Heinlein fans: non-monogamy fiction recommendations?

Huge apologies if this has been amply covered, but I am new and don’t have search capabilities yet.

I’m through all of RAH’s books and would LOVE to find more like them, in particular ones with comfortable non-monogamous relationships and family structures beyond the standard pair. Science fiction or not matters less than a good yarn.

Many thanks for any recommendations you’d be willing to share.

Spider Robinson’s been kind of dancing around that; I mention him mostly because I think he fancies himself Heinlein’s heir, and is trying to write in the same style, just with a hippie outlook on things.

Most of the rest of the stuff I’ve read lately (Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth Moon, John Varley), although they write about progressive societies and promiscuous people, the people tend to be serially monogamous, even though open-minded in other ways.

The only one I can think of offhand is Vonda McIntyre’s Dreamsnake. While sometimes people pair off in this novel, they also enter into plural unions. She’s also written Starfarers, which I dimly recall having at least one plural marriage in it.

Well, Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness has human sexuality as a major theme, but it’s not exactly about different family styles. The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, by Robert Lewis Taylor is one of the best books I’ve ever read, and maybe 100 pages of it deal with the early Mormons in Utah. It’s a lot of reading for a relatively short section about plural marriage, but it’s well-deserving of the Pulitzer it won. It’s historical fiction, and about as far from scifi as you’ll get.

John Varley’s another writer who consciously follows Heinlein’s style, especially in his more recent work. Check out Steel Beach (1992), The Golden Globe (1998), or Red Thunder (2003).

Red Thunder’s actually dedicated to Heinlein if I remember right. That one felt like Rocket Ship Galileo repackaged to me. Not that that’s a bad thing- I really enjoyed Red Thunder. But there’s not a hint of anything but monogamy in the book, so I’m not sure it applies to your criteria.

Joe Haldeman’s Worlds trilogy (Worlds, Worlds Apart, and Worlds Enough and Time) also have plural marriages. I think that anyone who enjoys Heinlein would most likely enjoy Joe Haldeman as well.

David Weber’s Honor Harrington books feature a society with polygamy as the standard, but unless you like space opera, I don’t think that is sufficient reason to read the books.

You might enjoy John Ringo’s Ghost books. Then again, you might not. There is plenty of promiscuity, but not so much a family situation.

Another suggestion would be Eric Flint’s The Philosophical Stranger, but it’s not a societal standard. (see below)

The trouble is that I can think of books where there are stable, loving, non-standard relationships including more than a pair of lovers. I can’t think of many where that is shown as even a socially accepted situation, let alone the standard. Of course, part of that might be because I have an aversion to what I sometimes call “libertarian fiction.” Fiction where the author’s ideal government or society is shown to be as close to completely permissive as possible, not simply on social issues, but police, crime and others. Which is often something that I see in RAH’s works, but I find less problematical there, because his is both usually better fiction, and because he makes it clear that he’s not counting on a standard of human lovinkindness to keep order.

Lawrence Watt-Evans Ethshar series has an important character with more than one wife. If I say which book they first appear in, I’d be spoiling the story.

The Tale of the Five by Diane Duane is a damned good read and it has non-monagamous marriages and a world with a whole different take on sex/marriage etc. Well worth buying if you can find it.

Heh. I’m currently re-reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress for the umpteenth time. The “line marriage” thing is one of my favorite aspects of the book. I like the idea of a multiple marriage that’s flexible over time.

Try Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper. I can’t describe it without inadvertently spoiling it, so just trust me on this one. It’s one of my favorite novels of all time.

I recently read Robots of Dawn, Asimov’s third Lije Baley mystery. Not his greatest work to be sure–seems like Asimov was making an attempt at light erotica. :eek: But it certainly involved a non-monogamous society. If you like science fiction in general, and haven’t read Caves of Steel, I’d recommend it. It’s not about non-monogamy, but it’s certainly “a good yarn.”

Welcome to the boards, Spacekat. And thanks to everyone else for the “If you like Heinlein, you might like…” recommendations.

p.s. Haven’t seen you around in a while, lee. How’s the kidlet?

One arguable downside: If you were the child of such a marriage, you would never inherit any estate – would you?

Thank you all so much! I’m greatly impressed and excited by the range of answers that are being offered. I’m being totally honest when I say I’ll most likely read every single thing you have recommended, and may even re-read the couple I’ve read before because you’ve reminded me how good they are.

appleciders, thanks for the historical fiction pick - I do love that, too.

Those who recommended John Varley - thanks! You may laugh, but even though I adore sci fi I’ve never stumbed across him.

OtakuLoki, I’m with you. Part of what I adore about RAH is his tremendous pratcicality where human nature is concerned. I’d love to live in a self-policing society if it worked, but I’m so positive it won’t work that the books you describe lose some joy for me if they don’t address the inevitable problems.

Thanks for the welcome, Green Bean!

Hey BrainGlutton, someone needs to tell my highly monogamous parents about the inheritance thing. I think they missed the memo! :wink: Our plans are to give our kids a sort of kicker as they’re just getting started in the world, rather than waiting until we all bump off (maybe with everything spent on health care or wild partying, whichever seems better at the time). I’m not sure we’re all the way to full-on line marriage yet, but there has been gradual joining like that.
In thanks to all who are posting, I will recommend the James Alan Gardner books, and I particularly think he hit his stride with Vigilant. He makes you laugh, makes you turn pages quickly, and has a great deal of common sense about what makes people tick. In the ones I’ve read only the non-bipedal aliens are poly, but his descriptions of his protagonists leave room for optimism, there.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed also touches on this, although it’s not central. One of the key societies in the novel are structured so that no one owns anything. Everything is shared in the community, including love and sex.

That’s not monogamy – but it’s not polygamy either, is it? Unless you think of the whole society as forming one big marriage/family.

You’re right there, though I don’t think it’s a real drawback. Children, when they married, ISTR, get a sort of dowry-cash lump sum. So there’s something there and it’s codified, at least for that particular group.

I’ve always liked the line marriage concept, though. I’m biased.

Right, and that’s what I think is so interesting about it. The society, and particularly family and care structures within it, offered a totally new idea to me. It’s been years since I read it, but that’s one of the things that really stuck with me.

She is growing fast and loves books! Last month we introduced her to the library and she loves it too. She is nearly 3 and is 3 feet tall. She is a little hardbody too, with a little baby six pack, and can do chin ups and other feats of strength that amaze us. She still has big blue eyes like KellyM, and a square face like mine (poor kid).

This week we have been letting her at the computer more, mainly using paint and notepad and her mousing and typing skills are taking off. I hope to get her computer configured this weekend. I have all the bits here in the house.

“Courtship Rite” by Donald Kingsbury comes to mind. Plural marriage is the ideal in that society, although the society itself is pretty horrifying.

Huh! That’s one I hadn’t come across before. Especially interesting since there are real cultures in which there are next to no personal possessions, but there are still marriages (often plural).