Wegrokit.com

Frequently Asked Questions List (FAQ)

The author and coördinator of this Robert Heinlein FAQ is James Gifford, and the master copy of the document may be found in the archives of his Robert Heinlein Home Page. Other than changing the color scheme, Wegrokit.com has not altered the content of this FAQ in any way. We post it here in the belief that redundancy is often a good thing in a fluid medium such as the internet. If you wish to mirror this FAQ on your own server, we insist that you begin with Gifford's original file and follow his instructions.

The Robert A. Heinlein
Frequently Asked Questions List

Notes & Acronyms
A Short Biography
Listing of Heinlein's Works
Novels
Juvenile Novels
Short Fiction
Selected Nonfiction
Collections
Miscellaneous Information
Frequently Asked Questions

NOTES & ACRONYMS

ROBERT ANSON HEINLEIN:
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Works by Robert A. Heinlein

NOVELS

JUVENILE NOVELS

SHORT FICTION

SELECTED NONFICTION

COLLECTIONS

MISCELLANY

Probably no other piece of Heinlein's writing generates more newsgroup traffic (and, for me, e-mail) than the Notebooks of Lazarus Long.

For the record, the "Notebooks" are contained in their entirety in the two "Intermission" chapters of Time Enough for Love. They were also printed in their entirety in the June 1973 Analog, and in abbreviated form in the August 1979 Omni.

They were also reprinted as a separate book, titled The Notebooks of Lazarus Long, with many of the sayings represented as full-page illuminated panels by D.F. Vassallo. This book was long out of print and commanding higher and higher prices until it was recently reprinted by Pomegranate Books.

Pomegranate is best known for their calendars and art books, so it's not surprising they have done a much better job on this book than Putnam's with the original. The illuminated pages are vastly better reproduced, with much more intense colors and subtle shadings. (The parchment backgrounds are also clearly visible.) Frankly, the original Putnam's edition looks like bad color photocopying next to the Pomegranate edition. (Generally, the layout and format of the book were not changed, but Pomegranate did re-set all the body type as well.)

Pomegranate Books can be reached at http://www.pompub.com, or at 1.800.227.1428, or at 707.586.5500.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

At the end of the book, Rico makes reference to [Ramon] Magsaysay, a great Filipino hero, and mentions that his family's native tongue is Tagalog (the principal language of the Phillipines). Many Filipinos have Spanish names. Q.E.D. Rico is Filipino. (References are often made to a Samuel Delany essay in which Rico is mentioned as being black. Rico is not black.)

One answer is that Joan Eunice's race is indeterminate, and deliberately so. There is no explicit evidence in the book that she is either black or white. It is believed that Heinlein deliberately made her race a cipher, and is known to have worked on the book with two photos of beautiful women in front of him-- one blonde, one black.

However, Heinlein later made explicit references in correspondence to Joan Eunice as being black. The careful reader is invited to judge for him/herself.

Very little. Most of the so-called juveniles are read with complete satisfaction by adults, and most of the adult works are accessible and enjoyable to teens and even pre-adolescents. The primary difference is that the twelve juvenile novels and handful of stories written for Boys' Life magazine have no explicit sexual references and somewhat simplified moral issues.

There is very little reason for drawing any distinction between the two categories, especially with respect to the novels. The division is made in this FAQ only because "Heinlein's juveniles" are a recognized sf landmark.

In fact, Starship Troopers was written as a juvenile, rejected by Scribner's, and published by Putnam as an adult novel. Podkayne of Mars was written as an adult novel but is usually classified as a juvenile because of its teenage female protagonist.

The so-called "stinkeroos" (Heinlein's own term for them) are three short stories, all dating from the first phase of his writing career, prior to World War II. With one exception, they have never been reprinted since their original pulp appearances. Heinlein refused reprint requests and never included them in any of his own collections, and his literary executors continue this policy. It is unlikely that any of them will ever be reprinted prior to copyright expiration sometime in the 2030's.

