Podkayne of Mars
ISBN: 0671876716
...has a young female main character...
Posted on 10/12/2002 11:20:11 PM PDT by redrock
In 1970, I stumbled across the one and only Heinlein book in my woefully-understocked Junior High School library: "Have Space Suit, Will Travel."
I was eleven at the time, but a bright seven-year-old could doubtless get a lot of fun out of it. (One of the two main characters is a 10-year-old girl, the other a 17-18 year old boy.)
Kip and Peewee are brought together through an unlikely set of circumstances, beginning an odyssey that takes them from the moon to Pluto to a planet in the Vega star system.
Like the 1950's TV show from which the title is adapted, good and bad characters are clearly defined (there's a monster for conflict and an empath for comfort.)
And there's not a hint of sex anywhere in the book.
That does not make it a "kiddie-book," however. You don't remember a kid's book as an adult and think: "So THAT's what he meant by rotation in a fourth spatial dimension!"
Part of "Space Suit's" charm is its ability to function on whatever level the reader can accept. It's great fun at any age, and surely a great Heinlein starter piece.
Podkayne of Mars
ISBN: 0671876716
...has a young female main character...
Conservative books when they're published, make the NY Times top ten list. Wouldn't conservative type fiction also top the list? I'm ready to buy. I'll buy the book, I'll watch the movie. Any publishers out there with the courage to hire a conservative editor to find fiction for over half the population (many liberals are hardly literate)
I loved Starship Troopers and felt that the movie did the novel a great disservice. Instead of treating the ideas of the novel seriously (whatever you think of them, good or ill), the movie simply mocked the ideas and turned itself into a mindless, meaningless space opera. It couldn't even get the space opera element right, as it ignored two of the coolest elements of the book: the tactical nukes and the powered armor. d the novel a great disservice. Instead of treating the ideas of the novel seriously (whatever you think of them, good or ill), the movie simply mocked the ideas and turned itself into a mindless, meaningless space opera. It couldn't even get the space opera element right, as it ignored two of the coolest elements of the book: the tactical nukes and the powered armor.
When asked why he didn't have himself frozen for possible future ressurection in body, Heinlein replied "..it might interfere with re-birth." You obviously need to learn a LOT more about the man.
Heinlein was head and shoulder above any of the ones you mention. One can re-read his fiction over and over, and find new facets of meaning every time. Asimov's stuff, by comparison, is fluff.
I too found Stranger in a Strange Land to be mediocre. My personal favorite, though, was Time Enough For Love. Great book.
L
I will not disagree that Robert Heinlein led the pack, however, at least I admit there are others who were part of an outstanding generation of SF writers. The likes of which we will probably never see again. Sounds to me like you are rather narrow minded in your experience and viewpoint, which makes it easy for me to dismiss you, just as you dismiss the other writers I mention.
Yup, read'em all. Have'em in my collection of at about 1000 SF and fantasy titles. Compared to Heinlein, Asimov is fluff. Blish is better than Asimov, but still not up to Heinlein. The best thing Asimov wrote was the short story "Nightfall". It comes "close" to matching Heinlein at his best, but for book-length writing, Asimov's writing is almost one-dimensional compared to Heinlein.
Been reading SF for about forty years, and been subscribing to Analog for at least thirty.
"Sounds to me like you are rather narrow minded in your experience and viewpoint, which makes it easy for me to dismiss you, just as you dismiss the other writers I mention."
See paragraph above.
A couple of newer SF writers I like are Keith Laumer and Joe Haldeman. Haldeman did write the antithesis to "Starship Troopers" when he wrote "The Forever War." As for Laumer, his "Bolo" series is great, along with his amusing tongue-in-cheek "James Retief."
Robert Heinlein is not the end all and be all of SF writing. He may have been at the forefront, but he had some magnificient company when it comes to writing SF.
I agree with you about Asimov, although I think 'The Billiard Ball' and 'The Last Question' were his best short stories. I remember reading The Foundation Trilogy at the shore one summer as a teen - - it was another book I had ordered from the Science Fiction Book Club at the time, what, 1969 or so? I enjoyed it, but Heinlein it wasn't.
Both of these works present alternate thinking on the questions that torment Humanity.
Like the author of this essay, I to am very indebted to Heinlein for life's guidelines. There are many on Free Republic who really need a big dose of his ideas.
I guess my favorite is Job. I learned there to deal without certainty and that I need a trade. That is, something I like to do and can do well, in addition to my chosen vocation. RH recommended dishwasher as an honest trade and one always in demand.
For those of you hideabound FReepers reading this thread..... sample something the man wrote. Then try not to read more from his long list of books.
He was a fantastic American author. I hope this thread goes to 10,000
Should be:
I think The Moon is a Harsh Mistress to be the pinnacle of Heinlein's talents and one of the best science fiction books of all time.
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