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Robert Heinlein's Pre-Internet Fan Mail FAQ
Hugh Pickens writes "Kevin Kelly has an interesting post about a letter he found amongst correspondence from his days editing the Whole Earth Catalog. The letter is Robert Heinlein's own nerdy solution to a problem common to famous authors: to deal with fan mail. In the days before the internet, Heinlein's solution was to create a list of frequently asked questions, answer them, and remove the questions. Then he, or rather his wife Ginny, checked off the appropriate answer(s) and mailed it back. Some of the entries in Heinlein's answer sheet are quite illuminating and amusing. Our personal favorite: 'You say that you have enjoyed my stories for years. Why did you wait until you disliked one story before writing to me?'"
Why did I wait?! Because I am Lazarus Long and I do things my own way, Bob.
is this idiot ? and why cvant he use a computer ?
TFA makes it quite clear that it's talking about days before home computing, not the days before the internet.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
is this person who reads the TFA ? and why cant he act like other /.ers ?
Anyone know off hand what the papers and articles he cites are all about? I'm curious to know what questions The Saturday Evening Post, Mark Twain and Who's Who's in America might answer, especially since they were common enough to be included in the FAQ.
Some of the answers were amusing. Good to know that fannish entitlement and the false sense of intimacy are not merely a product of the internet.
http://transformativeworks.org/
Before, they had to write the thing, buy a stamp and send it.
Now I can send britney my lesbian star trek fan fiction at the click of a mouse. It's got to be wayyyy worse to go through your mail now. (Assuming you have the intention of attempting to appease your fans by answering). Way easier to delete of course.. :)
I record my sleeptalking
"You say that you have enjoyed my stories for years. Why did you wait until you disliked one story before writing to me?'"
Because if you're a good writer, you might have pleased millions.
And if millions of people write to you, it could make the postman unhappy (and other people too).
There's already a good way to show appreciation - via the writer's bank account.
That said, do write an appreciation letter if it's for something exceptional (or your letter is going to be something worth reading).
But millions of letters just saying "I liked your latest book" might get a bit tiresome (or worse think star trek fan vs Shatner ala SNL ).
(X)The article
( )The intervieuw
( )The ramblings
was
( )intresting
(X)informative
(X)funny
( )bullshit
and thank you for
(X)sharing this with us
( )informing us of such a very important item.
( )wasting our time
I'm not sure that is an excuse; I'm fairly confident that Robert & Virginia Heinlein were fully capable of producing a computer from parts from a TV, washing machine, and whatever was laying around in the basement, anytime from about 1946 on.
I bet it was the printer that was the sticking point.
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
Stephen Goldin's 23 rules how to act when you meet a pro at an Sci-Fi convention. Not as amusing as Heinlein's, but an interesting read.
via
There's a copy here: http://mackereth.net/images/SotW_Thank_You_Card.jpg
One of the big-name televanglists (Billy Graham?) had an early computerized system for answering his fan mail. A staff of people read the mail, and used highlighter to mark phrases that contained relevant keywords. Data entry operators keyed in the address and the highlighted phrases. A program used the phrases to select an appropriate canned reply, filled in keywords, added bible citations, and printed out a letter.
What question in a fan's mail will receive the answer: "Please do not write to me again" ?
" Your letter was most welcome! - loaded with friendliness and with no requests or demands. You suggested that no answer was expected but I must tell you how _much_ it pleased me. I wish you calm seas, following winds, and a happy voyage through life. "
I know that your post is tongue-in-cheek, but the reality is that Heinlein didn't foresee electronic computing and in all of his early works which I am familiar with (e.g., the "Future History") he has human mathematical savants being used for navigation calculations.
What question in a fan's mail will receive the answer: "Please do not write to me again" ?
Writing to say you loved his foundation series.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
"Grumbles from the Grave" is a (now out-of-print) posthumous collection of letters from Heinlein, mostly between himself, publishers, and other SF Authors. It contains many letters on dealing with Fan Mail, Fans themselves, critics, publishers, etc. Quite an interesting little book.
SirWired
Heinlein was very intolerant of anyone who challenged certain of his political views, even driving away life-long friends over very minor issues. He didn't suffer those he saw as fools gladly, and I'm sure he used that check-box often. You can read Spider Robinson's biography and literary reviews of Heinleins work for the sordid details, if you care about that sort of thing. Don't mistake the author for his protagonists.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Do you like what Stanley Kubrick did in the on-screen adaptation of your book?
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Even in real life he was way ahead of his time. Look, the letter has underlined links!
Heinlein was very intolerant of anyone who challenged certain of his political views, even driving away life-long friends over very minor issues. He didn't suffer those he saw as fools gladly, and I'm sure he used that check-box often. You can read Spider Robinson's biography and literary reviews of Heinleins work for the sordid details, if you care about that sort of thing. Don't mistake the author for his protagonists.
He must have had a lot of hangers-on though. Politics is a good excuse to use if you are just bored with somebody.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
a lot more polite in that letter than I would have expected from his books. A letter bomb wouldn't have surprised me
Ah, but bombs are expensive, and most people aren't worth the money.
You need to maintain a balance. In any room an ideal mixture is half ready to kill you, and half eager to defend you. That's maximum entertainment.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
( ) CowboyNeal
No no... You are confusing him with McGyver.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Read The Door Into Summer: the guy practically designed AutoCAD in 1956, but with the computer interfacing directly with a plotter. The missing piece was the idea of using video rather than the paper itself to visualize intermediate results.
'You say that you have enjoyed my stories for years. Why did you wait until you disliked one story before writing to me?'
Because, if I sent you a fan letter after every story I liked you would probably have me arrested for stalking.
It would appear that Kevin Kelly has erased whichever checks were checked on his copy. No desire to tell the Internet how you pissed off a well-loved legend?
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
I am very fortunate to live in Butler Missouri, Robert Heinlein's hometown. Once upon a time Butler was known as 'The Electric City" because it was the first City west of the Mississippi to be fully wired for Electricity. Sadly this little town has lost its technical edge, but Heinlein is still hailed as a local hero.
I wonder how much of an effect growing up in 'The Electric City" had on him and his writting and what affect he himself had on the community and its total aversion to technology (it's very much 1980 here in Butler).
In fact when I moved here I felt like a stranger in a strange land...
ed duval the very last person
Heinlein was very intolerant of anyone who challenged certain of his political views, even driving away life-long friends over very minor issues.
He ended his friendship with Arthur C. Clarke because Clarke had the audacity to express his opinion of SDI.
You can read Spider Robinson's biography and literary reviews of Heinleins work for the sordid details, if you care about that sort of thing.
Also Asimov had a section on Heinlein's vicious streak in his biography I, Asimov.
Don't mistake the author for his protagonists.
Eh. I know nothing annoys a Heinlein fan more than the theory that Heinlein wrote Lazarus Long as a wish fulfillment fantasy, but I think it has a grain of truth in it. And while not all the political views of his characters line up with his (especially since his changed as he aged), I think enough did to suggest that Heinlein liked to write versions of himself into stories.
This poster is allowed to dislike something and say so. Plus it was a clever phrase he used, and I appreciate it. Give him a +1 Funny at least, please.
We recently cycled to his home shaws corner and on display are the colour coded "FAQ" letters that his secretary would send back to questions about vegetarianism etc.