Heinlein’s The Past Through Tomorrow collects the stories from his Future History including two short novels (“If This Goes On” (aka “Revolt in 2100”) and Methuselah’s Children). It contains the famous timeline describing the social and historical factors going on for several hundred years http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/1439133417/1439133417___1.htm . However, for some reason, one of the stories that is on the timeline (“Let There Be Light”) isn’t included in the book - it’s only collected in another collection of stories (The Man Who Sold the Moon (which has the early future history stories (up to “Requium”). Does anyone know why “Let There Be Light” isn’t included in PTT?
P.S. I think a couple of stories that are in PTT don’t fit into the Future History - but that’s another story…
The reviewer here speculates that Heinlein may have become disenchanted with the early story’s populist ideas and anti-big business message, and thus left it out of later collections. Apparently the characters are left out of his important characters list for the Future History as well.
I read somewhere (I think in Gifford’s Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader’s Companion) that Heinlein didn’t like the “slangy” dialogue in Let There Be Light. (If so, he was wrong–the dialogue makes the story).
Fun Fact: there’s two versions of “Let There Be Light” A “raunchy” (not my word) one and a “clean” one. The older your copy of The Man Who Sold The Moon is, the more likely it’s the “dirty” one*. If your Man Who Sold The Moon has 6 stories and if Douglas compares Martin to Betty Grable, it’s the “raunchy” version. If your copy of Man Who Sold the Moon has four stories and Douglas compares Martin to Marilyn Monroe, it’s the cleaned-up version. The “raunchy” version is much better–the dialogue is just faster-paced and…snappier.
Also, I’ve never found out why “We Also Walk Dogs” is in Past Through Tomorrow since it features multiple alien species in the solar system, anti-gravity plates and other stuff that simply doesn’t exist in the Future History. Anyone know why?
*And it isn’t even remotely “raunchy”.
ETA: I checked–it was Gifford’s book. Heinlein wasn’t fond of the quality of the story and “perhaps” the editor of Past Through Tomorrow didn’t like it so they omitted it. Which doesn’t make sense, since Douglas-Martin Sunstones(?) are mentioned throughout the rest of the future history, even in his last book (To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Agree about “We Also Walk Dogs.” “The Long Watch” also doesn’t see to fit, since it is a prequel to “Space Cadet” (it’s hard to fit the Space Patrol in the same universe as Scudder).
P.S. I’m not sure which version of “The Man Who Sold The Moon” I have (I’ve misplaced it somewhere in my house, and haven’t had the chance to look thoroughly for it).
PPS. I knew there was a rauchy and non-rauchy version of his non-SF story “They Do it With Mirrors”
It didn’t take much to qualify as “raunchy” in those days–the “daring” and “suggestive” titles of Rhysling’s uncollected songs are also indicative of that.
The stories leading up to Nehemiah Scudder have humans on plantations on Venus with enslaved Vesuvians that sound consistent with those in Space Cadet. And it’s not too hard to imagine the US withdrawing from the relevant treaties around that time, so they just might fit. Still, it’s certainly not definitive.
BTW, don’t bump it because it’s ancient, but a decade ago I posted a thread about which stories were and were not in the Future History. I ended up concluding that “We Also Walk Dogs” was certainly not the same continuity, “The Menace from Earth” probably wasn’t, “The Long Watch”, “Gentlemen, Be Seated”, “Searchlight”, and “Ordeal in Space” might or might not be, and all the rest (plus “Let There be Light”, Time Enough for Love, and Farmer in the Sky) are.
Wait, wasn’t that one set in a strip club? How did he de-raunch that?
Thanks for the link to the old thread. As far as the Strip club story goes, he talks about how the version published in Expanded Universe was the original rauchy version, he doesn’t mention how it was bowderized for publication
Some of Heinlein’s books were cut for length, others were cut for content. The uncut Stranger in a Strange Land adds nothing but a bit of Heinlein flavor - you may as well read the published version.
The uncut Puppet Masters, on the other hand is a very different novel from the published version, as is the uncut Podkane of Mars. Both are well worth looking for the full version.
Chronos: If I recall correctly, the slaves on VEnus were indentured human servants. I don’t recall any natives being enslaved, but maybe I need to read “Logic of Empire” again.
Both have been released in paperback format. A quick tour of ebay should do you.
The definitive Virginia Edition has a great deal of uncut stuff too. The books are edited to get at the original publication format. Red Planet, for example, contains a significant pro-gun argument that doesn’t exist in the popular version as well as some earlier ‘girl-power’ paragraphs from the daughter.
Chronos - I didn’t want to bump the old thread, but I think that Menace belongs. There is a line about how she and the boy were working on the designs for the ship, a ship that I think is the one in Methusalahs Children.
I’ve never read the uncut Puppet Masters - I’ll have to do that. The uncut Stranger adds some additional description in a couple of scenes that influence how those scenes work (I’m thinking in particular of the scene when Ben flees from the compound that Michael and Jill (and the rest) are living in).
