My favorite of the series. ( )

Is this really the end of the series? It was a good run.

The Place #2 ( )

I keep forgetting how good Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon stories are. They are just fun to read with a mixture of wild plot, appealing bar patrons (most of whom are human), puns, scope, and emotional depth. Callahan is somewhere uptime, Key West bar owner Jake Stonebender finds himself dealing with a man-mountain who wants protection money. The gang have to figure out how to deal with Tony Donuts, Jr., as well as problems that arise. Great novel-length entry in a wonderful series of books. ( )

Another pun-drenched entry in one of my favorite sci-fi series, the always loopy and hilarious and heartfelt srories about the denizens of Callahan's bar, now reincarnated as The Place and run by Jake Stonebender. This story sees the malevolent offspring of an earlier villain, the nearly equally formidable (and equally evil) Tony Donuts Jr. It also sees the heart-wrenching death of one of the major and original characters from the first Callahan book. A worthy entry in the series, and Jake and Zoey's supergenius daughter Erin displays quite some interesting growth spurts here, aided by time travel. ( )