Tag Archives: Robert A. Heinlein

Happy Birthday, Heinlein

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Today, July 7, is the birthday of Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988). He was one of the most influential science fiction writers of the previous century.

It’s become fashionable to hate on Heinlein these days. Many of his ideas aren’t currently in vogue, and he’s been called “racist as f***.”

I don’t agree with all of the positions he held, and there are some of his works I haven’t liked and one or two I’ve detested. But for the most part, I really got into his stuff. I certainly don’t agree with some of his critics. Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Heinlein

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Robert A. Heinlein

Today, July 7, is the birthday of Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988). It’s become fashionable to slam him now that he isn’t around to defend himself. It seems the words of Marc Antony still are true “The evil men do live after them; the good is oft interred with their bones” (Julius Caesar, Act III, scene 2, lines 3-4).

Granted there are some Heinlein works I have no intention of rereading or even reading in the first place, but there is no denying he cast a long shadow over the genre. When you still have detractors over thirty years after your death, you have had an impact. Continue reading →

The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology, Part 1

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So, as part of Astounding/Analog’s 90th anniversary, I’m going to be reading through The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology over the few months.  I’ll read one or two stories, and post on them here, mostly in order.

Edited by John W. Campbell, Jr., the anthology was first published in 1952 by Simon and Schuster.  For more on the backstory behind the anthology, see this excellent post at Black Gate.  The stories are presented in the book roughly in the order of publication, beginning with Heilein’s “Blowups Happen” from 1940 and ending with “Protected Species” by H. B. Fyfe, which was published in 1951. The complete table of contents is listed in the picture below. Click to enlarge. Continue reading →

John W. Campbell, Jr. at 105

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On this day in 1910, John W. Campbell entered the world.  It was a very different world when he left it on July 11, 1971.  He envisioned much of that world and much of what followed his passing.JohnWCampbell-WhoGoesThere-314x218

John Campbell was arguably the most influential science fiction and fantasy editor of the 20th Century.  (Feel free to disagree in the comments.)  Campbell began writing science fiction for the pulps.  At first he published space opera under his own name.  Not content to be a well regarded writer in the field, he began publishing moody, thoughtful stories under the name Don A. Stuart.  He took the pen name from his wife’s maiden name, Dona Stuart.  His most famous story under either byline is “Who Goes There?” by Don A. Stuart, which was filmed as The Thing From Another World (1951), The Thing (1982), and The Thing (2011). Continue reading →

Blogging the Heinlein Juveniles: Rocket Ship Galileo

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rocket ship galileoRocket Ship Galileo
Robert A. Heinlein

I’ve been intending to start this series for a while, and I planned to have this post up in January. (I read the book in January. Does that count?) However, my wife had rotator cuff surgery, so I’m a little behind in my blogging. The plan is to read the juveniles in the order they were written and blog about each one.

The first Heinlein juvenile I read was Have Spacesuit Will Travel. I was in seventh grade. The junior high library had a small selection of them, and I think I read all of them that year. Then we moved, and the selection at my new school wasn’t as extensive. I continued to read them through high school, although I never read all of them.

In 1947, Heinlein began writing an annual novel for Scribner’s, aimed at what would now be called the YA market. The first of these was Rocket Ship Galileo. Continue reading →