Comments on: The Zombie Robert Heinlein Rises From the Grave Yet Again to Annoy the Politically Correct

By: Greg VA

Greg VA — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:24:25 +0000

With what other author can you unwitting pick up the most random of their works, and in the wrong order, read it and be immediately hooked for life? Is that my failing, or Heinlein’s brilliance? I found “The Number of the Beast” at a tag sale in 1985 and never looked back. The work he did for Scribner’s, was wonderful and the rest is just gold.

Gaye, Bounce!… Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:54:01 +0000

I have a comment that’s remarkably late to the party. One cannot fully understand Heinlein’s work, especially his “adult period”, without understanding Alfred Korzybski and General Semantics. One misses almost the entire point of the work without that framework. He could get pedantic and preachy but there was always a point to which the entire body of his work interconnected.

By: Mark Bult

Mark Bult — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:34:59 +0000

@Julia, comment 155: You are so right about The Number of the Beast. And that’s a hilarious capsule review. FWIW, TNOTB was the first Heinlein novel to disappoint me when I read it back at about 19 or 20 years of age. I finally re-read it in my late 30s, and enjoyed a lot more the second time around. Not sure why. Maybe I was finally able to get more of the in-jokes and references to other literary figures, stories, etc. @John Scalzi: A blurb mentioning Heinlein might get me to look closer at a book, but I get most SF recommendations from trusted sources whom I know, and who know what I like about other authors. I picked up The Ghost Brigades because it was recommended by a HS librarian I know who is also (as I am) a huge Heinlein fan, and he said I’d like your writing. He also said you’d be appearing at the Heinlein Centennial, which you did, and I was impressed enough by your panels to read the book when I got back from Kansas City. So chalk one up for high school librarians. FWIW, the other two writers I’ve really liked in the last few years were recommended to me by folks who work at my local F/SF bookshop (shout out to Borderlands in San Francisco, they rock), who turned me on to Lois McMaster Bujold and the horror novelist Michael Marshall Smith. I don’t usually go in for horror but this guy’s damn good, and his two noirish SF books turned me into a big fan right off.

By: Peter D. Tillman

Peter D. Tillman — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:53:43 +0000

John:

Re: Itzkoff on The Android’s Dream,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/books/review/Itzkoff.t.html?_r=2&ref=books&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Hadn’t seen that one. Boy, is he full of shit.

Loved the Creation Museum piece!

Best for 2008, Pete Tillman

By: David F. (Za5od)

David F. (Za5od) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:56:04 +0000

Personally, if I were a SCI/FI author, I don’t think there could be any greater honor than being compared to Heinlein. When I read “Old Mans War”, I kept thinking that “wow, this reads like Heinlein” (I missed the part on the cover where that’s printed..I bought the book based on the title and the synopsis printed on the back of the book).

I kinda wish you had been chosen to finish “A Variable Star”. Don’t get me wrong, I love Spider Robinson, but “A Variable Star” read like a SR story, not a Heinlein story. After reading the afterword in the book, I understand why (man, talk about a lot of pressure). I still liked it though, and it was great to read one more Heinlein story.

And you’re also right..a SCI/FI book is about telling a story. Politics, a characters personal beliefs, settings, technology, etc. are all just building blocks. Sure, they are important to the story, but they are just PART of the story.

Also, have to say, I just got finished reading “The Android’s Dream” and I was amazed. A book about a sheep. Wow.

Eagerly awaiting more books,

Za5od

p.s. Remember what Heinlein thought about critics. It’s the people that buy/read the books, not the critics.

By: gajennings

gajennings — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:34:34 +0000

I came to this website because of the Heinlein / Scalzi comparison and wanted to see if perhaps I could tell if it were true.

I shall be buying Old Man’s War.

P.S. I would count myself as one who “cares” when a filmmaker radically modifies Dick’s work, but what filmmaker could pull off a film that woul dbe true to his work?

By: Rembrant

Rembrant — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:17:57 +0000

It’s been an interesting evening. I was on another authors website comenting on Heinlein movie and TV projects. How many did he actually do and so on. Well I ran across your comentary on being compared to him. Your blog and comentary were entertaining so I will have to give your scifi a try. I don’t think Heinlein was a militaristic fascist. You can find just as many things in his work to argue that he was a free love hippie as you can find for the fascist. I think selling books and earning a living was his goal and entertaining the reader was the best way to do that. I seem to recall him writing something to the effect that his books cost about the same as a sixpac of beer and should provide about the same amount of entertainment. If the reader got any more than that out of his book it was a free bonus. I know this is unrelated to this thread but I wanted to ad to the being poor list. Being poor is sleeping on the side of your bed to avoid the spot where the springs poke through.

By: Dave Freer

Dave Freer — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:45:36 +0000

‘frontier optimism’ — there has been one comment about ‘what’s wrong with that?’ (sorry forget who commented, but thanks). Well? Is something wrong with it? It is definitely a core to Heinlein – and if I was going to find a a reason to find similarities in Mad Mike or John Scalzi’s writing to Heinlien, the one I’d pick on.
Mildly curious – what is wrong with ‘frontier optimism’? Would one define China Meiville ‘urban pessimism’ ;-)

By: glinda, who is not necessarily good

glinda, who is not necessarily good — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:26:13 +0000

I wasn’t quite prepared for the wonderful level of snark, and have had to vacuum cracker crumbs off my keyboard; thanks, John!

The first Heinlein story I read, probably in fifth or sixth grade, was “The Roads Must Roll,” in the Adventures in Time and Space anthology, snagged from my father’s bookshelf. Sometime in the early/mid-60s (my early teens), I read Podkayne of Mars, same source. I also remember (though this may be conflated with some other book?) TMiaHM being serialized in one of the magazines he subscribed to.

TMiaHM and Glory Road are still my favorites.

Yes, there’s sexism there, but there was also this – especially for that time – um. aphasia kicking in again – wonderful thing where the women’s roles weren’t limited to being baby factories or helpless victims needing rescue, or both.

By: Coonass

Coonass — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:19:06 +0000

Now, I don’t think that either Heinlein, Asimov or Clarke were great shakes in the “writing characters” sense. (This in answer to Rodney, who accuses me of thinking Heinlein can do no wrong.) Heinlein’s a good narrator, although his prose runs to the glib side. I was simply scratching my head over the concept that any author should concern himself the possibility that his reader might be a cretin and read bigotry into his writing that doesn’t exist.

But there IS a certain monotony in the female characters of Heinlein’s later works. And in the male ones, come to think of it.

It all comes down to the question “Did I enjoy reading Heinlein’s work?” to which a shelf of dog-eared books gives mute, but affirmative assent. Not perfect, but very enjoyable. Readable and re-readable. And I have to admit I’m not a little honored to be in the company of astronauts and software moguls in thinking so, as opposed to booksellers and clue-deficient reviewers.

Timberg’s thesis leads us to the scary proposition that we should encourage SF authors to try and emulate J.K. Rowling.