Latest News

Annual Meeting

Our by-laws, adopted by the Board of Directors in 2002, and as amended, require that the board conduct an annual general membership meeting each year during the time and at the place of the annual World Science Fiction convention, when held in North America, and when not at a place in North America, at whatever…
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Virginia Heinlein: A Biography

A biography of Virginia Gerstenfeld Heinlein, wife of Robert Heinlein, founder of the Heinlein Society by Robert James, Ph.D.

Robert A. Heinlein: A Biography

A brief biography of Robert A. Heinlein by William H. Patterson, Jr., author of the Locus Award-winning, Hugo-nominated biography of Heinlein: Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve

Books and Stories

Books and Stories Between Planets Beyond This Horizon “The Black Pits of Luna” “Blowups Happen” The Cat Who Walks Through Walls Citizen of the Galaxy “Coventry” The Day After Tomorrow “Delilah and the Space Rigger” The Door Into Summer Double Star Farmer in the Sky Farnham’s Freehold Friday “Gentlemen, Be Seated!” Glory Road “The Green…
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How I first encountered Heinlein…

How I first encountered Heinlein… by David Wright, Sr.

Dragon Con 2008 Blood Drive

A report on the Dragon Con Blood Drive 2008 by Dr. Alan Koslow, M.D. The Heinlein Society first started sponsoring the Robert Heinlein pay it forward blood drive at Dragon Con in 2003. From the very first year it has been our biggest success, thanks to the great support of the convention and the wonderful staff of LifeSouth

The Robert A Heinlein Centennial

The Centennial celebration of Robert A Heinlein’s birth took place in Kansas City over the period from Thursday July 5 to Sunday July 8, 2007.  The Program Schedule and Narrative Comments and Overview are presented here with permission from William Patterson, Editor and Publisher of the Heinlein Journal.   Robert A Heinlein Centennial

At WorldCon 2004

Heinlein Society At WorldCon 2004 09.04.04 Day Two — The Heinlein Society’s Second Day, Friday, September 3, 2004, at World Con (Noreascon Four) was busier than a payday’s night at the hookshop Lazarus Long ran on Mars, where blind Rhysling spent months while bumming around the System with his squeeze box. Our blooddrive was held…
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STRANGER VS STRANGER

Heinlein Society This is copyrighted material and may not be copied or reproduced in any form, including on other websites, without permission of the copyright holder. STRANGER VS STRANGER: Comparing Versions of Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land” by G. E. Rule ©1994 G. E. Rule “My reputation rests almost solely on how I tell…
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CAMPBELL ON HEINLEIN: SELECTIONS FROM THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL LETTERS

Heinlein Society – Scholastic/Academic articles Posted 06.11.2004 CAMPBELL ON HEINLEIN: SELECTIONS FROM THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL LETTERS This is copyrighted material and may not be copied or reproduced in any form, including on other websites, without permission of the copyright holder. Selected and introduced by Robert Gorsch Professor of English Saint Mary’s College of California…
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Sir Arthur Clarke Named Recipient of 2004 Heinlein Award

Heinlein Society Press Release: 05.22.04 Sir Arthur Clarke Named Recipient of 2004 Heinlein Award MAY 22, 2004— The Heinlein Society announced today that the panel of judges for the Robert A. Heinlein Award for outstanding published work in hard science fiction or technical writings inspiring the human exploration of space has chosen Sir Arthur C.…
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Heinlein History: Kansas City, Missouri

Heinlein History: Kansas City, Missouri around the time the Heinlein family lived there… ©2000 Deb Houdek Rule Robert A. Heinlein was born in 1907 in Butler, Missouri. A few years later the family moved to Kansas City where he grew up. Kansas City around this time figures prominently in several Heinlein pieces, being the homes…
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The Lost Manuals

The Lost Manuals by J. Neil Schulman: Sooner or later we all imagine there’s a set of technical manuals our parents were supposed to give us at birth with instructions on How Life Works. Look no further: you’ll find the closest thing to the Lost Manuals in the science fiction section: the author was Robert A. Heinlein.

Robert Heinlein: Murder Suspect

In his 1942 novel Rocket to the Morgue, Anthony Boucher captured this moment in science fiction history and preserved it by using his friends and fellow members of the Mañana Literary Society as the suspects in a murder mystery.

