Callahan's Lady (Lady Sally's, #1; Callahan's, #4) by Spider Robinson

Callahan's Lady (Lady Sally's, #1; Callahan's, #4) Reviews

• 
  Wanda Pedersen

  2.5 very conflicted stars.
  
  I just don’t know what to think about Spider Robinson’s books. But I keep persistently reading them as part of my science fiction & fantasy reading project. I say persistently, because they aren’t widely available and I find that I have to request them by interlibrary loan, a process which requires patience.
  
  On the one hand, Robinson is an engaging writer. He writes characters who are interesting and situations that are worth exploring (despite all the god-awful puns).
  
  One the other hand, he makes assumptions about life and especially about women that drive me crazy. Take this book for example—the main character, Maureen, who tells the tale is a prostitute. If you believe that prostitution is all about sex, you will love this book. If you believe that it’s all about power, this book will make you cranky. I’m a bit cranky.
  
  I guess what I’m saying is that Maureen, the main character, pretty much felt like a man transplanted into a woman’s body. I couldn’t relate to her motivations at all, despite the fact that I think I’m fairly open minded about sexuality.
  
  Mr. Robinson, I’m not sure if it’s you or if it’s me, but I find your books difficult to enjoy.
  
  Book 252 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
  
• 
  Craig

  This novel is set not at Callahan's bar, but at Callahan's wife's brothel. There's quite a bit of overlap in the characters, the same brand of jokes and puns, a whole lot of overlap in philosophies, and, well, with a lot more sex. Lady Sally runs an interesting establishment, and the sentiment and emotion is quite poignant at times. There's no hardcore erotic content, more of an uninhibited naughtiness, which has aged less well than the technology in the intervening three decades. I thought it was a fun book, with some great laughs, but I preferred Mike's Saloon.
• 
  M.M. Strawberry Library & Reviews

  After reading the first Callahan book by the same author, I was eager to dive into this book, and I was absolutely not the least bit disappointed. This is a book definitely not for younger readers, and yes, the humor gets ribald and randy, I wouldn't call this erotica. There's a great mix of seriousness and comedic material in here, and I must say, for a book whose main location is a bordello, the humor is actually quite high-brow and clever. Major kudos to the author for writing something like this, I enjoyed the heck out of it and certainly will be checking out more of these books!
• 
  Robert

  Tied to the Callahan stories by title, incidental characterization, and authorial style, but decidedly inferior to the original product. The stories are interesting enough, but the fantastical , supernatural, or extraterrestrial elements that mark Callahan are scant and the story arcs overly long compared to established expectations. Worth reading for completists but avoidable otherwise.
  
• 
  Nathan Balyeat

  This is an interesting book. It's not just fiction, it's not just fantasy and might be science fiction. Regardless, this set of related stories set in a "house of ill repute" somewhere in New York city is the right combination of suspenseful, funny, and engaging. Despite the adult theme of the primary story location, the story is told without being crass, vulgar, or or over the top.
• 
  Steve T.

  What it's about: Maureen is a "working girl" living in New York City who thinks she has her handler under control, until he proves otherwise. Fortunately, Maureen is saved by an older woman unlike any Maureen has met before. And that woman turns Maureen's whole life upside-down, introducing her to a world she never would have believed possible.
  
  What I thought: I have read this book half a dozen times, easily. Each time, I enjoy the characters and the situations in which they find themselves. The story is pretty typically Spider-Robinson-ian: it continually subverts your preconceived notions about things you thought you had some knowledge of.
  
  It has been a while since I last read this, and I've been spending a whole lot of time lately immersed in materials about equality and diversity, so I found a few things that had me questioning some of the word choice and phrasing. So I did a bit of research and math. The copy I was reading recently was published in 1989, making this story at least 30 years old. Based on the next volume in the series, this story begins in 1969 and continues through 1971, though the story itself provides very few clues about the time setting. I'm not sure exactly when Robinson wrote this one - it could have been sitting in a drawer for quite a while before it was published. Or the hardcover I was reading could have been preceded by paperback versions a decade or two earlier. Either way, it's clear that there are some ways in which the world has moved on since this story was written. But I'm giving Robinson the benefit of the doubt and thinking that anything that might seem objectionable today was intended in the most friendly and generous spirit, and was simply a product of the times.
  
