I don't think there's much question that Spider tied down all the non-Heinlein keys on his typewriter, leaving him a limited palette from which to work.

Variable Star reads not so much like a 13th juvenile - and I note the blogger is omitting the quasi-juveniles ST and Podkayne - as it does like a very well-done Heinlein pastiche. Anyone who's read a sweep of Sherlock Holmes pastiches will find themselves in familar territory reading VS.

...

I have sketched at an analysis of Spider's novels over the years, but the truth is that it's unavoidably uncomplimentary and I will likely never complete or publish it. It would be received as Robinson in Dimension - not wanting my name and Apie's to ever appear in the same dependent clause, besides liking Spider too much (for the good parts of his writing, and personally) to deal him any dirt, pretty much nails the box shut.

I will say that the chapter on VS would be long, but not by any means the longest.

I'll give the writer of this post points for earnestness, but his analysis of Heinlein's career is quite shallow and focuses on irrelevant aspects IMHO. I can't comment on his analysis of Spider's career and style because I've never read Spider's stuff, except VS. I did meet and listen to Spider at the Centennial though, and enjoyed that very much.

I thought the first several (pre-launch) chapters of VS were very well executed. They really did read like a more contemporary Heinlein juvenile. After the launch, though...ZZZZZZZ.

James, I always considered Heinlein in Dimension to be a love letter to RAH, so if you wrote Robinson in Dimension it would imply a different book to me than what I think you're implying.

By the way, have you seen the outline that Robinson used for Variable Star, and how does it match the book? And I can't help but believe that RAH wrote Time for the Stars from the same kind of brainstorming that he might have been doing when he wrote that outline. Does the outline contain telepathic communicators? If it does, it would seem very strange that Heinlein didn't abandon that outline for one for Time for the Stars.

I just happen to be re-reading Variable Star at the moment and I believe the only way to read this novel is see it as a Spider work with strong RAH overtones.

I read the book when it first came out and it has sat on a shelf since, needing something to read
I decided to re-read and am enjoying it. I am sure RAH would have done things differently, but I accept the story for what it is and will probably come back to it in 3 or 4 yrs.

Was "pay it forward" originally Ben Franklin or does it predate even him? And was it RAH or Spider Robinson that really pushed it?

Several cites (as well as sites) say it appeared in a letter from Benjamin Franklin to Benjamin Webb dated April 22, 1784. (Hopefully they are not all citing each other. ) Apprently there is a movement of some kind with that name as well.

What I found interesting was where VS fits into the Future History universe as extended by World as Myth. There are obvious points of contact, as the New Frontiers exists in the world of VS, but was not hijacked by Lazarus Long and his crew of Howards. Also, Andy Libby appears as the inventor of the FTL drive, but his circumstances in this story are apparently incompatible with his history from Methuselah's Children onward.

From this I conclude that the universe of VS is a hitherto undiscovered branch of the Future Historuy timeline (was that line 2?). The most likely branch point would appear to be the establishment of the Ira Howard Foundation. This is contradictory to statements made in Heinlein's other work asserting that all the major timelines share a common history up to the early twentieth century - but that statement is wrong anyway because several of the other timelines lack the Howards.

Steve

I read Variable Star for the first time a few months ago. You're right about Andy Libby and Lazarus Long and others. I need to unpack and reread some of my Heinlein and see which correlations I can make.

Having read the outline Spider worked from, it is extensive -- it does have a precipice at the end, as the outline feels as if it's missing the last page, but that could have simply been RAH's often abrupt endings (abrupt until you realize the story is, in fact, finished).

Spider also had a few notecards and such.

Being the person who brought the outline to Spider's attention (on a panel about FUTL and other unpublished Heinlein treasures, so a woman in the audience at Torcon could shout out "Let Spider write it!", I can tell you Spider knew the outline quite well.

Robert

Is Heinlein's Variable Star outline available at the archives? I started reading the book but I'd enjoy it MUCH more if I knew honestly what Spider Robinson was working from. I'm several chapters in, and so far I think SP did a fine job--but I don't like some of the publicity materials that refer to the book as a "collaboration".