In Norse myth, the great hall where slain warriors dwell under the rule of
the god Odin.
("The Long Watch", The Number of the Beast, Time Enough for
Love)
Valkyrie
In Norse myth, a supernatural maiden who serves the god Odin by riding to
battlefields to choose the slain who were worthy of a place in Valhalla. [Old
Norse Valkyrja, "chooser of the slain"]
(Between Planets, "Ordeal in Space")
Valley Forge
Site in Pennsylvania on the west bank of the Schuylkill River north of
Philadelphia. During the American War for Independence, The Continental Army
under George Washington was headquartered there from December 1777 until June
1778. The suffering of the army from the harsh winter and the lack of supplies
became a symbol of America's determination and courage.
(Starship Troopers)
"Valse Triste"
(Opus 44) Orchestral composition by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius
(1865–1957). Written in 1903 for the play "Kuolema" ("Death") by Arvid
Järnefelt, it portrays a dance between a dying woman and Death. [Other
composers have created works entitled "Valse Triste", but the composition by
Sibelius is arguably the best known.]
(Methuselah's Children)
Vega
Alpha Lyra, brightest star in the constellation Lyra ("the lyre") and
fourth brightest in the sky. Vega is a white star about 26 light-years from
Earth, with an apparent magnitude of 0.04.
(Citizen of the Galaxy, Have Space Suit — Will Travel,
The Star Beast)
Venus
Second planet from the Sun, and the planet closest to Earth's orbit. It is
also closest in size to Earth. All evidence, however, indicates that it is
devoid of life. It orbits the Sun every 224.7 Earth days in a nearly circular
orbit. It rotates clockwise (retrograde), the opposite of the other Solar
System planets.
Vercingetorix
(?–46 BCE) Chieftain of the Arverni tribe in Gaul who led a rebellion
against Roman rule in 52 BCE. The rebellion was put down by Julius Caesar.
(Starship Troopers)
Jules Verne
(1828–1905) French author whose adventure novels incorporated detailed
descriptions of imaginary technological wonders. His novels, written in French
and equally popular in their English translations, include A Journey to the
Center of the Earth (1864 – English edition 1872); From the Earth to
the Moon (1865 – 1873), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870
– 1873), The Mysterious Island (1874 – 1875), and Around the World
in Eighty Days (1873).
(Job: A Comedy of Justice, Rocket Ship Galileo)
Vicksburg
Seat of Warren county in western Mississippi, situated on the Mississippi
River at the mouth of the Yazoo River. A Spanish military outpost built in
1790 developed into a sprawling community which was incorporated in 1825 and
named for a Methodist minister, Newitt Vick. During the Civil War, General
Ulysses Grant's capture of Vicksburg in 1863 was a major victory for the Union
because of the city's strategic location for river transport.
(Friday)
Victrix
The designation Victrix was bestowed upon the Sixth Legion of the
Roman Army during the first half of the first century CE. This legion was
transferred to Eboracum (York) in Britain around 122 CE, to guard the border
between Britannia (southern Britain, controlled by Rome) and the unconquered
territory to the north. [Latin, "triumphant" or "victorious"]
(Have Space Suit — Will Travel)
Pancho Villa
(1878–1923) Mexican revolutionary leader who fought against the regimes of
Porfirio Díaz and Victoriano Huerta.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
Voortrek
Northward exodus of the Afrikaner settlers in South Africa from the Cape
Colony to Natal, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal, away from the
authority of the British who had taken control of the former Dutch colony.
The Heinlein
Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, science
fiction author Robert Anson Heinlein, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."
