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from the Pay-it-Forward-/-Grok-/-TANSTAAFL dept.
The Joplin Globe reports that Missouri lawmakers have inducted science fiction writer Robert Heinlein to the Hall of Famous Missourians to a cheering crowd of fans who call themselves "Heinlein's children."
State Rep. T.J. Berry says Heinlein encouraged others to "strive for the stars, for the moon" and "for what's next." Donors to the Heinlein Society and the Heinlein Prize Trust paid for a bronze bust of Heinlein, which will be displayed in the House Chamber at the Capitol where it will join 45 other Missourians honored with busts in the hall including Mark Twain, Dred Scott and Ginger Rogers, as well as more controversial Missourians such as Rush Limbaugh.
"Our devotion to this man must seem odd to those outside of the science fiction field, with spaceships and ray guns and bug-eyed monsters," Heinlein Society President Keith Kato said. "But to Heinlein's children, the writing was only the beginning of doing."
(Score: 3, Informative) by archfeld on Thursday August 25 2016, @05:20AM
I grok why they are honoring him. One of the best and amongst my personal favorite authors ever. I grew up reading his Sci-Fi.
Have space suit will travel, the moon is a harsh mistress, the number of the beast, job; a comedy of justice, stranger in a strange land, starship troopers, farnhams freehold, methuselah s children just to name a few...
The world grew dimmer both intellectually and creatively when he passed on. His signature on my copy of Job, a comedy of Justice is one of my treasured belongings.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday August 25 2016, @02:23PM
I read everything he wrote, too. He was a strange mix of hippie free love (Stranger in a Strange Land, Number of the Beast), rigid militarism (Starship Troopers), and capitalist cheerleading (The Man Who Sold the Moon). Many of his ideas from stories like Friday and Methuselah's Children I carry to this day. His politics were complex and contradictory and didn't really suit me per se, but the key takeaway was his constant insistence on critical, independent thinking, of standing up to every kind of tyranny from the formal, government kind to the mundane, everyday, conventional wisdom kind. Above all he was a real American and not a set of walking talking points, the way so many voices in today's society have become. We could really use him now to pierce the Bullshit and cut the self-aggrandizing down to size.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @05:02PM
...the key takeaway was his constant insistence on critical, independent thinking...
Very evident in, "Tramp Royale", the story of their round the world trip. They take their time, sample many different places and cultures, and conclude that there's no place like home (at that time--might be different now?)
I got the impression that they were well mannered tourists and did not fall into the "ugly American" stereotype.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday August 25 2016, @09:49PM
100% agreed. One of my all-time favorite writes, too. Right up there with Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Piers Anthony.
One of my all-time favorite stories. A real page turner and investigated a number of social and scientific aspects of life on a moon colony. Did you know that the Internet Archive [archive.org] has a collection of scans of all issues of If Magazine (aka Worlds of If) [archive.org] in which this story first appeared as a serial? See issues: December 1965, January, February, March, April 1966. I had my best luck with the PDFs.
NOTE: Some of the issues hosted there have been updated to remove certain stories on request of copyright holders. This story was there when I last looked, within a month of the archive being made available. I took a quick look and it appears that the first three installments were there, at least.
I share your sentiments on his passing. I have a signed copy of "Anguished English" by Richard Lederer that I similarly treasure.
Thanks for the memories!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday August 25 2016, @10:13PM
BEWARE: I just finished checking the rest of the issues, and it appears that all parts of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" are there... with one major caveat there is a mixup between issues and files on archive.org!
https://archive.org/details/1966-03_IF [archive.org] contains the APRIL, 1966 issue
https://archive.org/details/1966-04_IF [archive.org] contains the MARCH, 1966 issue
Wit is intellect, dancing.