# New Heinlein/Robinson novel due out September 19 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498 "2006-07-07T14:06:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/21 "2006-07-08T17:28:35Z")
[Found something:](http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=35964) > [@](#): > > Heinlein’s outline consisted of seven typed, single-spaced, 10-pica pages with almost no margins, as well as dozens of index cards with handwritten notes, Robinson said. “Regrettably, the seventh page ends in the middle of a sentence: There’s no way of knowing how many pages have been lost forever. I had to come up with the ending,” Robinson said. “Thank heaven, Robert’s executor, Art Dula, took me aside early on and said, ‘I do not want your best Rich Little impression of Robert. Take this outline and write the best Spider Robinson novel you can.’ That was a huge relief.” > > After the death of Virginia Heinlein in 2002, Heinlein archivist Bill Patterson found the outline among Heinlein’s papers, Robinson said. “[The discovery was] announced … at the 2003 Worldcon, at which I was toastmaster, on a panel I attended. A woman named Kate Gladstone shouted, ‘You should get Spider Robinson to finish that book,’ and people applauded,” he said. (Further details are available in the afterword to the novel.) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/22 "2006-07-08T17:34:04Z")
So, about 15 double-spaced pages if we multiply by 2 and allow for normal one inch margins. Probably just the major beats of the story up to the point where Robinson had to wing the ending. Your first link says RAH had started an actual draft, but that could be false rumor. As with most, I’m cautiously optimistic… but… Thanks for the links. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/23 "2006-07-08T18:10:12Z")
BTW, I was **at** the 2003 Worldcon in Toronto (though I missed that particular panel), and got several books autographed by Spider. I also got down on my knees before all the hucksters’ room, held up my copy of [The Free Lunch](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812540220/sr=8-11/qid=1152382137/ref=pd_bbs_11/102-9424761-5028125?ie=UTF8) (which ends on something of a to-be-continued note) and pleaded, "Sequel! [whimper] **Sequel!"** Spider just moaned and muttered, “I don’t wanna spend time in Thrillworld!” Hey, man, you knew the assignment was dangerous when you took it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/24 "2006-07-08T21:41:44Z")
In general, I don’t like multiple author titles, unless it’s a graphic novel, where one guy writes and the other guy draws. Or a well-edited compendium with single-author pieces. The idea of this text does not appeal to me. RAH is dead, let the guy rest in piece, and can we please avoid the phenomena of people “finishing” his work or writing new stuff “in the spirit of Heinlein.” It would be interesting to just minimally edit the original manuscript, or to publish it as is. Or, at a minimum, to explicity flag the actual point where RAH leaves off and the new guy begins. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/25 "2006-07-08T21:44:41Z")
[QUOTE=cerberus] It would be interesting to just minimally edit the original manuscript, or to publish it as is. [/QUOTE] Not enough to work with. See above. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the novel includes the outline, verbatim, in an appendix, in future editions if not the first; at any rate, it’s bound to be avaiable online sooner or later.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/26 "2006-07-08T23:28:40Z")
Seriously: **Buy** this book if only because half the proceeds will be donated to the Heinlein Prize. Of course you might just donate the whole amount to the Heinlein Prize directly – but the more people buy the book, the still-more people **will** buy it! “Force multiplier,” ya know? 🙂 When Spider’s website was accessible, I copied the following from it into [this thread:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=354608) > [@](#): > > “There simply are no words adequate to describe what it’s like to be writing with the Grandmaster,” he reports. “I can imagine no greater honour, responsibility, challenge or sheer joy. The first book I ever read, Robert’s ROCKETSHIP GALILEO, found me when I was six – eerily enough, the same year he outlined VARIABLE STAR. Maybe a musician asked to complete an entire album of unreleased John Lennon songs – from his best period – would grok how I feel. If, that is, half the proceeds were earmarked to promote one of Johnny’s dearest dreams.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/27 "2006-10-03T19:24:17Z")
The book’s in the stores now! But I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet. Has anybody? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/28 "2006-10-04T04:14:01Z")
I’m about halfway in—it’s interesting, not all RAH, not all Spider. At the very least, it is RAH writing with the advantage of 50+ years of science. It looks and reads like a keeper so fat… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/29 "2006-10-04T15:06:23Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] [ Does it get any better than this? 🙂 [/QUOTE] Quite a bit. (Jay Sherman ) _"It stinks_!" (Jay Sherman) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498/30 "2006-10-05T16:02:42Z")
Finished. Wow, THAT came in from the Oort cloud. Not going to say there is room for further stories, but a Bandersnatch could slither past that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-heinlein-robinson-novel-due-out-september-19/363498.md?page=1)