Heinlein's Last Novel Coming in September

Frightened_Turtle writes "Robert Heinlein's last novel, Variable Star , will be released in September. Completed by Spider Robinson at the behest of Heinlein's estate, the novel is based on the notes and outline created by Heinlein for the novel over 50 years ago. It was set aside and forgotten when Heinlein went to work on other projects. The story follows the life of Joel Johnston who — after having a fallout with his girlfriend and going on a bender — wakes up on a starship bound for the stars. Spider Robinson has done an excellent job maintaining Heinlein's style and flow throughout the novel. Want to check out the story for yourself? You can download the first eight chapters online from the 'Excerpts' link on the site as they are released over the next few weeks."

Scared, I am...

While I haven't had the chance (obviously) to go read the first eight chapters of the book, these always feel to me like I'm going to end up with something like the recent "Tom Clancy" books -- some sort of author-inspired but mostly-ghost-written things that, despite being written in the STYLE of the autor, will just fall short.

(Insert gratuitous joke about Tupac and Biggie albums here...)

Re:Scared, I am...

Very good authors have their own names on their books, not a famous corpse's.

No, very good authors have their own names on their books, though in some cases, a corpse's name may also grace the cover when said corpse worked on the book. Observe:

http://variablestarbook.com/images/variable-star.j pg [variablestarbook.com]

And if you're really digging into the history, such VGAs have existed before. Arthur C. Clarke is, for example, on that list, having co-written Richter 10 with the person that he initially farmed the idea out to, but who died before completing it.

To boot, there are many who would argue that Spider Robinson (on the merits of the books that are purely his) is a better writter than Heinlein. I'm not sure if I'm one of them or not, as I enjoy both authors for different reasons.

Re:In this case, it may be an improvement...

While I really liked Heinlein's older novels, his more recent output failed to impress me. The depth and suspense were simply not there anymore, at least not in the degree I was used from Heinlein.

I'd go even farther and say that Heinlein's last few novels were awful. As he went further along the protagonist became an older and older man who was having sex with younger and younger women. In my (humble) opinion he peaked at around "The Moon is Harsh Mistress".

I loved Heinlein as a kid, but re-reading him as an adult, he's just too absolute, too certain... "this is the way things are, anyone who disagrees with me is a fool". If I want to see that, I can read slashdot.

So this is not Heinlein's novel

Nice way to capitalize on the author's name though.

Worth Buying

The Variable Star project is intended to help the Heinlein Trust continue to fund the $500,000 Heinlein Prize [heinleinprize.com] for commercial manned spaceflight

It's worth buying just for that!

Great!

I'm an unabashed Heinlein fan. I've read enough Spider Robinson to feel that he's up to the task.

I'm really looking forward to this.

Re:Let's Make this Political!

Anarchism comes in two basic flavors, for convenience I call them right wing and left. It all boils down to how property is treated. Libertarianism could more accurately be called propertarianism, espousing as it does very strong protection for property. Socialist anarchists (like anarcho syndicalists, for instance) believe in Proudhon's [wikipedia.org] saying, "property is theft." [wikipedia.org] They believe that natural resources and real property should be managed through collective, not individual ownership.

I call Libertarians right wing because it seems as though they value property rights over human rights. Before there were fences, anyone could go anywhere and use any resource. What gives one person the right to exclude all others from using that property? Is it because they have "mingled their work" with the property? Well, what gave them the right to mingle in the first place?

Propertarians bring up the tragedy of the commons, which is an unfair example because it compares managed private ownership with unmanaged collective ownership. A collective could excercise just as much responsibility as an individual, and it could even be done democratically.

In contrast, protection of real property (as opposed to personal property. I do believe in that, I'm not a communist!) requires initiation of force. You want to see sophistry in action, try to get a Libertarian to define initiation of force. You'll find it boils down to "any use of force I don't like."

Propertarians also hold the view that there is a mutual contract between property owners. You protect my right to private property, I'll protect yours. This does not address the vast majority of people who aren't a party to that contract because they own no real property. What compensation are they getting as recompense for having their rights abridged?

As for personal responsibility, that is common sense and just as many hippy leftists believe in that as do libertarians and right wingers. The right wingers and libertarians just like to claim they have a monopoly on it.

