3caa152b   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com   
      
   Robin Sullivan wrote:   
   > So I recently joined a SF/Fantasy Group and of course they talk about   
   > him a lot.  It is obvious he has a major influence on the genre -   
      
   	There are quite a few major influences which are declining in   
   readership. One of my favorite authors, E.E. "Doc" Smith, was one of the   
   most influential authors in the field, but he's now an acquired taste   
   for most people, and a lot of people aren't going to bother to acquire it.   
      
   	Heinlein isn't in the same boat -- Doc Smith's *style* of writing is   
   very different from modern SF, while Heinlein's is still fairly close to   
   modern novel writing, so just the language use isn't driving people away   
   from Heinlein, unlike Doc's work. (Heinlein, however, WAS influenced by   
   Doc, as was just about every other SF author for two generations)   
      
   > being that I'm not familiar with him - if I were to start - where do   
   > you suggest I begin?   
      
   	The short story collection "The Past Through Tomorrow" (which includes   
   a couple of short novels) is perhaps the best overall showcase. Also his   
   "juveniles", which were written for the teenage audience (in the 1950s,   
   roughly), are generally considered very good, with "Have Spacesuit, Will   
   Travel" and "Citizen of the Galaxy" being probably the best and "Rocket   
   Ship Galileo" usually singled out as the weakest.   
      
   	There is a lot of STRONG division on his novels and which are good,   
   bad, or indifferent. In general, most people divide along temporal lines   
   where they see "Late Heinlein" as very different from "Early Heinlein".   
   The exact dividing line, like any writing division, is somewhat fuzzy.   
   "Stranger in a Strange Land", his most famous novel, shows the first   
   signs of what became "Late Heinlein", but isn't entirely a Late Heinlein   
   novel, and he produced a couple of other things afterward which are   
   generally classed more with the Early than Late.   
      
   	Of his adult novels, "Double Star" may be the one that has the least   
   argument about how good it is. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is often   
   also considered one of his best works, but there's some controversy   
   associated with it. "The Puppet Masters" is a classic of alien invasion.   
   "Waldo" (often paired with "Magic, Inc.") is also a classic (without so   
   simple a description of what it's a classic OF).   
      
   	His most controversial novel, aside from Stranger, is probably   
   "Starship Troopers". People generally either love it or detest it.   
      
   	I happen to be in the "Late Heinlein sucks" camp, so I have a harder   
   time judging the good/bad divide there. However, of later RAH (Robert   
   Anson Heinlein) novels, I would say that "Time Enough For Love"   
   represents a transition point, with some material that's really good   
   mixed with some not very good. "The Number of the Beast" is in a way   
   sort of the canonical Late Heinlein novel. The most readable of his   
   later output -- again, for me -- is "Job: A Comedy of Justice".   
      
   	His WORST novels from my point of view are "To Sail Beyond the Sunset"   
   and "I Will Fear No Evil"; the latter is something of an outlier in that   
   it overlaps the Earlier period, but at the time RAH was very sick and   
   there's no doubt that the illness, coupled with the fact that due to his   
   illness a less-polished draft was used for publication, contributed to this.   
      
      
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