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From: barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: RAH : FRIDAY
Message-ID: <958@ames.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Apr-85 14:33:10 EST
Article-I.D.: ames.958
Posted: Wed Apr 24 14:33:10 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Apr-85 23:12:20 EST
References: <1730@topaz.ARPA>
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 23

>The thing that I found most annoying about FRIDAY was that it seemed as
>thought Heinlein had an idea for a novel, and wrote it, but he couldn't
>end the story well. Then he remembered this little short story idea that
>he couldn't sell (for good reason) so he changed the short story around
>a bit and made it into the ending for the novel. 

	I think you will find this flaw in many of Heinlein's novels.
His plots often tend to peter out in midstream, or to be aborted in
mid- flight. As examples, consider TIME FOR THE STARS, where the ship's
voyages are suddenly ended by the discovery of FTL offstage, or TUNNEL
IN THE SKY, where the survival efforts of the protagonists are halted
abruptly by the repair of the transmitter back on Earth, or PODKAYNE OF
MARS, where Poddy sets out for Earth, but hasn't even gotten there when
the novel ends. The most extreme example is probably TNoTB, where the
original plot (with the "black hats") is simply denied and cancelled,
but the book goes on (and on).
	Heinlein is my favorite SF writer, but he ain't perfect.

-  From the Crow's Nest  -                      Kenn Barry
                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
                                                Moffett Field, CA
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