Does that mean no sex scenes?

Plot line over 50 years old? Does that mean no sex scenes?

ed

Re:*sigh*...

...there were very few sex scenes in his novels prior to about 1968-ish.

Probably because his editor and/or publisher objected to them. Overtly sexual passages in fiction were frowned upon in the increasingly puritanical morality of the 1950s. Even subtle hints of sexuality were banished. This was done in the name of saving our innocent virgin minds from such filthiness.

But, then the swinging 1960s rolled around and it wasn't such a concern, anymore. That attitude prevailed until the 1980s, when Heinlein really began to cut loose. As an example, "Friday" is probably the best-known Heinlein novel from the 1980s, and it's not because it was an outstanding literary work.

Re:Does that mean no sex scenes?

Nobody seems to get the joke, which is that Heinlein's earlier books were more-or-less sex-free, or at least keeping it to a minimum, while his later books got more and more randy and referenced group sex, underage sex, incest, and other taboos. I'm not Heinlen-ologist, but it seems the turning point was Stranger in a Strange Land, which was an excellent book. Some of the later ones seem to be more dominated by the sex themes, and very light on substance. In other words he slowly transitioned from young serious author to mature exploratory author to dirty old man.

Re:Does that mean no sex scenes?

Heinlein put plenty of sex into his adult novels (his teen novels are another thing). But he didn't seem to feel the need to describe it. Perhaps he felt that if you were old enough you could supply the details from your own experience, and if you were young enough, encouraging your fantasies would only distract you from the novel.

He didn't even spend much time describing his men and women sexually. Few female characters were introduced with a description of their breasts, for example, although you might learn about their cup size by and by, somewhat incidentally. It's like the way you only learn late in the books and somewhat incidentally that Dr. Richard Ames is black and Lieutenant Rico is Hispanic.

Indeed, I think one of the reasons Heinlein is popular among geeky types is because he emphasized the sexual attractiveness of mind, character, and accomplishment. The fastest way to a Heinlein heroine's heart was witty repartee or a devastatingly clever and insightful argument...you know, the /. ideal for comments, +5 Sexy, that kind of thing.

What is coming next

A new play by Shakespeare? Poems by Poe? Nonfiction by Carl Sagan?

Same writing style?

So it will be full of gratuitous sex in every possible combination of the following?

Hetrosexual
Homosexual
Incest
Self
2-way
3-way
Orgy

And occur with in the realms of:
This universe (now)
This universe (time travel, forward and backward)
Parallel universes

Between people who are:
Real
Imagined
Living
Life-After-Death
Multiple people sharing the same skull

And that's just with the human characters. Heaven knows what interpsecies liasons will occur.

Boy did I read too much Heinlein when I was young.

Re:Same writing style?

Heinlein wrote some good stories, but dude, his characters had a habit of fucking anything that moved (or were about to move, or might be moving in an overarching multiverse), and some things that didn't move. Kinda makes me glad I somehow missed his books when I was a teenager. My head probably would have spun off my neck like a top.

Are you kidding? That's why I was thrilled to find his stuff as a teenager.

Re:Same writing style?

Wait, are we talking about Piers Anthony now?

The Heinlein Paradox...

What's the odd of someone screwing up a relationship, going on a bender, and ending up on a starship?

Here's hoping

I'm the biggest Heinlein fan ever, but "To Sail Beyond The Sunset" left a pretty bad taste in my mouth as his last novel. Maybe this one (even though he wasn't really involved) will help me remember him more fondly. (although there's always Lazarus...)

Story outline is not enough...

The one thing I am afraid of is that the story outline is usually just 20% of why Heinlein books were so great. He used the story and the environment it created for the characters to really present some new ideas and concepts and make the reader think about it. Heinlein books are often filled by strong ideas and concepts one appearing right after another, keeping your brain working all the time. I often found myself not remembering what the last 5 pages were about, because my mind run away with one of those ideas. He is so unlike other authors in this aspect. For most authors, the story outline would be enough for another writer to finish the book, since the main idea is usually also the only idea in the book and the rest is just sauce and random words and maybe nice story.

So I am really sceptical this would reach the quality of other Heinlein's books.

Is it just me...

...or does this sound a lot like the premise behind the TV show Red Dwarf [wikipedia.org]?

