Off The Shelf
by Larissa March
Variable Star
by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson
Tor Books
I’ve been a fan of Robert Heinlein since I first found out
about him by sneaking a copy of Stranger in a Strange Land off of a
bookshelf while babysitting for someone. I’ve been a fan of
Spider’s since I randomly stumbled on a copy of Time
Travelers Strictly Cash while working at a used bookstore. A
book started by Heinlein in outline years before his death, then
fleshed out and finished by Spider, who is himself a huge Heinlein fan?
Could be really good, could be really awful.
Fortunately, it’s really good. It reads a lot like Spider
Robinson characters in a Heinlein juvenile, but I was glad to find that
my initial urge to say “Yeah, that’s pure
Heinlein” or “That’s just like
Spider” went away quickly. It’s an excellent
collaboration, and more notable for the fact that as a collaboration it
really couldn’t have give and take short of an Ouija board.
As Spider tells the story in the afterword, it was mentioned at a
Worldcon panel in 2003 that there were Heinlein stories that had never
been published, never even been finished. One in particular had been
started, then stuck in a drawer and forgotten. All that was left were
the first 7 pages of an outline of
unknown length, and fourteen index cards. When the cry went up
“You should get Spider Robinson to finish that
novel!” it just so happened that Heinlein’s
literary agent (coincidentally also Spider’s agent) and the
trustee for Heinlein’s estate were at the panel. Significant
glances were traded, leading to what Spider calls “the
challenge of my life.”
Heinlein’s partial outline included the main characters,
their backstories, their world, and the basic starting premise of the
story – then cut off midsentence. Spider sweated blood to
make the rest of it fall into place, and fortunately it does, quite
well. Not wanting to spoil it, I will simply say that the basic premise
is a bright young man joins a colony ship to escape a romance gone
extraordinarily badly wrong on Earth, which won’t seem at all
novel, but it builds from there to present you with entertaining
characters, well thought out detail, and a solid emotional story that
kept me sucked in to the end. There are certainly bits, turns of
phrase, and characters who will instantly recall this story or that
story by either author, and there is some rather pointed parallel
creating with our own current world towards the end, but as a story it
is well done and grabbing enough that I absolutely had to finish it
before going to bed.
The Android's Dream
by John Scalzi
Tor Books
John Scalzi is better known for the excellent Old Man's War universe,
but this book is an entertaining right turn into complete
bizarreness.
Harry Creek, diplomatic announcer of bad news to aliens, has been
saddled with the strangest job of his career. A human
diplomat with a grudge has assassinated his alien counterpart
by inciting him into an apoplectic stroke with strategically
farted insults. As a result, representatives of the alien
race have threatened war against the
technologically inferior Earth unless demands can be met. Specifically,
they want a sheep. A sheep of the very rare breed known as Android's
Dream, to be used in their own internal power struggles.
(Does it go without saying that the sheep is electric blue?)
The story gets stranger and funnier from there, as Creek finds the last
remaining genetic example of the Android's Dream and they go
on the run after a disasterous date, hiding from any number
of factions who want to kill, keep or manipulate the key to
power among the Nidu clans. Along the way they find erratic
help from a unique Church, a tour group of bitter veterans
from the last war against the Nidu, a teenaged AI, and some
truly unusual aliens. Overall, the surreal flavor of the insanity
reminds me a lot of Douglas Adams, with a very satisfying twist at the
end. I doubt that this will turn into an ongoing series the
way Old Man's War has, but it's a great standalone in yet another well
imagined universe, which Scalzi does so well.
© 2008 Larissa March
Larissa March is a New Englander who has been sucessfully
transplanted to Georgia, where she has put down roots with her husband, two
cats, and an improbable number of books.
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