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From: brust@hyper.UUCP (Steven Brust)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: NofTheBeast - True STINKER
Message-ID: <168@hyper.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Apr-85 11:37:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: hyper.168
Posted: Fri Apr 26 11:37:12 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 3-May-85 03:00:11 EDT
References: <147@yetti.UUCP> <1331@reed.UUCP>
Organization: Network Systems Corp., Mpls., Mn.
Lines: 24

> ......  It is true that after one reads two or three of his books,
> the characters all sound the same, but that is not what makes him a
> great s.f. writer.  It is, instead, his tremendous vision into the
> future, the fascinating nature of his speculations, that hold the
> reader.  I have read just about everything he has written.  Some of
> his books have offended me (Starship Troopers, Farnham's Freehold)
> and some have bored me (Number of the Beast and most of his
> childrens books).  Still, I come back for more everytime, and I
> find it irritating to have to wait until the paperback comes out so
> that I can afford to read his latest novel.  ..................
> 
> 
> 						Bill Baker
> 						tektronix!reed!wab

Yes.  To paraphrase one notable SF writer (Pamela Dean), "Starship
Troopers is infuriating and you can't stay away from it."  This
happens a lot.  The thing is, as Alexi Panshin said, Heinlien could
write a laundry list that would read well.  And the other thing is,
check out which standard SF themes were FIRST covered by Heinlein,
and in many cases covered best by Heinlein.  Oh, and by the way,
I LIKE most of his children's books.

				-- SKZB