On Re-reading all of Robert Heinlein via The Virginia Edition

Cafe Society
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The Green Hills of Earth - from The Future History of Robert Heinlein Vol. 1

This is, first and foremost, a character study in its most literal sense. Hell, it’s written as a magazine character piece following the death of Rhysling, the lead character.

The story accomplishes two goals. One, it illustrates Rhysling’s character, certainly. However, it all serves to paint a larger picture of mankind’s push into the solar system and the establishment of colonies on other planets. Rhysling, during his time as a spacer and his later time as an entertainer, visits Mars (where later we find he knew Lazarus Long), Venus, the Belt, Titan and so forth. That’s a lot of traveling for one man.

According to the notes, Heinlein knew a man Tony D’Amico, during his time at the Philly Navy Yards during the war. D’Amico was a blind machinist who had been a singer before the war. Heinlein spoke with D’Amico and, if not based Rhysling on D’Amico as least used him as inspiration for the blind singer’s life and perception of the world.

Still, the story did great. It ran in The Saturday Evening Post in February 1947 and, according to the editors there, got more fan mail than anything they’d ever run.

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<fx Sean Connery voice>Ov corsh yer not.</fx>

I have copies of all the stories here somewhere, but I can’t for the life of me remember if there was a single thread (communications) or if it was more general (electronics). Some of the VE notes, though, are written from a literary rather than technical expertise, and I can see the topic getting muddled.

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Well, that’s the version I read, anyway, though I can’t remember exactly where I read it (probably in whichever Asimov collection I read his story in). Asimov’s story, though, really doesn’t involve electronics: The characters are communicating via radio, true, but the resolution would be just as applicable to a tin-can-and-string telephone.

Plot summary:

A research team on Pluto has discovered extraterrestrial life. The team needs to be in constant communication with experts back on Earth, but all communications are hampered by the six-hour lightspeed delay. The titular physicist is called in to try to find a solution to this problem, but it’s his mother who actually finds the solution: Both sides just keep on talking, without waiting for the reply from the other side. She explains that this technique has been employed by women on Earth talking to each other for ages.

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Continuing the hijack … There are two parts to this . The mob attacking the observatory are religiously driven and feel that the scientists are blasphemously investigating a religious phenomenon . The torches are not only to burn down the observatory but also because there is no other source of light. After a thousand years of having a minimum of one sun in the sky, and a maximum of six, this culture cannot deal with darkness and destroys its entire civilisation by burning it to provide light.

Anyway , I’m sure you’ve looked it up by now .

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To both you and NitroPress…

Honestly, Heinlein’s solution barely involved electronics, too. Modulating a laser to generate radio waves certainly is done by electronics, sure, but it’s completely handwaved away in the story with a ‘we’re doing this!’ sort of thing.

But again, I’d be interested in hearing more if you guys can dig it up.

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Logic of Empire - from The Future History of Robert Heinlein Vol. 1

This Future History story was published in 1941, about halfway through the writing of stories for the Future History. According to the wiki, there were eight stories in the cycle published before 1941, five published IN 1941, and 11 published after 1941. So it’d be fair to say that it was published in the middle of the cycle.

In this one, we see the cracks in Heinlein’s bright, shining system-wide future for mankind. And he seems almost deterministic in his writing. It reminds me quite a bit of the way H. Beam Piper wrote his Terro-Human Future History 15 or so years later (which I love, by the way). Piper would take something that actually happened, and show it happening again in a futuristic setting, sometimes barely filing the serial numbers off. (Aside: For an excellent overview of this read Pournelle’s introduction to the Piper compilation, Federation.)

Anyway, the ‘hero’, though he’s not really, is a satisfied man on Earth who learns the hard way (through signing up as an indentured man on Venus) that the economics of system expansion don’t lead to equitable outcomes for all. The story has a few expository paragraphs about economics and political development, but it’s kept at a minimum and doesn’t distract from the plot. That’s a step forward from some of the earlier works that I’ve criticized upthread.

Still, this is a lot more mature and dark than earlier Future History stories. And worth it. It does, however, continue the theme of ‘what man has been, man will be’. It just shows that men are more than bold pioneers who live lives and solve problems…they are also people who exploit others when opportunity presents.

Interestingly, the end notes from Logic of Empire indicate that Heinlein wrote the story for himself, and not as marketable copy. It was a break from the pressures of editors that still worked in the market. At least it worked for Campbell, who ran it in the March, 1941 edition of Astounding.

This is also where the Prophet, Nehemiah Scudder, shows up first, praised as a savior by one of the ‘exploited’ on Venus. The hero, a learned, well off man, laughs at the idea that Scudder could become any kind of a threat to society. It’s a variation of Gandhi’s saying, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” We know that Scudder wins in the end.

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It’s also likely an allusion to Hitler, who had his own period when he was not considered a serious political figure.

