Lifehouse

by Spider Robinson

June went for a walk and came back with memories missing. She was completely unaware of any gap but she had taken a cellular phone with her and phoned Paul, her partner in crime, and told his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671877771
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.8" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

Cons, Other Cons, and Pros

This is the third volume in the trilogy that started with Mind Killer and continued with Time Pressure (which are collected together in one volume as Deathkiller). However, the relationship is tenuous between this book and the other two, and for this particular work I'd actually recommend that you don't read the others prior, as I think it would negatively color your impression of this one.Lifehouse represents a return to Spider's normal outrageous situations and punning humor, couched in a tale of two con artists, Paul and June, SMOFs (Secret Masters of Fandom), and time travelers. Early in the story the SMOFs (in this case, a husband and wife, Wally and Moira, who have been fans and known each other so long they are almost telepathic with each other) are presented with a wild tale by a midnight visitor who arrives with a bang, minus clothing, and claims to be a time traveler who has unfortunately missed his target date by a few years. Naturally, the 'time traveler' would like Wally and Moira to help in changing history just a little bit - ensuring that John Lennon does not get assassinated. Of course, the Wally and Moira are also Beatles fans, and off we go on a pretty wild romp through the ins and outs of multiple con games, time and other paradoxes, manhunts, and puzzle solving the old fashioned way, by thinking.Along the way, Spider maintains a humorous undertone, as noted by chapter titles like "Grok and Roll" and sentences like "They left and locked the car, and, since it was late at night, crossed Point Grey Road on foot without the customary side effect of dying." But much of the story is a serious investigation into ethics, morals (can con-men have morals? Can ethics impose absolute restrictions on the actions of time travelers?), and individuality versus the 'Group Mind' that true telepathy would make possible. The characters come across as highly intelligent, personable, and believable people caught in situations that are only partially due to their own actions, but must (and can) rely on their own wits to save the day. Readers who have never attended a science fiction convention or been seriously involved in SF fandom may miss some of Spider's underhanded references, and some of the specified technology will seem absolutely ancient (which is merely an indication of how fast computing technology is changing). But these are fairly minor quibbles with what is generally a very readable story, one that occasionally made me laugh out loud, always kept me grinning, and provided some good food for thought when finished.

My first Spider Robinson book

This was the first Spider Robinson I've read, and I was quite impressed. I think it takes a courageous science fiction writer to write fiction about science fiction. The humor was a nice change of pace from so many other books which take themselves too seriously.

Mixed feelings, but amongst the best recent Spider Robinson

As a third part to follow up to Mindkiller and Time Pressure, it certainly fits into the group. I did not much like Time Pressure, finding it, to my mind, "rather New Agey." Lifehouse does not dwell too much on the "technologies" of that book, which strikes me as being a good thing.It presents stories of three couples: - "God-like" time travellers protecting their critical secret, - Con artists assortedly seeking "the new con," and then being pursued for stumbling onto "the secret," and - Secret Masters of Fandom, at first sucked into the "big con," but then showing their own initiative to hunt down the con artists. (I lived near the store at the location where they were described as having bought the pistol... The store primarily sells ugly Art Deco "antiques.")As a "classic" Spider Robinson read, it presents the perhaps-too-clever in- jokes and terrifying puns for which he is famed. And comes up with some new twists on things, and ample "turnings of tables."I would bet that this book is of special interest to SF fans in Victoria and Toronto; there are references to things that I almost recognize...

WONDERFUL! A great tie-in/completion of this series. 8.5

Mindkiller is one of my favorites, Time Pressure was a little disappointing, but Lifehouse finishes the series extremely well. Even the bad guys, Paul and June, are likeable, and Wally and Moira are too cool. Wonder who Spider based them on? The way Spider makes us concerned about Paul and June, even though we know they are thieves and criminals is great. The "situation" they find themselves in becomes the one wearing the black hat, rather than any of the three couples in the book. I really appreciated the way P & J were able to look into themselves and realize that they had finally broken their own creed. If there is any wrong about this book, it is that the connections are too convenient, e.g. Paul and June need to talk to Wally and Moira and "poof" there they are on their front doorstep. Though that was somewhat important in their being able to avoid the "fly," the filching of June's porno books and Wally having them for her at the end was almost too cute, too easy. After Paul's initial con, little else required as much work until the last "con" of Myrna and Johnson. Which bye the way, definitely goes a long way toward giving this book an 8.5 versus a 7 or 7.5. I really find it hard to give a 10, but this threesome of books definitely rates a solid 9 in the whole. I continually enjoy the way Spider mixes a love of music, solid science, and a straightforward philosophy of acceptance in all his books. I have most of them, except those now out of print (and even some of those). Spider manages to put forth his philosophy without getting pedantic like RAH did in some of his later work. I hope he keeps it up and keeps writing more great stuff

Not Robinson's best, but an enjoying read.

The third in Robinson's Deathkiller trilogy (oops! I used the word trilogy!), -Lifehouse- is an enjoyable read; though not one of the author's best, it's still definately worth the price. As usual, Spider offers characters who are intelligent, witty, and entertaining, though for some reason in this installment, it feels almost like the characters have become patterns and not people (the We've Seen These People Before Syndrome). I found this book difficult to get into for the first ten pages, but once the hurdle of the first chapter had been cleared, subsequent pages flew by -- particularly the absolutely hysterical -- and plausible -- new con described in Chapter 2. Robinson's observations of human nature, as always, ring true. Overall, this book is a good read, if you've read the first two in the series. If not, you're bound to be left there wondering just what all the in-jokes are, as Robinson uncharacteristically doesn't give enough background to make a newcomer understand.