"For Us the Living" was written before he wrote "Life Line" and shows some hints of the themes he would expound on much later in his career... including some of the characters such as Nehemiah Scudder. The book shows many flaws as a first novel usually does, especially one that did not have the benefit of a good editor, but it is vintage Heinlein and well worth the read.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Heinlein fans can rejoice-the SF master's lost first novel, composed between 1938 and 1939, has been found! In 1939, Perry Nelson suffers a bad car accident, but when he wakes up, it's 2086. A beautiful girl, Diana, takes the confused man under her wing, and naturally, they fall in love, but when Diana's ex shows up and flirts with her, Perry hauls off and hits him. Next thing Perry knows, he's being deprogrammed to get rid of his irrational sexual possession and jealousy. As Perry learns about the new world around him, he receives lectures about economic systems, aircars, rockets, U.S. history, religion and more-and these, of course, are the point of the story. Heinlein creates a utopian world of unparalleled prosperity and personal freedom and sketches out, through Perry's teachers, exactly why it all works. Since Heinlein mined ideas from this novel for all his other works, much is familiar, from the frankly free sexual mores to the active role of women to the rolling roads. Although this book can't stand alone on its own merits as a novel, it's a harbinger of later themes, best read critically and in conjunction with Heinlein's more mature fiction.
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My ex-h has it - I get it next! :-)
Hey. That reminds me of a story I wrote and lost (many many), of course I never considered publishing anything.
My story started in 1989 and a police car chase ends badly. One of the officers is secretly kept alive by a medical scientist in a sort of suspended animation. The system is powered by a nuclear battery.
Revived almost a hundred and fifty years later. This causes a new kind of radiation (hey I was young) that he spreads. For some people it does nothing, they become carriers after coming into contact.
and yes, I had aircars and that sort of thing too, just like Heinlein in his 'lost' story. POST 59.