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Actually, much more likely, come to think of it. But the Gandhi quote was what came to mind reading it. But at the time it was written, 1940-41, Hitler was on the way up and Gandhi was already well-established as a thorn in the side of the British.

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The Menace From Earth - from The Future History of Robert Heinlein Vol. 1

Almost the last Future History story written (of the canon, only Searchlight was written later) this was published in 1957 in F&SF. Heinlein had intended it for The Saturday Evening Post but they wouldn’t bite. Anyway, he was too long. His first draft ended up almost 15,000 words. He cut it down to 5,000 for The Post but no dice. F&SF bought it at 7,500 words but later took a 13,500 word earlier revision when the editor found out one was available (and paid for the extra, too!).

The story is interesting. Not a lot there except some interpersonal back and forths and the gorgeous description of flying on the moon.

But this is very interesting because there are four female speaking parts, all of the important actors are female. The one male with significant presence is pretty much dismissed by the women as unimportant, sort of. And the women are all smart, sharp and motivated. There’s not a Heinlein matron to be seen, anywhere. The ladies know who they are and what they want. The lead character, Holly, has some trouble acknowledging her feelings towards the one boy, but later she figures it out (with some advice from an older woman). She even commits a real act of heroism in the story.

A good yarn, truth be told. And one that shows Heinlein writing good stories, with good characters. I could read it again right now.

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OK, folks. That’s the end of Volume 1 of the Future History. Do I go on to Volume 2 or hit something else for a spell?

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I always had a soft spot for this story because Heinlein wrote a new stanza for “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” (the Navy hymn) for spacefarers in it:

I particularly liked the fact that the story was written as a debunking of all of the myths that had grown up around a raucous, ill-smelling singer who had been wrongly ennobled after his death… but who nevertheless died bravely.

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You are the one with the books in front of you. Where do YOU want to go?

Personally, I’d skip to another focus-point for a volume or two, then return to the Future History.

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Yeah, that’s what I decided. I couldn’t sleep last night so I chose one off the bookshelf in the dark. Rocket Ship Galileo, here I come.

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Rocket Ship Galileo, Vol.10 of The Virginia Edition

The first of Heinlein’s run of juveniles started, per the introduction to this edition, as an offer in 1945 from Heyliger to write a boy’s novel about life 20 years from 1945. Heinlein liked the offer but didn’t accept, as he thought he could write more adult fare and try to influence the post-war management of atomic weapons and power. The introduction says the he told his friend, Fritz Lang (!!!) that the offer of a juvenile was being kept as a back up plan. Heinlein considered it “writing trivial entertainment for children.”

Well, look what made it to print. We know now that a huge part of Heinlein’s reputation would come on the series of juvenile novels he was to write during the 40s and 50s. But apparently the man, himself, didn’t. It was Lang who portrayed it as influencing the next generation (and, subsequently mine and I’d bet others). Heinlein determined to write children’s books in a different style than they’d normally been written.

Thus we get what I considered the most flawed of the juveniles, Rocket Ship Galileo. I’d always thought it a lesser work. The writing style seemed to me as a kid flat and sort of uninteresting, without the sort of larger human picture that the other juveniles had.

Could be the presence of an adult as a driving force. The three boys at the center of it, Morrie, Art and Ross as all fun guys, but it’s Dr Cargraves who drives the actions and makes the decisions. Also, there are laughable bits in the text that stand out. Several times a character needs an object and it’s presented in the flow as ‘So and so pulled out his X, which he’s gotten ten pages ago but wasn’t mentioned’. Very much a sort of ‘Flash Gordon brings out his never-before mentioned ULTRA-ray, which he packed for just such an occasion.’ Sure, Chekov’s gun is a bit of a trope, but there should be some warning that such items are in play instead of just magically appearing.

There’s also a bit of tech-manual to it. Frequently, paragraphs get taken up with how some things are being accomplished, which is fun. But it happens a lot in this one, as if Heinlein were trying to actually be an engineer on a shoestring moon project. It interrupts the flow of the story and, as I’ve argued before about his early writings, makes the story more about the gadget than the people using them.

Still, as the first of the juveniles it’s a win. Heyliger turned it down because the editor didn’t like the space flight angle. Still, after a bunch of rejections, Scribner’s, reported as the ‘most prestigious publishing house in America’ expressed interest. The title got changed from The Conquest of the Moon (even that was changed from the earlier The Young Atomic Engineers and The Secret Behind the Moon) to Rocket Ship Galileo and it hit the market in September 1947.

Plus, hey: Nazis! Who doesn’t like killing Nazis, right? Though they’re hardly presented as an actual threat in the book. Only two have speaking lines. One is a coward and one surrenders after being textbook Nazi-menace for a few pages.

Still, Nazis. Hard to go wrong, even now, decades later.