Spider

I guess that Spider Robinson truly groks Heinlein... Has anyone checked his corpse lately?

Oh no, not the hippy heinlein

Of the dozen or so Heinlein style writers extant today, it's a shame they picked the feckless hippy of the lot, Spider Robonson. I'd have vastly preferred one of the hard science Heinlein style writers (such as Varley, or maybe VInge) to the hippy dippy, dated, peace love dove style of Robinson, who wouldn't know real knowledge of physics if it knocked the bong out of his hand and spilled it all over his hand knotted macrame rug, inside his dome house.

Heinlein was a Dirty Old Man

My bets are that it will be about an old man that hooks up with a young chick. Or two.

Either way, it couldn't be worse than The Cat Who Could Walk Through Walls, could it?

I've got an unearthly urge to cringe

But so long as Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson aren't the writers doing this I'll give it a chance. Anything's better than what those mediocre half-wits are passing off as Dune books.

It was the 60's

A lot of Heinlein's later writing was influenced by the times. It WAS the 60's, after all. AND lived in California.

His best work was from '61 on, if you ask me.

BTW: I'm a huge Heinlein fan, so I admit I'm not objective. He was born in Butler, MO, 50 miles south of Kansas City, where I live.

If there is just a 20% chance that it's any good,

then I'll be glad to have had one more "Heinlein-esque" novel to enjoy. I love that guys stories.

Post mortem releases... now required.

First it was Douglas Adams' Salmon of Doubt, where in Douglas Adam's own words his final manuscripts were published.

Then it was the final book of the true dune series that was originally envisioned by Frank Herbert is now published (I don't know the name but I've heard more then enough about it).

And Now we have this.

What is it with people who have now basically gone around and robbed the grave? I mean Douglas Adams' salmon of doubt wasn't good but it was at least his work. Frank Herbert's son basically is robbing the grave here, and of course now this person's estate is now just asking for more money. It would be one thing if the person was dying and needed the money to go to a fund to save him from some sickness or cure other people, but in the end it's really just greed. I will give props to Brian Herbert, he at least has worked in his father's universe long before the final book was released, but even then his work has been far below his father's that to see him work on his father's last manuscript must be like watching a guy who shoots paint from his butt touch up a Picasso.

It's not that these people arn't well intentioned, they want to be loving with their work, but the fact is they will always change the work that they work on because it's the nature of the creative process.

Every time I see a post mortem release, whether it be a play (of course the script not being good enough or not being finished at the time of his death), a movie, a Cd, or even a book, I always feel a little sick and a little disgusted at the ultimate greed of man, especially when it's one of those platnium covered memorial copies that some groups try to sell fans.

so that means

So that means he's not going to write anymore books?

Then this is Heinleins 2nd post humous book

Grumbles from the grave was published a year or two after his death.
Really just a hodge podge of shorts stories and other material never published before, and quite frankly not very good IMHO.

Just finished Heinlein's FIRST novel...

"For US, the Living" www.heinleinsociety.org/newsFUTL.html Very interesting, with a forward by Spider, and an afterward by Robert James. You can definitely see the seeds of many of his best works in this novel - highly recommended...

Ten things I hate about publishers

In no particular order (except that #1 is the one thing I hate the most):

1. Posthumous "collaborations." I make a very small exception for Chrisopher Tolkein's scholarly works. Otherwise, it's just crap they think they can sell. Sadly, there are enough idiots buying the crap that they continue to make it.

2. "collaborations" with elderly authors. Yah, maybe Andre Norton or Marrion Zimmer Bradley wrote part of that book. Maybe all she did was nod off during plot discussions. Honestly, it's hard to tell. Seems there are a few authors who are so crappy that they can't come up with ideas on their own.

3. Trade paperbacks. I'd mind less if they would get together and decide on a single standard size! As an owner of thousands of books, I have a real need to keep size to a minimum. If I have to adjust my shelves to buy your book, I'm not buying your book. My "oversize" storage has gone from four or five shelves to a whole stack, and it's really pissing me off.