  Moving past the items that might be a little problematic to the modern reader, I still found myself enjoying the twists and turns Robinson wove throughout this piece.
  
  Why I rated it like I did: Spider Robinson is one of my perennial favorite authors. Every story I've read by him (and I've read quite a few) values humans of all types, and they almost always end on an uplifting and hopeful note. One might consider him a forefather of the "solar punk" movement - he sees humanity moving (slowly, erringly, arduously) toward a better future.
• 
  Raj

  I'm an avid fan of Robinson's
  Callahan's series so when I discovered that he had written more in that universe, I snapped it up, even though it's not set in Callahan's itself. This series of four linked stories is, instead, set in Lady Sally's, a brothel run by Callahan's wife (the eponymous Lady Sally), which rather than being the usual sort of sordid place that these often are, is instead a 'house of healthy repute', where the 'artists' deal with 'clients' and everyone is happy, in the same way that people are at Callahan's.
  
  I mostly enjoyed the stories, although I can't help worrying that Lady Sally's place feels a little like wish-fulfilment (or is that saying more about me than the author?). As for the stories themselves, the first tells how our narrator, Maureen, comes to work at Lady Sally's, after being saved from her pimp. The second demonstrates why despite their protests, a teenage boy's dearest wish is a bad idea; the third is all about control and is probably the creepiest story in the whole book for me, as control is taken away from everyone we've come to like. The final story is a bit of a heist and introduces Maureen's friend, the Professor.
  
  We do meet some regulars from Callahan's. Mike himself pops up, as do Fast Eddie, Jake (narrator of the Callahan's stories) and Ralph von Wau Wau, but they all pretty much just have cameos. I think for me the thing that doesn't quite gel is that Lady Sally's doesn't have quite the same empathy of Callahan's place. Although the emphasis here, as well as there, is on helping people (clients mostly, in this case) it hasn't got the camaraderie of Callahan's famous pub, where everyone clubs round to help someone in need. Although Robinson does try to recreate that formula, for me, he doesn't quite manage it. Also, the whole romance thing in the last story sort of came out of nowhere and didn't entirely work for me.
  
  Oh, and I didn't think the puns were as good as those that get bandied around at Callahan's either.
• 
  Ginger Vampyre

  I like this book. It is set in the same world/time as the Callahan's Bar books, but in a different place. A brothel. The best brothel in New York. Narrated by one of the "artists" in the house after she is saved by the madam from her murderous pimp. The brothel is run by Callahan's wife and she has the same philosophy that he does. Creating a place where people from all walks of life can relax and enjoy each other's company. From a social, communal lounge areas, to private and very specific "entertainment" rooms. And in doing this, helping people with their damage. One of the things that I love most about it is that my current housemates reflex this philosophy. They read these books as adolescents and incorporated it into their lives. And now I am reading them. And they are fantastic.
• 
  holly quigley

  Oh, the Callahan's 'verse. How I've missed you. There's such a distinct voice to these books, while I can't personally imagine a person not liking it, it's entirely possible that it's an acquired taste. It's also entirely possible that one should read the other volumes of the Callahan's Chronicles before this one, just to get a better feel for that voice. Of course, judging by some other reviews, maybe that's where the lack of freshness might come from; on its own, Callahan's Lady is plenty fun and feels fairly consistent throughout.
• 
  Elmer Foster

  Up front, the last Spider Robinson "Callahan" book I read was nearly 20 years back... and I enjoyed it (then). As I am always up for reading a variety of books and authors, this one caught my eye.
  
  Admittedly, I had forgotten who Callahan was, so this story left me bewildered as to where in Spider's universe I was headed. I tore through the first of the four micro-tales making up the larger book detailing what becomes of Maureen/Mo, our heroine that guides us through the book. She is a working girl and ends up in a brothel. Before you ask where's the Sci-Fi in that... don't worry it's in here, all over the place, yet subtly written.
  
