Spider Robinson


Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian science fiction author. He has won a number of awards for his hard science fiction and humorous stories, including the Hugo Award 1977 and 1983, and another Hugo with his co-author and wife Jeanne Robinson in 1978.

Early life and education

Robinson was born in the Bronx, New York City, New York; his father was a salesman. He was an avid reader of science fiction; his exposure in early childhood to the juvenile novels of Robert Heinlein later influenced him to become a writer. 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 entertained at campus coffeehouses and gatherings, strumming his guitar and singing in harmony with his female partner. It was at this time that his friends, at his request, stopped calling him "Robbie" and gave him the nickname "Spider", which he adopted as his official first name. Robinson adopted the name out of admiration for blues musician "Spider" John Koerner.

Career

In 1971, just out of college, Robinson took a night job guarding sewers in New York City and, wanting a career change, began writing science fiction. He made his first short-story sale in 1972 to Analog Science Fiction magazine. The story, "The Guy with the Eyes", 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. The stories have been collected into a number of published books.
In 1973 Robinson moved to Nova Scotia and began writing full-time. He made several short-story sales to Analog, Galaxy Science Fiction magazine and others, earning the John Campbell Award for best new writer in 1974.
In 1975 he married Jeanne Robinson, a choreographer, dancer, and Sōtō Zen monk, with whom he later co-wrote the Stardance Trilogy.
He 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, 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 1977 Robinson released Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, a collection of short stories in his long-running Callahan's series. These stories, and later novels, make frequent reference to the works of mystery writer John D. MacDonald; his character Lady Sally McGee reflects 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. Similarly important to Robinson is writer Donald E. Westlake and Westlake's most famous character, John Archibald Dortmunder.
In 1992 Robinson was master-of-ceremonies at the Hugo Awards at WorldCon in Florida. From 1996 to 2005, he served as a columnist in the Op-Ed section of The Globe and Mail.
In 2004, Robinson began 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 had previously written of his admiration for Heinlein in his 1980 essay "Rah, Rah, R.A.H.!" in the 1998 "Mentors", and in his book The Free Lunch.. In an afterword to Variable Star he recounts the story of how reading Rocket Ship Galileo and soon after Heinlein's other Heinlein juvenile novels helped set the direction for his life, and how he came to write the novel. The novel reflects the very different writing styles of both Heinlein and Robinson; reviews of the books were mixed, praising Robinson's handling of a difficult task and the lively story, but criticizing the unlikely plot twists and trite romantic scenes.

Personal life

Robinson has resided in Canada for nearly 40 years, primarily in the provinces of Nova Scotia and British Columbia. He and his wife Jeanne had a daughter, Terri Luanna da Silva, who once worked for Martha Stewart. and one granddaughter.
After living in Vancouver for a decade, he moved to Bowen Island in about 1999. He became a Canadian citizen in 2002, retaining his American citizenship. Jeanne underwent treatment for biliary cancer, and 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 recovered. Due to the health issues faced by his family he has not published a novel since 2008. In 2013, Robinson reported on his website that work on his next book Orphan Stars was progressing, albeit slowly. Concurrently, he has begun work on his autobiography.
He has been named a Guest of Honor at the 76th World Science Fiction Convention in 2018.

Published works

Novels and collections of linked stories

Omnibus volumes