4. Cover blurbs comparing every fantasy novel to Lord of the Rings. If I wanted to read another Lord of the Rings, I'd read Lord of the Rings again. Ditto for every Harry-Potter wannabe ripoff with cover blurbs claiming it's just like Harry Potter. Frankly, if I saw a book with a cover blurb that went "nothing like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Interview with the Vampire or any other commercially viable work," I'd have that thing at the register in ten seconds.

5. Cover blurbs from authors who are too old to wipe their own asses. Maybe that drooling nod meant "Most promising young author since Harry Potter!" Or maybe it just meant "I've soiled myself and you have to take care of it." Either way, it's a crappy recommendation.

6. Listing authors "other works" but leaving out works done with another publisher and/or distributor.

7. Massive series based on popular movies. Just because you can hire 10,000 monkeys to write Star Wars "novels" (and I use the term with much more generosity than they are due) doesn't mean it's right to do so. When an entire 1/3 of the book store's sci-fi shelving is wasted on this kind of crap, it makes me wonder how many good new authors could have their works on that 300 linear feet of retail space.

8. Collections of short stories, in which one is set in a universe from one of the author's popular series, marketed as a part of that series. If you're such a great author, your short stories won't need the prop. If you're not, don't bother writing them. Moron.

9. Collections of short stories, in which one is written by the author and set in a universe from one of the author's popular series, and in which the rest are written by other (sometimes wannabe) authors. If you can't find the time to write your own stories, don't make some talentless schlob do it for you.

10. Direct-from-publisher "signed" editions. Do they really think we're that stupid? Those signatures are about as original as a painting from the Thomas Kinkaid "gallery" next to Sears. I'm not going to pay you $10 extra so that Skippy the Intern and his sidekick Amazing Pantograph Bob can crank out ten of these at a time. Especially when you sell it in size-of-the-month-club trade paperback form.

Heinlein vs. PKD

I think its interesting to task why Philip K. Dick's books have been made into movies in recent years, but Heinlein's seem to have languished on the shelf (the pseudo-parody Starship Troopers notwithstanding).

Dick's characters were ordinary men and women muddling through the bizarre situations they found themselves in. Large organizations -- the military, the state, corporations -- were blindly sinister. Dick also understood (perhaps because of his mental health issues) the media saturated world before its time -- where everything is connected to everything else, and an overwhelming paranoia ensues.

On the other hand, Heinlein's characters tend to be special forces types (Puppet Masters), engineering specialists (Starman Jones), or perfect, beautiful aliens (Stranger in a Strange Land). Large corporations (Have Spacesuit, Will Travel) and the state (Puppet Masters) are benign, despite the libertarian bent of most of Heinlein's individual characters.

For me, the revealing contrast is the chummy, lovable President in Puppet Masters, compared to Freddie Fremont, the Reaganesque assasin from California in Radio Free Abermuth.

More from the author of "The Number of the Beast"!

Here's a challenge that no sensible, literate adult can accomplish: * Read "The Number of the Beast" * No, no cheating. Finish it. Every last word. * Look me in the eye and say "Robert Heinlein is a good writer" without giggling.

I have read the book; well an Advanced Proof.

I really really did not believe I wouldd read this book and think "wow this is a Heinlein novel." I never liked the NY Times quote "I'd nominate Spider Robison as the new Robert Heinein." quote. I did not fully believe John Varley's quote that it Robert Heinlein was at Spider Robinson's side.

It is now obviously I was wrong; very very very very wrong. I would put more very's in but it wouldn't get to the point. Heinlein outlined the journey; Spider followed it. Only a few points disappointed me (IMO Heinlein never pun'd that much; and I didn't like reading 'googled around' 2 or 3 times).

The following is early spoilerish material

The book is a story of a boy, Joel, who was in love with a girl, Jinny. They complete junionr college and start planning for the future. She wants to marry him, he wants to finish college to support her. When he finally accepts that he would marry her if he can support her, she takes him to "her home". Turns out this is a hidden house buried in a glacier. The house is home to Conrad of Conrad (I don't recall this in other Heinlein novels, but from what I can gather think Harriman Enterprises, but bigger; much bigger). After meeting Conrad of Conrad and telling him where to go stick his money/fortune/plans for Joel's with Jinny, he escapes back to his apartment with the help of Jinny's little cousin Elelyn.

