Have Space Suit - Will Travel

[Anonymous No.1951219]

I've been reading me some Heinlein recently, and shit, how can you pile him up with non-writers like Asimov and, god forbid, Clarke?

The first thing I've read was Double Moon, and boy, that was freaking good. Characters were perfect. Prose was perfect. Story was great and masterfully delivered. All things considered, it was simply a great book by a very nice novelist indeed.

Now, I see his more popular stuff seems a bit dull. I haven't finished Stranger or Tunnels in the Sky because both are commonplace sci-fi and don't seem particularly good, at least from what I've read. I made a thread about Double Moon maybe a few months ago and took a rest from heinlein.

Now I've randomly picked another novel, Have Spacesuit Will Travel, and boy, it's no Double Moon, and it sure reads typical of the sixties sci-fi, but at the same time it is very professionally written - if anything, it reads like a big author decided to have fun with a simple, stylized retro-space opera.

The thing starts off borderline artsy, you could almost expect everyone to die of cancer in the denouement or something, but then an alien spaceship drops on the main character as he's testing his space suit in the fields at night, with a bad alien on board. Another saucer has a good one and also a tsundere loli that would make modern anime seem nice, the girl's fetishized so hardcore, the author has to occasionally state and restate that no, she's not actually a sexual object 'cause she's a kid, honest guys, guys I'm serious it's not even funny, and then Heinlein would crank up the moe so hard you can almost hear him masturbate.

It's no Double Moon, and it certainly isn't high art, but it's no Asimov/Clarke levels of storytelling ineptitute either. It's on the general level of, say, the later Pratchett. What I don't understand is why's everyone obsessing over other sci-fi and not Heinlein? People keep praising Clarkes horrendous scribbles, and on this everyone's so fucking silent.

[Anonymous No.1951265]

Heinlein has the reputation he has, basically, because he was much better than many other people writing at the time, and he was able to write some really classic stories and codify a lot of the classic themes of sci-fi. If you were reading science fiction as a young'un or teen in the fifties or sixties, it was probably Heinlein who really fired your imagination. He's not as imaginative as Asimov or Clarke (although he is plenty imaginative) but he was a super-solid writer writing super-solid SF back in the day. Also, Heinlein is an author who is fairly diverse in the things he's written - he has juvenile space-operas, he has legitimate science fiction, he has killer short fiction, he has crazy sex science fiction.

I really think Heinlein is at his best in his juveniles, in his short fiction (I really think that you don't know Heinlein if you haven't read his short stories), and in Moon is a Harsh Mistress (his best novel). Definitely check that stuff out - especially stuff like "All You Zombies-".

Also, here's Spider Robinson's essay on Heinlein: http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/works/articles/rahrahrah.html

[Tom Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1951277]

I read HSS-WT as it was on the essential/recommended sci-fi list and thought I'd give it a shot.

I was disappointed.

Also lol at what you said about Peewee

[Anonymous No.1951303]

>>1951277
Well, it wasn't all that impressive, it was just decent. My point is, it's professionally written, unlike what many other big sci-fi authors produced, specifically the ones I've mentioned.

If you want something actually good on it's own, read Double Moon. That one is straight up good literature.

[Anonymous No.1951306]

Heinlein doesn't get as much cred because he seems old-fashioned, his late-period work is completely insane, and he comes across as too much of a crotchety old man.

[Anonymous No.1951308]

I don't like saying this kind of thing, but Stranger in a Strange Land seems only to be enjoyed by pseudo-intellectuals and people who have no taste of their own in sci-fi.

[Anonymous No.1951312]

Dude, according to google there's no such thing as Double Moon. First result of Heinlein + "double moon" is your post. Are you inventing books? Because if so I slightly approve.

Also, the people who know need to recommend some (ideally easily internet-available) Heinlein short stories.

[Anonymous No.1951315]

>>1951312
>Dude, according to google there's no such thing as Double Moon.
Balls, pardon, it's Double Star.

[Anonymous No.1951322]

>>1951308
Only reason Stranger in a Strange Land has the reputation it does is because the hippies adopted it. I'm serious. It was super popular w/ the hippies, and so it's Heinlein's most famous and mainstream work, but it's not his best.

[Anonymous No.1951330]

>>1951312
"- All You Zombies -" is my personal favorite. God it's dope. Also try Requiem, Green Hills of Earth, Roads Must Roll, Waldo. But man, "All You Zombies" has to be one of the best sf stories ever.

[Anonymous No.1951347]

>>1951330

Don't miss out on the awesome 80's song by The Hooters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qvz9JlPRzU