Heinlein fans, *read this*. You'll thank me.

Cafe Society
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New Heinlein collection of short stories: Off The Main Sequence, The Other Short Stories Of Robert A. Heinlein. Run, don’t walk, to Abebooks or eBay (I don’t think it’s available through normal retail channels, despite being 100% legit. See below for why.)

This collection includes such hard-to-find stories as [ul]
[li]Successful Operation[/li][li]Free Men[/li][li]On The Slopes Of Vesuvius[/li][li]“Let There Be Light…” (which IS a Future History story. The characters are constantly referred to in the first half of The Past Through Tomorrow. It’s not in there because Heinlein (wrongly) felt it was too ‘slangy’. There’s two versions that differ by about 10 words (one “dirty”, one “clean”. I don’t know yet which this is, but given how the editor talks about how they strove to get the “correct” text, I’d guess it was the ‘dirty’ version*)[/li][li]Destination Moon[/li][li]A Tenderfoot In Space (the only (IIRC) Juvie short-story)[/ul][/li]
Oh, and three others that might interest a few fans.

[ul]
[li]Beyond Doubt[/li][li]“My Object All Sublime…”[/li][li]Pied Piper[/li][/ul]
:eek: :slight_smile: Somehow, somehow Andrew Wheeler (one of the head honchos of the S.F. Book Club and general all-around nice guy…I’m sure this is legit given his involvement) got the rights to reprint the three “Stinkeroos”, one of which isn’t a “stinker”: “My Object All Sublime…”. (I can’t really defend the other two.)

Anyway, this is (as far as I can tell) an SF Bookclub release only, but I got my copy on eBay and I’ve seen others on Abe Books and Bookfinder, ranging from about $4.99-$9.99.

I’d highly recommend getting while you can. I suspect that, like Take Back Your Government, it’s one of those deals where they were given the right to print it once and once it’s gone, it’s gone. (Want a laugh? Look for a copy of Take Back Your Government and realize that it had a cover price of about $5.50 and it’s only 13 years old (Perot ran for Pres the first time in 1992, right?)

Plus it has a bunch of other great stories.

As near as I can tell, if you have this, The Past Through Tomorrow, The Fantasies Of Robert A. Heinlein, Expanded Universe (and maybe Requiem…didn’t that have a couple of short stories in it that didn’t appear elsewhere?) you’ll have every (really EVERY!) published Heinlein short story. And a few that weren’t! :slight_smile:

Fenris

*“Dirty” by the weird standards of wasshername–John W. Campbell’s bizarre prude secretary. IIRC. the changes are stuff like the guy says “How ya doin’ tonight, hot stuff?” which would have been changed to something like “How ya doin’ tonight, Miss Smith?” (not a real example, but it should give you a feel for the difference)

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Thanks for the alert! Being the completist that I am… :smiley:

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Thanks Fenris. It was either bid or Buy It Now[sup]TM[/sup] for $34.95 on eBay but I found a copy on Amazon for $3.86 and picked it up.

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Amazon has a bunch of them for less than $5 each.

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Damn, son! I’ve only read those on mimeographs!

Fenris! You da man!

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Dude! Damnit I’m not turning anything up on Amazon, anyone got an ISBN to share or something?

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>>> prays for a Doper with a generous heart to send him a gift copy <<<

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Search on ‘Off the Main Sequence’. That’s what I had to do. It’s there.

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Thanks! Found it just as you posted. ISBN for others is: 1582881847

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Got Mine!!!
Thanks for the heads up.

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Oops. I didn’t compare the stories word-for-word yet, but the easiest clue as to the difference between the “raunchy” (to use the actual term) version from the “clean” version is when the two main characters meet. In the “raunchy” version, he compares her to either Betty Grable (or, in the original magazine, Sally Rand). In the “clean” version, she’s compared to Marilyn Monroe.

