Heinlein had a sense for the practice of plot construction, characterization, and stylistic control that is almost never acknowledged. Present-day literati would be embarrassed by comparison to most competent genre writers, for genre writers still remember that their duty is to entertain, not to play with themselves in public. Heinlein was the greatest of them all.
No argument that he had his bad days, nor that these became more frequent after he passed his peak. But one cannot read a stunner like "They," a little gem like Double Star or a masterpiece like The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress without being overwhelmed by Heinlein's storyteller's gifts.
I'm a writer myself. I've been a Heinlein fan for forty years as of next Tuesday. After such a long acquaintance, it would be reasonable to expect that I'd find little new in his works when I went back to them. Reasonable, but incorrect. They are a treasure trove that defies exhaustion. By their stylistic elegance alone, they can keep me mesmerized indefinitely.
Like the great Poul Anderson, also recently taken from us, Robert A. Heinlein will be missed by more, not fewer, appreciative, intelligent readers as he recedes into the past -- and for more and richer reasons.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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