Variable Star (Tor Science Fiction)

Be careful with this book because it's not really a book by Robert Heinlein. It's an adaptation that does not do justice to the great author. The book is seriously damaged by a long political ranting scene at the end clearly meant to be nothing but criticism of the war in Iraq. Politics or personal feelings aside, it really ruined the book and left a very bad taste in my mouth. The rant was unnecessary. Looking at it almost ten years after the book was written, the rant also badly dated the book. It was a completely unnecessary distraction. I'm also not sure that Robert Heinlein would have agreed with direction that Spider Robinson took that part of this posthumous book--it made this book less "Heinlein" and more "Robinson"...I would have felt better about it if the book had been credited as by Spider Robinson with ideas borrowed from Heinlein...I didn't think it was fair to Heinlein to stick his name on a book with such intense political statements without definitely knowing what his feelings would have been on the issue.

This was only the second book by Spider Robinson that I have read so far, and I bought this the year it came out. Just had to, as I've been reading anything 'Robert Heinlein' since my high school days... a long time ago, and in another past life far, far away...
Though I began reading this with a lot of trepidation (mainly because of how it came to be completed, and long after RAH had passed), by the time I was maybe a third into this, I found it quite an enjoyable read indeed. I also felt that the spirit of it was very true (for me anyway) to many of Heinlein's classic books, such as 'Time for the Stars', especially. Yes, there is much of Spider in it, but that is only logical... BECAUSE HE WROTE THIS! And I, for one, am extremely grateful that he did. Well done, Spider... Well done!

I couldn't stop reading it, an experience that I had not had for a very long time. Those familiar with the writing of both will smile, recognizing both the threads that RAH later developed into full-fledged novels, and appreciating the language and musicality of Robinson's work. RAH's influence has always been clear in Robinsons writings; it's a little stronger here. I wouldn't say that it's a skeleton of RAH with Spider fleshing it out, but rather a stew of the best parts of both, simmered together with what emerges being better than either alone. Grok it-but don't plan to do anything else for a few hours.

After the death of Robert Heinlein's widow Virginia, an outline for a juvenile novel was found in her collection of Heinlein's notes. Spider Robinson was contacted and asked if he could flesh out a novel from the notes (missing an ending) and thus "Variable Star" was born.

Is it Heinlein? Yes...and no (an answer that always bugs me and here I am using it.) Yes, in that it obviously in the style of Heinlein's youth novels, generally the coming-of-age of a young, modest, unrefined, but intelligent young man alone in the wide world, trying to make his way. Here the ingenu is Joel Johnston, and he turns down a cushy marriage to a uber-rich pretty gal (wha?) and makes his way (a one-way trip, sub-light speed) to the stars instead. His rugged individualism and sense of self is Robert Heinlein; his tendency to obnoxiousness and irritability seems to be all Spider Robinson.

The book is a bit slow in starting and Robinson's favorite method of handling expository "lumps" or that info you have to get to fill in the story, is clumsy (in my opinion.) For example, Robinson just HAS to yammer on about how you move in low or null-gee and it's interesting--for the first few sentences. His device to tell us all about intertia, air pressure and density, and the difficulty in moving in this unfamiliar environment is to have Joel follow a naked guy through corridors of the Sheffield spacecraft for pages on end. I suspect Joel's guide is naked not only because there is no nakedness taboo (how Heinlein) onboard the ship, but because mentally we have this odd image of a naked, bald spaceman and it's so pervasive, we muddle through Robinson's null-gee maunderings. All to get us down a few corridors of the space vessel. That slows the pace to a painful (null-gee) crawl but the pace picks up more pleasingly when Johnston meets his roommates for the next two decades (good thing they aren't girls, none of them would make it the entire voyage) and then gets a lot more interesting when Johnston goes to work in hydroponics with the Martian Zog and --a pretty girl who is interested in him.

The book is good enough, in fact moderately excellent space opera, but it's not RAH. Instead, I'd say this is a Spider Robinson homage to RAH with a lot of cute winks to RAH "future history" and characters in other novels--names appear, themes jump up that the Master would recognize as his own. But it's not RAH and--how could it be? Robinson writes Robinson, not Heinlein. He's wordier, more modern, more given to profanity (not the done thing in the Fifties when Heinlein's YA novels were published.) But Variable Star is still good, solid sci-fi.

Nursing a broken heart, Joel Johnston and his saxophone ship out on a 20 year trip to a nearby star system, and along the way Joel learns about himself, about what he left behind, and, in the final act, about the future of Man.

In this novel, Spider Robinson collaborates posthumously with Robert Heinlein, considered perhaps the top American science fiction writer of all time. The first science fiction novel Robinson read was an early Heinlein juvenile, as in my case and that of thousands of other Americans of a certain age. As a writer of science fiction, he was often compared to Heinlein and once wrote a widely-distributed essay celebrating Heinlein's contributions and answering his critics. When a synopsis of an abandoned late 1950's novel and a set of characater profiles were discovered in Heinlein's estate, Robinson was selected to finish the novel. That included putting in what turns out to be a very satisfying ending which Heinelin's notes lacked.

The plot and characters may be Heinlein's, but the voice is Robinson. And that's far from discouraging.

Excellent novel, great read, possessing science, speculation, emotion, and optimism.

Written from an outline Heinlein made, many years later, by Robinson.

Joel Johnston wants to marry Jinny Hamilton, but his dream job of being a composer meant years before he could help support them. Jinny doesn't want to wait, and finally reveals that they don't have to--she's really a Conrad, the granddaughter of one of the wealthiest men in the solar system. Since she knows he loves her for her, they can marry, and he'll be a part of the dynasty--and give the family more heirs to carry on the work. Even if he fails, he's assured, he'll have some small part--all he needs to do is go into business school, and shape himself into a proper heir, and if he succeeds, so much the better.

But Joel isn't willing to sacrifice his dreams, and he can't see himself fitting into the family--or forgive Jinny for lying so skillfully for so long. To get away from making a mistake with the woman he loves, he boards a colony ship heading out of the system. By the time they land, everyone he knows will be much older than him. But then his isolation is shattered by a catastrophe so large, one broken heart is nothing beside it.

An adventure of massive proportions, much like a ship sailing to a new colony, the journey is full of danger, people having to deal with each other, and unexpected obstacles. Only space is even less forgiving than the sea--especially since the drive that allows a ship to travel at nearly the speed of light relies on a handful of people to navigate it, there's no possibility of turning around, and the journey will take decades. A must read for Heinlein or Robinson fans, and an excellent story for those simply fond of the journey to the stars.

Although written from notes for an early Heinlein plot, the book really should have Robinson's name at the top, as he wrote the prose and the style of the prose is more distinctly his than Heinleins's ... of course, since Heinlein did not write the book.

However, the plot is unmistakeably Heinlein. A young man encounters a big surprise in his life which leads him to go in a completely unplanned direction. Much of the rest of the book involves the people he meets on that journey and how they help him ... very Citizen of the Galaxy type stuff, in a general sense. However, I wouldn't put this book in the same class as Citizen of the Galaxy, because though Robinson is good, he's not Heinlein and it shows in the writing.

Robinson's writing style displays jarring differences from Heinlein's in a few ways. For one thing, Robinson uses casual profanity frequently. If you're expecting Heinlein, that's a big difference. For another, he uses puns frequently, sometimes page after page of them. Some of them are really very clever and amusing, but again its going to suspend the illusion that you might be reading Heinlein. And frankly, there are too many of them. Puns are a device best carefully doled out, and this book is bursting at its seems with them. I still enjoyed the book, they just disturbed the flow of the story in places. Also, there is some recreational drug use you wouldn't have found in Heinlein.

Why would you expect an "illusion that you might be reading Heinlein"? Because his name is top of the cover, that's why. I believe the advertising should match the content. Robinson clearly put some effort into portraying Heinlein's plot in a similar manner to what Heinlein himself might have written, but he didn't go so overboard that you'd ever mistake the book for (even maybe) Heinlein's prose.

Some of Robinson's choices of how to fill in the plot don't mesh with what you'd have seen with true Heinlein either. For example, in the middle of the book our hero is advised to take on a course of Buddhist style meditation. The description of the meditation goes on and on for many pages, including a lengthy tribute to one of Robinson's (evidently) favorite real life modern artists. RAH would have gotten the message across much more succinctly and moved on with the real story.

However, since we no longer have Robert A. Heinlein to produce new works for us, this is as good as it gets as a substitute. You will definitely feel the general flavor of Heinlein, if not the full rich taste. I did enjoy reading the book.

First I take issue with the other reviewer that Heinlein stayed far away from anything do with mysticism and punning. Read both "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Time Enough for Love" for a good dose of the mysticism, and for a few outrageous puns look no further than "The Door Into Summer" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". The puns in fact were one thing that reminded me of Heinlein. However, most of his review is spot on.
The thing I find most unsettling about this book is that there are paragraphs that read EXACTLY like Heinlein, mixed in with other paragraphs that do not, presumably in Spider's own style. It just keeps you off balance with the mix. I agree, that the characters and most of the settings are developed just as if the master were there with SR giving him directions. I also agree that the last 1/4 of the book or so is weaker than the rest. I suppose this is to be expected due to the lack of notes from Heinlein for the ending. This should not be viewed as a shortcoming though of Spider's work, there are very few SF writers who would state unequivocally that their works are as good as Heinlein's.
A couple of questions: How does a telepath transmit a work of music? I mean they don't function like a fax machine or a tape recorder do they? The story doesn't make it clear (not that it needs to) how the music got back to other quick enough that it could be pressed, released and become a hit in a short time.
Second question is, how can investors in a spaceship/colony traveling hundreds of light years away can get any return on their investment? Certainly not going to be technology, or minerals on the new found worlds. I don't really understand why he suddenly found himself rich after the rediscovery of the lot colony. Where did the money come from?
It ends without any kind of resolution, only questions. Which means, whatever my issues with this story are, I thoroughly enjoyed it and am watering at the mouth for a sequel. Please Spider!

As most people have noted, this is not a Heinlein novel, nor is it intended to be a duplicate of Heinlein in style and tone. So that is not the problem. The problem, for me, is that the opening and closing of the book are completely unconvincing--how the narrator came to be on the ship heading for the stars, and how slam-bang action averted a catastrophe at the end. In between, the major portion of the book is fairly engaging, dealing with the narrator's experiences on board the colony ship on its 20-year voyage to the stars. But I did not believe the character or the set-up at the start of the book, and I found the ending preposterous. I have to wonder whether the reason Heinlein himself never wrote the novel he had outlined is that he sensed that there were major problems that required rethinking. To be fair to Heinlein, Spider Robinson's commentary at the end points out that the outline as he received it was missing its last page, so he had to come up with the ending, which simply did not work for me.
So, a middling rating -- a lot of the book really is engaging, and it's a shame that the set-up and conclusion were not jettisoned and replaced by a story line that makes more sense.

I picked up this book with some trepidation, for two reasons: A novel begun (or, in this case, heavily outlined) by one author and completed by another "as" (in the style of) the first author is almost always a bad idea. And, while I have nothing against him, I've never been especially drawn to Spider Robinson's work, no matter how many awards he's won. My tastes just don't run that way. However, I'm a longtime Heinlein fan, so I had to find out if this book was worth the reading. And, well, it is -- if you don't expect too much. It's several centuries in the future and Joel Johnston, college student, talented sax-man, and son of a Nobel-winning physicist, is involved with a girl with a mysterious past, to whom he proposes. And then finds out she's the granddaughter of one of the wealthiest men in the Solar System. Granddad assumes he'll give up all his own plans to train to take over the family empire, and Joel responds by getting drunk and then shipping out on a colony ship, the voyage of which will take twenty years. I.e., there ain't no going back. Most of the story is about his experiences and personal development within the ship's microcosm and it's interesting enough, but it's really not very Heinlein-ian. However, just when you've settled in for the ride, the real story rises up and smacks you in the face. Robinson has set this thing a couple of generations after the end of the Prophets' reign, and Coventry is still in use, so it's one version of RAH's "Future History," though the author has the sense to move it sufficiently far in the future that readers a few years from now won't have passed it by. (Heinlein set most of the events in his own stories in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.) The dialogue is good and Spider throws in plenty of his patented puns and cultural side-glances, but the result is still not great Heinlein, nor (I think) great Robinson.

First and foremost, yes, it is a good book. A great book in places, even.

But it's not a Heinlein.

Certainly, it's flavored with a lot of Heinleinian spices, but Robinson

does a number of things that the Master never would have done. Taking

contemporary jargon ("google," used as a verb) and placing it into the

mouths of his characters, for one thing. Making an extended commentary

on current events (with a bent against vigorous self-defense), for

another. There are extended riffs on such nontechnological specialties

as music, and details about intimacies that Heinlein would have

smoothed over more gracefully.