  By the time the second story has begun, Maureen is one of the brothel's workers, prompting this tale and the next in relation. Spider gives us sexualized science as a conundrum, which felt shocking for shocking sake and not very engaging. Maureen saves the day in both situations and yet it didn't help the book increase my interest. But I am nearly done with the book, and have only one story left to engage, onward we must.
  
  The final tale was a crime noir-ish double cross effort about counterfeit cash and Tony Donuts, gangster extreme, in more ways than one (with contrived written-as-spoken dialogue added for effect. Not a fan of this method.) Within in this portion, we sort of get where the title comes from, as Mike (Callahan) is present for the summary preceding the events. Unfortunately, I wouldn't know Callahan if he knocked on my front door. That's more against me and my reading selections than Spider.
  
  All through the book, I felt as if I was reading something meant for a small clique who knew all the references and inside jokes, winks included. I understood the plot, settings, actions, etc., but did get the "why" of it all, as there was no real point... just a collection of short mundane stories wrapped in a supposedly important co-related setting within Spider's previous creations.
  
  Which brings me to the Pun Section (most of the book, actually, for no other reason than it was.) Again, with the missed point, the puns while erstwhile funny in attempt, weren't. And for me the book continued to smoke and wheeze until it died of exhaustion.
  
  The characters were readable, stereotypical, and cartoonish for effect. But I never felt connected to any of them. The situations were rudimentary and uninspired. And beyond Maureen guiding us through with her insight, there was no real plotline to follow, or any big ending sequence to look forward to. More like a list of errands to run before getting back home to make dinner. You remember running errands, went some places, but would you remember it all or write about it later? And would anyone, including yourself, care?
  No, definitely not. Same for this book.
  
  Unless you must read all of Spider's works, skip this one.
  
  Thanks for reading.
  
• 
  Martin Smith

  Despite having mostly enjoyed the first three Callahan books, this didn't work for me at all. Having given his idealised bar, Callahan's Place, a (fairly unsatisfactory, imo) send-off, Robinson has wound back in time a bit for this follow up and focused on Lady Sally's House, his idealised vision of a brothel, run by Callahan's wife, Lady Sally.
  
  Ultimately though, it exists to serve the same function as Callahan's Place: a location from which to tell pun-heavy short stories with science-fiction elements, told from the perspective of a regular (here Maureen aka Sherry, one of the "artists" in the brothel).
  
  It all just feels too much like a retread of the bar stories though. Other than a dislike of puns, Maureen's narration is hard to distinguish from Jake Stonebender's, which is a problem given she's a 16 year old prostitute and he's a middle-aged folk rock musician. Robinson's attempts to give Maureen a tragic backstory comparable to Jake's is clumsy and crass (predatory lesbian paedophiles marrying her widowed father to "gain access" to her), thrown onto the end of the first story in a haphazard manner that compounds the questions of tone and voice.
  
  The central parlour area is a clone of Callahan's Place in form and function, the only difference being that the brothel setting allows Robinson to freely augment the "healing through compassionate humanism and bad puns" tone of the original with the heavily liberated sexual elements that had been creeping into the bar stories anyway (such as with Josie, who would sleep with whoever won the weekly pun competition - here Lady Sally offers up some of her own time for whoever wins a pun competition). There's no attempt for this to be salacious, but there's an odd naivity to the optimistic, idealised view of sex as commodity (or public service, I guess) that just doesn't work as well as the bar setting had.
  
  Ultimately, the main problem is that it all just feels derivative of Robinson's previous work, but more self-indulgent to his own lifestyle (or fantasy thereof, I presume). It's just Callahan's Cross-Time Saloon again but with shagging and that doesn't really solve any of the problems the previous stories had.
• 
  James King

  Another great Spider story.
  
  I'm growing more and more to love Spider's stories. The only problem with this Kindle version was the huge bumper of typographic errors, words misspelled or even letters replaced with numbers and symbols. But the story was great and ties in well with the Callahan stories.
  