The stinkeroos are:

"Beyond Doubt" (Astonishing Stories, Apr 1941)
"'My Object All Sublime'" (Future, Feb 1942)
"Pied Piper" (Astonishing, Mar 1942)

For a taste of the stinkers, read "Successful Operation." The postwar short "Our Fair City" is a better story, but retains much of the stinkeroos' tone and feel.

And yes, the stinkeroos earned their epithet.

Heinlein is known to have published fiction under the following names:

- Robert A. Heinlein (Most work)
- R.A. Heinlein (Two girls' stories in 1949-50)
- Anson MacDonald (several pre-war stories)
- Lyle Monroe (Several pre-war stories)
- John Riverside (One pre-war fantasy novella)
- Caleb Saunders (One pre-war sf-fantasy short story)
- Simon York (One post-war detective story)

In addition, the pseudonym "Leslie Keith" turns up here and there in correspondence, but was apparently never used on a published work.

The two girls' stories ("Cliff and the Calories" and "Poor Daddy") were long believed to have been written under a pseudonym. They were not, and it is amusing/amazing that no one discovered them prior to Heinlein's inclusion of the first in Expanded Universe.

"Anson MacDonald" was a pseudonym created by proud Scot John W. Campbell Jr., the editor of ASF who nurtured Heinlein's early career. (Campbell himself wrote much of his early fiction as "Don A. Stuart," and other works under "Arthur McCann.")

"Anson" came from Heinlein's middle name, while "Macdonald" was taken from his first wife's maiden name, Leslyn Macdonald. (Campbell later borrowed her first name for his daughter. The "Don A." in his own pseudonym came from his wife's first name, Dona.)

"Macdonald" was generally used for Heinlein's first-rate stories that did not fit into the Future History. It also allowed Campbell to fit more than one Heinlein story into each issue of ASF while still presenting a diverse contents page. (It was not uncommon for issues of ASF in 1940-41 to feature stories by 'both' writers.)

Campbell's editorials and other magazine features referred to Macdonald and Heinlein as separate writers (as well as to "Stuart" and "McCann" as individual entities). However, he slipped by announcing one forthcoming story as by Heinlein and running it as an Anson Macdonald piece.

"Lyle Monroe" was a pseudonym created by Heinlein for his lesser-grade short stories, those rejected by Campbell and sold to second-rate pulps such as Astonishing Stories and Future. He originally kept the name a close secret, with a separate mailing address, to keep the Monroe stories from polluting his image. ("Lyle" is taken from his mother's maiden name, Bam Lyle. "Monroe" is another ancestral name.)

"Caleb Saunders" was the only other pseudonym to appear in ASF, on the rather substandard short story "Elsewhen" (published as "Elsewhere.") "Caleb" is probably derived from his Annapolis classmate and lifelong friend Caleb Laning.

"John Riverside" was used for the fantasy/horror novella "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathon Hoag" in Unknown. Heinlein lived in Riverside, California at the time.

"Simon York" is the only pseudonym to be used after World War II, for the pulp detective story "They Do It with Mirrors." This story was known by rumor among sf fans from the time it was published, and the pseudonym was exposed at about the same time, but this story lay undiscovered until Heinlein included it in Expanded Universe in 1980.

Start or reply to any of the following threads at your own risk.
(You Have Been Warned):

- Juan Rico's race (see #1 above);
- Joan Eunice's race (see #2 above);
- The purported fascist/militaristic aspects of Starship Troopers;
- The nature of Federal Service in Starship Troopers;
- Heinlein's portrayal of women characters;
- Heinlein's purported sexism;
- Heinlein's purported homophobia;
- The Three-Stage Heinlein protagonist;
- "What was YOUR first Heinlein?"
- "What Heinlein do you think is best/worst?"
- Heinlein's political views (personal or fictional)
- Heinlein's religious views (personal or fictional)

In addition, the perpetual game of casting Heinlein movies will often provoke groans and howls from readers who have been through it all one too many times.

Were it not for severe illness, Heinlein might never have become a science fiction writer. He spent the largest part of his Navy career on the first US aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington. Against his and his commanding officer's wishes, he was transferred to the destroyer USS Roper.