But these transgressions are eminently forgiveable. Unlike reviewers

of the pre-publications proofs, I did not find the ending to be an

offensive usage of deus ex machina - far from it, indeed - and the love

story in it is straight, 200-proof Heinlein.

References back to other parts of the canon are relatively frequent,

but not too intrusively so. Conflation of the LeCroix timeline and

current events seems forced - though it works into a reasonably

coherent, if too overtly current-events-political, narrative tying in

the Nehemiah Scudder and Coventry stories.

It is clear that Robinson knows his Heinlein well, and holds the

Master's work in great esteem, but he cannot resist putting his own

touches of overly-cute craft into the writing. There is great and

reasonably effective pathos in the story, but one cannot help but wish

that we had seen it rendered by the Master himself.

Actually, that pretty well covers my reaction to the whole book -- it

is well written and effectively rendered... but I wish that Heinlein

had been granted the time to complete it himself; it would have been a

better book in his own hands. Probably a simpler book, as it seems to

have been clearly sketched as a juvenile, typical of that genre in his

hands, but a better book.

A worthy effort from Robinson, and one for which he deserves credit, though not adulation.

I find it difficult to credit the reviews which lament this novel as somehow not up to Heinlein's standards, or as some unfortunate hack work seeking to make as buck off the Heinlein name. In fact Variable Star is an excellent novel in its own right, containing one of the most shocking and emotionally wrenching plot developments I've ever encountered. (I'm seriously thinking that my childhood experience of the forest fire in Bambi was my first one!) Sure, we'd all like to read some newly-discovered (and completely finished and polished!) Heinlein novel, but if Robinson had not undertaken to create Variable Star, all we'd have is a pile of incomplete notes sitting in some archive somewhere. I imagine that by themselves--with no Variable Star in existence to compare them to--they'd be pretty frustrating to read.

From reading William Patterson's first volume in his Heinlein biography (Learning Curve) I can see that Heinlein himself didn't have a problem with assigning a story idea to another writer if that seemed appropriate. I think Heinlein would have been extremely pleased to have farmed out this novel idea to Spider Robinson, and been delighted with the result, even if the finished work was not what he initially had had in mind. Above all, Robinson has written this book in exactly the manner Heinlein would have wished: he made it his own work, his own vision, and wrote it exactly as he pleased. The numerous homages to various Heinlein works in this novel aren't mere worship but skillfully drive the plot forward.

In Robinson's afterword he describes the moment he knew how to complete the novel, after listening to a 1987 recording of Heinlein musing about the folly of humanity keeping all its eggs in one basket (i.e., staying comfortably on Earth). It's as if Heinlein unconsciously pointed the way to complete his 1950s notes for this novel.

I listened to the audio version of the novel but wasn't aware until the end that it was Spider Robinson narrating it. He's one of the few authors capable of narrating his own work. Okay, he's not so great on female voices (unlike Lloyd James, who's narrated several Heinlein books), but his voice is definitely practiced, well-modulated, and rising to the occasion for every passage.

In retrospect, marketing may have driven the choice of authorship of "Heinlein and Robinson." A more accurate possibility might have been "A novel by Spider Robinson based on an idea by Robert A. Heinlein." But somehow, for this novel, I think there ought to be a category between those two.

In any case, Variable Star is an important novel in addition to being an entertaining story.

Michael D. Smith

Not a Heinlein novel. A Spider Robinson novel, to a Heinlein outline.

Universally throughout the book you can see switches between one influence and the other. Some touches are more heavy-handed than they need to be, such as the near-immediate usage of both authors' characteristic vocabulary (Heinlein's "huhu" on page 6; Robinson's "Spice" on page 7) or the repeated references to events in Heinlein's Future History.

But both authors' souls are present. I can believe the structure of the story is Heinlein's, and there is a Heinlein juvenile novel here with science and coming-of-age and wonder... and it's interwoven with one of Spider's novels, with spirituality and self-awareness and humor. There were times I had to remind myself that I was in Heinlein's universe and not Stardancer or Time Pressure, and others where Robinson has simply written in the Voice of the GrandMaster. This confluence effect is magnified by the integration of the Future History with real-world post-Heinlein events at one point -- and then the Future History is irretrievably demolished.

Some people have complained about the ending; I can see their points. I am not thrilled with the mechanism but with a hefty dose of suspension of disbelief in that area I think the writing itself is some of the most Heinlein-y part of the book, along with the very beginning.

Being a fan of both it hurts a bit to say this but I think this would have been a better book if it were a bit shorter... and most of the things to cut would have been Robinsonesque. But I did really enjoy it (despite the ending) and would recommend it, with the above caveats, to Heinlein addicts -- and it's a no-brainer for Robinson fans.

By Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson. Written mostly by Robinson, Variable Star was guided by an outline Heinlein began in 1955, then set aside and never completed. It was published in 2006, eighteen years after Heinlein's death. The story is classic space opera with a failed love affair that encourages our hero to volunteer for a one-way trip to a planet 20 light years away. (*Spoiler alert*) Traveling at a large fraction of the speed of light makes this a long but feasible trip, but it's still too slow to outrun the Earth's exploding sun. Robinson is very good at imitating Heinlein's style and dialog although there are multiple reminders that it was written post-Heinlein, including email, LED lighting, and 9/11. Relative to the latter, Robinson doesn't hide his opinion of the U.S. response to 9/11: "The superpower... crushed two tiny bystander nations, killing some dozens of actual terrorists, and hundreds of thousands of civilians as innocent as their own dead loved ones". Take that, George Bush!

As I understand it, Robinson's mandate from the Heinlein estate was not to mimic Heinlein, but to take a posthumously discovered series of comprehensive plot notes and outlines, written by Heinlein in the 1950s, and finish the book using Robinson's own style.

I started reading the book about a month ago, and had gotten through about three quarters of "Variable Star" in a couple of days. While it did not initially jump out as one of the all-time greats from Heinlein, it IS written generally in the classic Heinlein style; I was really enjoying something new from the Master. The characters are okay, their thoughts and actions were consistently Heinlein, and the story, albeit pretty plotless, is entertaining and well-told. There was one huge and unexpected plot twist, followed by a slightly smaller albeit more expected one (given the first twist).

I was thinking to myself, "So far, so good." While I admit that I hadn't read any of Spider's books, at this point I was looking forward to doing so. Then, in about fifteen seconds, he lost me completely. He did something that Heinlein would never do: in what is essentially a throw-away line that has nothing whatsoever to do with advancing the story, he calls out the sitting president of the United States, claiming that his actions directly caused the Interregnum of the Holy Prophet.

That's right; Spider Robinson blames George Bush for Nehemiah Scudder's rise to power. The brutal and oppressive religious dictatorship of the Prophet was the result of Bush's failed foreign policies. Apparently, the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan results in a militant uprising of Muslims, and the resulting backlash by Christian fundamentalists in the US allows the evangelical right-wing nut job Scudder to take power.

Thanx anyway, Spider; I'll remain a Heinlein snob. I would suggest that YOU re-read the Heinlein canon, starting with "The Day After Tomorrow".

I'm not enough of a Heinlein expert to be able to sift out all of the parts that came from his original 8-page outline, but I have read enough Robinson to recognize that "Variable Star" is at least 90% Robinson. The references to marijuana, sex, puns, British Columbia, dancing and the exaggerated characters are all quintessential Robinson.

Robinson as a writer is always fluid and enjoyable and moving (he got me crying on page 7, a new record!), and ordinarily any book by him would rate at least four stars. I feel compelled though to subtract at least a couple stars (variable) here for some particularly glaring judgment lapses where he should have known better.

The first involves bringing in 9/11 as a plot device, even though the novel is set in some far distant future. However big the event may have seemed in 2003 when he began, he should have known that this would date and limit his novel, something I doubt Heinlein would have allowed.

Second, he makes some scientific errors involving inconsistencies in light-year distances. Instantaneous telepathy is a tawdry plot device which ignores the very foundation of relativity, that simultaneity does not exist at relativistic distances. Joel's musical compositions are laser-beamed back to Earth in seemingly minutes (unless the telepaths somehow transmitted them?), and he finds out they've gotten popular just as fast. Later there is unexplained FTL travel, without temporal displacement. The idea that a gamma ray shock wave could wipe out all life at a distance of 46 light years ignores the dissipation of a spherical wave front. And so forth.

Plus all of Joel's musical references are to present-day sources -- as a musician he's remarkably out of step with his own time.

And I would question whether circular breathing is really possible with a baritone saxophone -- from a slender player... Pepper Adams notwithstanding :^)

So, not only is this novel a 1955 outline completed in Robinson's idiosyncratic 2005 style, but enough of the science and politics are "soft" that I can't help feeling Spider failed his prime directive.

Variable Star is a good read. It is not a Heinlein, nor does it pretend to be. As Spider Robinson points out, he was asked to write the story as himself, not as a pastiche of Heinlein. Traces of Heinlein are evident throughout much of the story but, just as clearly, it isn't the story as Heinlein would have done it, or at least I doubt that. The story is situated in a branch of Heinlein's future history, but one where things are different and not one Heinlein's fans would be familiar with. I won't spoil things by describing the differences, but somehow I doubt that they were in the original outline Robinson was working from. If they were, that might explain why Heinlein never wrote it.

The long and short of it is, Variable Star is a good read. Fast, enjoyable, and clearly inspired by Heinlein, it is still really Robinson's work. If you start it without expecting Heinlein, you will likely enjoy it. One recommendation, read Robinson's "Afterword" before you read the story. It should have been an introduction anyway.

I'm a huge Heinlein fan. My first sci-fi was "Tunnel In The Sky", and when I heard that Spider Robinson had finished a Heinlein plot, I was psyched. And for the first half of the book, I was getting exactly what I'd thought I would get: Heinlein's pacing and rhythm, Robinson's words and mannerisms and flourishes. Then the GrandMaster's guidance wears off and you can literally watch the train come off the rails about halfway into the story.

Spider wrote his way, and there was plenty of Spider in this story, for good and ill. Puns galore, which I enjoy and had a solid expectation of; music, which I am incapable of appreciating fully but have no objection to, because it's a medium he uses (and pretty creatively, at the end).

But then there's a plethora of meandering crap (Rowling's lost wandering in the Deathly Hallows book comes to mind as an example); "crap" I say and "crap" it is.
* Spider spends almost two pages describing the hallucinations his protagonist experiences on a drug trip... and not one of those has anything at all to do with the story. It's inconsequential babble, devoid of meaning and there's really no reason to subject a reader to that. I mean, what'd we do to you, Spider?

* The sex-life: I don't care about the sexual orientation of the character until and unless it has an impact on THE FREAKIN' STORY. Gay, straight or heteroflexible, until sex enters the plot-line and influences, there is ZERO PURPOSE to bringing it up. Yet Spider can't seem to resist its inclusion, in a boring, uninspired monologue that's obviously just him treading water. Fast-forwarding through a few years is a necessary thing sometimes; mentioning relationships the character has been in that have an impact on the tale being happens and I'll never object to character development.
But when the minutiae included is drier and less interesting than a FaceBook/MySpace/LiveJournal update, when the whole point of a paragraph seems to be popped in there so that Spider can have his character announce "I was a het/bisexual" (not TOO anyone, mind you, except the reader), then something has gone seriously awry.

It's obvious to me that the student has failed to incorporate a few of the GrandMaster's lessons:
1.) Stick to information that's relevant to the plot (at least most of the time)
2.) Don't force your personal perspectives into the character's mouth; they have their life, you have yours
3.) Keep the rhythm steady

I don't know what Heinlein would have done, how he would have written this. I'm certain that Spider made it more adult, more serious and in many ways a more thoughtful experience than Heinlein would have been allowed to print in the 50s. I immensely enjoyed seeing the familiar character-types and hearing that old slang again in a new format. I was thrilled to see not just intelligence, but humor and wit and sarcasm from the main character.

But the tale fell sadly short of being fascinating. It was not told well, nor in a consistent tone.

As a Heinlein fan, I grieve for what could have been. I lament that the student started out so strongly and then simply failed.

It's not an awful book, but I've read much better from both of the contributing authors.

All in all, a good yarn worth reading. Variable Star captures all the boundless enthusiasm, hope, and infinite potential for mankind that Heinlein infused in his works. But before you can enjoy this morsel, we should dispel some possible misconceptions that might ruin the fun.

This isn't strictly speaking a Heinlein novel. What it is, is a collaboration between Heinlein (posthumously) and Spider Robinson. It shares the spirit of both authors. Robinson's love and respect for Heinlein's work is evident in every page. Spider, the old man would have been proud.

While it may have been conceived as part of Heinlein's juvenile works, it has a bit more meat and a little less of Heinlein's page turning pacing and action. Which isn't to say that I didn't lose sleep. However, I did have a bit more time to reflect.

