Today (July 7) is the birthday of Robert Heinlein, one of the greatest science fiction writers of the past century.
In honor of his birthday, the Prometheus blog remembers and celebrates Heinlein (1907-1988), hailed by his peers as a Grand Master of science fiction and perhaps the most famous and widely read libertarian sf author of his era.
Heinlein also is the author most often honored and recognized with Prometheus Awards – a grand total of nine.
So it’s no surprise that the Prometheus Blog over its first seven years has posted 46 articles, reviews, essays, news stories or author’s updates about him – more than those about any other author.
Most of Heinlein’s works retain their story-telling power and prescient relevance, so today’s a good day to check out something by or about Heinlein.
THE BEST OF THE BLOG
To whet your appetite, here’s a selective sample of nine of the most interesting and illuminating articles the blog has posted about Heinlein, his fiction and his legacy:
* “Origin Story: What Heinlein’s previously unseen fiction and never-produced TV series reveal about his libertarian classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,” an essay by William H. Stoddard
* “Heinlein’s Children: Tom Jackson’s fanzine essay on libertarians in sf fandom”
* “Economics in Science Fiction: The Specter of Overproduction (from Pohl and Huxley to Heinlein),” a comparative essay by William H. Stoddard
* “An early ‘juvie’ adventure in liberty on Wild West Mars: Robert Heinlein’s Red Planet, the 1996 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner,” an appreciation review-essay by Anders Monsen
* “Authority, responsibility and a man from Mars: Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, a 1987 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner,” a review-essay appreciation by William H. Stoddard
HEINLEIN’S PROMETHEUS-WINNING NOVELS
If you have the time to invest, read or reread one of the novels that has been inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction:
You couldn’t do better than to pick The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – one of the first two works of fiction inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction (in 1983) – may be Heinlein’s most famous novel.
The bestselling 1966 Hugo Award winner, arguably his most libertarian novel, popularized the libertarian slogan TANSTAAFL (“There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch”) as a rallying cry in a story imagining an American-Revolution-style revolt of “rational anarchists” for liberty on the moon.
Check out William H. Stoddard’s Appreciation review-essay about Heinlein’s classic.
For younger readers (and older fans who remain young at heart), Heinlein’s so-called tightly written “juveniles” are a real treat.
Perhaps the best and most sophisticated one – inducted in 2022 into the Hall of Fame – is Citizen of the Galaxy, which has a profound anti-slavery theme and which takes its protagonist from young boyhood to early adulthood and through a succession of social environments and planets.
Overall, six of Heinlein novels have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Stranger in a Strange Land, Red Planet, Methuselah’s Children and Time Enough for Love.
HEINLEIN’S PROMETHEUS-WINNING STORIES
If you don’t have time enough for Time Enough for Love (one of his longer novels) or are too busy right now to read another novel, you might honor Heinlein by spending a small part of your day reading one of his stories.
For starters, we suggest one of the three stories inducted so far into the Hall of Fame.
But which one?
To help you decide, click on the links to the blog’s appreciation review-essays of each Prometheus winner: “Requiem,” the 2003 winner; “Coventry,” the 2017 winner; and “Free Men,” the 2023 winner.
(The latter appreciation was written by Karl K. Gallagher, a lifelong Heinlein fan who has been recognized frequently as a Prometheus Best Novel finalist.)
For more about Heinlein, here is the link to all of the blog posts about Heinlein published so far on the Prometheus Blog.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:
* Prometheus winners: For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt), Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Michael! I don’t know where you got the 1903-1950 dates, but Heinlein’s dates are July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988. If only he’d lived until August, his abbreviated dates would have been 7/7/07 to 8/8/88, but such was not to be. Other than that, a great article about a great author and man.
— Victor, thanks for catching that typo. The dates have been corrected in the story.