The continual roll of the smaller ship caused Heinlein to be seasick a large part of the time, and eventually he weakened and contracted tuberculosis. He was invalided out as 'permanently disabled' in 1934. The need to support his wife and pay off a heavy mortgage led directly to the start of his writing career in 1939. Thus, one serious illness resulted in the founding of his career.

In 1970, he was stricken with a serious case of peritonitis that very nearly ended his life. He was unable to write for almost two full years following. At the time he was hospitalized, he had just completed the first draft of I Will Fear No Evil. With Heinlein gravely ill and unable to make business decisions, his wife and agent elected to publish the book in its unedited form. The result is a rather rambling and murky story line that almost certainly would have been shortened and tightened up considerably had Heinlein been able to edit the draft before publication.

In the mid-1970's, Heinlein was suffering from a serious blockage of the carotid artery that reduced blood flow to his brain. In his own words, he "slept 16 hours a day and wasn't worth a hoot the other eight." During this period, he wrote one novel that was never published on the advice of his wife.

In 1977, he had a stroke precursor (a transient ischemic attack-- not a stroke as often stated) that resulted in surgery to correct the carotid blockage. When he recovered, he was in better mental shape than he had been for several years. He retained his normal mental acuity until his death in 1988 from emphysema and related disabilities.

On the whole, you can read Heinlein's novels and short stories in any order you like. Heinlein wrote no sequels or multi-part novels in the usual sense, although many stories work together to build a consistent and progressive picture. (There are actually several sets of connected stories, the most famous and distinct of which is the Future History.)

The following novels contain significant continuations of earlier works, and should probably be put off until the prior works have been read:

- The Number of the Beast
- The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
- To Sail Beyond the Sunset

The following novels should probably be put off until you have read at least a few other Heinlein books, because they are of relatively inferior quality or are not representative of Heinlein's work as a whole. Reading these books early on have soured some would-be Heinlein fans:

- I Will Fear No Evil
- Sixth Column
- Beyond This Horizon

In addition, new Heinlein readers are warned that Stranger in a Strange Land can be an off-putting book. Many readers have discovered Heinlein and his work through this work, but quite a few end up being turned off and are reluctant to read any more Heinlein. You won't be hurt by reading a handful of the other novels first; you might be soured by reading Stranger too early.

Please don't send me any more e-mail with alternate read/don't read lists, or filled with righteous wrath because I put your favorite or first Heinlein on the list (or left it off). The above lists are my call on the situation. Feel free to post yours in the newsgroup.

There is no consensus on which novels and shorter works are the best for a new or novice reader. However, most serious Heinlein fans would find little to argue with in the following list of "recommended starters":

- The Past Through Tomorrow (Future History short stories)
- Citizen of the Galaxy
- Have Space Suit--Will Travel
- Double Star
- The Door into Summer

Almost anyone who's going to like Heinlein as a whole will like most or all of these books.

A good set of "second round" starters might be the following. These books are hailed by many as some of Heinlein's best works, but each has a significant number of detractors as well. If you don't like one in this list, put it back on the shelf and try another. They're all very different, and just because one tastes bad to you does not mean the others will.

- Starship Troopers
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
- Friday
- Glory Road
- Stranger in a Strange Land (included with some trepidation)
- Time Enough for Love

After that, you're on your own. Read on knowing you are deeply envied by the legions for having mountains of fresh, undiscovered Heinlein to read.

Somewhat unusually, there have been only a few movies made from Heinlein's stories and novels. The complete list is as follows:

1950 "Destination Moon"
This George Pal-directed classic was one of the very first realistic space movies, which is fitting, since Heinlein was the technical advisor and the great Chesley Bonestell was the scenic artist. Semi-documentary in style, it has a hokey moment or two but overall still stands as a landmark of science fiction filmmaking.

1953 "Project Moonbase"
This short (53-minute) movie has a peculiar history. In the early 1950's, Heinlein was working with producer Jack Seamans to create a new science fiction television show aimed at adults (the first-- all the others of the era were aimed at kids). The series was to be an anthology-style one like the later Twilight Zone and Outer Limits programs. Heinlein co-scripted some thirteen episodes, nine of which were based on some of his best-known short stories.