I have an odd way of judging whether an author's works are of enduring value. I visit used book stores and take notice of how many old paperbacks you can find. You won't find many of Heinlein's. People hold on to them. It is unfortunate that the powers that be in the publishing and/or legal departments haven't done a good job of keeping Heinlein in print.

Thank you Spider for the in jokes, dropped references, spoonerisms, and nods to other great writers. I may not have gotten even the half of them. The Charles Sheffield may be gone, but will not be forgotten. Thank you for a good tale so lovingly crafted.

Billed as a collaboration beyond the grave, crossing much of the same history one of the authors had written about and predicted, VARIABLE STAR is a mixture of old and new science fiction. Before he died, Robert A. Heinlein left behind eight pages of a juvenile science fiction novel he never got around to writing. He was on the cusp of going from writing young adult novels to stepping into the edgier adult market that he left a permanent imprint on as well.

If there's one thing I have to say left a permanent impression on my growing years and was probably the reason I became a writer, I have to point to the childhood science fiction I devoured at the public library. Robert A. Heinlein and Andre Norton forever changed the course of my life. Edgar Rice Burroughs did as well, but his stuff spoke to me in different ways, even though it's regarded as foundation science fiction these days as well.

Spider Robinson was also one of those young readers affected by Heinlein's no-nonsense approach to science fiction. Obviously enamored of Heinlein and science fiction in general, Robinson has written several novels in that genre. He's best known for his Callahan's Cross-Time Saloon series, which is filled with puns and inside jokes as well as adventure and science fiction.

A few years ago, as Robinson explains in his afterword to the book, he was at a convention where it was announced by Robert A. Heinlein's literary agent that the novel outline existed. One of the audience members suggested that Robinson, who was touted as a Heinlein aficionado head and shoulders above the rest, write the novel based on that outline. After a few months and some serious negotiations, that came to pass.

Unfortunately, the idea of the book is much better than the final execution. The plot revolves around Joel Johnson, a young protagonist - though he often reads as so much older that reference to his age often jarred me. Joel is dating Jinny Hamilton, and is getting pressured into getting married and having children. He protests, stating that they've only just completed university (they're 18) and money is an issue.

Jinny then proceeds to reveal that she is the daughter of the solar system's richest man. If Joel doesn't inherit that position through marriage, then his son is scheduled to be. Freaking out, Joel flees and tries to figure out what to do with himself.

Since the Conrad family, especially Conrad of Conrad, is so powerful, he figures that in order to escape the marriage or their vengeance, he has to leave the planet. So he signs up aboard a colony ship.

At first blush, the plot seems very much like a juvenile science fiction novel. I settled in comfortably to read and thought it was a lot like the early Heinleins I'd read. Robinson did an excellent job of matching his voice to Heinlein in those years.

However, I wasn't happy with the end result. I really liked the way Robinson played into the overall world view that Heinlein constructed in his FUTURE HISTORY timeline in the 1950s. The line marriages, the technology, and the major events are all here.

Robinson doesn't stay content in playing with Heinlein's world, though. He throws in his own views of the current Iraq War and advocates freeing up certain aspects of the current drug laws. Reading about characters using drugs or advocating their use in what reads like a juvenile Heinlein novel was disturbing to me. It also spoiled the whole gee-I've-just-found-a-new-Heinlein-novel-I-haven't-read feeling the book was going toward.

The book was off to a rather slow beginning, but I didn't worry about that because I figured Robinson was just getting his feet wet, just trying out the voice and trying to get everything right.

Then the middle came along and I got bogged down in the seemingly endless adjustment problems Joel had to shipboard and colony life. Even that might have been interesting if Joel had actually gotten somewhere. Not to spoil things too much, but Joel and the colony ship never get where they're going. We learn a few nifty facts about the world they're headed to, but we never get to see that world.

Not only that, but the whole novel reads like a set-up to a long series that would have brought forth another STARSHIP TROOPERS world. We never found out anything about the enemy that attacked - and DESTROYED! - our solar system. That war, somewhere, is still waiting to be waged.

The book read easily enough, but I wanted the action and excitement of those early Heinlein novels. That's what I felt I was being offered. Although I'm glad I read it because it did remind me so much of all those pleasant years spent at an impressionable age, I wish it could have been what I'd hoped it would be.

It's hard to judge a book like this--a plot written by the late Heinlein (it's definitely a Heinlein plot...oh, it's a Heinlein plot), but the story was actually written by Spider Robinson, a man who much admired Heinlein, but who has entirely different sensibilities. He wasn't instructed to write a Heinlein book, either--just to write the best Spider Robinson novel he could, using the Heinlein plot as a skeleton.

It's like watching a medium really channel a ghost. Fake mediums convince us with the absolute unquestionability of the verisimilitude of the spirit whose messages they carry back to the world of the living. A real medium would act, I imagine, more like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, speaking in his or her own voice, telling the ghost to shutupshutupshutup all right already, what he wants you to know is that... Kind of spooky in places, actually, when you can tell that Spider would rather be doing anything with the plot but what Heinlein's spirit is forcing him to do...

I enjoyed it, but it's hard to give unequivocal praise to a book that doesn't wholly live its own life, but lurches around possessed at times. If you don't like Heinlein or Spider, don't read this book; if you don't like both Heinlein and Spider, don't read this book. If you aren't prepared for a few ectoplasmic floops here and there, don't read this book. If you're in a mood to drink up the essence of a dead guy, celebrated by someone who doesn't always agree with him, please do. I kept thinking of Spider, boiling up the ashes of Heinlein, knocking him back: "Needs salt."

The first thing to know about this book is that none of it was written by Robert Heinlein despite the deliberately misleading title. However, it is possibly the next best thing for the many who had long reconciled themselves to never reading new Heinlein - a novel written from his notes by Spider Robinson, the author generally considered his most faithful disciple. Some will think the very idea of daring to undertake such a task is unspeakably blasphemous, but most will think it better than nothing, and many will be elated. That said, even the fan longing most for such a thing is of course all too aware of how disastrous the most well-intentioned and carefully written effort could be. Thankfully Variable Star is quite good; though not on Heinlein's top level, it is quite close in style and far more so in spirit besides being worthwhile in itself. It is also different enough to potentially attracts others.

Heinlein wrote an outline and notes for the novel in 1955, which he put aside for unknown reasons and apparently never picked up again. Seven pages survive from an unknown number, giving time and place, information about several major characters, and sketches of the first few segments. They then break off in mid-sentence with no hint of how the story was to progress, much less an ending. So things remained until they were rediscovered in 2003, and a chain of circumstances described in Robinson's interesting Afterword led to him being commissioned to write the rest. Even cynics must admit that, if anyone were to write the story, it had to be Robinson. The widely acknowledged similarity of their work aside, Robinson has an encyclopedic knowledge of Heinlein and his work and was even his friend. He was also approved by those handling Heinlein's estate and most of the world's leading Heinlein experts, receiving help from many. Those willing to accept the arrangement can thus move to the book.

As the year of Heinlein's plan suggests, the book appeared destined to be one of his classic Juvenile or Young Adult works. Though most do not put these on par with his best work, they have long been loved and revered by readers of all ages and inspired generations of astronauts and scientists. These are the books that pushed him into the mainstream and to a large extent made his pre-Stranger in a Strange Land reputation. Though written with a young audience in mind and featuring teenage or young adult protagonists, they are engaging and substantial enough for all. Heinlein always made sure not only to have accurate science but to put in plenty of the thought-provoking themes, witty dialogue, and astounding imagination that made his other works so great.

Variable Star mostly fits with these, which will delight most fans but perhaps disappoint those who expected a broader novel. The protagonist is a young adult, as are many of the characters, and everything is filtered through this perspective. As in Heinlein Juveniles, much of the action focuses on traditional young adult concerns dramatized in science fiction terms. Thus, like them, it is essentially a bildungsroman; the protagonist experiences many traditional rites of passage, learning and growing as he goes. Again like them, it is a great way to start young adults on SF - though one should of course turn them on to actual Heinlein first.

Yet the book is also very different from Heinlein Juveniles - is in fact a curious mix of them and Heinlein's last era from Stranger forward. Robinson has imported many of the latter's most important aspects, features that were then revolutionary and still off the main sequence: advanced sexual views, anti-religious sentiments, etc. Heinlein certainly could never have gotten these into his Juveniles; ditto for the mild sexual content, profanity, and the like. However, he almost certainly would have approved; his Juveniles were far above others for seriousness, and he tried to get in as much of his thought as possible, often struggling with censorship. Robinson knows this, making Variable more like the Juvenile that Heinlein would have written if he could have rather than what he would have had to write; Heinlein may even have abandoned it because of this very gap. He even goes further than Heinlein by championing homosexual rights, including marriage. Heinlein's position here is debated, and though known for liberal sexual views, it is an open question whether or not he would have ever done such a thing. The book also vouches for racial equality in various ways, which Heinlein often did subtly but never so clearly. Some will think this in the true Heinlein spirit, perhaps slightly updating him for the new millennium, but others will dismiss it as the kind of political correctness he held in contempt. One thing Robinson certainly deserves credit for is working all this in without heavy-handedness. Heinlein was a master here early on, but even many of his biggest fans think later works are weighed down by pushing such things too hard, while some cannot like or even read them at all because of it. Robinson was wise not to adopt this aspect of later works, though borrowing from them is generally an asset. All this will surprise those expecting a straight Juvenile but probably in a pleasant way, and those who hoped for more may be partly compensated.

Robinson makes free use of Heinlein's canon in many other ways, working in elements of and references to stories throughout his career. Some purists may be turned off because the Future History and related stories had a fairly strict chronology, and Variable changes it; Robinson even fills in some details about the theocracy that Heinlein included in his timeline but never wrote as a story. One can argue that he should have stuck to one universe or genre; his goal seems to have been to please all Heinlein fans, and though he throws them all a bone, it may not be enough to satisfy any. However, most will appreciate the various elements and probably find the book better than they expected.

There are many other Heinlein characteristics not restricted to any era. Most obviously and perhaps importantly, Robinson has Heinlein's style down very well; this may be to a certain extent present in his own work but is definitely amplified. He sticks particularly to the Juveniles' style but also uses many generally typical techniques. Heinlein fans given this book without knowing what it was would in many places think it a lost Heinlein work. Nearly all his signatures are here, from using a cliché variation in the first sentence for attention-getting purposes to putting quotes at the front of each chapter to heavy use of semicolons and other characteristic mechanical touches. Most notably in this regard, Robinson has picked up Heinlein' flair for wittily memorable dialogue. One could write a whole article enumerating other Heinleininia; Robinson throws in everything from quotes by Heinlein's favorite poets to hobby horses of various sorts and even works in statements from Heinlein himself. Those familiar with Heinlein's life and thought will find no end of references.

Yet this is not a Heinlein novel. One could easily think otherwise at many points, but it sometimes becomes overtly clear, and Robinson fans will clearly see his own signatures. Variable has several elements Heinlein would never use, most of which point to Robinson. For example, the protagonist is Canadian, and the book is initially set in Canada; Robinson lives in Canada, but the uber-American Heinlein would never have done so or set a book there. Robinson also delights in puns and other word play, crude humor, and other comic elements far outside Heinlein territory and uses more profanity. The exalting of Buddhism and frequent, near-technical music references are also distinctly non-Heinlein. All this will disappoint those wanting a pure imitation, but the book is after all written by Robinson, and he was told to write a Robinson book. He is too talented and successful to merely ape another writer, even one of the greatest who also happens to be his mentor. The cover and advertising hint at something else, but this is not his fault; he should not be begrudged introducing some individuality. There is after all a large crossover between his fans and Heinlein's; those who like both will certainly appreciate seeing both represented. The few who like Robinson only may like the book mostly or only because of his touches, while the significant number of Heinlein fans who do not like or are unfamiliar with Robinson will fall throughout the spectrum, as other reviews show.

The story itself, while not revolutionary like Heinlein's best work, is interesting and engaging. Heinlein touches are clear in the early episodes, and the parts Robinson was forced to add are in the Grand Master's spirit in many ways. Interstellar space travel had long been a Heinlein staple (Orphans of the Sky, etc.) and something he turned to more and more toward career's end. The Afterword gives biographical and even personal justification for using it, and Heinlein would doubtless have appreciated it, especially as Robinson takes the opportunity to flesh it out as Heinlein regretted never doing. The book is thus a valuable contribution to the interstellar travel genre, particularly in regard to technical elements like food production. Heinlein is known for attention to such details, and this specifically ties in with many of his stories, including Juveniles like Farmer in the Sky. He also took pride in getting the science right, and Robinson does a good job of this - with much help, as the Afterword acknowledges. The ship's operations, its drive, and some other elements are far removed from hard SF, but so was Heinlein, especially from Stranger onward. Hard SF buffs will snicker at the sleights-of-hand used to avoid technicalities and to make the story seem plausible, but Heinlein himself often did the same. Much the same can be said of the sun issue; there is no real Heinlein precedent, but it strikes me as something he might have done and is put forth convincingly enough. Some may find the ending and a few of the plot twists a little too convenient, but Heinlein was again not above such things, and endings are one of his few acknowledged weaknesses. For what it is worth, Robinson ties things up more tightly than Heinlein usually did.

