Posts Tagged ‘spider robinson’

StarShipSofa, the British online audio science fiction anthology magazine, has released a novella by Lawrence Santaro called "Lord Dickens's Declaration." You can listen to it for free — that's what they do, after all; present audio presentations of top science fiction by authors such as Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Michael Bishop, Tad Williams, Charles Stross and many more — but for a limited time you can buy a limited edition ebook and the proceeds will go towards helping Jeanne and Spider Robinson's bills as Jeanne fights off a rare biliary cancer that's taking everything they've got.

I've mentioned here before my love of Jeanne and Spider's work, and any chance to help out (while getting new stuff to read at the same time) is a Good Thing. You can read about her ongoing battle (and her fight to continue producing a Stardancer movie) at http://stardancemovie.blogspot.com.

What's "Lord Dickens's Declaration" about? Think "steampunk/time travel/alternatehistory" and you won't be too far off. There are gentlemen and ladies and intrigue and SCIENCE and steamships and long discourses on the nature of time itself. Also, cavemen. Santaro usually writes horror fiction but he rises to the challenge here. The book is also beautifully designed and illustrated to look like an old and treasured book, which just adds to the steampunk feel. Nicely done.

While you're in the area, check out the StarShipSofa's podcasts. They're free, professionally done, and a welcome addition to your portable library.

Jeanne Robinson — dancer, choreographer, Soto Zen monk and wife of Spider Robinson, with whom she co-authored the multi-award-winning book Stardance and its sequels — has been diagnosed with a rare and virulent form of biliary cancer. She's beaten it back so far but now will require therapy, dietary changes, and a stress-free lifestyle, and none of those are cheap. So her friends are helping her out.

A benefit concert and silent auction is happening on Bowen Island, BC, at the Cates Hill Chapel at  7:30 pm, Friday, Sept 18  (see above). There's also  an eBay auction here (with more stuff coming). You can donate items to auction off or send money by check or PayPal, head to WeDreamForJeanne for more details.

Spider Robinson has been one of my favorite authors for many years now (only for about as long as he's been writing) and Stardance remains one of those books I have to pull out and reread every year or so. There's a different kind of depth and, in places, a tranquility in Stardance that isn't in his other works, and I have to assume that's Jeanne. They're one of science fiction's great and lasting love stories and it shows in their work.

You can see what Jeanne's done towards finally realizing zero-G dance in the Stardance Project, and you can hear Spider and Jeanne talk about their collaboration (and their courtship) here.

If you can, please do what you can to help out. Thanks.

Trust me when I tell you, I read a lot. I average roughly a book a day and have for three-plus decades now, which works out to, you know, a lot. It would be even more (a lot squared?) but there is a small number of books I read again every year or so, because they continue to resonate with me. As I change, as I (ahem) mature, I find that my favorite books affect me differently in ways I simply wasn't ready to understand before.

One of those books is Stardance, by Spider and Jeanne Robinson.

The plot is simple. A gifted but overlooked dancer fights to overcome obstacles on Earth, above it, and beyond, to create the first zero-gravity dance. And this tells you absolutely nothing about the relationships and the anguish and the joys and the humor and the triumph of the people involved. Acclaimed science fiction writer Spider Robinson and his wife, dancer and choreographer Jeanne, crafted something about dreams, dance, perseverance, and humanity's message for the universe. Also, there's a telepathic waiter.
Then they did it again, twice, with Starseed and Starmind.

And none of that is why I'm writing this.

I'm writing this because Jeanne Robinson once had a shot at actually dancing in zero-gee. NASA got a look at Stardance and invited her into the Civilians in Space program. She was shortlisted for a shuttle ride, and the only reason it didn't happen was because the first Civilian in Space happened to be on the Challenger.

But now computer graphics have caught up to the writer's mind. Jeanne and an insanely talented crew are working on creating a short film to explore the possibilities of dance without gravity. The Stardance Project is already underway with a deadline of July 2007, and they need patrons.

If you loved the books, if you love dance and human expression, or if you just want to see what they come up with, please consider donating to the Project. Check out the website for more details, and help out iof you can.

C'mon. I want to see this.