The script for the pilot, "Ring Around the Moon," was an original. After it had been filmed at its half-hour broadcast length, Seamans decided to capitalize on the sudden boom in science fiction movies (started by, among others, "Destination Moon"). Without Heinlein's foreknowledge or approval, Seamans went back and filmed an additional 25 minutes, extending a thin TV-grade story into an even thinner movie. Released as "Project Moonbase," it did poorly and was disavowed by Heinlein.

1956 "The Brain Eaters"
This cheesy mid-50's schlock movie was a patent ripoff of Heinlein's The Puppet Masters until he took them to court. In an out of court settlement, Heinlein obtained financial compensation and the right to demand that certain material (the most identifiable RAH stuff) be cut from the movie. It was. What's left is has some identifiable elements of Puppet Masters in it, if you know what you're looking for.

198? "Starship Troopers"
This Japanimation/anime version of Heinlein's novel adheres only loosely to the book. (Comments and additional data are solicited from anyone who's actually seen this...)

1994 "Robert A. Heinlein's Red Planet"
This three-part Saturday-morning cartoon miniseries begins with a very loose adherence to the novel, then goes its own silly and pointless way with killer robots and ecological correctness. Not recommended. (The portrayal of Doctor MacRae is interesting in that it makes him resemble Lazarus Long more than any other Heinlein character.)

1994 "Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters"
The slightly clumsy title of this movie was necessitated by an existing movie series titled "The Puppet Master." This movie is a fairly high-budget adaptation that begins well. The initial dialogue and setup is recognizable from the novel and Donald Sutherland does a frighteningly good job as the Old Man. Even the changes seem acceptable as necessary techniques to translate the story from 1953 novel to 1994 movie. Then it all goes to hell about halfway through. Darn it. (Editorial comment: see "Outbreak" as an example of how good the movie should have been. Darn it twice.)

1997 "Starship Troopers"
Starship Troopers was filmed by Tri-Star Pictures with a budget said to be in the neighborhood of $90 million. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, it sticks mostly to the storyline of the novel with some significant simplification and general "Hollywoodizing." Some rather pointless visual elements reminiscent of Nazi architecture and uniforms caused a knee-jerk cry of "fascism!" in the reviews, but there is no such element in the storyline or dialogue.

Rumors & Buzz
There are persistent rumors that Stranger in a Strange Land is in development as a film starring Tom Hanks. These rumors have floated around for more than ten years without any substantiation (other than repetition in Hollywood trade rags and fan magazines) and it's probably time to give them a decent burial.

The Star Beast has been recently optioned by Disney. Whether this will be an animated or live action/CGI adaptation is unknown

Dreamworks has recently optioned The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Fair Warning: As the author of three and possibly more forthcoming books on Heinlein, it is difficult to remain objective about the current literature. I wouldn't be writing these books if I didn't think the crop so far was pretty much a failure; My opinion of the existing literature is not good.

We'll see what they have to say about my stuff.

Nearly all of what has been written about Heinlein so far falls at the extreme limits of the critical range. Much falls very close to craven worship; the remainder tilts heavily towards willful denigration. There is very little evenhanded discussion or evaluation to be found in print anywhere.

Leading the "worship" camp is science fiction writer Spider Robinson, author of two important essays: "Rah, Rah, R.A.H.!" (1978, found in the Robinson collection Time Travelers Strictly Cash) and the posthumous (to RAH, that is, not Robinson) "Robert" (1989, found in the Heinlein collection and retrospective Requiem.) To Spider, Heinlein is a veritable demigod who could do no wrong, and he proceeds to tell us why at great length. Don't get me wrong-- Spider's a great guy, and his essays have many valid points, but I think he's a little over the top with respect to Heinlein.