After a major bender, he is reminded of a ship leaving to start a colony on a distant planet. He spends the last of his money to ge to FL and tries to get on. He's told that he's too drunk to make the decision but he could come back in a few days if he's sober and still wants to go. He of course returns and gets on the ship. This is where most of the story happens. I'm not going to get into many of the details because that would spoil the fun. There is talk of line/group marriages; there's music; there's science; there's romance and despair, and of course there's hope when all hope is lost.

Some of you may hate me for saying this, but if Heinlein had written this book he would have had a hard time improving on what was written.

A Heinlein novel I'd like to try writing

In the Future History timeline, there was one unwritten novel, "The Sound of His Wings", the story of the rise of southern backwoods preacher Neremiah Scudder to the Presidency of the United States, whereupon he suspended the Constitution, declared himself dictator under God's Law and declared himself the First Prophet.

Heinlein decided not to write the novel because he detested the bastard. But the fall of the U.S. into religious dicatorship (written in 1941!) as chronicled in "If This Goes On --" and subsequent FH stories needs to be completed, I've thought, since I first read it in 1976. Hell, it let me recognize Jerry Falwell and Robertson in 1977 in their march on Washington for what they were. Heinlein grew up in Missouri and knew what the people he came from were capable of. The story is being written every day, as preachers get special White House briefings and all personnel in the WH are expected to attend Bible class every day. Bush's core 30 percent truly believe he was selected by God (as Bush himself has stated, although more guardedly that his supporters) to convert the US to a Christian nation and prepare the way to the end of days as described by St. John of Patmos in the Book of Revelations. The US as always been primed for a religious dictatorship, and will be so even after this bunch of clowns are voted out. This tendency needs a good thrashing out in a novel.

Jeez

And people wonder why authors have their papers burned when they die.

that's nothing

I've just finished a new chapter in the Bible by God. I worked from notes God had almost created on the 4'th day of creation but got distracted creating the slugs. It's The Book Of Slugs and goes in the Old Testament.

I kept God's original style rather well.

If you like Heinlein

If you like Heinlein, read some of the good new stuff that he inspired. My recent favorite is Old Man's War by John Scalzi (Just won the John W. Campbell award). Inspired by Starship Troopers, but not like it.

Red Thunder is an homage to Rocket Ship Galileo by John Varley. Not as good as Scalzi, but still fun.

If there is a crusty old lawyer character...

...who happens to have studied the bible and is surrounded by amazonian bisexual women and who may be named "Jubal Harshaw" then count me out. Heinlein jumped the shark for me many, many years ago. I remember being half-way through one of his novels ("Friday" I think) for the first time and finding it so formulaic that I had to turn to the last chapter to see if I had read it before. I put it down and haven't read any of his work since. I doubt that even Spider Robinson could breathe any new life into that sadly clapped-out body of work.

My favorite novel

All right, it's only a short story... http://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/sex.html [comcast.net]

I read the first 2 chapters

It feels a lot like RAH. The same style, and banter between characters, but with a slight flavor of something else. Having never read Spider Robinson, I'm assuming that flavor is him.

So far I like it. I'll be buying it.

Futurama

Going on a "bender" and waking up in some futuristic setting? That sounds a little like Futurama. Even Bender was mentioned.

Re:Must have been asleep

Considered by many to be the father of "modern" science fiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein [wikipedia.org]

Re:This just isn't fair

If you start off on a premise far from that of the mainstream i.e. this extremely popular classic science fiction author is a "vile, talentless hack being given an opportunity to commit further crimes against literature and the English language twenty years after his long-overdue demise" then it might be an idea to qualify that statement with something a bit more worthwhile than "he is atrocious." In other words, don't tell us you hate him. Explain to the dear readers why you hate him. For they might otherwise take you to be as nutty as he was. ;-)

Re:Spider Robinson? or John Varley?

I've no great objections to Spider Robinson as an author, but completing Heinlein? I think I'd much prefer John Varley for the job.

Well, there's another author I'd have on my short list. Herb would do a great job of it too.

I'd give the edge to Spider, kind of a gut feel here, plus my sense of how much each person would change (knowingly/unknowingly) in "finishing" the book.

One thing that I'd like to know is: who's going to edit it? Maybe Spider could get Herb to edit it for him?

Now that's a "trilogy" of authors I'd like to see ...