The Number of the Beast by Heinlein (1980)
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tinkerdan
∞<Q-Satis
The original manuscript Panki-Barsoom Number of the Beast was written in 1977 during the onset of this and was admittedly something veering off from normal Heinlein::Written in Zebediah's POV.::
::Afterwords when rereading the finished piece he found it to be fatally mediocre and that was when he decided to experiment with multiple first person POV and he cannibalized the old manuscript for the new.
The book was largely experimental and seems more focused on self-conscious, self referential writing.
The antagonist or villain in the story is the writer himself. Neil O'Heret Brain is an anagram of Robert A. Heinlein.
I loved
Friday
That Cat Who Walks Through Walls
To Sail Beyond the Sunset
The two I had the most trouble with of the time period were
Job:A Comedy of Justice
The Number of the Beast
Still I found them to be entertaining.
Some of the information here comes from volume 2 of William H. Patterson,Jr's Robert A Heinlein [The Man who Learned Better| 1948-1988]
::Afterwords when rereading the finished piece he found it to be fatally mediocre and that was when he decided to experiment with multiple first person POV and he cannibalized the old manuscript for the new.
The book was largely experimental and seems more focused on self-conscious, self referential writing.
The antagonist or villain in the story is the writer himself. Neil O'Heret Brain is an anagram of Robert A. Heinlein.
I loved
Friday
That Cat Who Walks Through Walls
To Sail Beyond the Sunset
The two I had the most trouble with of the time period were
Job:A Comedy of Justice
The Number of the Beast
Still I found them to be entertaining.
Some of the information here comes from volume 2 of William H. Patterson,Jr's Robert A Heinlein [The Man who Learned Better| 1948-1988]
You've picked my favorites there. I always knew you were a discerning character.
Really?!
Those are among my favorites, too, but I would never in a million years have expected that you'd like them.
Out of curiosity, what did you think of Job: A Comedy of Justice?
To Sail Beyond the Sunset (my all-time favorite)
Time Enough for Love
Friday
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
I Will Fear No Evil
Job: A Comedy of Justice
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
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Well, authors did seem to write quite referential stories sometimes, and I guess it would be easy to put in various in-jokes (Lovecraft did, too). I remember a Philip K Dick story in which Poul Anderson went to the future and was being hunted by the secret police.
My original image of Heinlein was of a grouchy, ex-military tough guy, but he seems to have had a lot of difference facets, depending on what he was writing. Did he adopt a kind of writing persona, like Hemmingway or Orwell, or did he just write whatever he felt like at the time?
My original image of Heinlein was of a grouchy, ex-military tough guy, but he seems to have had a lot of difference facets, depending on what he was writing. Did he adopt a kind of writing persona, like Hemmingway or Orwell, or did he just write whatever he felt like at the time?
I read somewhere that all the villains were anagrams of either his name or his wife's; Virginia (?) Heinlein
So maybe an experimental step too far for some of us
Really?!
Those are among my favorites, too, but I would never in a million years have expected that you'd like them.
Out of curiosity, what did you think of Job: A Comedy of Justice?
Now you've got me curious. Why would you think that I wouldn't like Friday and Time Enough for Love, I Will Fear No Evil, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress? I also like "The Cat Who Walked through Walls" ---- I just thought of that this morning when I walked into the hospital to pick my wife up after a 2 day battle with a kidney infection and someone was playing the piano in the lobby, .... "Amazing Grace!" ..... I was tickled pink.
I'm pretty sure I never read "Job: A Comedy of Justice" ------ Is the title referencing a "job" or the Biblical character "Job" if the later I might take a peek at it.
tinkerdan
∞<Q-Satis
Biblical:: definitely; this one has religious overtones.
I can see where Dusty is coming from - these four are probably, with To Sail beyond the Sunset, the most 'shocking'(for the time in which they were written) of all RAH's books. They also, IMHO, contain some of the best literary SF ever written - I defy anyone to read the last few paragraphs of The Tale of the Adopted Daughter in TEFL with dry eyes.
Believe me, you'd know if you'd read it. Go and buy it now and then come back and tell us what you think. My bet is that you'll like it, especially as your vocational background will mean you'll get all the 'in' jokes...
As for The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, I said about it: It's one of my very favourite RAH books, and in my All-Time Top Ten list. Spookily enough, this was exactly ten years ago, and is in this thread: RAH Reading Group - The Number of The Beast which is the first one referenced in the Similar Threads section directly below ...
Muhahaha...
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I agree -- you should definitely read Job. It's a biblical allegory, and a helluva book (pun thoroughly intended).
Oh, and yes, what Pyan said. I know you're not a prude, but I would have thought some of those might stretch even your demonstrated liberal-mindedness. I'm pleased to be wrong.
Oh, and yes, what Pyan said. I know you're not a prude, but I would have thought some of those might stretch even your demonstrated liberal-mindedness. I'm pleased to be wrong.
Ok, "Job, A Comedy of Justice" is ordered. I'm actually getting a real book. Hardly ever order one of those. I'm not sure How I'll deal with it. You might find it interesting that almost all of the people offering to sell it were from the U.K. --- Perhaps it was more popular there?
That is interesting. I wonder why?
Right. Cradle the 'spine' (the edge with the writing on it) in the left hand, and swipe right-to-left, maintaining a light pressure on each 'page'. Repeat as necessary. Peruse the 'writing' from left to right, simultaneously scanning the 'page' from top to bottom. When you've finished a session, insert a manual position-keeping app at the place that you've reached - this will help locate the same point when you resume the session. If you're left handed, reverse these instructions. Good luck!
If you're left handed, reverse these instructions. Good luck!
If he's left-handed, he has to read the book from back to front?
If you read it over and over, some of the print does start to wear out, yes. But I've had mine for about thirty years and it still has most of the words. Luckily, if you've read it enough times, you know what the missing words are anyway.
Actually, I quite like multiperson pantheistic solipsism as a theory, even if it does explain away anything, as much as 'and then the little boy woke up, and it had all been a dream'. The characters must be stereotypes, as they are fictionalised fiction, an exra step away from 'reality'. Obviously the book is too long, and could have used an editor - but just about everything he wrote after 'Stranger…' suffers from this, even 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress', probably my favourite of all his books (least favourite? Farnham's Freehold, or I will fear no Evil, which I notice a couple of people on this thread seriously approve of). It is a pity that he couldn't better simulate the writing style of the other authors he - cited? emulated?, particularly Dodgeson (and probably Baum, though Ihaven't read the originals) and was to incestuous recuperation of his own oeuvre.
Parson scratches his head; digs out the dictionary, and sees the faint light of meaning glowing somewhere in the distance.
(my emphasis)
As a theory, yes: in practice, I suspect that most of the average people's lives would be nasty, brutish and short, to quote Thomas Hobbes. Would you really like to visit Geidi Prime or be a colonist on Acheron (LV-426)? How about surviving on Pyrrus? or Gor? How about Eddore? Shayol? No thanks - I'd rather these, and others, remain fictional...
Danny McG
"Anything can happen in the next half hour!"
Friday by RH gets mentioned a few times in this thread.
I faintly remember buying it based solely on the girl on the cover. A thing I wouldn't even consider nowadays!
I faintly remember buying it based solely on the girl on the cover. A thing I wouldn't even consider nowadays!
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