In the same category but far more reasoned is Leon Stover. His Robert A. Heinlein (1988) is the first comprehensive book on Heinlein's work that takes a positive approach. It would be a first-rate reference except that it's loaded with basic errors that flaw many of the discussions and arguments. Stover does, however, perform the valuable service of being the first to place Heinlein in the ranks of great American writers, without the caveat of "...science fiction..." being appended.

(And, of course, the ranks of this category are swelled by the many amateur and semi-pro writers whose gushing and inordinate praise fill the pages of fanzines. Sigh.

The great majority of serious critical work on Heinlein seems to fall into the other category of disdainful dismissal. These critics and reviewers seem to take a genuine delight in prying apart Heinlein's work and crowing over every flaw, real or imagined. It often seems to me that they'll search through heaps of diamonds to find the tiny turd in the pile that "proves" their interpretation. While there are certainly flaws to Heinlein's work-- sometimes grievous flaws-- any critic who can see only the flaws and has nary a good thing to say about the matrix, the structure in which these flaws are found is difficult to take seriously.

H. Bruce Franklin
Robert A. Heinlein: America as Science Fiction

Ugh. This book's only saving grace is its detailed look at Heinlein's early family history. The rest is scintillating, engrossing and brilliant if you happen to like Marxist drivel and can't wait to see Heinlein and his work used as an example of everything that's wrong with the US, capitalism and the western world in general.

Brian Aldiss
Billion Year Spree/Trillion Year Spree

I would like to say better things about this book only because Aldiss is a science fiction writer of the first rank himself. However, his book (updated from Billion to Trillion) is a nasty, parochial history of science fiction in which every writer not of Aldiss's era and clique (roughly, the 1960-1975 New Wavers-- Ellison, Harrison, Brunner, Aldiss) gets sliced and diced in a truly vicious fashion. (One infamous early chapter begins "The worst thing that ever happened to science fiction was a man named Hugo Gernsback.") Heinlein, along with Asimov and Clarke, is largely relegated to a chapter titled "How to Be a Dinosaur," and Aldiss's interpretation, as you might guess from that, is not complimentary.

Olander & Greenberg, eds.
Writers of the 21st Century: Robert A. Heinlein

This collection of essays by sf notables is less negative than the others in this list. In fact, Jack Williamson's essay on the Heinlein juveniles is one of the better short writings about Heinlein. The overall tone of the book, though, is downbeat and critical.

George Slusser
The Classic Years of Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein: Stranger in His Own Land

These two short books published by Borgo Press in the early 1970's are somewhat negative, but more to the point, they are rather diffuse. Slusser's grasp of Heinlein's work seems tenuous, but that hasn't stopped him (and Borgo) from publishing several more short works in this same vein.

Nancy Bailey Downing
A Robert A. Heinlein Cyclopedia: A Complete Guide to the People, Places and Things in the Fiction of Robert A. Heinlein

Robin Usher
Self-Begetting, Self-Devouring: Jungian Archetypes in the Fiction of Robert A. Heinlein

Reginald and Slusser, eds.
Yesterday or Tomorrow? Questions of Vision in the Fiction of Robert A. Heinlein: A Festschrift in Memory of Pilgrim Award Winner, Dr. Thomas Dean

While I can't comment on books not yet published, I should note that the "Cyclopedia" has been on the verge of publication for at least several years with at least two publishers. Borgo has it listed at US$53.00. Ouch.

Just the title of the second one sends me into hysterics. US$27.00 in paperback.

The third, I fear, especially with Slusser at the helm, will be another diffuse exercise in fuzzy logic. Maybe not. But the convoluted title isn't particularly promising. US$17.00 in paperback.

There are many other essays on Heinlein that have appeared in various magazines and journals. Some, such as the late Thomas Perry's two essays in Monad, are excellent. Others are mere turd-sifting. (In particular, I have yet to read anything written under the auspices of the Science Fiction Research Association [SFRA] that doesn't fall in the latter category. Some think that SFRA came into existence for the express purpose of Heinlein bashing. I wouldn't argue the point.)

Readers interested in Heinlein the man and Heinlein the writer do have a few sources to which to turn. All are "authorized" works, though, so they are not much good as balanced critical appraisal. None of them is specifically "about" Heinlein, either.