As with Heinlein, especially the Juveniles, characterization is very strong and really more important than plot. His notes surely helped significantly, but it is also clear that Robinson has learned much from his idol here. We may disagree with some or much of the protagonist's thoughts or actions, but he is engaging and sympathetic. Robinson has drawn him very well, and we react appropriately; the same goes for most of the other characters, good and bad. Heinlein would certainly have appreciated the verisimilitude, and the book is the better for it.

In summary, all Heinlein fans should check this out, though they should of course read nearly everything by him first. Some will be disappointed, but surely all will appreciate at least part of the book. Even hard-cores who hate it will appreciate the Afterword, which gives invaluable information on the book and other Heinleininia, though it probably should have been a Foreword. Completists will especially regret the absence of Heinlein's notes; it would have been nice to have them enter the canon and to see where Robinson followed and departed. Robinson fans should meanwhile of course get onboard also. As for others, this is a good SF book with excellent characters, a good and well-told if not mind-blowing story, nice dialogue, plenty to provoke thought, and more than a little humor. In short, there is something for nearly anyone who likes any kind of SF, though no one should expect greatness.

When I finished reading this book, I planned to write a long review, but I made the mistake of reading other reviews first, and others have perfectly expressed my thoughts.

So, I'll just add two things.

This novel shouldn't be compared to Heinlein's juvenile novels of the fifties, even though the outline comes from that era. Instead, you should read it from the viewpoint of a post "The Number of the Beast" Heinlein, still living in 2005, who has found an old outline and decided to write an "adult" novel using the theme. The result wouldn't be this novel, but it certainly wouldn't be the "light" (but well written) juvenile stories he was writing, under contract, in the fifties. (I believe he was fired from that contract following submission of "Starship Troopers," clearly an adult novel.) As an "adult" novel, "Variable Star" is no more controversial than any of Heinlein's later novels, with their multiple-partner marriages, implied homosexuality, incestuous sex with close relatives, and sex with underage girls. (I continued to enjoy Heinlein's later novels as they were published, but, truthfully, I thought he was getting a little bizarre in his old age.) If you don't know what I'm talking about, you haven't read the later novels.

Second, I thoroughly enjoyed this read, even if I was, as were many, jarred by the ending. It is clearly outside of the original "Future History" timeline. But, see my first point. Heinlein diverged from that history in his later novels, while still referring to it. (See the ending of "The Number of the Beast.")

Thank you Spider Robinson.

Your opinion of this book naturally will be affected by your opinion of Spider Robinson's novels. It certainly was so for me, and I admit that I was uncertain that Spider (or anybody) could pull off the "write a novel from 8 pages of Heinlein's notes" challenge. This isn't a perfect success, but he did far better than I feared.

Just for context: I loved Spider Robinson's early books and short story collections. But, as with a musician that has a distinctive "sound," I grew to prefer his stuff in small doses -- catch the song on the radio rather than listen to an entire album. Plus, over the years, I found Spider's authorial tics to be a bit too predictable, his puns obvious, and theme repetitions that were great... the first time around. So it's been years since I've read any of his new stuff. Although I knew that Spider grokked Heinlein better than anybody else, could he write with the Master's voice? I wasn't sure if Spider's own music would overwhelm the core of Heinlein's plot; whether they could harmonize or whether it'd be a "oh, here's the Heinlein solo" back-and-forth.

Spider far exceeded my expectations. This is a good story. It's not an awesome story, but it's a good one. It won't make you feel as though you're reading a Heinlein novel that you somehow had missed; it will, however, remind you of the things you liked about Heinlein's stories. There's the independent hero, the spaceship headed to a new colony, the gorgeous women who are also brilliant. There's also the things that could be irritating about Heinlein, passed through Spider's interpretation, which (I feel compelled to point out to other reviewers) included a propensity for pedantic opinion-sharing, and for sometimes awkwardly done brain-dumps of history or "this is how the science works." Unlike others, I appreciate the references to earlier works and the effort to twist the universe into Future History.

The Heinlein/Spider collaboration never reaches the state of beautiful harmony in which one cannot pick out one voice over another, but to my ear it sounds just fine. I don't think you'll be bowled over, but Heinlein fans will be glad they read this novel.

I am pretty amused by all of the people saying, in effect, "Well! It's definitely not Heinlein!"

No kidding? For real? And how many of you did it take to come to that consensus? More to the point, did any of you read the Afterword to see what Spider was up against while writing this novel?

It's absolutely not Heinlein, it's Spider Robinson writing in Spider Robinson style. Heinlein's influence and Spider's conscious effort at writing in the Heinleinian (?) style are both readily apparent if you don't open the cover of the book with critique in mind.

Is it so hard to read a book just for the sake of reading and enjoying it? I took immense pleasure in going back in time. Heinlein's tone and theme is there running in a natural harmony with Spider's style. I gave this 5 stars for the simple facts that:

A) It was a great read!
B) It took me back to when I first started reading Science Fiction and Heinlein happened to be the second author I got hooked on. Andre Norton was the first. And I was 8.

My advice to anyone considering this book: Buy it. Buy it for itself. Buy it for reading enjoyment. Don't expect it to be a polished up manuscript straight from the Master's hand; it ain't. Buy it to enjoy a break in time.

I was surprised to hear Heinlein's voice coming through. It only happens in brief spots, but it seems like Spider Robinson is channeling RAH in some passages. Yes, as one of the previous reviewers commented, this is a pastiche. Here and there, we see passages that remind us of Heinlein the writer of juveniles; passages that remind us of the writer of adult Science Fiction from the 40s and 50s; and passages that seem to belong to the later Heinlein who liked to challenge our sexual and social mores. This is Rube Goldberg contraption of a novel, bits and pieces of Heinlein barely held together with chewing gum and bailing wire of Spider Robinson's prose. Ultimately, I found this to be a pleasurable but frustrating novel. I'll need to reread it a second time to understand why it works and why it fails. I give Robinson an A+ for chutzpah and a B- for execution.

The first Heinlein I read was Farmer in the Sky in a US Army dependent's school library in Germany about 1950, and it started me on SF. I sat at his table at the L5 Conference in Houston at the Saturday night banquet in 1983 as one of the first two to register. Spider is also a longtime favorite of mine.

Spider took on an impossible task and the result is an interesting read-once for me. Definitely not in the top rank of either writer.

But what really bugs me is that despite multiple readings by many people before publication, two errors slipped through, and the greater share of the blame would seem to go to the editor and publisher.

The minor one is that the name of the Prophet Nehemiah Scudder is missing the 'h', as in Nehemia.

The second relates to internal consistency, always a bugbear of SF. Early in the voyage, Joel learns that his roomie Herb is a telepath who can communicate with his twin sister Li back on Earth. Later on page 128 [first edition], it's stated that only identical twins have this talent.

Without internal consistency, and explanations of differences from our world, it's fantasy; not SF. In our world, identical twins are the same sex. That's the definition of identical. Duh.

Good SF demands that we suspend some disbelief to enter the world of the author, but it also demands that the universe the author creates must be internally consistent, and that differences from our world be explained.

I might overlook this in a new author from a small publisher. But given the reputations of Spider and Heinlein, this just ruined the book for me, and dropped my rating by one star.

Didn't anyone with an attention span long enough to find this read it before it was printed?

Let's see now- book by a favorite writer. Based on the notes of a work that was IN DEVELOPMENT by my all time favorite writer. Hmmmm- Do I hear a robot somewhere saying "Danger Will Robinson- Danger"? Usually, a situation like this is a recipe for disaster- like when your favorite book gets made into a (really lousy) movie. Your hopes and expectations are high, but what gets delivered is ...well... less. But ya know, I think Spider pulled it off. From his past writings I am certain that Spider was a great fan of RAH, and I feel he worked really hard to get inside of Robert's head- and heart- and skin- with success. If I did not see Spider's name on the cover, and know of the collaboration, I would have thought this was a mid-career Heinlein novel I had missed. If you were a fan of Heinlein's, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at one more from the other side of the sunset. Well done, sir- and I raise a glass of Bushmill's finest to you. Thank you. Now, go find a kilt, some red hair, and start looking for the further adventures of someone named Lazarus, wouldja?

Leaving Ganymede to seek his dream as a successful musician and composer, Joel Johnston meets Jinny Hamilton on earth side; they fall in love, but he is broke and must choose between a family with his beloved or his musical quest. Jinny rejects his either or theory as she informs him that she loves him and that she is the granddaughter of the wealthiest person in the solar system. Knowing he loves her not her money, she explains how his future will be.

Heartbroken and betrayed, a drunken Joel leaves earthside and Jinny as he refuses to give up on his dream. He travels to start fresh on the new colony planet Brasil Novo 85 outside the reach of her grandfather. However, galaxy wide catastrophe beyond anything even of biblical proportions changes his quest from musician dreams to survivor.

This is an interesting collaboration as Spider Robinson brings his view of the future and merges that seemingly contradiction with that of Robert A. Heinlein into a delightful coming of age science fiction tale. The story line is a journey on several levels as the hero tries to find himself on an emotional plane while wallowing in doubt and soon is in the midst of a survivor adventure. Though Joel adjustment from runaway musician with a broken heart to calamity champion seems too easy, fans of both authors will appreciate the tandem's fine futuristic thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Especially in the beginning, you can see Heinlein's fingerprints. When you read the afterword you will see why.

Robinson can write. I read this pretty much straight through. There are really sweet moments where Spider really makes you feel at home with his characterizations. The little girl is classic Heinlein to me.

A few things I missed were the way Heinlein wove science into his story and how when he preached at you, he preached right at you. Spider seemed to come in at an angle, not right at you. The main character did not evolve along a consistent path either, and was weaker than Heinlein's characters were usually. He was closer to the hero in "For Us, The Living." If this was the effect Spider was after, then he did it. He was annoying and had a propensity to bray out of context in a way that was not really believable. As he walked onto the bridge the last time, if I were security, I would have shot him right there.

So four stars is all.

Don't believe the cover. This is not a Heinlein novel. It's a Spider Robinson novel based on an incomplete outline and some notes Heinlein prepared in 1955. It makes for an odd collaboration, but I enjoyed the story. It's mostly Robinson, though, with a characteristically crude and flawed main character, fond of drink and socially awkward. It includes clichés, snarky asides, and has a first person conversational style that constantly reminds you that this is just a story. Don't take it seriously. Much of the plot, though, is classic Heinlein. It's pure science fiction in the original, positive, sense of the term with scientists and spaceships and a spotlight on the importance of free choice and individual human achievement. Somehow, the combination works. It's not the silly, unsophisticated humor of Robinson, and it's not the serious comment on humanity of Heinlein, but it succeeds in showing mankind progressing despite mistakes and setbacks, which is what I enjoy most in science fiction and which was the predominant theme of the classic stories from the 1950's.

Robert A. Heinlein (RAH) was a prolific writer but when he died there were still some notes for stories that he had not gotten around to. At the request of RAH's estate Spider Robinson, a well known scifi writer who had been inspired by RAH's work, took on the challenge of finishing this story based on a few pages of notes found among RAH's papers outlining a story that he had started early in his career.

As the story opens a young couple, Joel Johnston and Jinny Hamilton were dancing at their prom. The future looked bright for the pair, they were in love, had just graduated from the local junior college and in the fall they would be heading off to university together. Just how together was a subject of debate. Jinny was quite ready to marry right away but Joel was reluctant until the pair were more financially secure. When Joel stated that money (or the lack thereof) was all that was keeping him from marrying her immediately he was quite shocked by Jinny's response. Rather than being a fellow struggling orphan Jinny was heir to one of the wealthiest families on earth - or off it for that matter. Soon Joel found himself being offered not only Jinny's had but also a large part of the family fortune, all he had to do is give up every other aspect of his life, his name, his planned career and everything else that mattered to him.

Deciding that the price was too high, and that Jinny's family were going to make certain that no other life would ever be available to him Joel took a geographical cure. He signed on to a colonization ship, one that would travel at near light speed to a far off world. Due to the near light speed of their ship Joel would spend twenty years in transit but Jinny and everyone else on earth would age nearly ninety. Joel managed to adapt to life on board, at least until circumstances changed drastically, threatening to make the voyage even longer.

This is a classic Heinlein plot, one that echoes (foreshadows) books that he had written (would later write). Joel has lots in common with the honest, intelligent, hardworking, sincere young men that are so previalant
in RAH's juvenile novels. There are many other elements from RAH's universe that appear in this as well, references to Martians, Venusian dragons, slideroads to name a few that Heinlein fans will delight in recognizing. Robinson has also taken into account events that happened in this universe since RAH first wrote the outline for this story, even incorporating a reference to the SIMPSONS.