• 
  Mary Slowik

  Occasionally pretty funny. Occasionally pretty tepid. Overall... entertaining, if uneven. The whole depiction of the brothel seemed weirdly prudish, like the most g-rated den of iniquity in history.
  
  Maybe not the best introduction to Spider Robinson.
• 
  Dragonstar1

  In the same universe as Callahans Crosstime Salon, this book lets to see what Calahans wife does for a living. Well running the best brothel in Brooklyn, and possibly the world, gets your attention then this is for you. Same wacky,somewhat punny, never boring work, with a mystery thrown in too.
• 
  Steven Cooke

  Very entertaining, if utopian blend of diversity between humans and others. The setting does not get in the way of the plot or the action. Great fun if you like Spider Robinson's style and wordplay.
• 
  Heather

  I just really want to swim around in Spider Robinson's brain for a while. It seems like a very kind and interesting place to be.
• 
  Wetdryvac

  Wears well, if oddly over the years.
• 
  Alice

  This is a hard one to review. It’s strange, even for science fiction. I’m not familiar with Spider Robinson’s prose but from what I researched, he focuses on puns. This would explain a lot of awkward dialogue. Oh, and if you’re looking for a raunchy time, this book isn’t erotica–try elsewhere for your fix.
  
  Callahan’s Lady was a random used bookstore find. I found it because of the sequel, The Lady Slings the Booze, because a tentacle man was featured on the spine and my curiosity was captured. After learning it was about a swanky bordello that catered to many different people and species, I knew I was in.
  
  But that doesn’t seem to be the case. There’s really no interplanetary action going on.
  
  The book opens with Maureen walking the Brooklyn streets at night. She’s working as an underage hooker and is tragically stabbed by her pimp. Thankfully Lady Sally was walking her werebeagle (yes, you read that right) nearby and saved Maureen’s life. She wakes up in Lady Sally’s bordello and is convinced Lady Sally is trying to make her into a house girl. But after a few calm conversations, and a really nice tour, she’s begging to work there. You see, Lady Sally runs a high-end joint and takes pride in her artists (her sex workers). She also doesn’t employ underage artists, but Maureen is allowed to work in positions such as housekeeping.
  
  Time skips to Maureen, now known as Sherry, at eighteen and happily working as an artist. This is where things kick off. The scifi elements happen in three random encounters. First there’s Colt, the man who’s addicted to sex and has to ejaculate six times or else bad things happen. Then there’s Diana, who can convince anyone to do anything by saying “Please” and uses this power to incapacitate everyone in the bordello. And finally there’s Sherry’s old friend, Professor, who finds himself in serious trouble with a man known for extreme violence.
  
  Honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot of scifi in this book… even though it’s classified as scifi. A deus ex machina is revealed within the last twenty pages, time travel happens… maybe it’s addressed in a previous book, as this is technically Robinson’s fourth book in the series, but is also the first in a spin-off. Maureen is a fairly competent narrator; I enjoyed her distaste of puns, as they were starting to get to me too. And as this was published in ‘89 there’s some problematic stereotypes and language, so that was a little annoying and made me grimace. Overall, I think I’ll check out the next book, see if things pick up or not.
• 
  Space

  A lot of fun. This was about Lady Sally's Brothel, which sounds like a place all of us would love to visit, if not work. It's like a high-class whorehouse with plenty of style and plenty of cool people. So obviously, we go hang out at Lady Sally's to get our primal leanings in order, then we mosey on over to Callahan's for a quick drink or seven.
  
  Just like in the spirit of the Callahan's books, this book is full of characters and their personal stories. It's actually quite enjoyable in a completely different, albeit exactly similar, style. You'll know what I mean if you've read any of Spider Robinson's stuff
  
  I think it bears repeating that if you're looking for serious literature, or at least fiction that does not include strange monsters and - well, for instance, men who turn into were-beagles - then you need not apply here.
  
