ROBERT A. HEINLEIN: THE NOVELS

For Us The Living, written in 1937/1938, first released in 2004, Scribner's.
In 1939, Perry Nelson suffers a bad car accident and wakes up in 2086. He falls in love with a beautiful girl, then gets into a fight with her ex. Perry's being deprogrammed to get rid of his irrational sexual possession and jealousy. He receives lectures about economic systems, aircars, rockets, U.S. history, religion and more. Heinlein creates a utopian world of unparalleled prosperity and personal freedom and sketches out why it all works.

Beyond This Horizon, Fantasy, 1948.
A cobbled novel of a postscarcity civilization wherein people in general spend their time wondering what to do with their time, and the Heinleinian heroes make sure it is something very interesting (serialized in Astounding Science Fiction, April, May 1942).

Sixth Column, Gnome Press, 1949.
The Pan-Asian hordes have attacked and invaded the United States. Opposed to them is a group of researchers hidden away in an unmarked spot in the Rocky Mountains. Finally, when there are only six men left in the secret laboratory, they launch their secret weapon which only kill those with Mongolian blood (serialized in Astounding Science Fiction, January, February, March 1941).

The Puppet Masters, Doubleday, 1951.
Heinlein's paranoia-laden tale of sluglike creatures, arriving in saucer-shaped crafts to enslave the human population by the gruesome procedure of growing into each person's nervous system from a position on the upper back of the victim, making his or her profile hump-backed (serialized in Galaxy, September, October, November 1951).

Double Star, Doubleday, 1956.
Lorenzo Smythe, down-on-his-luck actor, is hired to impersonate kidnapped political leader Joseph Bonforte in a crucial ceremony on Mars. Smythe must overcome his aversion to Martians and his arrogance, before the ceremony can be successfully carried out. When the real Bonforte dies as the result of the abuse he receives in captivity, Smythe steps permanently into his shoes to carry out the plans of the fallen leader (serialized in Astounding Science Fiction, February, March, April 1956).

The Door Into Summer, Doubleday, 1957.
Dan Davis, an electronics engineer, invents an all-purpose robot and is shanghaied into suspended animation for thirty years by his business partner and his fiancee. He returns by way of time machine, rescues his cat, starts a rival company, proposes a future marriage to a twelve- year-old, and returns to the future to reap his reward (serialized in Fantasy & Science Fiction, October, November, December 1956).

Methuselah's Children, Gnome Press, 1958.
Members of the 'Families' were ordinary human beings, except for one slight difference -- they were extraordinarily long-lived. In the year 2125 A.D. this distinction was intolerable and they were hounded for a secret they did not possess. 'The Families' were forced to choose: torture and extinction by their jealous, short-lived fellow men or flight from Earth on an untested spaceship. They chose the spaceship and to their horror, discovered that the alien stars nourished a threat more terrifying than the one which had taken them from Earth (serialized in Astounding Science Fiction, January, February, March 1941).

Starship Troopers, Putnam, 1959.
A vast interplanetary war is being fought between Earth and the "Bugs". A young junior officer in the Terran Mobile Infantry recounts his experiences from his recruit days through a stint as a junion officer. In his rite of passage, the young space cadet has talks with wise veterans discussing such topics as capital punishment, juvenile delinquency, civic virtue, and why war is necessary (serialized in Fantasy & Science Fiction, October, November 1959).

Stranger In A Strange Land, Putnam, 1961.
To the Earth of a not-too-distant future comes Valentine Michael Smith, a human being born on Mars and educated by an alien race. Upon his arrival on Earth, he is befriended by some as he progresses from ignorance of Western culture to an understanding of human psychology. After spending some time under the tutelage of Jubal Harshaw, Mike sets forth on his own, eventually founding a new religion (uncut version published in 1990).

Glory Road, Putnam, 1963.
Oscar Gordon is chosen by Ishtar, queen of seven universes, to rescue the 'phoenix egg', the key to the computer complex of her government. He succeeds after several adventures that prove his courage (serialized in Fantasy & Science Fiction, July, August, September 1963).

Farnham's Freehold, Putnam, 1965.
Hugh Farnham and his family are caught in the blast of an atom bomb and dumped into the far future. The master race is black and they consider all others slaves. Farmham becomes a slave but eventually earns a very limited freedom. Hugh gets his family back to the proper time before the blast with a 'time machine. His family prepares for the fateful day and survive the nuclear blast in a cave (serialized in IF, July, August 1965).

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Putnam, 1966.
Manny Garcia is thrust unwillingly into a position of leadership in a lunar revolution, along with a wise old professor, a comely female companion, and a sentient computer named Mike. Luna, in the twenty-first century, is a penal colony with a large free-born and former-inmate population. The mechanics of the revolution are set out and the rationale endlessly discussed. The heroes unsuccessfully try to avoid bloodshed all the while knowing that some blood will have to flow (serialized in IF, December 1965, January, February, March, April 1966).

I Will Fear No Evil, Putnam, 1970.
Johann Sebastian Bach Smith, an extremely wealthy man, is being kept alive with the use of life support systems. A suitable donor is found, but it is the nubile body of his young secretary, who was killed by a mugger. Both personalities inhabit the same body and talk to each other. Johann Smith learns to look around with new eyes as a female (serialized in Galaxy, July, August, October, 1970).

Time Enough For Love, Putnam, 1973.
In 4272, Lazarus Long arrives at the planet Secundus to die. Rescued and rejuvenated against his desires, he is enticed into dictating his memoirs, amid philosophical debates concerning the nature of love. Lazarus learns the most about love from Dora, a woman of short lifespan. Eventually, following the removal of Lazarus and a coterie of his admiring descendents to a comfortable group marriage on another planet, the old man, restored to a youthful appearance, goes back in time to fulfill his desire for a new experience.

The Notebooks of Lazarus Long, Putnam,1978.
A collection of quotations from the book, 'Time Enough For Love'.

The Number of the Beast, Fawcett Columbine, 1979.
A book of anagrams and in-jokes paying homage to many of his literary heroes and mentioning a number of fellow writers and friends by name (serialized in Omni, October, November 1979).

Friday, HR&W, 1982.
A secret courier for a man known to her only as 'Boss', Friday tumbles from one scrape to the next, desperate for human identity and a place she can call home.

Job: A Comedy of Justice, Doubleday, 1984.
Fundamentalist preacher and fundraiser Alexander Hergensheimer walks through fire in Polynesia, passes out, and wakes up in a different world. Margrethe, the Danish stewardess, becomes his lover and they are flipped through a series of different worlds. Alex ends up in Heaven as a Saint but Margrethe cannot be with him. He joins her in Hell, which turns out to be a fairly civilized place. Satan helps Alex be reunited with Margrethe and they end up settling down in another world similiar to Earth.

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners, Putnam 1985.
Follow a traditional Heinlein hero, part philsopher, part rogue, Colonel Colin Campbell, alias Dr. Richard Ames, alias Senator Richard Johnson as he travels the worlds of past and future in an effort to control fate and avert disaster across time and space.

To Sail Beyond The Sunset, Putnam, 1987.
The autobiography of Lazarus Long's mother, it was a mix of ideas about sex and politics and longevity, as well as reminiscence of growing up in the midwest at the turn of the century.


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