Red said:

>(1) I, for one, can't stand Heinlein;

Ditto. Of course, I had the misfortune of grabbing a book to read when I was eleven... and coming up with _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_.

You have no idea how warped I was that summer, and you're all probably Very Glad. :)

>(2) I think I'm the only one of all of us who's read anything by
>Spider, and although I frequent alt.callahans I'm ambievalent on his
>short stories and detest -all- his novel-length works;

Bzzt. I've read all the Callahan's books except _Callahan's Key_, and I've read _Time Pressure_. :)

...come to think of it, I read Time Pressure when I was 12. the NEXT summer, after that Heinlein experience. I'm surprised my parents didn't just have me committed...

While I like The Place and the works about it, it's kind of like (for me) watching an Aaron Sorkin movie or TV show (American President, West Wing, Sports Night, Few Good Men). Sorkin admits he was smoking crack when he wrote The American President-- and watching it, I can *see that,* because NO American presidency would EVER work like that in the real world.

Likewise, the Callahan's books are pretty rosy in their worldview, and I can't see that happening all that easily here.

That being said, _Callahan's Crosstime Saloon_ is one of the few books I'll actively seek out when I'm angsting over the universe. I never said I made sense.

Ard

Ard Sumhenner
Ronin Research, Sacramento, CA