All You Zombies: Reviewed by David Wright

“All You Zombies” by Robert A. Heinlein Reviewed by David Wright ©2004 This short time travel story of Heinlein’s appeared some 18 years later than “By His Bootstraps” with which it bears much in common. It is considered by many to be the ultimate in time travel stories. A young man who appears to be…
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Robert and Rex Ivar Heinlein at the Naval Academy

Robert A. Heinlein and Rex Ivar Heinlein, Jr. at the Naval Academy at Annapolis contributed by Deb Houdek Rule and Geo Rule Robert A. Heinlein United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, class of 1929 “He does have uncanny ability to do those things which to others seem impossible.” – Lucky Bag, 1929 “…the foil was…
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The Long Watch

The Long Watch: Johnny’s On the Spot! by David M. Silver©1997 “The Long Watch” is a short story first published in American Legion Magazine (December 1949), in a “heavily edited” form, later republished in original form in the collections The Green Hills of Earth (1951) and The Past Through Tomorrow (1967). This précis is written…
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Methuselah’s Children

Robert A. Heinlein first published Methuselah’s Children in a serialized version in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in July through September 1941. He completely rewrote, expanded and republished the novel independently in 1958 and collected the longer version in The Past Through Tomorrow (1982), the version on which this precis is based.

Voyage to a Thousand Cares

Voyage to a Thousand Cares: Background on Slavery in Citizen of the Galaxy by David M. Silver ©2004 Voyage to a Thousand Cares: Master’s Mate Lawrence with the Africa Squadron, 1844-1846 by C. Herbert Gilliland One of the more intriguing unwritten back stories in Heinlein’s oeuvre is the story of Colonel Baslim’s rescue of a…
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A Martian Named Smith: Book Review

The Martian Named Smith: Book Review by Jane Davitt: There are as many opinions about Robert Heinlein’s ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ as there are words in the book – and it’s quite a long book. However, most of the opinions have one thing in common and that is the labeling of the book as ‘science fiction’ with all critical judgments being circumscribed by the parameters of this sub set of fiction. William Patterson and Andrew Thornton have decided to take a less trodden path and in so doing have given us a fresh perspective on a book, four decades old, that is still capable of producing controversy and muddled thinking amongst readers and reviewers.

Heinlein’s Women: Strong Women Characters in the Heinlein Juveniles

Heinlein’s Women: Role Model Characters in the Heinlein Juveniles by Deb Houdek Rule ©2003 This article is based on a presentation given by me at BayCon 2003, May 24, 2003, in a panel discussion by Heinlein Society members on Heinlein’s Women characters. My portion of the discussion was on the older women characters in the…
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Strong Women Characters in Early Heinlein

Strong Women Characters in Early Heinlein by G. E. Rule (Geo Rule) ©2003   This article is based on a presentation given by me at BayCon 2003, May 24, 2003, in a panel discussion by Heinlein Society members on Heinlein’s Women characters. My portion of the discussion was on the portrayal of Women characters prior…
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If This Goes On…

From Bill Patterson, author of the Heinlein biography, a study of Heinlein’s story If This Goes On: The composition of “If This Goes On—” took place in August and September of 1939 and shows Heinlein in full command of his very identifiable prose style and distinctive “voice,” less than six months after he started commercial writing.

Coventry: Reviewed

Coventry: Reviewed by David M. Silver ©2001 “Coventry” is an oft-ignored short story in The Future History Series chronologically and conceptually taking place between the novelette “If This Goes On . . .” (ASF, Feb-Mar 1940, rewritten and expanded for collection 1953) and the novel Methuselah’s Children (ASF Jul-Aug-Sep 1941, rewritten and expanded for book…
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A Flight of Speculation

After World War II, Heinlein tells us, he resumed writing with two objectives: “first to explain the meaning of atomic weapons through popular articles… I wrote nine articles intending to shed light on the post Hiroshima age, and I never worked harder on any writing, researched the background more thoroughly, tried harder to make the (grim and horrid) message entertaining and reasonable…I continued to write those articles until the U.S.S.R. rejected the United States’ proposals for controlling and outlawing atomic weapons… and I stopped trying to pedal articles based on tying down the Bomb… –Was I really so naif that I though I could change the course of history this way? No, not really. But damn it, I had to try!” Heinlein referred to these articles as his “failing at World Saving.” Recently, Ed Wysocki wrote, for the The Heinlein Journal, an article about one of these attempts, entitled “Flight Into the Future.” By special arrangement with the author and the Journal, this paper is republished here. This is especially significant because it is the only one of Heinlein’s cautionary articles written after World War II that he was able to get published.