The Snoopy Scientist • short fiction by Spider Robinson
238 • Tidbit: two puns (includes some artwork) • short story by Spider Robinson
240 • No Renewal • (1977) • short story by Spider Robinson
246 • Tidbit: afterword (to "No Renewal"), an illo, and a weapons list • essay by Spider Robinson
247 • Through My Eyes- illustration of Mike Callahan • essay by Spider Robinson
248 • Silly Weapons Throughout History • (1980) • essay by Spider Robinson
251 • Overdose • (1975) • short story by Spider Robinson
262 • Perspective • poem by Spider Robinson
262 • Tidbit: two more songs • poem by Spider Robinson
265 • Mountain Lady • poem by Spider Robinson
268 • Tin Ear • (1977) • short story by Spider Robinson
277 • Tidbit: foreword to "The Magnificent Conspiracy" • essay by Spider Robinson
280 • The Magnificent Conspiracy • (1977) • novelette by Spider Robinson
310 • This Time Next Year • poem by Spider Robinson
311 • Come to My Bedside • poem by Spider Robinson

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Collections, Humor, Science Fiction Fantasy

312 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1980

About the author

Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author. He was born in the USA, but chose to live in Canada, and gained citizenship in his adopted country in 2002.

Robinson's writing career began in 1972 with a sale to Analog Science Fiction magazine of a story entitled, The Guy With The Eyes. His writing proved popular, and his first novel saw print in 1976, Telempath. Since then he has averaged a novel (or collection) a year. His most well known stories are the Callahan saloon series.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good collection of Robinson's short fiction, along with puns and cartoons and songs and stories-behind-the-story and all manner of other entertaining stuff. I especially enjoyed The Magnificent Conspiracy, which resonates with his admiration for Robert A. Heinlein, and Half an Oaf. I always enjoy his clever word-play and puns, too.

[Mario · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description very much undersells the number of horrible puns. Normally I enjoy wordplay, but here there is typically way too much build-up for too little of a payoff. Even in the more normal stories, it seems like they were written only to make a small joke or two, (Fleming Ayniss, for instance). He just can't help himself. There was also a lot of drug use that didn't amount to much except to identify this as a product of the seventies. So the book could be sociologically interesting, but I can't say it was especially good. It's possible that I would have gotten more out of it if I could read music (I made some attempts at puzzling them out, but I'm not sure that I would even know if I did it right).

I must admit that I also don't understand the Snoopy/Red Baron bit at all, so if anyone wants to enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has some good stories, one of them very interesting. The one that ends: "To do what?"

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very interesting stories in this eclectic collection. Provides some food for thought.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of funny stories, songs, and a smattering of short shorts featuring... puns
The humor. Either it hasn't carried forward as well, or my wiring is a bit off...

[Gull · Rating 3 out of 5]

God, this guy is such a dork. I mean that as a compliment, of course. I picked this one up on impulse, the cover and the general oddball vibe of the whole thing called to me, and for a minute, I thought I was going to regret it. It opens on what I thought were some of its weaker stories (though still conceptually very solid), and the laughs weren't sticking the landing for me, but the whole thing clicked into place for me with When No Man Pursueth, where I finally GOT it. Thank god I did, because this is a really fun little short story collection once you tune into its pothead goofball wavelength. I also didn't realize until well into the collection that Spider's the guy behind Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, a world I only knew from the point-n-click adventure game I stumbled across at least a decade ago, but now that I've finished this collection I've just gotta hunt that one down. Absolutely not for everybody, the writing style is extremely dweeby and unrestrainedly horny, but if you don't mind a groaner or maybe a few too many mentions of boners, there's a lot to like in this weird little corner of sf.

My faves:
Too Soon We Grow Old: Finally ready to have the children she's always wanted, a post-menopausal billionaire is put into cryogenic stasis until the time science has advanced enough to allow her to have them without adoption.

When No Man Pursueth: Aboard an interplanetary transport on the outer edges of the galaxy where nearly any form of government and society can be found, an adventure novel enthusiast's fantasies become all too real when he witnesses a murder.

Nobody Likes to be Lonely: A tragic story of two characters in the distant future - one, a prisoner in solitary confinement whose only company is a lone guard that passes by his cell a couple times a day. The other, an aloof traveling musician living, like many others in this future, out of a mobile home, whose girlfriend insists he take a truth serum with her in a sort of shared trip.

Satan's Children: Probably my favorite of the bunch, and one presented deliberately as a contrast to Lonely. A musician and his girlfriend are given the formula to a drug that shows a person the absolute true core of their being, the one hidden by years of self-deception and compromise, and urged to carry on the work of spreading the drug by its dying creator.

Tin Ear: Two soldiers, kidnapped and taken through a wormhole by a robot, still have access to their radios, and all of the codes and ciphers they try to use to communicate with each other are quickly decoded...until one of them gets the idea to communicate through hummed music.

[Richp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was uneven, as is typical for such collections. Robinson admits one of the stories is an early stinker, and his most popular stories didn't make the cut because they were reprinted elsewhere. But, there is still some good stuff.

[bluetyson]

Antinomy by Spider Robinson (1980)

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Spider. I even like him personally, having sat and talked with him at length at a convention several years back. Yes, I liked this book as well and I've re-read it several times.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories -- a great way to get to know Spider Robinson's works.