heinleinblog

While there is precious little unpublished Heinlein material out there — Spider Robinson is fleshing out an extensive outline for a book RAH never started — I am comforted that many of Heinlein’s Children are not only still writing, they have a ton of already published work that I haven’t gotten around to reading.

I just finished reading Spider’s “Time Pressure” last night.

It was a fine read. It started out as typical Spider — all folksy and a little scattered. The book is mostly about relationships and the basic decency of most people (I know people exactly like the Bents). It has a lot of sex, some of it a little graphic.

Of course, there are Heinlein references sprinkled throughout the book. Although it may be hard for people grasp, Heinlein and Robinson come from the same intellactual and philosophical DNA, and it’s apparent in this book.

I especially appreciated Spider’s observation that reading science fiction is essentially a way to prepare for time travel. Cool.

Then about three fourths of the way through, the novel turns into a sequel to a Spider book I hadn’t read called “Mindkillers.”

I’ve read sequels before I’ve read the original. But I usually do it knowing it’s a sequel. There wasn’t any warning on the cover.

So this is going to make it hard for me to pick up and read “Mindkiller,” now that I know how it ends.

But as they say, the journey is at least as important as the destination. Spider is usually a real hoot to read and I’m sure that even though I know the plot to “Mindkiller,” Spider is sure to go many entertaining tangents.

[tags]Spider Robinson,Time Pressure,Robert Heinlein[/tags]