No matter how disciplined they are about rationing out the Master's work, at some point every RAH fan will finally read the last page of the last new (to them at least) story. Well this is at least a temporary reprieve from beyond the grave.

Let me start by saying that I'm a recent Spider fan and a long, long (long!) time Heinlein fan. The *style* of this is classic Heinlein Juvenile, and I remember reading many in my formative years, and rereading them more recently. In that context, this fit right in. Its also fine as a Spider Robinson novel. But I think I'd have enjoyed it more if it had been done as an 'authentic' Heinlein Juvenile, not a tribute. Robinson's puns are great fun, but they felt out of place here. I also think that some of Robinson's political beliefs might well have the Old Master spinning in his grave (eg. pp 263, 264 of the hardcover edition). I guess one of the advantages of collaborating with someone who's dead is that you always get the last word.

All in all, though, if you go into this without any preconceived notions, you'll probably have a pretty good time.

I was a voracious reader of SF in the 70's and 80's, and when I cruise the SF section of Borders nowadays, my eye still drifts to the names I knew then -- Tolkein, Varley, Robinson, and especially Heinlein. Now, you don't expect new work from somebody who has been dead for a few decades, so it was with a thrill last year that I saw TWO new titles from the grave -- Tolkein's "Children of Hurin", and this collaboration. My excitement was tempered by the worry that these things don't often live up to the hype. That worry was justified, though the book is still worth a read if you're a Heinlein and/or Robinson fan.

The book existed only as a folder of notes made by Heinlein in the 1950's. I can forgive Robinson and fans everywhere their enthusiasm at the prospect of seeing a new Heinlein space opera, but there's a good reason why authors don't follow up on all of their ideas. In this case, it's because Heinlein already wrote it, and called it "Time for the Stars." Mild spoilers follow:

Let's see ... young male protagonist hustling onto a starship at the last minute ... check! Faster-than-light telepathic communication over the light years back to earth ... check! Protagonist enters deep funk requiring psychoanalysis because of mixed feelings about this joyride ... check! FTL ship overtakes protagonist's sublight vessel; friendship via telepathy with little girl back on Earth allowed to blossom into mature love through the miracle of relativistic time dilation, and reunion enabled by FTL transport -- the list goes on and on!

That said, this is a Spider Robinson book through and through, and not one of his best. The many allusions to Heinlein's Future History are a fun parlor game for the true fan. But it is buried in the stilted too-clever dialogue and overlarding of unneeded details and subplots which characterize much of Robinson's later work. What Spider's early work (think Callahan stories) shared with Heinlein was the ability to lay out a story line which grabbed and held the reader's interest, taking us through memorable problems and characters with never a wasted word or scene. They were FUN, darn it! Much of Variable Star reads like a documentary on starship design.

3/4 of the way through, the book takes a jarring, unforeshadowed turn. Forty pages later, it takes another. Neither of these transitions are handled artfully. The final chapters are a roller coaster of barely connected WTF's leading to an abrupt ... um, stoppage, since I can't really call it an ending.

As Spider Robinson's personal homage to the beloved and much-missed RAH, this book is pretty good. There is a lot of good stuff in there, about meditation and space farming and the importance of not keeping all our eggs in one nest called Earth. As a book it was heavy going -- something that was NEVER true with the "Dean of Science Fiction."

Beam

p.s. -- a trait SR's and RAH's characters seem to share is the ability to drink prodigious amounts of alcohol with few long-term effects. Jubal Harshaw, meet Doc Webster.

p.p.s. -- (SPOILER) did it HAVE to be a super-colossal, never-before-observed-in-the-universe, giga-nova that turned the whole mass of the sun to pure energy and was due to burn the top few hundred feet of every planet in every solar system up to 30 light years away? When a garden-variety supernova would have done? Even a regular non-star-destroying nova would most likely have fried all life in our system. But this was a way to work in his solution to the Fermi paradox. Another dead end.

I like both Spider Robinson and Robert Heinlein. Together, would they be like an one of Spider's beloved Irish coffees, or would it fall flat?

The answer is a little bit of both. Heinlein's original idea was a fairly standard coming-of-age story, although he had written (well, not quite, since there were only his notes) himself into a corner. He shelved it, wrote much of the story elsewere, and that was that. Except, of course, it wasn't. Spider Robinson, certainly one of the biggest Heinlein fanboys ever (see his own "The Free Lunch" for a novel-length proof of that statement), was commissioned to finish this from Heinlein's own notes.

The beginning is mostly Heinlein, with strong accents of Spider showing through. Joel, our narrator, is in love with Jinny (a nod to Heinlein's own wife Ginny?). They plan to marry when they can afford to do so. Jinny reveals that she is not an orphan, but rather the granddaughter of the richest man in the galaxy. Her family approves of her choice of partner, since Joel is the only son of a Nobel-winning physicist, and it is explained to Joel that he will take over the family empire. That all feels very Heinlein to me. I'm not convinced that Heinlein would have made a protoganist a musician, given his unrelenting love for engineers and his disregard for anything else. Setting the early story in Spider's adopted home of Vancouver, BC, as well as the dance scene (complete with references to zero-gravity dance, in case we had forgotten his "Stardancer" novel), is little more than self-indulgent.

The middle is mostly Spider, with accents of Heinlein. Joel is crushed by his love's immense lie, and runs for the hills. He gets a berth on a ship heading out of the solar system, and leaves. The details of this ship and its voyage were lifted directly from Heinlein's "Time for the Stars". But the interpersonal details are all Spider, and if you've read enough of Spider's work, you've read it all before. It wasn't as hopelessly deritative as his "The Free Lunch", but it was noticable. I strongly think that Spider would be a better writer if he couldn't fall back on his tired standbys, but perhaps he really doesn't have the chops anymore. More noticably, Spider's punning was simply out-of-place.

The end. Oh, the end. It's neither Heinlein or Spider. Neither of them could ever be that much of a hack. I'm embarrassed for Spider for writing it. Several characters, including Joel himself, behave in new and entirely contradictory ways. Worse, I can't recall the last time that I've seen a deus ex machina that large. Joel deciding that he was in love with the girl that he had met back on Earth, who was a child but had matured to barely-legal by the time that she caught up to Joel and brought her machina with her, was both creepy and stolen straight from "Time for the Stars" (where it was no less creepy).

Ultimately, this was disappointing and unsatisfying. It wasn't unreadable, but it couldn't live up to either of the authors. It was too uneven of a mix. That is a shame.

Spider Robinson and Robert Heinlein were both favorite authors of mine in my youth, so a posthumous "collaboration" seemed to offer the Best of All Possible Worlds (see? A Robinson reference). But alas, it ended up being the least interesting of possible worlds.

I could echo other reviews' critiques of the way a "modern" protagonist 3 centuries hence is obsessed with "historical" details of the late 20th and early 21st centuries; the rather unlikable (and largely indistinguishable) cast of secondary characters; the interminable angsting of the main character; etc...

But really the problem was that I could barely make myself keep reading I was so bored. The first quarter of the book got me turning pages and recommending the book to friends. But by halfway through, I was skipping two or three pages at a time, skimming ahead for key plot developments so I wouldn't have to read more about the saxophone or psychotherapy or meditation or whatever gone over in pithy (or is that smug) details over and over and over.

So, the first quarter was good. Just read that, and invent your own "ending"

After reading this aloud during a long car trip, I would unreservedly recommend it as an example of SF's Golden Age. Human-vs-the universe. Applying technology to travel and survival in space. It was not important to sift the text into RAH ideas and work of Robinson. It still has a damaged hero, a call for volunteers, and a mission. The divergent elements may belong to Robinson, but make Variable Star unique from Time for the Stars.
At first, I disliked Joel, who went on a bender after a visit to his girlfriend's home. He flees into space. As Joel learns his ship duties, you could see him maturing and becoming a dependable person. His music is a definite contribution, and he becomes a conduit for Robinson's lectures on closed ecosystems in space.
The problem with any book about a colonizing expedition is how does the chronicle reach civilization? Enter the Deus ex machina to solve the dilemma.

This one makes me think of Grandma's recipe for fudge. I've had lots of really good fudge, but none of it was quite as good as Grandma's. My Mom often tried to do that fudge and she had Grandma's recipe, but it just never came out the same. It was really good, mind you, but there was some subtle difference.

Spider Robinson is one of my favorite writers and often reminds me of Heinlein, so given an extensive outline and multiple pages of notes, one would think that this could read like a Heinlein novel. And it almost does - almost. Lots of flavor of Heinlein (also lots of typical Robinson tropes, as well) but the texture isn't quite right. There's something that happens in the mix of the two where an indefinable quality of each gets lost. Don't get me wrong, this is a fun read; one that I had trouble putting down, and I'll want to come back and reread this a few times but it isn't quite Grandma's fudge.

The outline for this sat hidden in a drawer since the early 1950s, but there aren't any surprises here. I have the feeling that Heinlein mined this for several of his other books. The "torchship" concept showed up in "Time For The Stars" as did the concept of superluminal communication by way of telepathic twins. The breakdown in flight is similar enough to that plot element in "Starman Jones" that it seems familiar. The Einsteinian time contraction that is a major plot element has been used a lot, but Robinson/Heinlein does it extremely well.

I have the feeling that the outline was planned by RAH to become one of his juvenile novels; if so, the references to sex and to "alternative" marriages were from his later novels by way of Robinson, but it works well in context.

The plot is surprisingly thin. A young college student is wildly in love as only an 18 or 19 year old can be and loses the girl under unusual circumstances. In reaction he signs on to a colony ship whose trip will last twenty years for him while seventy or more years will go by on Earth. The bulk of the novel deals with his experiences aboard ship for the first few years of this long journey. SF fans will enjoy finding the references to Heinlein's other books and characters as well as the use of Heinlein's "Future History" universe. Non-fans might be surprised to find that Leslie LeCroix was the first man on the Moon and that the early 21st Century was the theocracy of "The Prophet", Nehemiah Scudder. Robinson also makes sly references to others in the SF community such as a characters named Perry Jarnell and "Solomon Short" (the last a take on Heinlein's Lazarus Long as well as David Gerrold's fictional character.)

Most of the real "action" takes place in the beginning and the end of the book and considering that the action in the center takes place over five years, there's very little character development, but the prose is so clean and the characters so involving that the book is a great read. This is almost great Spider Robinson and it is almost vintage Heinlein, and for booth of those reasons you are very likely to enjoy this one a lot. But it ain't Grandma's fudge.

[A warning: leave Spider's after word until you have read the novel, and if you can't do that, definitely don't read the Heinlein quotes that start chapters 17 and 18. If you're a Heinlein fan, you know these quotes well, but knowing what they are will spoil the McGuffin at the end of the book. ]

If you're a Heinlein fan, you are kind of stuck in the unenviable position of the Star Wars fan who is forced to watch the sub-par prequel trilogy Lucas forced upon the world. You can't not watch it, even though it leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth afterwords. If you're a Heinlein fan, you have to buy this book, pure and simple. It's actually a decent read. But don't expect to be happy afterwords.

I'm by no means a purist or someone who gets upset when someone messes with his sacred cows. But while the book starts off outstandingly (reading just like any of Heinlein's other novels) Spider more or less ruins the illusion by adding in Simpsons references(!), having its main characters "Google" for stuff, making the main character bi-sexual (this was intended as a Heinlein Juvenile, rememeber, not a Heinlein Adult), and having a Buddhist monk deliver a wholly irrelevant multi-page monologue bashing George W. Bush and the War in Iraq. What the hell is all of that doing in a "Heinlein" book?

There's a time and place for all of that, but I think they pretty firmly shatter the illusion you're reading a Heinlein novel. Even if Heinlein was living when the Simpsons were around (he died a year before Bart was introduced), he would never have made a character directly based on and named after Smithers (Monty Burns' weak-kneed right hand man). Again, if you're doing another kind of novel, that's fine, but is completely jarring here.

Unsurprisingly, Spider is also a Buddhist (married to a Buddhist monk as well) and hates George W. Bush, as well as all organized religions besides Buddhism. So when you're reading the book, you keep getting hit over the head that you're getting pure Spider diatribe, and worse, these parts quite blatantly don't make sense. For example, in his universe rocketships are all powered by... Buddhist monks. They sit cross-legged in the stern of the ship, and meditate to make magical energy fly out of the rocket's nozzle, powering the ship at close to the speed of light! (I really wish I could be making this up.)

