Stardance

Spider Robinson has a very unique writing style and quite a sense of humor. In this book he spends a lot of time assigning meaning and emotion to dance moves, compelling some reviewers to accuse him of being "artsy". Indeed, the dance moves become the only way to communicate with an extra-terrestrial force which proves to be the link to the evolution of humankind. Here's one sentence as an example of how he describes a dance: "It spoke of the cruel humor of limitless ambition yoked to limited ability, of eternal hope invested in an ephemeral lifetime, of the driving need to try to create an inexorably predetermined future..." This is played against his blunt humor: "You got tits like both halves of a prize honeydew melon and an ass that show more any actress in Hollywood would sell her parents for and in Modern dance that makes you d-e-d dead, you haven't got a chance." And his wisecracks: "Where I come from we use that stuff for methane power", refering to someone's statement. This mixture of profound and profane works pretty well if you like Spider's style, and the theme of the book is refreshingly uplifting in the end without being too maudlin. There's a few references to recreational drugs, sex, and homosexuality so some parents may not want their pre-teens reading it, but really there is nothign offensive. There's only a little bit of hard science, which to me seemed more like mumbo jumbo and was thankfully minimal. Certainly not perfect, but an enjoyable read. show less

Having read a couple of Spider's stories previously (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon and Callahan's Lady) I had high expectations for this, and I was not disappointed. I mean, no, the book wasn't perfect - I give it 4.25/5 stars, but it was still a pretty enjoyable book and thought-provoking, which is what quality science fiction should do.

It was pretty interesting to read about what the aliens actually wanted, and Shara's part in this revelation. Definitely a mind-blowing read.

I liked the short stories published in Analog. They were good, and I bought the novel when it first came out, but gave it up long ago. I recently replaced it with this newer copy, because there were parts I liked, and it's easier to refer to a paper copy than an e-book.

It won the Hugo and the Nebula, and was an admirable effort, but it's not one of my favorites. I never thought that Spider's female characters were multidimensional, and I was disappointed to see that the addition of his wife didn't really change that.

It's a good story, and a great concept.

I read this book quite a few years ago. In fact, it might have been the first book by Spider Robinson that I read. After that he became a favourite author for me and I'm sad that he hasn't written anything for a number of years. He wrote this book with his wife, Jeanne, who was a dancer. Spider narrated the audiobook that I listened to.

The book is told by Charlie Armstead, a talented dancer who was shot by a burglar in his leg. That wound meant he couldn't dance anymore and he suffered pain constantly. He turned his talents to being a videographer for dance and was very good at it. He was introduced to Shara Drummond who wanted to dance but was too tall and too big to be accepted. Charlie thought there might be a market for VHS tapes show more (yes, this book is that old) of Shara dancing but after a few years without success they went their separate ways. Charlie became an alcoholic and was barely surviving when Shara contacted her again. She was involved with one of the richest men in the world, Bryce Carrington. Carrington was in a wheelchair and had built a home in space because zero gee was so much easier on his body. Shara had convinced him to finance a zero gee dance film and she wanted Charlie to film it. At this same time, an alien spacecraft had been sighted in the solar system, coming closer to Earth. When they got to within a short distance of Carrington's space station, Shara realized that the aliens, looking like red fireflies, were dancing. She goes out in her space suit to communicate with them and convinces them to leave the solar system. Because Shara had spent so much time in zero gee her body could not handle Earth's gravity any more. She elects to commit suicide by flying her suit into the upper atmosphere and burning up. Before she goes she tells Charlie he needs to take the zero gee dance movement further and she points out that, in space, Charlie can dance again. After many attempts to find more dancers, Charlie has three more and two technical people. Their dancing has many fans and they love being in space. When the aliens are spotted again near Saturn's orbit, a ship is sent out there with four diplomats (one Russian, one Chinese, one American and one Spaniard) and the dance troupe to act as interpreters. Because of the length of the trip, no-one on board will be able to return to earth. The encounter with the aliens is quite illuminating; the aliens were the reason Earth was inhabited and they like to check on their progress from time to time. They also have a symbiote that will make any who merge with it be able to live in space without suits or other devices and they will be immortal. The American diplomat wants to take control of the symbiote (the more things change, the more they stay the same) and threatens everyone else with a gun. The dancers, who have achieved telepathy through their dancing, help with disarming him. Then the Chinese diplomat shows up with a weapon and he wants the mission and the symbiote destroyed because he thinks this will cause humankind to split into two classes. This time there is no need for violence because the dancers and other diplomats convince him that immortality can be shared equitably. Luckily, there are two more books to see how this works out. (The dance troupe are the first people to merge with the symbiote.)

I learned from an online review that this book was originally a novella covering only up to the time of the first encounter with the aliens. The novella won the Hugo and the Nebula in 1977. show less

First (and best) in a trilogy about the invention of a new art form-- free fall dance--and humankind's first encounter with an alien species. Sharra Drummond is a dancer whose perfectly proportioned and superbly trained body is "too big" for her to have a career on Earth. A space station in Earth orbit offers her a way out of the dilemma, and the zero-G style of dance she invents there enables her to "speak" for humankind when Earth is visited by an alien species.

Robinson co-wrote this one with his wife, a dancer and coreographer, and her technical expertise shows in the detailed depictions of a dancer's work and the astonishingly successful attempts to convey a fundamentally visual art form in words. Charlie Armstead, the narrator, is show more a standard-issue Robinson character (initially embittered, but redeemed by the love of his friends and the healing power of art), but no less appealing for that. The aliens, meanwhile, are appealingly "alien" . . . not just humans in funny suits. show less

I was thrilled to find this, one of my all-time favorites, available on CD, and what's more, read by Spider Robinson himself.

This one, for me, is a touchstone, a talisman and a promise. It's one of my favorite pie-in-the-sky utopias, and I've read it countless times. Listening to Robinson read it brought a whole new perspective. His timing is impeccable, his jokes are funnier spoken, and I could really hear Charlie speaking through him. Even his goofy accents are endearing.

Highly recommended.

Fun, old-school, Sci-fi. The story is innovative enough to keep your attention and the character development is very tight.