In this compilation, the comparison is to Marilyn Monroe, so it’s nearly certain that it’s the “clean” version. That being said, it’s possible (if unlikely) that this is a mix of both versions (like they did with a recent edition of Podkayne which splices together both of Heinlein’s unsatisfactory endings into, IMO a far stronger one)

Also, looking at the timeline of when/how it was published, it couldn’t have been whatshername–Campbell’s prude secretary who required the clean-up. The original magazine that printed it (after Campbell rejected it) was Super Science Stories, and after publishing the “raunchy” version (with the Sally Rand comparison) they got a bunch of angry letters complaining about smut and Heinlein apparently cleaned it up himself for book publication, so a case can be made that the ‘clean’ version is the author’s preferred text.

Finally, as an aside, you CAN get your hands on a copy of the ‘raunchy’ version pretty easily if you haunt your used bookstores. Look for The Man Who Sold The Moon: there are two Signet versions, one with six stories, one with only four. The one with six stories has the “raunchy” version (with the Betty Grable update). There have been later (Baen, I think) printings of The Man Who Sold The Moon but I don’t know which text is used. I know the Signet edition with six stories contains the “raunchy” version. IIRC, the minor differences in the “clean” version dulled some of the sharp, witty banter. I vaguely recall prefering the “raunchy” version.

Not that I’m a completist or vaguely obsessive or anything. :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

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Just a heads up, Spider Robenson has suposidly turned in a manuscript to the publisher that he has fleshed out from RAH notes. All concerned with it are quite pleased, from reports I have heard.

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Thank you Fenris, I just ordered it used on amazon. $9.26 with shipping.

Jim

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Oh, Hell. Do I have to give up all my secrets, now?

Well, I’m Andrew Wheeler, and I edited Off the Main Sequence, so thanks for all of the nice words. But one of the reasons I edited it was to entice people into joining the SFBC. So I would really prefer if you didn’t buy it from eBay or wherever for thirty bucks – especially since you can join the club and get it, along with four other things of your choice, for a buck! [Advertisement over; google for “Science Fiction Book Club” if you do want to join.]

It’s not a “one-time deal,” either – we’ll keep it in print as long as members of the club keep buying it, which I hope will be many years to come.

Thanks to everyone who enjoyed it, and now that Fenris has smoked me out, I’ll have to figure out who he really is…

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Has anyone used the “F” word yet?

If not

FASCIST
carry on

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Can I play too?

“Flugelhorn”

Another ‘F’ word that has absolutely nothing to do with this thread. Do I win a kewpie doll?

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Please excuse a slight highjack…

As an SFBC member for over 10 years, I would encourage any SF-loving Doper to join. I can always find what I’m looking for at a fraction of the bookstore price, and there are always wonderful club-only compilations and omnibus-editions that you just can’t get anywhere else (I am tremendously possessive of my copy of “The Chronicles of Master Li & Number Ten Ox!”). :cool:

Don’t be afraid of the “commitment” either - it’s only four more books in two years - I satisfied that in about two MONTHS, there’s so much good stuff available! It does have the usual book-club thing that if you don’t respond to the mailings in time the “Featured Selections” are sent automatically - but I have to say that some of my now-favorite books and authors are ones I got “accidentally!”

And, ftr, I have no financial interest in SFBC; I’m just a satisfied customer.

(But, Andrew, I’d happily accept a free book in exchange for my unsolicited testimonial) :smiley:

<end highjack>

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Well, thank you Mr. Hornswoggler. I do happen to be a member and planned to buy it from the SFBC anyhow, but I think it’s pretty cool that you’re from here.

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Well you have me thinking about rejoining, I haven’t been a member since the 80’s.
You also have me wondering what part of NJ your in. I am down in Monmouth. Near exit 114 in fact.

Jim

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No, you would have won a kewpie doll if you had mentioned the banjo (hats off to Roger Zelazny) as in “strumming their fascist banjos”, but flugelhorns win you nothing. Thanks for playing.