"Robert Heinlein Remembered"

Lever Action Essays ^ | 1988 | L.Neil Smith

[Lancey Howard]

More Heinlein discussion:

HEINLEIN Traveled On Many Levels

[nanomid]

This particular author is an ass.

[redrock]

This thread seems to have a life of its own....every couple of years it pops back up.

Seems that a LOT of us have Heinlein somewhere in our background.

redrock

[E Rocc]

I've been going through a Harry Turtledove phase, and one of my favorite stories at the moment is Turtledove's Worldwar series. There are a lot of similarities between Footfall and Turtledove's Worldwar, particularly that the alien invaders in both novels are not quite as skilled at improvisation and deceit as us wiley humans. In the Worldwar series, the invaders are a race of reptilians, with fifty thousand of years of history, most of it under an dynastic imperial system. They are a methodical species, drilled from hatchlinghood to obedience. The Race, as they call themselves, have conquered two other life bearing worlds, both populated by pseudo-reptilian life forms like themselves. The story begins when they send a probe to the earth during the middle ages, where they record pictures of knights on horseback. Easy pickings for soldiers wielding automatic weapons, armored fighting vehicles and fighter aircraft. They'll get around to our world soon enough, after all, how much can a world change in only a thousand years? When they arrive, they are suprised to find us engaged in world war 2. That's the setting: The Nazis have been pushed back from Moscow, the Nipponese are advancing, the Americans have begun the island hopping campaign, when all of a sudden the aliens land and start kicking everybody's butts

The Worldwar series is excellent, though I am now convinced that Turtledove, a notorious punster, wrote it solely so he could call the last book "Homeward Bound". >:)

His alternate history series with the US and Confederacy at constant war is tremendous as well.

-Eric

[E Rocc]

I'd also recommend 1632 and 1633 by Eric Flint. They are alternate history stories. The first book takes a fantasy like left turn, a town from current rural Pennsylvania, full of United Mine Worker types, is lifted bodily and swapped with a similar sized bit of 1632 Germany, right in the middle of the 30 Years War, Gustavus Adolphus, the Holy Roman Empire, Cardinal Richelieu and all that. Once you get over that little left turn Flint (and his collaborators on later books in the series) have done a fantastic job of accurately setting the historical stage for a little bit of 20th Century meddling in historic affairs. You'll love the Scottish troops reaction to American High School cheerleaders, particularly when they discover one of them was an aspiring Olympic target shooter with her own 308 match grade rifle. "She's a witch, 'a tell ya'! - but look to those legs! Not witch I've ever seen had legs like that!"

Then of course the King of Sweden meets Julie and decides that there's no way she could be a witch (he hadn't seen her shoot yet). "Ring of Fire" and "1634: The Galileo Affair" and the Grantville Gazette e-books have added a lot of depth to this series.

Grantville is (was) in West Virginia not Pennsylvania though. >:)

Stirling's Nantucket trilogy was a little deeper and a lot darker, but also excellent in this genre.

-Eric

[techcor]

BTTT

[E Rocc]

The Mountains of Mourning

Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series is first rate as well. Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony (think half SoCal, half UK) marries Lord Admiral Aral Vorkosigan and moves to feudalistic Barrayar (which lost touch with the rest of humanity and only got technology back 100 years ago). They have a physically disabled son who is without a doubt one of the greatest characters in modern SF.

-Eric

[Liberal Classic]

I liked How Few Remain, but I kind of lost interest during American Front. The Worldwar series, though, is one of my absolute favorites. Is Homeward Bound out yet? If it is, I can't wait to go pick it up. I read on some fan site that Turtledove had not intended to write a fouth book for the Colonization series, but he did so due to demand from his readers. What I like about both Footfall and the Worldwar series, is the setting with humans as comparitive underdogs who triumph through guile and improvisation. Right now I'm working through David Brin's Uplift novels, which have a similar theme.

[razorback-bert]

It is past time to send a bottle of sea water to the moon.

[E Rocc]

Is Homeward Bound out yet? If it is, I can't wait to go pick it up.

I picked it up a couple weeks ago. >:)

-Eric

[Lurker]

"Beer should be stored in a cool, dark place" Lazarus Long.

L

[risk]

Some quotes I like that are widely attributed to LL: Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind, it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate, and quickly. And a variation on Hanlon's razor: Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. --Lazarus Long

[Old Professer]

Famous men should always wear tightly-tailored frocks.

[Professional Engineer]

This way to the
MOON ROCKET!!!!
See it in actual flight!
Public Demonstration Flights
Twice Daily
This is the ACTUAL TYPE used by the
First Man to Reach the MOON!!!
You can ride in it!!-$.50

[redrock]

"Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind, it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate, and quickly."

...and doing so will be more (MORE) humane.

...which is why you will NEVER find a true Liberal who likes Heinlein.

redrock

[redrock]

BUMP...to the thread that never ends.....

redrock

(Grin)

[risk]

Heinlein's view of cloning wasn't very well developed, and it's fair to criticize his use of sexuality to market his writing. The secularism of the mid-20th century carried with it a gross potential to dehumanize us by undermining the precious uniqueness of each human being, and Heinlein didn't seem to notice the pitfall. Christian anti-communists such as Pope John Paul II understood that abortion, cloning, genetic research, and cyborging were all extremely dangerous to our future. There are science fiction authors who have treated these themes. Even Asimov's discussion of robot rights and obligations begins to account for the nature of sentient beings. I consider Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell series to be one of the best hard-scifi treatments of cybernetics gone mad, and they far outstrip Heinlein's naive perspectives. Francis Fukuyama has treated some of these issues in his book Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002; Picador, 2003 (paperback).

[hocndoc]

I believe that God knows and answers our prayers before we ask them. I have prayed for years that Robert Heinlein came to know God and was saved before he died. I'd sure like to meet him someday.

I'm about as fundamentalist as you can find, although some Baptist and Church of Christ members might not agree with me. But, I learned some truths from this man.

I do think his idea of the perfect woman was frozen at about the 14 year old boy stage. But, I could probably get along with most of his male and female protagonists, at least before "Job." From what I've read, they'd accept me and my expressions of my beliefs.

[hocndoc]

I knew I liked you guys.

[hocndoc]

Isn't it odd that such a brilliant man saw order, but never the One who created that order?

Or that he could show that love and charity were the greatest acts and goals of mankind, but never wondered whether than might be by some Design? That we value self-determinism and choice, but never saw that we were designed that way?

Or that we might reflect the Image of the Designer by that love, charity and the ability to choose for ourselves the difference between right and wrong?