I have to admit that the case for the prosecution is strong and impossible to ignore. On the one hand, I adore Heinlein’s work and on the other hand, I loathe it.

I know just how you feel, all of you, because I have a foot planted firmly on each side of the line. For others, he’s an embarrassing example of all that’s wrong with the genre, too white, too male, too American, a regressive relic best disowned and discarded. Heinlein is the embodiment of golden age greatness, the all-wise Father of modern science fiction, the fountain from which everything flows. Invoking his name can start a passionate argument even now, and he’s been gone for thirty-three years.įor some, Robert A. In 1974 he was the first writer named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America and was the winner of four Hugo Awards for best novel (and seven “retro” Hugos for works published prior to 1953). Dominating the science fiction field from the moment his first story, “Lifeline,” appeared in the August, 1939 issue of Astounding Science Fiction to his death almost a half century later, Heinlein was arguably the most important writer in the history of American genre sf. (Humility and the law of averages should also make you acknowledge that for someone else you know, there’s a good chance that you are that person.)įor me, that problematic individual is Robert A. Do you know someone - a friend, a coworker, a family member - whom you esteem for their many good qualities… and yet whose extreme and undeniable character flaws can sometimes make you want to banish them from your life forever? Of course you do.

Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein