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Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein (1907-1988), was born in Butler, Missouri, to a German-American family with generations of military service in it. He became one of the most celebrated and influential science fiction writers of the 20th Century. A US Naval Academy graduate with engineering training, he brought to the wild-west-type field of science fiction of the pulp era a rigorous scientific mind and a temperment to question all assumptions of the genre, of society, and of human history and of the human future.
Upon medical discharge from the Navy in 1934, he turned to several pursuits, finally ending up writing with a first short story publication in 1939. Initially, he was one of the stable of writers of the legendary editor of Astounding, John W. Campbell, Jr., but Heinlein was too independent a spirit to follow an editor — he would always rather blaze new trails. Professional and financial security came with an epic series of so-called “juveniles” written for about 10 years from the late Forties to the late Fifties. These transformed themselves into sophisticated cultural critiques from Starship Troopers (1959) and Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) onwards.
He brought the verbal gymnastics of George Bernard Shaw and the adventurous pace of Rudyard Kipling to a pulp genre struggling for self-confidence and literary legitimacy. Whatever his provocations (and there are many for his readers from all backgrounds), he raised the standard of great speculative fiction. A tip on beginning Heinlein: begin with the early novels, even the excellent juveniles, plunge into those written in the Sixties, and then tackle the big ambitious novels of his late period. Enjoy the ride!
The Man Who Sold the Moon / Orphans of the Sky
The Man Who Sold the Moon / Orphans of the Sky
$13.00
All-new Introduction by Mark Van Name. Two classic Robert A. Heinlein novels in one volume: The Man Who Sold the Moon and Orphans of the Sky. Journeys into space, one taking humans to space by hook or by crook, the other the classic first-time tale of a generation vessel with passengers who do not realize they are in a spaceship.
Two classic Robert A. Heinlein novels in one volume, with an all-new introduction by Mark L. Van Name, author of the Jon and Lobo military SF series.
The Man Who Sold the Moon: D. D. Harriman is a billionaire with a dream: the dream of space for all mankind. The method? Anything that works. Maybe, in fact, Harriman goes too far. But he will give us the stars…
Orphans of the Sky: Hugh had been taught that, according to the ancient sacred writings, the Ship was on a voyage to faraway Centaurus. But he also understood that this must be allegory for a voyage to spiritual perfection. After all, the real world was only metal corridors and nothing else, right? And then Hugh begins to suspect the truth. . .
Two all-time classics from seven-time Hugo winner and Dean of Science Fiction, Robert A. Heinlein.
About Robert A. Heinlein:
“Not only America's premier writer of speculative fiction, but the greatest writer of such fiction in the world.” –Stephen King.
“One of the grand masters of science fiction.” –Wall Street Journal