He borrows bits and pieces from other Heinlein novels (stealing characters such as the telepaths from Time for the Stars), and makes an attempt to integrate it into Heinlein's Future History timeline (it's set after the interregnum, and before the development of FTL flight), which is *okay*, except the ending of the book is more or less impossible given Heinlein's world and timeline. If you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound. Sure, it's great that George W. Bush is explicitly said to be the cause of downfall of Earth's civilization in the book, causing the Future History 'Interregnum Period', but if you're using an established setting, you just can't violate your own basic guidelines you've stipulated to begin with. (For those who've read the book, the Martian Elders in Heinlein's universe make the final conclusion of the book more or less impossible.) And worse, whereas Heinlein's novels always leave you feeling hopeful and excited for the future (even if he kills off the main character and everyone he or she loves), Spider's book leaves you feeling simply depressed.

Which, I think, is the ultimate failing of the book.

Robert Heinlein's death left a huge hole in the science fiction field back in the 1980s. Now Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Spider Robinson, working from a long-forgotten outline left by Heinlein, has helped fill a little of that void. Writing in classic Heinlein style, Robinson has recreated the touch of the master. I know Robinson had a reverence for Heinlein, and there were large patches where it was obvious Heinlein;s spirit was looking over his shoulder so you could swear it was the old Man himself writing the words. Yet Robinson puts his own inimitable touches on the piece, too, and you can never forget his presence. You couldn't ask for a more complete collaboration that will not disappoint the fans of either of these two geniuses. If you've been missing Heinlein's work, this is one last loving farewell that rekindles the flame for a final time.

I consider myself doubly blessed, because I listened to the audiobook version, which was narrated by Spider Robinson himself. Not only did I have the pleasure of hearing him read me a "bedtime story," I also got to hear him sing the songs he included in the book. The words he wrote are special; the singing was an extra bonus that you should not miss. Even if you're not visually impaired, I recommend the audiobook--just for the fun of it.

I read this book - written by Spider Robinson from Robert Heinlein notes - as my goal to read a pile of books from the late Heinlein. This one, however, wasn't very impressive. The "plot" centers around Joel Johnston who is tricked into marrying an heiress and her domineering family, escaping - partly with the help of his fiancé's 7 year old cousin, Evelyn - on a ship heading to a faraway colony.

Once Joel gets on the ship, any plot is dropped as the book is just about Joel is told to learn about the potential colony and his crew, with math statistics, exposition, and info-dumping put upon the reader in several chapters. It's not until the last quarter or eighth of the "story" that Evelyn comes with the surviving members of her family from the Sol system that has been destroyed. Evelyn, who has been trading letters with Joel, has become older (due to space/time "stuff") and is now able to marry Joel, since it was destined that they be together.

Joel doesn't really change, obviously due to the plot being non-existent, but Evelyn does seem to be a bit stronger, and able to stand up to the people that Joel ran away from. Hence, the story could have been about HER, rather than Joel...giving us a semblance of a plot, which wasn't in the published book.

Overall, the book was a task to get through. Yes, Robinson was going off of Heinlein's notes, but that shouldn't be the reason we couldn't have a strong novel with characters we could relate to, with obstacles, stakes...a beginning, middle, and end. Therefore, I can't recommend 'Variable Star.'

Over all this was a great book to read, and just flow along with the story line. It has all the classic RH features post the second American revolution, but where the book falls apart is within the continuity of post Methuselah's children, with the return of the new frontiers. The only way this makes sense as a book, and within the continuity of RH's universe, if if we are in an alternative time line (read number of the beast, time enough for love) that does not conform to the events that happened at the return of the space ship new frontiers with the development of the Libby Sheffield drive.

Rather in this book, some one else invents supra luminal drive, the sun explodes (although leaves a tie in via "unknown enemy" for Time enough for Love"). There is no supra luminal drive developed by Libby and Sheffield. Rather it is someone else, and why the sun exploding leaving humanity a shattered wreak of minimal colonies, that have to be notified that there is going to be a "gamma ray burst" happening because the sun exploded.

Good story, but hard to tie into the RH universe unless this book takes place in a pocket universe or an alternative time line. That idea is up for grabs, the book does not state that it takes place in an alternative time line, one has to guess at that.

Besides being able to poke holes in how this fits into the RH universe, overall the book was awesome to read. One of those stay up and read all night kind of books that will keep you riveted to the place you are reading. It is well worth getting, and enjoying just as a story itself, if you do not worry about how the book fits into the context of the RH universe.

Like most of the other reviewers, I have been a Heinlein fan for much of my life and a Spider fan for the last couple of decades--those time frames are not the same, btw.

I started this book with some trepidation. After all, how can someone copy the Master? Answer: she can't. But...Spider will be the first to admit he was not trying to copy Heinlein's style. He knows better than that.

I did have some cognitive dissonance in the beginning. Here was obviously a Heinlein plot but with Spider's puns and 4 letter words. I almost felt schitzophrenic looking for what was RAH's and what was Spider's. About half-way through, I just gave up and enjoyed the ride. I still got a kick out of the references to the the Future History (especially at the end) and to Spider's "classical" (i.e. contemporary) ones. It makes perfect sense to me that the current "War on Terror" could lead to the rise of a Nehamiah Scudder. I think Heinlein is spinning in his figurative grave as to what this has done to our country and individual rights.

As far as lack of character developement in the secondary characters, I disagree. I would love to meet somebody like Dr. Amy and I mourned when others (no spoiler here) were killed.

I'm not a published novelist, but it would scare the living bejeezus out of me to attempt a project like this. Spider had to know that he would draw lots of fire but he charged the machinegun nest anyway. Gotta give him credit for that. The only other person I could think of who might have even made a decent stab at it is John Varley. Give the poor Spider a break. Could YOU have done better?

I really enjoyed the aspects of both these writers. The book has the "soul" of Heinlein, but the "heart" of Spider. While Heinlein's characters take life in big bites, Spider's actually laugh out loud, especially at themselves. We can all use a little more of that.

This is Heinlein in the same way Basil Rathbone is Sherlock Holmes, but far worse. RAH created reasonably understandable characters whom you could/did feel comfortable with. This BOZO, well, I would leave the room after spending 10-12 minutes listening to the whining, crying, hysterically laughing, (WHEN did any RAH hero continuously "fall down laughing, I laughed until I screamed"? This isn't even second rate Heinlein. It IS third rate garbage and Mr Robinson should be ashamed of himself. What a dreadful way to wrap up Heinleins legacy.

"Variable Star" is a tremendous gift for Heinlein fans.

If I have this right, someone was going through Heinlein's estate and found a small bunch of index cards. The cards outlined the start of a Heinlein SF novel based in a future which occurs somewhat after "Time Enough for the Stars" and somewhat based on that novel. So, the folks handling Heinlein's estate looked around and approached Spider Robinson with a proposition. Spider started writing and did a very good job of writing, about, 95%--98% of the words of a very good science fiction tale that is fit for present day readers as well as old time fans of either of these authors. Thank you, Spider!

In short, the hero gets into a situation with his girl friend. The hero then flees to interstellar space aboard a brand new ship. His plan is to help colonize a planet around a different sun. And, then, something big and bad happens. Just when all hope seems lost, something BIG and super-bad happens! Then, ... Well, the ending will keep you on the edge of your seat (or some equivalent)!

The story that got published shows a lot of Spider Robinson in the middle of it. But, it clearly shows enough of Robert Heinlein's skills to make it a partnership effort. Also, Spider was absolutely inspired in his Heinlein-like ending.

I rated it a four but that is because I have very high standards. It, probably, deserves a five rating.

Buy it. Read it. Give it as a gift to anyone over 17 years old.

This book is a strange one, with a strange history. Way back in 1955 (before my father was born), Robert Heinlein wrote a partial outline for a juvenile novel and, for whatever reason, opted not to write it. Fast forward a half-century, and Spider Robinson (whose Callahan's Bar stories are a must-read, by the way), was commissioned to write a novel from said outline. The results are mixed.

Don't get me wrong-I enjoyed myself through and through. It's a good, fun, brisk read. But it does have a few annoyances. 1) It chooses to, for no reason I can see, use not Heinlein's Future History, but rather an offshoot of Heinlein's Future History. Why? Those who don't know Heinlein well won't get it, and those who do know the History will be annoyed by the off-shooting continuity. I know I was. 2) It pulls one of my big pet peeves in science fiction-namely, pop culture references. As though people will be quoting The Simpsons in the 23rd Century. Right. 3) The deus ex machina at the end. I won't spoil it, but it's not foreshadowed or possible to pre-conceive at all. It's a cheat, and it bugged me. Personally, I thought that it was building to an entirely different ending (and my ending rocked, by the way), and so I was annoyed when the rug was pulled out.

However, let me repeat that the above represent mostly annoyances. I think that both Heinlein and Robinson fans will enjoy this one. It's a fun read. But not much more than a fun read, I'm afraid.

It's not a BAD book, but the finale had much to be desired - it seemed the author (not Heinlein) grew bored and wanted to just finish the script. There were a number of plot lines that were unfollowable and added nothing to the overall theme.

Since I've always been a Heinlein fan, particularly of his early fiction, I was very keen to get my hands on Variable Star. Unfortunately, Robinson ruins a good story with too much profanity, sexual innuendo, and preachy references to a 20th century artist and the wars in Iran and Afghanistan. In a touching Afterword to the book, Robinson lovingly reminisces about being introduced to Heinlein's "juvenile" fiction when he was young and how it changed his life's path. Therefore, it's ironic and just plain too bad that Robinson chose to turn Heinlein's outline and notes into an adult novel rather than a book that could excite a kid's imagination, much as Heinlein's early work did for Spider. There are precious few new science fiction books that you feel comfortable letting your kids read. Why, oh why, Spider, did you continue this recent and unfortunate tradition?

Let me start out by saying that I'm a big fan of RAH. I own at least one copy of every one of his books, and I re-read them every few years. So I was interested to find out about "Variable Star," written by Spider Robinson, based on an outline by Heinlein. I have never read any of Robinson's other books, so I can't comment on how this one compares to the rest of his work.

My short reaction is that the beginning was a lot of fun, the end was well done, but there were some missteps in the middle that very nearly ruined this book for me.

(Note, if you're not a Heinlein geek, you may want to skip this paragraph.) At the beginning of this book, I was very impressed with the way Robinson was able to capture Heinlein's voice from the period of his Juveniles. A fair amount of this was due to (I assume) deliberate allusions to Heinlein's published work. I was having a lot of fun picking out the references - "Number of the Beast", "Time for the Stars", "Farmer in the Sky", "Methuselah's Children", "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", et al. And in picking those out, I first noticed an interesting thing: it appeared that Robinson was conflating Heinlein's Future History universe with the universe from the Juveniles. My understanding had always been that although these were largely compatible, there were enough contradictions that they were considered separate. This didn't bother me, especially, since this isn't actually a Heinlein book, but a Robinson book, and I figured he was having some fun.

By the time I was about 100 pages in, I was noticing a number of places where Robinson was no longer trying to maintain Heinlein's voice from the Juveniles. This didn't really bother me, either. Heinlein himself changed style in his later books. I also thought it was a reasonable decision to shift voice from Heinleinesque to something more Robinsonesque (or so I imagine, since, as I said, I haven't read any of his other books.)

Further, I thought that the ending was handled well. With surprisingly few pages remaining, I was thinking that he would have a difficult time pulling things together, and was surprised at some of the subplots that had been left hanging. Robinson did an admirable job of tying it all together, though.

Here's my biggest complaint. And let me warn you that if you don't care about politics in the US, this may seem completely unimportant to you. Right around page 200, Robinson inserted a brief aside about the difference between conservatives and liberals (as defined in the modern-day US context), which was unnecessary, jarring, and arguably inaccurate. I mentally inserted the stereotypical needle-scratching-across-the-vinyl-record sound effect, as the flow of the narrative was completely interrupted by this short segment. I attributed this to a minor misjudgment on Robinson's part, but continued to read -- I had been enjoying the book up to that point, and had been quite immersed in the story. Around page 260, though, a character, portrayed as calm and rational, and speaking plainly on the author's behalf, made a speech where he made some deeply offensive moral equivalence arguments between terrorists and the victims of terrorism. He cited 9/11 Trutherism without prejudice, and included a deeply tendentious analysis of current (ca. 2005) events, as seen from a future perspective.

Now personally, I don't care what Robinson's politics are -- although he obviously cares enough to let us know -- and I enjoy a good debate as much as the next political junkie, but really, this was completely unnecessary. As an author, why would you go out of your way to offend or annoy a large fraction of your audience? I get so tired of outspoken lefties -- and yes, it's almost always lefties -- inserting their diatribes in places where they're inappropriate, and where you, as a reader or audience member, might think you can get away from that divisiveness. (For many more examples of this phenomenon, search for: Nordlinger "No Safe Zones") When I'm reading a book that takes place several hundred years from now, in an alternate universe, I don't think I'm out of line in thinking that I might escape from divisive, partisan political analysis of current events in this universe. And the most frustrating part is that it would have been far, far easier NOT to include this -- Robinson had to go out of his way to bend the Future History of Heinlein's universe to fit in with his thesis about modern-day US politics.

