Pull Up a Bar Stool

[It’s been awhile since I posted here. I came close to shutting the blog site down, but it still remains. I’ve been a little snowed under with work and life. Even now, a thousand needles of guilt are pricking my conscience. Ah guilt, the gift that keeps on giving. Anyway, here’s a new post. —AG}

The other day I walked the aisles of our local Barnes and Noble. A friend of mine had received a gift card to the store and wanted to pick up a novel or two. We had just finished a movie and the store was within walking distance so why not?

Of course, I couldn’t resist perusing the shelves myself. I did something I haven’t done in a long while: I strolled along the sci fi shelves and what should my wandering eyes see but a book by Spider Robinson. You may not recognize the name but I sure did. I used to read his short stories and novels and loved every one of them. My favorite remains a series of stories and novels he did about Callahan’s Bar. Sitting on the shelf was Callahan’s Con. The book came out in 2003 so it had already aged four or five years. I snapped it up.

Here’s what you need to know about Callahan’s Bar: strange people drink there; strange things happen there; impossible situations arise in every book; yet it is all believable. People who frequent Callahan’s place include aliens from other planets, talking animals (including a German shepherd and a parrot), an aquatic man, and of course, time travelers.

Now you might think that’s enough strangeness for one literary concept but there is something else that makes the place unique. (By the way, the protagonist Jake runs the place which is aptly called The Place. Callahan left a few books back.) The truly unique thing about the bar is that the people love each other. Each is wounded in someway and they hang together because everyone there understands. They watch out for each other, they defend one another, and each is willing to die for the sake of his or her bar mates. In the course of things they save the universe and each other. Naturally.

Spider Robinson is a hippie. He admits it. I believe he turns sixty this year and I’ve seen no change in his world view or in his writing. Admittedly, his work is not everyone’s cup of tea. His books are as secular as they come. The language is course; drunkenness is a logical choice for some of the characters; and drug use is not unusual. The morality of his characters might make some blush. So why do I, a guy who rights suspense primarily read by Christians, be so praiseworthy of Robinson? Because he is brilliant. He is a master of the first-person point of view. Every time I read his work I get schooled in technique.

Robinson and I are very different people with oil and water views but I recognize his talent and appreciate the microcosm of caring he’s created in the Callahan’s Bar series. He might bristle at this description but in some ways Callahan’s Bar (now The Place) is like a church. People gather. People fellowship. And people look after each other. He has captured in a secular setting many of the attributes of a proper church.

Through the years I’ve wondered if I’d fit in a place like Callahan’s. I’m not much of a drinker but I do know my way around a pun (you have to read the books to understand that reference) and enjoy sometimes strange people. In the television show Cheers everyone knows your name. At Callahan’s/The Place everyone knows your past—and doesn’t care.

AG

 

Comments

[don Patterson]

Thanks. I've talked to MANY a Spider/Callahan's fan over the years. Maybe I should check him out. I LOVE first person stories.

I too got back on the posting horse, today.

[Richard Mabry]

Al,
Glad that reports of the demise (of your blog, that is) were greatly exaggerated. Welcome back.

[Kay]

You know, I browsed that aisle last time I was at B&N and was totally overwhelmed. I love having a recommendation to check out!
And I love puns!