  I also think, however, that I should remind you that I would never - even on my worst day, ever ever, ever consider reading anything about a were-beagle in a book by an author who was trying to take himself seriously. If you actually try to sell me a story about some hogwashical bullsh like that, I'll show you the fastest way you can imagine to put a book down.
  
  But Spider is exempt from all of that. He knows it's not serious. It's tongue-in-cheek fiction. It's all in good fun. And it's a lot of it. Definitely check it out!
  
  
• 
  Mycala

  Much as I liked this, I preferred the books in the setting of Callahan's bar more. I love the characters in this book and I love that there are some common threads from the first location to this one, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why I felt the way I did at first. Then I realized it's because this book felt more suspenseful to me. In the other three (well, until book #3) it was more a weaving of a story, something that one of the characters was recalling from their past. In this book, there were some scenarios that required quick and even urgent responses. Even with yoga and meditation, I'm high-strung enough. (Ha!) That said, it's Spider's same ability to get inside the human (and non-human) psyche, lovable characters I wish I knew, and another incarnation of the magnificent staircase.
  
  Some of my favorite quotes:
  
  "Don't waste time blaming the bull if you can't make it moo."
  
  "Please, dear, vengeance is counterproductive. Not to mention the fact that it gets your soul all sticky."
  
  (In reference to the opening on the front of men's underwear) "It is not physically possible to piss with your unit in the shape of a letter Z."
• 
  Jeremy Preacher

  I am surprised I liked this as much as I did. It's about a very idealized, liberal, inclusive bordello the way the Callahan's Place books are based on an idealized bar. The thing that surprises me most is that it actually sounds like both a fun place to visit and a fun place to work.
  
  It's not quite a novel - it's really a linked set of shorts. The first one covers the background and introduction of Sherry, our viewpoint character. Then there are several shorter episodes dealing with various characters, from the guy with the insatiable sex drive (played for pity rather than laughs) and the woman who invented mind control. Then the last section is an extended caper, not particularly dependent on Sally's for anything other than the final deus ex machina.
  
  I had a couple of twitches about things - the mind-control episode in particular rang very false - but it was definitely nice to see gender and sexuality played with in a surprisingly modern way, and over the course of mostly-fun adventures.
• 
  John Carter

  I wish I knew how to find Lady Sally’s House. I think just an hour cuddled up to an artist in the Parlor followed by an I’m-sorry-you-have-to-go-but-here’s-something-to-remember-me-by kiss would not only carry me through a whole week but cut my psychiatrist’s bills by a hefty chunk. If other obligations didn’t have me restricted to the Parlor, I have my artist of choice picked out and a couple of Function Rooms I think might be worth trying…
  
  But we’ve only got Spider Robinson’s word for it. It’s been far too long since I visited last. And there’s really only one thing wrong there—the puns. I love to groan at puns as much as the next guy, but here they’re contests. Which means they get worked into the ground.
  
  Still, one can put up with a lot… Not in Brooklyn anymore, eh? Rats.
• 
  Chris Youngblood

  Disappointing...at least in the second half. The vibe I got from this book was that Robinson was getting tired of Lady Sally's House, so he wrapped things up and tossed it all into the post to be published. The main character develops into the truest sense of a Harry Stu in the latter half of the book, and the supposed 'plot' for that half is so incredibly far-fetched that even my rather sturdy "Trellis Of Disbelief Suspension" came tumbling down like tongue depressors and dental floss under an elephant.
  
  Not really recommended for anyone, which is disappointing, because Spider Robinson generally gets a big Thumbs Up from me for anyone looking for a good read.
• 
  Steven

  Spider Robinson is the only author whose short stories I like better than his longer works. This is a novella collection better connected than a simple collection normally would be, but it is really a bunch of distinct stories. It's good without being great; you don't feel like you belong to Lady Sally's House the way you feel like you belong at Callahan's. It seems to stretch disbelief a lot harder: a bar with nice people that also gets aliens, etc, has an element of the believable and the fantastic. A whorehouse that is nice has already used up my disbelief before we get onto the meat of the story. The conclusion leaves much to be desired: deus ex futura.