Comments on: Late Period RAH

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 10:24:59 +0000

It’s entirely possible that Stross has read “Friday” so that we don’t have to, then gone and written a better book, for given values of “Better”.

There’s a sequel, “Neptune’s Brood” (which I haven’t read yet) which is all about mermaids in space, and has a plot about a massive financial scam,

By: John P

John P — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 23:45:30 +0000

I’ve not read Saturn’s Children but according to Wikipedia:
Stross has said that it is “a space opera and late-period [Robert A.] Heinlein tribute”(specifically Heinlein’s Friday)

So apparently Friday is late period RAH in which case you may be missing out on something. But then again maybe not. You’ll have to read it and find out. Mind you, I’m not sure I’d use such a strong word as “vital” for the work of any author either way.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 22:02:45 +0000

I have actually read a few of those (Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Tunnel in the Sky) as well as some of his early short stories.

Which late-period RAH was Stross’ “Saturn’s Children” inspired by?

By: John P.

John P. — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 20:58:06 +0000

You’ve previously made clear you don’t like his stuff so I’m not going to bother trying to change your mind but since you ask …

No idea what period they fall into but the ones I like are (in no particular order) Puppet Masters, Friday, Starship Troopers, Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Space Family Stone & Tunnel In The Sky. Then there’s Between Planets, Starman Jones, Have Spacesuit Will Travel & Man Who Sold The Moon which are OK but not something I will hurry back to. The other ones that I’ve read have the occasional nice feature but are otherwise uninteresting as far as I am concerned.

As the saying goes … YMMV.

By: Amadan

Amadan — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 16:38:37 +0000

Yeah, I liked his early stuff, up until about The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. His later stuff ranges from interesting but wanky to unreadable.

By: Serdar Yegulalp

Serdar Yegulalp — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:18:00 +0000

Other than a roaring good argument with rabid Heinlein fans, no, not really.