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New Heinlein Novel
book_reader writes "It's hard to believe but the grand master of sci-fi is back - 15 years or so after his death. His first novel that he wrote in the mid 30's and long since thought lost was rediscovered and will be coming out in November! The thought of a novel he wrote so early in his writing career boggles my mind but who will be able to resist - not I!"
I don't know whether to be elated or scared. It's kind of common knowledge that Heinlein's earlier works are better than this later works ... but if this is his first work, it might not be all that good. There might be a reason it wasn't published up until now ... there might be a reason Heinlein hid it away for all these years. I'll definitely buy it and read it, but I'm keeping my expectations low.
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I mean, really. A substantial chunk of artistry is knowing what isn't worth publishing. Now, we've got Douglas Adams and Heinlein releasing stuff from beyond the grave that they might not deem publishable, given the option.
Simply getting more of an artist's work is NOT necessarily a good thing. For instance, I got a hold of a bootleg of a bunch of old Pixies studio sessions. The stuff they released is good, but you know what?
The stuff they didn't release is crap. They wrote bad songs, recognized them as bad songs, and DIDN'T release them. There's a reason that stuff stays in the attic, and fans should be able to respect that, IMHO.
ceci n'est pas un sig.
His last few novels were so tedious. Doesn't matter... I'm not an adolescent know-it-all utopian collectivist anymore... a new Heinlein novel doesn't get my interest like it once would have.
Brian Herbert's books are cereal box covers compared to the depth of the originals turned out by Frank Herbert. Still though, I won't call this graverobbing until I read it.
If you RTFA (I know, I know...), you'll see that what was recovered is a final draft, which required only a few "minor edits and spelling corrections." Hardly comparable to your other examples.
As to the Tolkein stuff, some was well worth posthumous publication (Silmarillion, Book of Lost Tales, etc.), but they did end up going waaaay overboard.
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>Let the man rest in peace. Did he approve of the editor? Did he have any input in to it since 1930?
What editor? If you read the top, it was published with only minor spelling corrections. This is similar to the tack that was taken with 2 other works after his death. They were re-published the way HE wrote them, not the way they were first published.
Spider Robinson was a friend of his, and if he has some say in the matter (he did one of the forwards for this book), then it ought to maintain some integrity.
Mark me down as optimistic until I get a chance to review it. Most of his "so-called" hack work is better then 90% of today's writers anyway.
I hope and pray Heinlen doesn't turn into the 'Tu-Pac' of geeks (i.e. ends up having 30 or more works 'discovered').
-B
wouldn't that be the opposite, seeing that it's an early work?
-nando
It's hard to believe but the grand master of sci-fi is back
The only person deserving to be be called that is Isaac Asimov, publishing over 500 volumes of the best science fiction to date. Not to say that other writers (Heinlein, Lem, Strugatsky) didn't write good stuff in the same "league", but not with the same consistent quality in those amounts.
I wish there was a "-1, Uncultured" moderator rating!
But for those of you who don't know, Heinlein was a master Science Fiction writer, who wrote many famous books, such as "Starship Troopers", "Stranger in a strange land", "The moon is a harsh mistress", etc. I think he wrote over a hundred works. IMHO one of the top 5 science fiction authors of all time
Here is a listing of all his published materials, for those who are interested.
And for those who only saw "Starship Troopers" and never read the book, PLEASE don't judge the author by the movie, because that movie was truly horrendous.
Quoted from the article :
"The other bonus is another gift to us. The money earned by this novel will be going to directly and substantially support Heinlein's dream, and the dream we, Heinlein's Children, share. Earnings will be going to the advancement of human exploration of space. When you purchase "For Us, the Living" you are also contributing, in a real and meaningful way, the furtherment of this dream. Yet again, Heinlein 'pays it forward.'"
Imho is particularly cool. As cool as a new book by RAH. How often do the proceeds of any artists work go back to a cause that the author would have approved of, instead of thier bloodsucking relatives?
Well, for some fans completism is part of it appreciating and author/artist. Personally, I feel that grandmaster or not, I like the missing work of someone like Heinlein to be published for me or for study- it'd be partly for the story, partly out of fandom, but something for study. Especially with early works, or partial works, you can learn about the process of your favorite authors.
If you take it in context, I think it adds a lot to appreciation of a subject. But its like an audio commentary, if you don't want it, ignore it. I personally to see the development of a writer in a full arc.
I'm not sure were the limit would be- like bad studio sessions or jazz album remasters, there's probably a limit to what you learn from extra releases. I don't think you should just shut the door on it though.
Well thats me. I'm going to sit here puzzling about "heinlein blood drives".
I wish there was a "-1, Pompous Ass" moderator rating!
Or a "-1, Cookie Cutter Geek" moderation!
Or maybe even a "-1, Humorless Git" rating!
I'd sure have trouble deciding between the three for you, though.
Given that you're a fan overall, I can't be too hard on you. ;-)
However, I'd suggest that Heinlein wasn't "chauvinistic", just that he celebrated the differences between men and women (which any sane individual recognizes, no?).
