Robert A. Heinlein Message Board
brat posts on 9/26/2005 5:19:50 PM
hello!!!
dragonsofdreams posts on 9/26/2005 3:40:39 PM
Sorry to inform you but, if you look at dedications in his books many are dedicated to wife & family members. As to his sexual preferences WHO CARES? The book "Stranger in a Strange Land" it is considered a classic by many si-fi fans & others. Is sexuality contained in it? Sure, as the main charicter came to Earth with zero knowledge it had to be an issue. Without truth raising it's ugly head we would be left with one more book for the early teen age & a great book eould of been lost to the ages.
Fred Noweck posts on 9/26/2005 1:57:49 PM
i am writing a fantasy book and wish to use Rufo, Oscar, and Astarra from Glory Road in a brief meeting in a tavern on another world in the multiverse. i have tried to send an email to heinlein society but it came back undeliverable.... does this mean that it doesnt exist anymore? or have they just changed the address without notifying anyone? can anyone help me here?
Dale Dietzman posts on 9/20/2005 2:33:35 PM
There is no possibility of doing justice to Robert's corpus of writing in this forum.
If you are truely interested, I suggest you browse your way to heinleinsociety.org where you will find much discussion and many scholarly quality studies of parts of his work.
the best synopsis is an article by Sipder Robinson, available there, called "Rah, Rah, R.A.H." written specifically in answer to all of the multitude of literary detractors whom Heinlein pontedly refused to answer during his lifetime.
His private thoughts on many of them were published posthumously by his wife, Ginny, in _Grumbles From The Grave_, his private papers which she edited.
Briefly his main theme that spans ALL of his work is personal responsibility and personal accountability for our actions, and inactions, and not waiting for "Federal relief" when disaster strikes. He wrote science fiction, detective stories (at least one), fantasy (_Glory Road_), and he called his best known work (_Stranger in a Strange Land_) a "fairy tale".
It is certainly a "Stranger" to the publishing industry, continuing to sell briskly in TWO editions...as originally published, AND as originally written,... AT THE SAME TIME.
rhejin posts on 9/20/2005 7:19:21 AM
guys..can you tell me in general about the writing style of Robert..what general theme is always present in his works especially the science fiction
Dale Dietzman posts on 8/13/2005 9:33:38 PM
...as is everyone else. But as Heinlein said, through several of his characters, "What are the facts? Again, and again, and again...what are the FACTS? SHun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget 'what the stars fortell, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think....Get the facts!"
You have NO facts, and it is certainly well known that Heinlein would advocate practically anything in his stories to shake up his readers...as he seems to have done to you, on the subject of sex anyway.
Other people have the opinion that he may have practiced what he preached. You think he didn't have a clue. THe three people who KNOW, besides ROBERT, are now dead too. So it is safe for you to parade your opinion. If you have facts, then we have grounds for discussion.
THere is nothing to discuss if opinion is all you bring to the table.
Alan Lawrence posts on 8/13/2005 9:42:49 AM
I did say: "Discuss", which indicates that I have little hard evidence, and would welocme others views. Youe response was what I expected, immediately interpreting gay, bi-sexual and virgin as pejorative. It's a pity that so many feel that admiration for their heroes is all that is possible and anything else is jumped on as criticism. I will say that it is odd that RAH wrote so authorititively and convincingly on many and diverses matters, but did not have a clue when it comes to relationships or sex.
Dale Dietzman posts on 8/10/2005 6:32:02 PM
Alan,
I am tempted not to dignify your strange assertions with an answer, especially since you cite no reasons of evidence.
I've met you kind before, me lad, and I'm not going to participate, beyond saying that it is well know that anything you go looking for, you will find "evidence of" since the human mind is so good at editing and rearranging the "Facts" to fit any preconceived idea.
Considering that Heinlein was married three times, I highly doubt that he died a "Virgin", and while he might, possibly, have been bi-sexual, I highly doubt that he was exclusively gay.
Although he was happy to bait his readers with ANY idea that might upset their comfortable mide set and get them thinking.
So extrapolating from ANYTHING his characters do to what he himself did or didn't do is a mook's game, at best, especially with someone as private as Robert Heinlein.
Alan Lawrence posts on 8/10/2005 3:02:43 PM
and may well be considered provocative but having read and reread everything he wrote, I get the feeling that he may have been:
1. Gay
2. Bisexual
3. (most likely) A virgin.
Discuss
August posts on 7/25/2005 11:36:55 PM
Back when I was a teenager in late 1960's or early 1970's, I read a science fiction book, that I think was written by Robert Heinlein. There were parallel universes and, throughout the book, you assumed that you were on our earth, but on the last page, you discovered that your assumption and been incorrect and that the story had occurred in the parallel universe (or maybe it was vice versa). I just remember that, when I read the last page and learned my assumption was incorrect, it turned the whole story upside down. That was great. My teenage son, now, is into science fiction and I wish I could remember the name of that book. Can anyone help me out here? Thanks.
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