On August 17, Tor Books will publish the first half of William H. Patterson Jr.’s two-volume authorized biography of Robert A. Heinlein, Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1, 1907-1948: Learning Curve. In commemoration of this, we’ve convened a kind of online panel discussion of Heinlein and of the biography—of his work, his methods, and his legacy, and of what light the biography sheds on all of those.
Kicking things off will be longtime fan, Heinlein reader, and tech-industry journalist Mitch Wagner, followed by award-winning novelist (Tooth and Claw; Farthing) and prolific Tor.com blogger Jo Walton. Over the next several days, possibly as soon as today, we’ll also be hearing from John Scalzi (author of Old Man’s War and several other SF novels), Pamela Dean (author of Tam Lin and the Secret Country trilogy, and several other works of fantasy), Charles Stross (author of Halting State, the Merchant Princes series, and the Laundry series), and Sarah Hoyt (author of Ill Met by Moonlight, Death of a Musketeer, Draw One in the Dark, and many other works of SF, fantasy, and historical romance).
 |
| The Heinlein children, 1910 or 1911: Larry (tallest), Rex Ivar (middle), Louise, and Robert (seated). Courtesy of Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust |
All of our panelists are people who’ve been reading and thinking about Heinlein for a long time, and all of them have read Patterson’s book in advance of its publication. Once they all get past their initial statements, we hope to see them start batting notions back and forth between one another. And if you want to nudge the discussion in a direction that particularly interests you, don’t be shy—post in the comment section. We’ll be paying attention.
Follow the conversation so far:
- Robert A. Heinlein: A real-life Forrest Gump by Mitch Wagner
- “Out far, and onward yet!” Heinlein’s future history stories of the thirties and forties by Jo Walton
- Heinlein: Strangely Human by John Scalzi
- Coming Home by Sarah A. Hoyt
- Tomorrow Through the Past by Pamela Dean
- Patterson Heinlein biography: Not to be trusted on details by Jo Walton
- Through a backward telescope: Heinlein’s context by Charlie Stross
- The right kind of girl by Jo Walton
- Heinlein: Forward-looking diversity advocate or sexist bigot? Yes by Mitch Wagner
- Heinlein’s contradictory views on race by Mitch Wagner
- Heinlein and The Saturday Evening Post by John Scalzi
- Some responses to the opening posts of the Heinlein discussion by Pamela Dean
- The Customs Of His Tribe by Sarah A. Hoyt
- Heinlein Biographer Tells All by Mitch Wagner
- A brief thought about why Heinlein discussions frequently become acrimonious by Jo Walton
- American, Like Me by Sarah A. Hoyt
- The Undead Robert Heinlein by John Scalzi
- What Do Heinlein Women Want? by Sarah A. Hoyt
- Robert A. Heinlein’s technical prophecies by Mitch Wagner
- The Church of Heinlien (mildly) Reformed by Sarah A. Hoyt
Patrick Nielsen Hayden is a senior editor at Tor Books and, with Liz Gorinsky, one of the two fiction editors of Tor.com. Read more about him on the Tor.com About Us page.
Nothing yet?
A bunch of articles have been posted. There isn’t a central list of them as separate from other artilces on this site.
A couple of links (not sure if the spamfilters here will let them through):
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/08/robert-a-heinlein-a-real-life-forrest-gump
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/08/qout-far-and-onward-yetq-heinleins-future-history-stories-of-the-thirties-and-forties
I’m glad to be here. I finally figured out how to get to the site (I’m gifted that way. I keep all my computer knowledge in my husband’s head, which is a problem when he’s not here.) I will now figure out how to navigate the discussion.
*my latest book is Darkship Thieves.
Thanks Cap –
Captain Button,
You need not fear the spam filter as long as you present links as you did. But it’s possible to make them clickable links as well (using the codes found by clicking the link just above the comment text box), such as:
Robert A. Heinlein: A Real Life Forrest Gump
“Out far, and onward yet!” Heinlein’s future history stories of the thirties and forties
By the way, the front page link to this requires manual adjustment to work correctly.
And thanks for fixing that link.
If it is permissible to talk about that here, does anyone know which of the bookstore chains are stocking this book?
Mitch Wagner’s podcast indicated one chain that wasn’t and one that was. And a third chain near me doesn’t have it in their local store and apparently doesn’t plan to. And the chain that is doesn’t have any stores near here.
I’d prefer to buy it at a bricks and mortar store if feasible.
ObHeinlein: The bit about never undercutting your retailer in, umm, I think it was I Will Fear No Evil.
Is this an event of scheduled length or is it going until the discussion winds down?
To answer my own question, I just picked up a copy at my local B&N.
In the link to the article by Sarah Hoyt about the Church of Heinlein, his name is misspelled as Heinlien.
I’m about halfway through this book–yes, it took me till now to get it into my hands–and finding it very affecting.
great is publishing i liked your website
http://eliminarlagrasa.com/ Eliminar la Grasa
Mitch Wagner’s podcast indicated one chain that wasn’t and one that was. And a third chain near me doesn’t have it in their local store and apparently doesn’t plan to. And the chain that is doesn’t have any stores near here.
http://eliminarlagrasa.com/culturismosintonterias/ Culturismo sin Tonterias