Heinlein's women piloted starships, fought alongside the men in battle, and generally bested the males involved in most situations. Given that a lot of those writings appeared in the 50's, I think he should be recognized as one of the most progressive proponents of women's equality (superiority?) of the 20th Century.
I realize some of his writings may lead in other directions ;-) but hey you have have to look at the overall picture... :-)
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Score: -1 100% Flamebait
...is that a fan enjoys reading everything his or her idol writes, regardless of whether it's much good.
Of course it isn't going to be any good.
Of course I'm going to read it.
People who say "his earlier stuff is better than his later stuff" are thinking of the forties and fifties,when he really hit his stride. His earliest stuff reads all too much like "Doc" Smith, to my way of thinking.
I don't expect very much from this, but it will be nice to have it.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Three points:
1) Certainly most of Heinlein's female characters are as competent as the male ones, but the air of "don't you worry your pretty little head" that so many of his mouthpiece characters have, especially in his earlier works, drives me batty. "Sure, she can pilot a starship and shoot the center out of the ace of spades at 50 paces, and isn't it cute? She'll meet the right man one day and settle down, and then she won't have to because he'll take care of her."
2) There's also Heinlein's assumption that gender roles are as they should be--this was his opinion, and I strongly disagree with it, but overall it didn't detract much from his writing.
3) Finally, a lot of his female characters break under the slightest pressure and start crying. His male characters never do. Especially in the Future History, where sexuality and gender identity is supposed to be androgynous, this bothers me. Even Galahad in Time Enough for Love, (the most sympathetic portrayal an effeminate man ever got in Heinlein) never cries.
I can ignore sexism in most of the authors of Heinlein's generation and earlier (*coughAsimovcough*), but Heinlein himself was just so progressive in everything else that a lot of his gender politics show up as glaring flaws, when they would just fade into the background in works by other writers. Writers shouldn't have to be politically correct, and Heinlein was perfectly justified in coloring his stories with his opinion, but I find that it tempers my enjoyment of his works.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
He also had the ideas for several inventions including the waterbed...
;)
Which cannot be patented because of Heinlein's prior art.
Not only a great novelist, but a pioneer in IP law.
(I just remembered while reading your post that the MST3k movie Delta Knights ripped off Citizen of the Galaxy so badly it hurts. I'm going to go be simultaneously annoyed and depressed that I actually remembered that now.)
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
I hope and pray Heinlen doesn't turn into the 'Tu-Pac' of geeks (i.e. ends up having 30 or more works 'discovered').
I'd prefer to hope and pray that he does.
Without any familiarity whatsoever with the work of "Tu-Pac", I'll state for the record that if someone were to find a box of unpublished Heinlein stuff (say, 20 or 30 shorts, or maybe a handful of novels), it would be a very wonderful thing for Science Fiction, certainly far better than the entire 2 seasons of ST:Enterprise has been.
You see what a fuss just one has caused.
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I just got through Time Enough for Love a couple months ago, and it blows away MiaHM in my eyes. There is stronger character development and it actually made some attempts to evoke emotional responses. I don't understand why people get so hung up on the sex issues. I think that, like another person posted earlier, Heinlein was just trying to show that its certainly possible to love more than one person with your whole heart. I think attitudes like yours show a lot about why Heinlein wrote these books. There's a lot more going on in them than just sex.
...for the first half, until it reunites with the plot from Number of the Beast at which point it starts sucking again. Now I've just started To Sail Beyond the Sunset and so far so good. Heinlein seems to write great books when he stays away from concentrating on technologies or events and instead writes about PEOPLE.
Now, that being said, a lot of post-MiaHM Heinlein is utter crap. The Number of the Beast is an excellent manual on how to do sci-fi wrong. The Cat who Walks Through Walls is great!
To any true fan of Heinlein, I would recommend Time Enough for Love without reservation. Try it again, maybe you'll get more out of it.
...that movie was truly horrendous.
I though the movie conveyed the harsh irony of war and idealism very well. In fact, the movie was very painful to watch, because some of the scenes gutted much of what people believe in. Perhaps the movie was much better than the viewers percieved, because most viewers expect some typical hack-n-slach-hero-gets-the-bitch flick.
"Babe" (yes the pig) was another movie that comes to mind, where childhood is so accurately depicted that I (an adult, I hope) could barely watch it. Of course, I can't not be reminded of Ender Wiggins at this point...ah crap.
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I'd call that +1 Insightful
"I Will Fear No Evil" was written while he was dog sick, and completed by his wife and agent IIRC.
I also keep thinking of him in comparison to Hubbard;
L. Ron set out to design and build a religion, bent all his imagination and creativity to the purpose, and succeeded.
Well, for a value of "success" amounting to a pretty crappy excuse for a church.
RAH "merely" wrote stories, and accidentaly created at least 1 religion, and improved many peoples lives along the way.
I'd point out the Hubbard likely got the religion idea from one of RAH's offhand remarks.
_Overrated_!?! At +1?
Time to go metamoderate.
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