heinleinblog

From a letter tothe editor in the LA Times:Re “L.A.’s Nostradamus,” Opinion, July 1

I confess to being more than a bit amused by the glowing tribute to one of the world’s greatest science fiction writers, Robert Heinlein. Sadly, it shows just how much the truth can be twisted and omitted when the mood fits. Just one example of how far California is from Heinlein’s view of how free people should live is the insane gun laws that have been adopted. Heinlein firmly believed that “an armed society is a polite society” and felt strongly that no good could come from barring individuals from the right to own and carry arms.

Heinlein also was disgusted by the use of race for promotion or consideration in society. The hair pulling and tantrums of the loony left would have only served to sadden this great man. I find it troubling that just as the left has reinvented the stars of communism (Hugo Chavez, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and the like) it is now trying to reinvent such icons as Heinlein to fit its view of the world. For a more accurate view of how Heinlein might have seen California, one should read all of his books as well as “Grumbles from the Grave,” published by his widow after his death.

KEITH H. MCGRATH

Pueblo, Colo.

From fredericksburg.com, has a long and glowing article about RAH written by National Reviews’s John J. Miller. The article focuses on the stuff about Heinlein conservatives would like, and pretty much glosses over the stuff about Heinlein the liberals like. There’s apparently a longer article you can get if you subscribe to National Review.

This Star Trek casting news is Heinlein-related, I guess, since he was a fan of the show:

Things are apparently moving forward quickly with Star Trek XI — IESB.net is reporting that at the L.A. junket for Transformers, screenwriter Roberto Orci told the roundtablers to expect some major announcements (presumably about casting) at this year’s ComicCon. He said the casting process is going on right now, and that some significant decisions are going to be made soon. He also told the journalists that the film is scheduled to begin shooting in November. Up to now, there has been nothing more than educated (and uneducated) guesses about who could possibly lead this thing. Names that have been bandied about include Matt Damon, Gary Sinise, Jennifer Garner and James McAvoy, but nothing solid has developed.

[tags]Star Trek.movie,Comics-Con,JJ Abrams[/tags]

Anyone remember Paul Lemmen from alt.fan.heinlein? The Fayetteville Observer has an article on him:

Paul Lemmen says he is a retired Air Force general, a veteran of combat in Vietnam and years of intelligence work.

Former friends say he has also told people that he was an officer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army who cut a deal that landed him in the United States.

Both versions of his life story raise questions. Air Force records provide no evidence that Lemmen was a brigadier general. Lemmen denies ever connecting himself to the IRA.

But despite huge holes in his stories, Lemmen managed to talk his way into a contracting job in Iraq. He spent part of his time there hanging around Special Forces soldiers from Fort Bragg, getting close enough that he flew back for the funeral of one who was killed in action.

Overall, Lemmen traveled to Iraq at least four times working for Blue Iraq, a communications and information technology company with military contracts, according to Lemmen and e-mails from Ryan Lackey, the owner of Blue Iraq.

Jaimie Brehler, a Durham-based investigator who checks out military imposters, said that Lemmen was the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. Chris Grey, a CID spokesman, said only that the command started an investigation of a contractor posing as a military officer in August 2005 and completed the probe in January. No results have been announced from that investigation.

It is a violation of federal law to wear military decorations without authorization.

The article mentions several a.f.h. regulars.

Hey, don’t take my word for it. Read what the New York Times’ William Safire has to say in this column about the language of the Blogopshere:

So that was the coinage, right? Wait — a late entry comes in from Matt Rudary of the Heinlein Society, which has a concordance of the works of the pioneering sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein. In his 1947 short story “Space Jockey,� he named the third stage of a rocket to the moon the Moonbat, and in another story a year later, “The Black Pits of Luna,� one Heinlein character was the scoutmaster of the Moonbat Patrol.

[tags]William Safire,Moonbats,The Black Pits of Luna,Space Jockey,Heinlein[/tags]

There’s a Star Trek role-paying group that is based on a “USS Heinlein.” But there’s a real life effort underway to get the U.S. Navy to name a ship after the Master. I found the following on alt.fan.heinlein.

The Navy is looking for a name for it’s new Zumwalt class destroyer. They don’t have RAH’s name listed. Since he graduated from the Naval academy (class of ‘29) and since his 100th birthday is coming up it would be nice for the Navy to honor him.

If you go to this link http://www.usszumwalt.com/mos/ and look at the right hand side of the page you will find a list of names. You can click “none of the above” and then click submit your choice. Write in USS Robert A. Heinlein and click vote. It’s very simple and a wonderful way to honor a very great man.

UPDATE: Here a post from the mastermind behind this plan, as posted an a.f.h.:

I seem to have a bit of time at the moment…but my day may yet blow up.

I’m Tim Kyger, and I work at the Pentagon in Iraq Policy. On my left over my cubical wall are my colleages of the Lebonon desk. A bit beyond them are the folks on the Isreal desk. On my right two cubes down are my colleagues in the Iran shop.

