The Callahan Touch

Much as it pains me, the series is... losing its touch. Pun absolutely intended. I was introduced to this author several years ago, and have generally enjoyed his works. This particular work isn't bad, I'm still giving it 3.5 stars because there are some clever stories and puns here as any longtime readers should expect.

But as the sixth installment in the series, (and including book 7 of this, which I already read) this one is a bit weak compared to the others, and the weakest so far in 7 books. There are two books left in this series and I will definitely be reading them though, this series is still pretty solid and Book 7 was decent as well.

Jake has opened up the new incarnation of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (where every being knows your name...), which disappeared in a mushroom cloud a few years ago. The established clientele make their way to Mary's Place, along with a few newcomers (the Lucky Duck, with the ability to make a shambles of the laws of probablility, and Zoey, who will later become Jake's wife, and the world's first silicon intelligence, an entity of the Net, who decides that Mary's place is the only place where it's safe to reveal itself...) Another thought and pun-provoking excursion by a master of the intertwining of mirth, mayhem and sci-fi, couched in a most congenial sense of humanity that emphasizes compassion and politeness over pontification.

Fourth in the series, and the first set not in Callahan's but (for reasons abundantly clear to anyone who's read the previous installment) but in Jake Stonebender's new establishment, Mary's Place. The cast is largely the same, however, and the atmosphere (though starting to become a little impenetrable for those new to the series) is the same as ever: funny, humane, and occasionally--as in a debate about the origins of AIDS and the implications thereof--deeply thought provoking.

Some fans of the series point to this volume (published nearly a decade after the previous one) as the point when it began to decline. I disagree. A bit of the freshness is gone, but the quality is still there . . . and will be for one more volume at least.

Picking up where they left off when Callahan's Place blew up and Lady Sally's closed. Jake opens Mary's Place for all of Callahan's regulars.