So at this point, I was completely taken out of the flow of the story. Robinson killed all of the narrative momentum of the book. I put the book down for a couple of days, and was debating whether to bother finishing it or not; the author clearly didn't care whether I did. In the end, I did finish the book, and overall, I'm glad I did. The political rant ended about 2 pages after it began, and was never referenced again thereafter (further demonstrating that the screed could have been removed without anyone but Robinson missing it).

As I said at the beginning of this review, I felt like Robinson did a good job of tying up the loose ends and sub-plots that had been left dangling. If he had managed to keep his odd geopolitical theories out of this book, I would have easily given it another star.

I really enjoyed the book, and read it in one sitting. The plot -felt- like a Heinlein Juvenile novel, but the realistic, sensitive treatment of characters and the clean, pleasant style were pure Spider Robinson.

I find myself wishing it had been a bit more clean (PG for sex) so I could give it to my young religious relatives, as I can the original Heinlein juveniles.

It was a lovely change of pace to read of a "Heinlein Hero" who was an artist, (composer and saxophonist) rather than an engineer. It was also fun to revisit Heinlein's Future History.

I'm hoping for a sequel... and I despise multibook series.

I love Heinlein and really like Robinson. I loved the Callahan Crosstime Saloon series at first but the last couple of books were novels rather than collections of related short stories and somehow I liked them less and was somewhat disenchanted with Robinson. But this book is great. It feels like "Time Enough for Love" or "Number of the Beast"; you defintely feel Heinlein's prescence while reading it. A must read for any Heinlein fan!

First things first--as you probably know, despite his name appearing prominently on the cover, Robert A. Heinlein, the late Grand Master of Science Fiction who died in 1988, did not write "Variable Star." Rather, author Spider Robinson wrote it using a detailed outline and notes that were only recently discovered among Heinlein's papers.

Does this concept work? Does "Variable Star" feel like a "real" Heinlein? Is it a worthy addition to the many volumes that bear the Grand Master's name, and that legions of fans young and old have enjoyed for generations?

Well, I regret to have to answer, "No, it doesn't, no, it doesn't and no, it isn't." In the first third or so, I'll admit that "Variable Star" uncannily resembles Heinlein's juveniles such as "Space Cadet," "Starman Jones," "Between Planets" and "Time for the Stars," which I breathlessly devoured as a young boy and which greatly influenced my choice of a career as an aerospace engineer. But other than those enjoyable early pages, most of "Variable Star" is like nothing Heinlein wrote or would ever write, in my opinion. It is incomprehensible, lackluster and confusing--literary sins that Heinlein could never be accused of committing. Other reviewers have called it "boring," and I strongly agree. Once the starship "Charles Sheffield" leaves the Solar system, nothing much happens. That includes more than half of the book. Of course, many of Heinlein's later works were heavy on dialogue and light on action (consider the second half of "Glory Road," for example), but "Variable Star" takes it to an unbearable extreme. I got too bored to continue reading it about two-thirds of the way through, and just skimmed the rest of it looking in vain for points that seemed to advance the plot. Also, there is considerable un-Heinleinian recreational drug use, and extensive, gratuitous profanity that Heinlein, as far as I know, never felt the need to write. There's no way to sugar-coat it--this is not a good book.

The only reason I can see for anyone to read "Variable Star" is out of a morbid fascination to see how a contemporary author interprets ideas that Heinlein had 50 or 60 years ago. If that's your interest, then by all means give it a read. But don't read it expecting to be entertained in the Heinleinian fashion, and don't believe the hype anointing Mr. Robinson as "the new Heinlein." He most definitely is not.

In Red Planet a Martian Artist died in the middle of a work, completing it in the discorporate. I believe in discorporate support. I believe that Spider did have some support from beyond. There is also something to be said about the role editors and publishers have in a work. One of Robert's close friends and editors advised him not to pursue this work. He laid it aside and instead went to the next which was `Stranger in a Strange Land.' If I had to choose I would take `Stranger.' But Spider I enjoyed having a little more of Heinlein to read, now.

You did get into the spirit of Mr. H. I enjoyed the updated idioms and technology. It gave a certain modernism that I'm afraid some purists will object to, but it was necessary in this endeavor. As with all good books I was a little depressed at the end, because I would no longer able to commune with the author and the characters he created. I will wait a few years and read it again with nostalgia. Next time, I will be forewarned of the ending!

First the bad news. According to the afterword, all Spider started with was 7 pages of notes (there were more, but any additional pages have been lost) and 14 3x5 cards with more notes. So the plot in broad terms is recognizably Heinleinesque, but he didn't have much to go on. But the real disappointment is that Spider's agent told him not to write the novel in a Heinlein style, but in his own. Understandable, sure. But it just doesn't feel like a Heinlein book (much less a Heinlein Juvenile, which the Publisher's Weekly semi-compares it to in their review). It has a fair amount of profanity, multiple drug references (soft, hard and alcohol) and sentences like "Damned souls condemned to yearn forever, and destroy all they touched, knowing it was pointless." As a Spider Robinson book it's OK, but he's really pushing it to include RAH's name on it (no matter how lovingly he tried to do him justice).

OK, now onto the good parts. Throughout the first, oh, half of the book (but then it peters out), Spider peppers the story liberally with RAH allusions. For example: The story starts with Joel (the hero) and Jinny (as in Mrs. Ginny Heinlein?) dancing. Afterwards, she says, "After dancing like that ... a couple really ought to get married". Sound familiar? It should. The Number of the Beast (with its own ton of allusions) starts the same way -- "After a tango like that the couple ought to get married." In both books they go to (Jinny's home) which "isn't anywhere" and (Deety's/Jake's cabin) "It's ... a nowhere place." And there are many, many more. If you're like me and have read and re-read Heinlein's works so often you've practically got them memorized, you'll have fun picking out the references. Trivia question: In Variable Star, on several occasions people use the phrase "Crave pardon." Where else in the RAH canon is this phrase used?

And did I mention a character named Solomon Short? (Presumably used by permission of David Gerrold.)

Side comment -- Kathleen Moore complains that the book's resolution is based on a deus ex machina. Well, so it is. Which is ironic, because it's essentially the same deus ex machina used at the end of Time for the Stars that she mentions. So in a way that's another allusion. And while, yes, there is a lot of Time for the Stars in this novel, it doesn't take much thought to realize that in many ways, Variable Star is closest, structurally, to The Door Into Summer.

So the bottom line is that I gave this only 3 stars. If I'd read it without knowing the author(s), this is probably how I'd rate it. Which is a shame. I wish it had been better.

Variable Star (2006) is a SF novel in the Heinlein Juvenile series, yet written posthumously from an outline and notes. Although not taken any further, its genesis may have followed Tunnel In the Sky (1955) and probably preceded Double Star (1956).

In this novel, Joel Johnston, a colonist from Ganymede, and Jinny Hamilton have just graduated from Fermi Junior College in Surrey, British Columbia. Jinny wants to marry Joel right now rather than waiting until they graduate from the university. Joel is just doesn't see how this is possible until Jinny confesses that her real name is Jinny Conrad. Since her family owns about half of the Solar System, the money problem just disappeared.

Joel meets Conrad of Conrad, Jinny's grandfather, and gets a few words in edgewise, but is otherwise outtalked and muddled by the family plans. After this monologue (it really couldn't be called a conversation), Joel asks Evelyn Conrad, Jinny's cousin, for directions on leaving the complex and she calls up a guest car for him. He returns to his basement cubic in Greater Vancouver and goes on a binge. He ends up in Tampa, Florida, in the examining room of Dr. Rivera, apparently applying for a slot on the RSS Sheffield and a oneway trip to Brazil Novo (Bravo) in the Immega 714 -- AKA Peekaboo -- solar system.

Sobering up, Joel takes the slidewalk back to Vancouver and tries to call Jinny. Instead he finds himself connected to Richard Conrad, the grandfather, and being talked at again. This time Joel says "No" and Conrad arranges a return call at 9:00 AM. Joel isn't in the mood and returns to Tampa, this time talking Rivera into approving his application as crewman on the Sheffield.

Jinny calls about eight hours before departure. After talking past each other, Joel asks her to come with him to the stars. She declines and he leaves on schedule.

Joel's fellow colonists are an odd lot and that doesn't count the Relativists. George R. Marsden, a Relativist, meets him at the lock and shows him to his room. To describe George R.'s wit as dry would be an understatement. In RUP-0010-E, Joel meets his roommates: Herb Johnson, Pat Williamson, Balvovatz, and Solomon Short. Johnson is a telepathic Communicator, Williamson is the ship's historian, Balvovastz is a miner, and Short is another Relativist.

Relativists are the most important persons on the Sheffield. The fusion/antimatter drive gets them out of the immediate vicinity of Sol and the Relativistic drive accelerates them to near lightspeed. The Relativists control this drive by meditating on it, or maybe focusing on it, or . . . who know? Even the Relativists can't explain it and Joel's father has come the closest to describing it mathematically. But everybody knows it works.

Joel is a dirt farmer. He lied on his application about his hydoponics experience, but the straw boss, Kamal "Zog" Zogby, figures he is more trainable than the average city person. Joel works for Zog and has Kathy as his assistant. Kathy is also trainable, but has much more to learn. For example, she finds out the hard way what happens if you sneeze in a goat shed.

The trip to Bravo will take about twenty years ship time, but over ninety years Earth time. As they get further from the Solar System, the relativistic effects will be more noticeable. After turnover, of course the ship will decelerate to normal speeds for rendezvous with Bravo. By that time, the message delay time will be huge, hence the use of telepathic pairs to bypass the lightspeed problem.

This novel was written by Spider Robinson. From the casual use of certain pseudonyms -- Anson MacDonald -- to the punny names -- Perry Jarnell -- it shows his style. The setting for the first segment -- Vancouver, Canada -- matches his usual stomping grounds. Yet who else could have completed this novel in just this fashion. Even the ending had to be invented by Robinson, but is so typical of Heinlein.

This story fits snugly into the Heinlein Juveniles of that period, from Farmer in the Sky (1950) to Time for the Stars (1956). But the novel most like this one is Glory Road (1963). Glory Road is this novel on amphetamines, with even wilder strangeness. The country hick and the slick city girl are depicted in both of these novels, yet Star is more compassionate than Jinny. She manipulates Gordon every which way but loose, lying, cheating and probably stealing to get him to do one thing for her people. Yet she is busier than Jinny ever dreamed of being. While still loving Gordon, she just doesn't have the time for him except by appointment, but she does her best to give him what he really wants. No one will love Jinny after reading this book, but Star is beloved by all Heinlein fans.

This novel could not have been written by Heinlein. Since Heinlein lived during the attack on Pearl Harbor, sabotaging the Solar System would not be beyond his ability to imagine. But he was at the mercy of his editors to get anything published. Even Stranger In a Strange Land (1961) suffered edits prior to publication (but afterward he had more influence). Campbell would not have allowed him to include such widespread damage, for such blatant action would have forever compromised the continuity of subsequent juveniles on or around Earth. Since Heinlein complained that Campbell would not accept this story, maybe that is precisely why it was rejected.

Also, Heinlein would probably not have conceived of the Relativists and their metaphysical drive. He was a hard science fiction writer at that time and anyone who has seen Destination Moon should realize his mania for technical accuracy. The FTL drive in Starman Jones (1953) was much more physical. Moreover, he was still using torch ships in Time for the Stars.

Nonetheless, I doubt if Heinlein would disapprove of this novel. While much of it comes from Robinson's sources and speculations, it is still true to Heinlein's way of thinking. The message is pure Heinlein: humanity will never willingly surrender to superior technology or intelligence. And some of us will refuse to give in to emotional demands to "do something, anything, but just do it".

Highly recommended for Heinlein & Robinson fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of juvenile obstinacy, adult perseverance and the path to enlightenment.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I became hooked on Robert Heinlein the same way that Spider Robinson did -a librarian in my small Ontario town saw me (as a very young boy) looking at non-fiction books about space and pointed me to the science fiction section. I'll love her forever.

Fast forward to university, back in the seventies, and a friend introduces me to Spider's early writings. I fell hard for Robinson's wit and style, and have read everything since.

So Variable Star, to me, is the book I waited to read all of my reading life. Is it perfect? To me, yes. I know that Spider had the chance to meet and get to know Robert Heinlein. I know that Spider probably knows Heinlein's work better than most. I suspect that, as Spider has said, Robert's spirit was hovering in Spider's office when Variable Star was being written. And I think he's pleased with the result.