Yes, we’re your one-stop WWIII shop. Indeed.

This is why I’m not very active on the Net or on afh.

But I did restart the USS RAH campaign. Why? RAH’s 100th birthday is coming up, and it would be the perfect time and place for the Navy to announce the naming of a ship for RAH. It’s the best hook we — Heinlein’s Children — have. IMHO anyway; YMMV as always.

There is one person, and only one, by law, who can name a U.S. naval vessel: The Secretary of the Navy. He can name any ship in the Navy anything he wants to. Naturally he is guided by tradition and by an internal Navy process that produces lists of names for him to name ships after. But the fact remains: He is the One Who Can. *If he wants to.*

The SecNav is suscptible to political pressure. That’s what we’re trying to do here.

We send the Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter, letters. We write our Congressmen and Senators, too, asking *them* to write the SecNav. In the meantime, I’m busy trying to get folks on the Hill that I know — various Congresscritters, so forth — to weigh in with naming a ship the U.S.S. RAH. With both lines of political pressure at work, I think we can get a ship named.

Did I also mention that I’m budds with the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy? He’s sick of me already. *grin*

So, why a DDG-1000? Because it’s a hook to hang a reason on. Heinlein was on destroyers; the DDG-100 boats are destroyers; so…we ask for a destroyer. Furthermore, these are the ships that the Navy wants most at this moment. Such attention on our part will get attention if it’s tied to the Zumwalt boats.

And yes, the plan is for the Zumwalt class of DDGs to be named after (a-hem) former Chiefs of Naval Operations. *bor-ing*

We want to help the Navy sell the product. USS RAH is one way for their DDG-1000 boats to look sexy.

And frankly, the Zumwalt’s are a science fictional boat; a truly 21st Century Naval vessel. The plan is to provide them with electric guns to shoot their projectiles! How stfnal is *that*?

But I’m happy if *any* type of U.S. Navy vessel is named after Heinlein. A littoral combat ship? Sure. An auxiliary vessel? No problem.

But we have to start somewhere, and I’ve kicked the ball off and down the field to ask for a DDG-1000. They haven’t named DDG-1001, much less any of the other 30 Zumwalts the Navy wants to build.

So if you agree, the sample letter’s up there, and I’m also available at TimBKy…@aol.com to answer questions.

Let’s spread the word on this. Cross post this information far and wide please!

Thanks in advance to everyone.

The U.S.S. Robert A. Heinlein. It has to happen sometime; why not now; and why not us? Why *not* for his 100th birthday?!

PS: Yeah, I’d rather have an SSTO named for him. That’ll happen in time. But this is how we get the initional name in the quque.

[tags]Navy,Zumwalt,destroyer,Heinlein[/tags]

New Science has an article on elevators to outer space, but you have to pay to read the whole thing:

If you can make it into low-Earth orbit – about 160 kilometres up – then you are halfway to anywhere in the solar system. Sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein’s remark has become a mantra in the space community, mainly for its irony: despite leaps in rocket technology costing billions of dollars, those first 160 kilometres are still the hardest.

[tags]space elevators,new scientist,Heinlein[/tags]

From the Arkansas Democrat & Gazette:

ABC has tapped a number of its stars to feature in the midseason anthology series Masters of Science Fiction.

The six-episode series will adapt stories from such noted writers as Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein and Robert Sheckley. Physicist and author Stephen Hawking will introduce each episode.

Signed on to star in the series are Terry O’Quinn (Lost ), Anne Heche (Men in Trees ) and James Denton (Desperate Housewives ). Others include Judy Davis (Life with Judy Garland ), Malcolm McDowell (Entourage ) and Sam Waterston (Law & Order ).

Wanna guess who is staring in what segment?

BTW: The Heinlein segment will be an adaptation of the short story “Jerry Was a Man.”

[tags]Heinlein,Masters of Science Fiction[/tags]

SciFi Fodder likes Variable Star:

I think this comment from John Varley (from the Amazon.com book site) summarizes this novel quite well. He says, “Completing a book from notes by a dead author is almost always a mistake. But Robert A. Heinlein apparently isn’t really dead. He was obviously standing at the side of Spider Robinson as he wrote this book, guiding his hand. Variable Star will delight the fans of the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived, and at the same time, stays true to Spider’s passionate themes of optimism, kindness, and humanity’s future among the stars.�

Heinlein Lives. I like that idea.

[tags]Variable Star,John Varley,Spider Robinson,Heinlein[/tags]

CNet has a brief article on “Variable Star”:

An unfinished novel by science fiction master Robert A. Heinlein has been completed by author Spider Robinson and will soon be released. “Variable Star” is available for preorder on Amazon for $16.47.

For those who simply can’t wait for the hard copy, check out these excerpts from the first two chapters. According to the Heinlein site, two chapters will be released each week until Sept. 19–the book’s official release date.

[tags]Variable Star,Spider Robinson[/tags]