Read so far:
Vol 3: Starship Troopers
Vol 9: How to Be a Politician
Vol 10: Rocket Ship Galileo
Vol 11: Space Cadet
Vol 14: Between Planets
Vol 18: Tunnel in the Sky
Vol 20: Citizen of the Galaxy
Vol. 22: The Future History of Robert Heinlein Vol. 1
Vol 26: Job: A Comedy of Justice
Vol 32: Creating a Genre (short stories)
Vol 36: The Puppet Masters

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The Big Broadcast: Jan. 13, 2013 | WAMU is a link to the “Big Broadcast” which plays four hours of old radio dramas and comedies every Sunday night. Last Sunday, they played Dimension X’s version of Heinlein’s The Green Hills of Earth, with Rhysling’s singing portrayed by folk singer Tom Glazer, who is also notable for writing the song “The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas” (which was covered by “They Might Be Giants”) - he also wrote and sang “On Top of Spaghetti” - which I always thought was born fully formed from the minds of the nation’s 9-year-olds.

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I remember being impressed that one of the Moon Nazis was named Von Hartwick. It was like a story having some big event scheduled for my birthday, except cooler. Other than that it always seemed like the most “little kid” of RAH’s juveniles, and one I only read once.

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Just finished The Rolling Stones (1952) for the first time, having read it with my teenage son. We enjoyed it. It was fun and had some amusing passages, although the science is just a bit dated (the characters still use slide rules, prolonged zero-G is considered to be an unalloyed good thing for human health, and Mars has liquid water and a breathable atmosphere, although it gets a bit chilly at night). The Stones were an enjoyable family to hang out with.

Two in-jokes made me smile - one purposeful, I’m sure, and the other coincidental. In the trial on Mars in chapter 13, Hazel Stone tells the court, “I am a stranger here in a strange land,” and in chapter 16, there’s reference to the spaceship Firefly. Nice.

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Hazel also appears in * The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, at different ages, of course.
The flatcats may have been the inspiration for TOS episode "The Trouble With Tribbles "
I’m sure you knew this already . Wanted to mention it for completeness .
Incidentally my (British ) edition was titled Space Family Stone.
Agreed , the Stones are a great family to hang out with.

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In 1952, Heinlein had started working on Stranger, but its working title was The Heretic. Unlikely that the reference was purposeful. Who knows, maybe his use of the Biblical phrase in *Stones *put it into his mind so that it was handy when he was looking for a better title for the later work.

I am, however, quite sure that the *Firefly *reference was absolutely deliberate on his part.

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Hrm.

Glory Road - Vol. 25 of The Virginia Edition

In which Robert Heinlein attempts to both write fantasy, and subvert it.

In Glory Road, we see Heinlein creating a character who is a soi-disant hero. Oscar Gordon serves in Vietnam (the book was published in 1963 so he was there early) and gets hurt and is recruited to defend the frontier against Xur…

OK, he’s recruited to help a beautiful woman rescue a classic MacGuffin: the egg of the Phoenix. Along with his groom, Rufo and the woman, Star, he dimension hops and ends up fighting golems, minotaurs and even fire-breathing dragons. Heinlein really attempts to throw all the standard tropes in this one. He even has the lead character, Oscar (though he has other names) reference the Hobbit at one point. Very fannish, RAH. But it doesn’t really work in context.

Anyway, the main point of the book isn’t the adventure. In fact, the final payoff, where he confronts the dreaded ‘Eater of Souls’ lasts about 2 pages and is done. He doesn’t defeat him with skill or strategy. The bad guy slips and he runs him through, taking complete, unsportsmanlike advantage where the bad guy had allowed him to take his time and behaved in a sporting manner.

No, the real payoff in the book comes in the final third. What does a hero do after he’s done being a hero? It’s a sad thing. And I think Heinlein is trying to point out a hole in most storytelling: that the story continues after the reader stops watching. He shows Oscar descending into uselessness and depression until he acknowledges that, even with all he said he wanted, it’s not what he needs. Well and good.

Still, I’ve always thought this one was sort of flat. As a kid, and today, I get more out of Heinlein’s digressions into sociology of the western world at the time (which are still largely applicable today). I also got a LOT out of the discussion as a teen about the relative merits of different societies. The contrast between Nevian and American customs is strong, pointed and relevant. The way they are presented, by a person an outsider to both, allows the reader (me, at age 13) to understand that the system under which you grow up isn’t necessarily the only one, or even the best one, available if you look hard enough.

Still, not a bad book. Just not, in my opinion, his best.

Wish me luck, I’m currently on I Will Fear No Evil.

Read so far:
Vol 3: Starship Troopers
Vol 9: How to Be a Politician
Vol 10: Rocket Ship Galileo
Vol 11: Space Cadet
Vol 14: Between Planets
Vol 18: Tunnel in the Sky
Vol 20: Citizen of the Galaxy
Vol 22: The Future History of Robert Heinlein Vol. 1
Vol 26: Job: A Comedy of Justice
Vol 32: Creating a Genre (short stories)
Vol 35: Glory Road
Vol 36: The Puppet Masters