heinleinblog

Heinlein inspires another writer:

In an alternate world where publishers were not so hung up on categorizing writers, Greeley’s Connie Willis would be widely known outside of “science fiction” circles. As it is, she’s always seemed content — even eager — to labor inside the ghetto walls, and has been amply rewarded by fans, critics and colleagues for that loyalty.

But as her huge new short-fiction retrospective, “The Winds of Marble Arch,” demonstrates, much of Willis’ best work is just barely science fiction (and sometimes only in the sense that it’s fiction about science). She is a master of character, and in many ways charmingly old fashioned.

She acknowledges as much in her brief introduction to these 23 tales, many of them novella-length, citing as key, innocent influences Robert Heinlein’s ’40s and ’50s fiction for juveniles, the English comedy “Three Men in a Boat,” Shakespeare, Hollywood screwball comedies, and even public libraries. Willis even famously sings in her church choir.

Original article by The Daily Camera.