Latest News

Virginia Edition

We’re Giving Away another Virginia Edition in 2025!

  For the ninth year in a row, the Society will raffle off a complete set of the Virginia Edition in September, 2025.  All you have to do is join or stay a member!   A  $45 Regular membership is all it takes to enter.  The rules follow: Eligibility: “Regular” members who join or renew their…
Read more

2024 Annual Meeting and Report

  The Annual Meeting was held on 8 September 2024, 4:00 pm eastern time.   The Annual Meeting Slides are linked. Zoom link and call-in information were sent out to members. You can reference a copy here. The Final 2023 Annual Meeting Minutes with Roll Call and Presentation Slides are linked. These minutes were revised for…
Read more

Balticon 58 Report

by the Board & Chairs Peanut Gallery Balticon 58 was held over Memorial Day weekend May 24-27, 2024. Secretary Betsey Wilcox and Elections Chair Will Hamilton travelled along with Director Jim Dutton to join up with locals Director Beatrice Kondo, Heinlein Journal Editor Herb Gilliland, and Operations Chair John Tilden. We met up with several…
Read more

THS Dinner honoring Heinlein Award Winner Tom Doherty

Come to a meal during Balticon 58 honoring 2024 Heinlein Award Winner Tom Doherty!   3 Course meal with choice of 4 Entrees, non-alcoholic drinks, tip, tax and surcharge, private room $80.00 per person Attendance Limited to 20 guests with payment by 15 May 2024 Alcoholic beverages are available on a separate per person check…
Read more

Famed Actor Will Receive the Heinlein Memorial Award for 2024

William Shatner (Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore) to Appear at the National Space Society’s Annual International Space Development Convention Famed Star Trek actor, celebrity, and private astronaut William Shatner will appear at the National Space Society’s 2024 International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in May. Mr. Shatner will be accepting the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award, which…
Read more

Tom Doherty Wins Heinlein Award

Tom Doherty, founder of TOR Books and Chair of Tom Doherty Associates, publishing under the Tor, Forge, Tordotcom, Starscape, Tor Teen, and Nightfire imprints, is the 2024 winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award. The award is bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space.…
Read more

A New Issue of THJ is Out!

It was worth the wait!  follow the link for Issue #31 of The Heinlein Journal to purchase outright or download with a coupon code as a regular or Lifetime member.  Check your email by 16 Feb 2024  for the particular code you should use.

New Officers for THS

The Board of the Society voted tonight for its new leadership & Executive Committee effective immediately: President & Chairman: Ken Walters Vice President: Walt Boyes Treasurer: Geo Rule Secretary: Betsey Wilcox Congratulations to all of them!  Note: The website contact addresses will be updated over a short period of time; you may continue to use…
Read more

2023 Election Results

Thanks to all who voted in the Society’s recent election for the Board of Directors. There were 4 open slots voted upon due to Herb Gilliland resigning from the Board. •The 3-year terms will be filled by Geo Rule, Jim Dutton, and John Seltzer (reelected) •Walt Boyes (reelected) will fill the remainder of Herb Gilliland’s…
Read more

2023 Annual Meeting Information

Our 2023 Annual Meeting was held on 10 September 2023 starting at 4:00 pm Eastern. The 2022 Annual Meeting Minutes were reviewed and accepted as a part of business.  You can read a copy of the 2023 Annual Meeting Presentation with housekeeping information deleted. At the link, there is a reading copy of FY 2023…
Read more

July 2023 Email to original PayPal Subscribers–“Change in Payment Systems”

The following email went out on 9 July 2023 to our longest PayPal subscribers.  Rest assured you are still members with an active subscription. This cancellation on PayPal was necessary to have users do renewals through our website. Dear Member:   Thank you for being a member of The Heinlein Society with a recurring PayPal…
Read more

June/July 2023 Membership-Website Changes

This email was sent out on 12 July 2023 but some PayPal subscription cancellations took place on 8 July 2023. Dear Member:   Firstly, thank you for being a member of The Heinlein Society. Recently, we have made some changes you should know about.  Since our inception we have been keeping manual records via an…
Read more

A Very Scalzi Balticon

Balticon 57 May 26-29, 2023 The Society had a wonderful time at 2023’s Balticon, held again at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel.  Balticon, run by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and many volunteers, is a very reader/writer/artist-centric convention.  The Heinlein Society has maintained a presence at Balticon for almost its entire existence. Since THS has a…
Read more

What I Am Reading 12.0

What I am Reading 12.0 By Betsey Wilcox Heads up: The next “The Thursday Murder Club” book from Richard Osman, and “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi, are scheduled for publication Sep 19, 2023.            John Scalzi – “The Android’s Dream”; Narrated by Wil Wheaton, Audible, HC, PB, Kindle Yes, I have read…
Read more

THS VP on Heinlein-related Podcast

Society Vice President Ken Walters was recently featured on episode 81 of Since The World’s Been Turning.  The podcast that discusses the points mentioned in Billy Joel’s song, We Didn’t Start The Fire.  While the topic of discussion was nominally the book Stranger in a Strange Land, the podcast touches on most of Heinlein’s biography. …
Read more

What Am I Reading? 11.0

What I am Reading 11.0 By Betsey Wilcox This time I have a mixed bag of books to tell you about, starting with British cozy mysteries then progressing into older published books which are getting a re-read, a new Preston and Child book, and a new Shining Smith novel. Heads up! The next “Murderbot Diaries”…
Read more

Errant Email sent through heinleinsociety.org 2/18/2023

Update 2/20/23: The email was an mistake by our website support company. I can also verify that member information was NOT compromised with the email being sent out. Those that responded to the email, it sets passwords etc. within a testing instance of our website, so it is safe to ignore. ——————————————————- Original Post: An…
Read more

Heinlein’s Brief Career in the Missouri National Guard

Early in 1924 Robert Heinlein was notified by the Senate Judiciary Committee that Senator James A. Reed had nominated him to Annapolis, but there was no guarantee when the actual appointment would come through.  In January of 1924 Robert lied about his age and joined the Missouri National Guard when he was only sixteen and…
Read more

John Scalzi Wins the 2023 Heinlein Award

John Scalzi, novelist and internet personality, is the 2023 winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award. The award is bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space. This award is in recognition of Mr. Scalzi’s body of work of 16 novels and numerous short stories.…
Read more

David Crosby and Heinlein

I received the sad news today that David Crosby had passed away.  It will be easy to find out about his musical career culminating with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, the first “super group.” What most people don’t know is that David Crosby was a lifelong fan of Robert A. Heinlein.  He commented in an…
Read more

Scholarship Program Posts 2012-2022

July 7, 2022 We were truly astonished at the growth in the number of scholarship applicants this year. We received a total of 567 applications, up from a record 383 last year. We also had more than twice as many international applicants – 53 – including 13 who had multiple citizenship. The international applicants hailed…
Read more

Announcing Our Scholarship Fund Drive!

The Society is proud to announce our scholarship fund drive!  We are raising money to fully-fund an investment account to take care of scholarship giving going forward at our 2022 levels. Find out how you could own a book from Heinlein’s library as a thank-you for donating to this drive.  Full information here.

A Heinlein Christmas Memory

December 1947 was a tough time for Robert and Ginny. Robert’s divorce from Leslyn was not final, so the only way they could be together was on the road. He invested some of his dwindling cash in a tiny house trailer he nicknamed the Gopher Hole, which he joked was formerly a piano box!  They…
Read more