Expanded Universe contains some 10,000 words by Heinlein about himself and his work. Although the interstitial material in this collection seems to have been dictated and transcribed hastily and is not without errors, it is the longest "Heinlein on Heinlein" writing available and contains many insights and explanations.

Grumbles from the Grave offers an extensive, if somewhat sanitized look at Heinlein the writer.

Requiem offers looks at Heinlein from several dozen of his friends, colleagues and admirers. The eulogistic tone of the volume tends to make things more admiring than balanced, but many of the essays and speeches contain nuggets of unsanitized information.

All three books should be on the shelf of any reader truly interested in Heinlein.

Heinlein won four Hugo awards for best novel (an unmatched record), the first Grandmaster Nebula ever awarded, the Sequoyah award for best novel for young people, and was nominated for a dozen more major awards. (All of his awards and nominations were for novels; his short-fiction days largely predated the major science fiction awards.)

The Hugo awards are nominated and voted for by the fans. Heinlein's Hugo nominations and awards (and Nebula nominations) are as follows:

- Double Star (Hugo, 1956)
- Have Space Suit--Will Travel (Hugo nom., 1958)
- Starship Troopers (Hugo, 1959)
- Stranger in a Strange Land (Hugo, 1961)
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Hugo, 1966)
- Time Enough for Love (Hugo & Nebula nom., 1973)
- Friday (Hugo & Nebula nom., 1982)
- Job: A Comedy of Justice (Hugo & Nebula nom., 1984)

Heinlein was also awarded the Sequoyah Award, voted by the children of Oklahoma, for Have Space Suit--Will Travel as the best young person's novel of 1958. He also won other, lesser awards.

The correct pronunciation is "hine-line," with more or less equal emphasis on both syllables, although it is usually permissible to slur it a bit to "hine'-line" or "hine'-len."

Some claim to see distinct divisions in Heinlein's work. (Some people claim to see faces and rabbits on the face of the moon, too.) The notion that Heinlein has distinct eras in his writing probably originated with Alexei Panshin, who sharply delineated three periods: the pre-war work, the post-war work through about 1958, and the (then-)later work from Starship Troopers through The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

It is possible to divide Heinlein's work into categories by era, but no two readers or scholars are likely to choose the same division points. No matter where you place the markers, you will find anomalous works in other "eras."

Any writer whose output spans five decades is likely to write differently as time passes (certain tightly-genred writers excepted). Heinlein grew more experimental as his success ensured sales.

Many of Heinlein's novels were cut significantly before their initial publication. Some (Red Planet, Podkayne of Mars) were cut because an editor objected to certain material or story elements. Stranger in a Strange Land was cut drastically, mostly at RAH's own discretion, to bring it down to what was regarded as a salable length. The Puppet Masters was hacked up by the original magazine editor and shortened for book appearance by Heinlein himself.

With his death, many publishing contracts and options were terminated, and Virginia Heinlein was free to renegotiate terms. In the case of each of the novels named above, she chose to have the original, uncut versions of the manuscripts published. In general, any edition published before 1990 is the "original" book version; any version from 1990 on is the "uncut" or "restored" edition. Most of the latter carry a blurb on their covers trumpeting their complete nature.

Serious readers will want to read both versions of each of these works. Generally, readers seem to prefer the restored versions, but not always. Especially in the case of Stranger, opinion is divided as to which version is the "best."

The older versions are all out of print but easy to find in used book stores.

This phrase appears several times in Time Enough for Love, most notably in the "Dora story." It means, simply, "Eat first, or fuck first?" and is believed to be old Navy slang (perhaps shorthand for "You wanna get some real food or some tail first?" on first hitting dirt for shore leave).

Dora's reply of "Both!" has confused some readers, but is completely in character, if you think about it.

According to Virginia Heinlein, no. He had Masonic friends from his Navy days onward, from whom he picked up the basic "secrets" and language that appear in many early short stories. However, he was never a member of the order himself.

While we're on the subject, Heinlein was not a Mormon, either.