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NickDoten
NitroForum Oldster
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:05 am Posts: 238
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Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
From the Sturgeon book " The Golden Helix" short story "And Now the News...." a bit of interesting intro by Sturgeon where he says :
"..........One more thing about this story: I had written to a friend with the complaint that I hadn't an idea in my head, and needed one urgently. On a cold November morning my wife and I opened his response. Twenty-six story ideas- a paragraph, a sentence, a situation. Clipped to the pages was a check with a note: "I have the feeling your credit is bent". As my wife and I stared at it and each other- the furnace stopped. That furnace would stop for only two reasons: the house was warm enough, or we had run out of fuel, and it certainly wasn't warm enough. Right on cue. We both wept.
This story springs from one of the springboards in that package, and the springboarder's name is Robert H. Heinlein, and I'm pleased at this opportunity to acknowledge this single favor among the many he has done me by his writings and by his- well his being."
A friend indeed !
Nick
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Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:53 pm |
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JackKelly
NitroForum Oldster
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:57 am Posts: 669 Location: DC Metro
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
Thanks, Nick. I had not heard that antecdote before. Of course, Heinlein was generous with money and encouragement for several fellow writers down on their luck. Most know about his multiple donations to Philip K. Dick, but I'm sure there are many other similar stories that I haven't heard but would love to.
_________________ "Being right too soon is socially unacceptable." - Heinlein, Expanded Universe
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Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:59 pm |
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sakeneko
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:22 am Posts: 603 Location: Reno, NV
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
Heinlein did stuff like that; I've heard other tales as well. He wasn't just a good writer. He was a good man.
_________________ Catherine Jefferson <ctiydspmrz@ergosphere.net> Home Page: http://www.ergosphere.net
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Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:53 pm |
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RobertWFranson
NitroForum Oldster
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:57 pm Posts: 152
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
Heinlein's introduction to Sturgeon's last novel, Godbody, also is well worth reading.
I suspect critics of both Heinlein and Sturgeon could learn a lot from what they saw in each other as friends and in each other's apparently dissimilar works.
_________________ http://www.Troynovant.com/ - recurrent inspiration
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Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:32 pm |
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BillPatterson
Heinlein Biographer
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:33 pm Posts: 1024
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
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Sun Jan 25, 2009 9:56 am |
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RobertWFranson
NitroForum Oldster
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:57 pm Posts: 152
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
Excellent! I definitely am looking forward to reading the Heinlein correspondence.
_________________ http://www.Troynovant.com/ - recurrent inspiration
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Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:51 am |
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BillPatterson
Heinlein Biographer
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:33 pm Posts: 1024
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
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Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:20 am |
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BillPatterson
Heinlein Biographer
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:33 pm Posts: 1024
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
The original concept was to include full text of all the correspondence used in the biography, but that turned out to be 1.2 million words to fit into 450,000 words in three volumes. When the first volume was revised to contain both sides of the Heinlein-Campbell correspondence, that left only 300,000 words of *everything*else* So this is still a "selection," albeit a more substantial selection than Grumbles.
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Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:20 am |
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TinaBlack
Centennial Organizer
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:34 pm Posts: 200
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
I heard that story directly from Ted Sturgeon during one of the summers he was a guest at the University of Kansas. He and Heinlein admired each other very much.
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Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:08 pm |
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ThomasGoodey
Centennial Attendee
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:26 am Posts: 16
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Re: Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon
One item in Heinlein's introduction to 'Godbody' , concerning L. Ron Hubbard, rather amused me. (From memory) In a description of wartime nights in New York, Heinlein repeats without comment Hubbard's story that his feet had been seriously injured by the explosion of a bomb under the deck of a ship, on which Hubbard had been standing. A few paragraphs later Heinlein then mentions that Hubbard was one of the gathered SF people, who had to walk several blocks to find his crash-bed for the night! I think this was an understated way for Heinlein to state what he really thought about Hubbard and his tall tales.
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Fri Sep 04, 2009 12:59 pm |
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