Heinlein's Last Novel Coming in September 276
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."
So this is not Heinlein's novel (Score:2, Insightful)
Does that mean no sex scenes? (Score:2, Insightful)
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Re:Does that mean no sex scenes? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Scared, I am... (Score:2, Insightful)
Very good authors have their own names on their books, not a famous corpse's.
Re:What is coming next (Score:3, Insightful)
I have no idea what this Heinlein'ish book will be like as I haven't read andy of Spiders work, but I might sample the download to see if it stinks or not before I commit to giving money.
However I fear that the download stunt is only to drum up business for a book that may not deserve to exist.
Re:Scared, I am... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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:Does that mean no sex scenes? (Score:5, Insightful)
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
Re:Scared, I am... (Score:2, Insightful)
I have the same fear, and by way of example I'm going to present the Dune Prequels.
Good authors (apparently; I've not read their independant books) including the son of Frank Herbert, but the novels were just .. flat. Or outright "wrong".
In fact it is hard to think of a good example of an estate/relative finishing off novels once the primary creator had died. The only one I can think of is Christopher Tolkien - and he faired only poorly in some areas. (Mind you the amount of papers that J.R.R Tolkien left behind I think he was damn lucky to get anything coherant out of them - so this isn't meant as a criticism of him.)
Post mortem releases... now required. (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Let's Make this Political! (Score:3, Insightful)
Besides, some libertarian ideas (like personal responsibility rather than a nanny state) are often associated with "conservative", correctly or not. That may make Heinlein look more right-wing than he really was.
Re:In this case, it may be an improvement... (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Let's Make this Political! (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Does that mean no sex scenes? (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, across my 4+ decades spent going around the Sun - I've found that women who aren't attracted to witty repartee or a devastatingly clever and insightful arguments aren't worthing spending any time around.
Re:Scared, I am... (Score:2, Insightful)
Not necessarily. Many times, authors start in on a book, or novella, and it just doesn't feel right, still unfinished, but one doesn't have a clue what to do with it. Best thing to do then is just put it on a shelf and let it sit for a while, IMHO. Sometimes, the time helps and you look at it again fresh, and it all comes together. Other times, as you suggest, you take it off the shelf, try to complete it, and realize it was a dumb idea in the first place.
One would hope Spider wouldn't waste his time if it were the latter.
Re:Scared, I am... (Score:3, Insightful)
However, for those us who long for Heinlein's later works, I am not sure that Robinson can make these happen. These works tended to that of a extremely skillful person who no longer wrote to please anyone, and was willing to incorporate any style he thought appropriate. It was wonderful change from his kids books.
Re:Oh no, not the hippy heinlein (Score:3, Insightful)
Varley is a Heinlein fan but he only writes Varley books. I think its too late in his career for him to write a good Heinlein novel.
But the title of the article is wrong. This is not Heinleins last novel, its almost his first novel. That should make it easier to write because the early Heinlein had a much more stable, better understood (stereotyped?) style. This sounds a bit like Citizen of the Galaxy or Between Planets.