{"id":7872,"date":"2024-07-07T00:14:27","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T05:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=7872"},"modified":"2024-07-14T18:23:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-14T23:23:48","slug":"robert-heinlein-remembering-the-grand-master-on-his-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/robert-heinlein-remembering-the-grand-master-on-his-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Heinlein: Remembering the Grand Master on his birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today (July 7) is the birthday of Robert Heinlein, one of the greatest science fiction writers of the past century.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Robert Heinlein in the 1920s (Photo courtesy of Heinlein Trust archives)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Heinlein also is the author most often honored and recognized with Prometheus Awards \u2013 a grand total of nine.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s no surprise that the Prometheus Blog over its first seven years has posted 46 articles, reviews, essays, news stories or author\u2019s updates about him \u2013 more than those about any other author.<\/p>\n

Most of Heinlein\u2019s works retain their story-telling power and prescient relevance, so today\u2019s a good day to check out something by or about Heinlein.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

THE BEST OF THE BLOG
\n<\/strong>
\nTo whet your appetite, here\u2019s a selective sample of nine of the most interesting and illuminating articles the blog has posted about Heinlein, his fiction and his legacy:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Robert Heinlein (Photo courtesy of the Heinlein Trust)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* \u201cOrigin Story: What Heinlein\u2019s previously unseen fiction and never-produced TV series reveal about his libertarian classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,<\/em>\u201d<\/a> an essay by William H. Stoddard<\/p>\n

* \u201cSlavery, family and a fight for liberty in a \u2018juvenile\u2019 for all readers: An appreciation of Heinlein\u2019s Citizen of the Galaxy<\/em>, the 2022 Prometheus Hall of fame winner\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

* \u201cHeinlein\u2019s Children: Tom Jackson\u2019s fanzine essay on libertarians in sf fandom\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

* \u201cEconomics in Science Fiction: The Specter of Overproduction (from Pohl and Huxley to Heinlein),\u201d<\/a> a comparative essay by William H. Stoddard<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Robert Heinlein in 1929 as a student military cadet at the U.S. Navy Academy (Photo courtesy of Heinlein Trust)* \u201cLove, liberty, longevity and Lazarus Long: Robert Heinlein\u2019s Time Enough for Love,<\/em> the 1998 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner\u201d<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* \u201cAn early \u2018juvie\u2019 adventure in liberty on Wild West Mars: Robert Heinlein\u2019s Red Planet<\/em>, the 1996 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner,\u201d<\/a> an appreciation review-essay by Anders Monsen<\/p>\n

* \u201cLove, liberty, longevity and Lazarus Long: Robert Heinlein\u2019s Time Enough for Love,<\/em> the 1998 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

* \u201cAuthority, responsibility and a man from Mars: Robert Heinlein\u2019s Stranger in a Strange Land,<\/em> a 1987 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner,\u201d<\/a> a review-essay appreciation by William H. Stoddard<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>* \u201cYou can\u2019t enslave a free man\u201d \u2013 Heinlein Society acceptance speech for \u201cFree Men,\u201d the 2023 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner<\/a><\/p>\n

* “Writer J. Daniel Sawyer pays tribute to Heinlein in fiction, non-fiction \u2013 and praises the Prometheus awards, too”<\/a><\/p>\n

HEINLEIN\u2019S PROMETHEUS-WINNING NOVELS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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:<\/p>\n

You couldn\u2019t do better than to pick The Moon is a Harsh Mistress<\/em> \u2013 one of the first two works of fiction inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction (in 1983) \u2013 may be Heinlein\u2019s most famous novel.<\/p>\n

The bestselling 1966 Hugo Award winner, arguably his most libertarian novel, popularized the libertarian slogan TANSTAAFL (\u201cThere Ain\u2019t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch\u201d) as a rallying cry in a story imagining an American-Revolution-style revolt of \u201crational anarchists\u201d for liberty on the moon.<\/p>\n

Check out William H. Stoddard\u2019s Appreciation review-essay<\/a> about Heinlein\u2019s classic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For younger readers (and older fans who remain young at heart), Heinlein\u2019s so-called tightly written \u201cjuveniles\u201d are a real treat.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the best and most sophisticated one \u2013 inducted in 2022 into the Hall of Fame \u2013 is Citizen of the Galaxy,<\/em> <\/a>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.<\/p>\n

Overall, six of Heinlein novels have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Stranger in a Strange Land,<\/a> Red Planet,<\/a> Methuselah\u2019s Children<\/a> <\/em>and Time Enough for Love.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

HEINLEIN\u2019S PROMETHEUS-WINNING STORIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>If you don\u2019t have time enough for Time Enough for Love<\/em> (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.<\/p>\n

For starters, we suggest one of the three stories inducted so far into the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

But which one?<\/p>\n

To help you decide, click on the links to the blog\u2019s appreciation review-essays of each Prometheus winner: \u201cRequiem,\u201d<\/a> the 2003 winner; “Coventry,\u201d<\/a> the 2017 winner; and \u201cFree Men,\u201d<\/a> the 2023 winner.<\/p>\n

(The latter appreciation was written by Karl K. Gallagher, a lifelong Heinlein fan who has been recognized frequently as a Prometheus Best Novel finalist.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Robert Heinlein at his writing desk in the 1940s Photo courtesy of Heinlein Trust archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For more about Heinlein, here is the link to all of the blog posts<\/a> about Heinlein published so far on the Prometheus Blog.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>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\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch <\/strong>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony<\/a> with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer<\/a> and Sarah Hoyt)<\/a>, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a><\/strong> for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us! <\/em><\/strong>To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading Robert Heinlein: Remembering the Grand Master on his birthday<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,1860,37],"tags":[1700,1312,1096,2447,268,157,914,21,158,83],"class_list":["post-7872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-updates","category-robert-heinlein","category-memorial-tributes","tag-free-men","tag-citizen-of-the-galaxy","tag-coventry","tag-methusalehs-children","tag-prometheus-hall-of-fame","tag-red-planet","tag-requiem","tag-robert-heinlein","tag-stranger-in-a-strange-land","tag-the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-22Y","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7872"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7932,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7872\/revisions\/7932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}