The important thing to know about "Variable Star" is it's a collaboration, not an imitation. Spider was tasked with taking Heinlein's outline and turning it into "the best damn Spider Robinson novel you're capable of." That's the only way it could have been approached; any attempt to reproduce the Old Man's voice paragraph by paragraph would have turned into parody. Instead, Spider treats it as a true collaborative work, staying faithful to the Master's ideas and complementing them with his own. It would spoil the enjoyment to read "Variable Star" expecting a new Heinlein juvenile. This book is something very different: the closest we'll get to a novel produced by time-travel collaboration.

Heinlein's characters and themes are all here. The first few chapters come directly from his 1955 outline and his hand is most evident there; Jinny's strength and unpredictability, Joel's confusion and rebellious personality, the larger forces of the Conrad empire and the interplanetary starships seen through the eyes of an ordinary youth. From there, Spider is mostly on his own in developing the plot, but stays true to Heinleinesque themes: pioneer spirit, the importance of colonizing other worlds, fighting to preserve the human species at all costs, and a love story that transcends time and distance. But there's plenty of Spider in there: life in low-to-zero gee; Zen spirituality and confronting fear; logic and rational thought presented as page-turning entertainment.

As other reviewers have noted, there's a point in the book that shifts briefly to discussing recent events in the US (you'll know it when you hit it). It's woven into the Future History context, and reflective of Heinlein's writings on pre-emptive war and American ideals... but it breaks the fourth wall somewhat. On the one hand, it takes you out of the story and makes you stop and think. On the other hand... it makes you stop and think, which itself is very relevant to the sequence and the larger story. It worked OK for me, but read it and decide for yourself.

At the end of the book, some big questions are left open, and the stage is set for an ongoing story. Maybe that's just Spider's classic style - the panorama is always larger at the end of his books than the beginning. Personally I think this is Spider's strongest book in several years, and I'd love to see it continued. (As long as he can keep the puns to a minimum.)

Many of my observations have already been voiced.

The first complaint regards the characters... I can accept the mysticization and glossing over of space drive physics as necessary suspensions of disbelief... the Hitchcock macguffin, if you like. But nothing excuses weakly drawn characters. All the main character's relationships are flat, 2-dimensional sketches. Even Heinlein's juvenile-novel supporting characters were strong, starkly drawn, and possessed of their own motivations. Often they were only hinted at, but they were never the unconvincing stock characters this novel suffers from.

The observation that the novel does not fit with the Heinlein future history is a good point... if the novel cannot fit precisely in that history (as it cannot), why borrow stock comments from that while interspersing snippets from the non-Heinlein real world? Thus "Anson MacDonald Day" fits oddly with remeniscences about "Star Wars" and 9-11. The reason for this becomes evident later.

This brings me to my chief complaint. The last third of the story is the worst offense against the spirit of Heinlein's work. Robinson states, in his postscript commentary, that he had to work up an ending of his own because it was missing from the original Heinlein outline. The switch is immediately evident and jarring as it reflects contemporary partisanship. This is the reason for his insertion of real-world popular culture and history in Heinlein's future history: it sets the stage for Robinson's own polemic.

I have no doubt that Heinlein would have deprecated the rise of fundamentalist religion, as he made clear in his characterization of the evil Scudder. But he would have deprecated the rise of such in our enemies more, as the greater existential threat. Heinlein understood existential threats and he did not believe in, as Robinson's Zen protagonist advocates, "retaining humanity" by disavowing a warrior path when faced with such. Heinlein's way is to come back swinging, as his main character shouts back at the Galactic Overlords of "Have Space Suit Will Travel" when he is on trial for the faults of humanity.

Further, Heinlein believed passionately in the secular ideas of classic liberalism... the rights of the individual, the responsibility to defend those rights, mistrust of powerful centralized governments, and the necessity to be intolerant of intolerance as the only way to maintain the tolerance that is the basis of a free society of individuals. This is the basis of his oft-quoted dictum that "an armed society is a polite society." Heinlein did not believe that war is good, but rather that sometimes it is the least bad option. A war (however flawed in execution, as is "The Bug War" of "Starship Troopers, with its immolation of Buenos Aires" and genocidal attacks on colony planets) to bring not dominace, but enlightened choice to peoples oppressed by secular or fundamentalist totalitarianism, would have met with his strong support on principle, if not necessarily in form. Heinlein understood that war is not an end, but a means to an end and that the end for which the war is fought is what determines its moral character.

Robinson, by putting Heinlein's name with his own as author and suggesting that the current war was somehow an unnecessary and unprovoked assault on the defenseless populations of uninvolved states confuses ends with means and in so doing puts false words in Heinlein's mouth by shying away from his philosophy. Heinlein understood the necessity of destructive war to bring down states and political systems that threatened the ideals of liberal tolerance. Some things, Heinlein consistently repeats in all his works, are worth fighting for; even when that fighting is on the behalf of others and may result in unintended, albeit necessary, destruction.

This book goes in my "used book discard" pile. And I am sorry to do so. The only thing that saves it from being as bad as the cinematic adaptation of "Starship Troopers" is the fact that it starts well. It's too bad it doesn't live up to its initial promise.

Not unexpectedly, I found myself disappointed in this book. I'm a Heinlein fan

from my early teens and, while I saw tastes of his early teen books in the

beginning of the novel, it was apparent to me where Robinson ran out of

notes from Heinlein and started to inject his style into the story.

Unfortunately, the book became dull at that point although I continued to

slog through it in order to find out how he ended it. However, when I

reached the ending, I found it to be so ludicrous that I found myself sorry

to have invested my time in getting there. I won't spoil the ending for those

who've yet to read it but the conspiracies proposed at that point plus the

miraculous reappearance of characters introducted at the beginning of the

book really strained by abilities to accept them, even for a SciFi novel.

When I first heard that this book was to be published, I was not optimistic

about its quality. Collaborations between to living authors tend not to work

but ones between a 20-years dead author and a living one based upon a set of

50-year old notes and outlines seems destined to fail. And for me, fail it

did. Go ahead and read it if you like but don't expect it to live up to

Heinlein standards, whether you compare it against his early novels or his

later, more adult ones. Maybe it meets the Robinson style and quality, but I

wouldn't know since I've never read anything of his before.

As a side note, I'd like to comment on those reviewers who appear offended

that Robinson has injected some of his political views into his book. I'd

like to suggest that your offense is not so much that his views are represented

in the book; its simply that his views and yours are at odds. Fine, if you

object to his views in his book, either don't read it any more or go write

your own book where you can say what you like.

As I sit here at my computer awaiting the delivery of the world's first chaos based morphing computer chip (darn Federal Express, how long can they take to deliver a package!) I just finished this novel. All of my life I have know that I owe a tremendous debt to Robert Heinlein for inspiring me to a life of science and engineering. Thus it was with great hope and apprehension that I purchased and read this work by Spider Robinson based upon the notes of Heinlein. Frankly, my expectation is that the most talented writer on the planet would be able to capture 1% of the intensity and creativity of the book Heinlein would have written. Mr. Robinson has far exceeded my expectations and I thoroughly recommend this book. Robinson (whom I admire as one of this generations best science fiction writers) has pulled it off and created not a pale imitation of what Heinlein would have written but a stand alone novel worthy to have Heinlein as a co-author. Well Done!! Now I can only hope that my computer chip arrives and that it works as we think it will and take on not Conrad but Intel!

Bill Ditto

Spider Robinson has given devoted Heinlein fans a rare gift with this novel. It doesn't measure up to Heinlein's own best work; but it's better than his worst. It's a pastiche, certainly; but it's never a parody. It may be flawed; but, with perhaps one exception (the digression about the so-called War on Terror noted by another reviewer), its flaws are true to the spirit of Heinlein's work.

Imagine if the Heinlein Estate had, instead of commissioning this book, set up a contest. The notes and 3x5 cards would have been reproduced and "published" maybe on the internet for all of us to read and contemplate. Then let anyone and everyone make an attempt to create a "new" Heinlein youth novel.

The contest could have been a fund raiser and a great tribute to apparently every SF reader's favorite author. And we might have seen some very interesting variations on the basic theme.

I've hungered for replacement authors and composers in the past. I still do.

Based on a short unfinished outline written by RAH in the 1950s, this page-turner is a wonderful homage to RAH. I know I'll never again read a new RAH novel, but Variable Star is certainly the next best thing and for me evokes many happy RAH memories.

It's a wonderful blend of a RAH style plot with Spider Robinson's unique and entertaining writing style.

The the store reviews are surprisingly mixed, with the some sour grapes from a vocal minority of hard-line RAH purists, who seem to be shocked and amazed that Spider decided to write this novel in his own style, rather than trying to ape RAH. Get over yourself people. I don't often bother leaving a review on the store, but I felt the need to leave a 5 star review to balance out some of the unrealistic nutters.

This novel definitely makes it into my top 10 list, especially in audiobook format narrated by Spider which is brilliant.

Variable Star was not written by Robert Heinlein. Its plot, characters, and setting may have been devised and drawn out by the late Science Fiction master, but the gaps most certainly show whenever Robinson attempts to fill them in. I'll admit that I'm quite a Heinlein fan, and I loved the first half of this book more than any another Heinlen I've read. It has a catchy premise that reels you into a fantastic world, with a main character that is perfect in his quirkiness and authenticity.

Most good works of fiction make the reader grip the page during the climax, putting all other responsibilities aside until the plot is resolved. Variable Star is the first book I've read in recent memory that made me feel this way during the exposition and the initial chapters. The setting, the characters, and other elements in the novel are fascinating, especially because it deals heavily with one man's internal struggle to make sense of his own world, instead of the bloody (and predictable) conflict-based plots that are all-too-common in SciFi today.

However, halfway through the book, this came screeching to a halt. The trademark Heinlein references (including everyone's favorite, line marriages) still kept flowing, but the writing seemed rushed, the plot seemed forced, and the characters simply became less believable. I won't ruin it, but the climax of the novel was brought on by one of the worst plot devices I've ever read in published fiction and solved by a deus ex machina that was only slightly better. I finished the book with my jaw agape, trying to piece together the sheer ridiculousness of the events I had just read. There is a fine line between unbelievable and absurd coincidences, and Robinson stepped far over it in an attempt to conclude what was obviously an unfinished Heinlein novel.

However, I was willing to suspend disbelief, and don't give the work such a low rating simply for being unpredictable. My greater concern was that Spider Robinson couldn't help but make a political point whenever he saw a chance. I know that Heinlein (like Orwell, Asimov, Gibson, Stevenson, and other SciFi authors) writes books that express political messages, but I've never seen this done so tactlessly. Robinson is obviously disturbed by America's reaction to the September 11th attacks and subsequent invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. However, instead of using fictional events as a metaphor, he has the gall to refer to them directly.

I almost had to put the book down at the point in the novel when one of the characters began referring to the "nineteen killers" and the "Christian superpower" that "crushed two tiny bystander nations." I'll admit that I'm as loony of a liberal as you'll get and agree with Robinson in principle, but this application was simply inappropriate for a science fiction novel set two hundred years in the future. I know that the Iraq war is a farce, Spider. I simply don't want to hear about it when I read a novel about colonizing the stars.

I didn't think this was that good. This book represents the decline of science fiction. I don't need the author's perspectives on the war in Iraq in an SF novel about a space journey at the speed of light. I read SF to expand my mind and stimulate my imagination, not dwell on stuff going on in the real world. Oh and Spider, if you're going to go on about new age concepts, get your chakras straight.

Spoiler alert.

The trouble with this book is that it lacks the central themes recurring throughout all Heinlein novels. Heinlein main characters are typically self reliant, capable, competent men or women of action who possess a strong moral code and self esteem. Joel Johnston (novel antagonist) does not. Joel Johnston is an immature, underdeveloped weasel with a nasty habit of crawling into a bottle whenever life isn't going quite according to plan. He is not a hero. He is not even an anti-hero. He is a reactionary to whom the universe does things but, until the final few pages, never develops the chutzpa to do things for himself. He runs from the first trap he sees and then voluntarily jumps right into the next one available, soaks himself in any intoxicant he can find to stop thinking, throws away opportunity with one decent woman only to jump into bed with an indecent one, and pines for years in loneliness for one girl he left behind and a memory of another who frightened him.

To make matters worse, and even more ridiculous, Joel Johnston's miserable life unfolds aboard a colonizing vessel on a 20 year one way trip to a far off planet. The ship is filled with people between the ages of 17 and 35 who won't reproduce aboard the ship, every fifth character is gay, and non-aggression is preached as a primary absolute. Martial artists aren't even taught offensive combat. Some colony that'll make! Either a big nasty animal will eat their non-aggressive carcasses or they'll die off within two generations due to lack of reproduction. Anyone who has read Heinlein's books on colonization (The Tunnel in the Sky, Time Enough for Love, The Farmer in the Sky, etc.) knows this isn't the kind of a colony he would ever dream up except as an example of one doomed to failure.

I am convinced Heinlein threw this idea in a drawer and forgot about it - for good reason. He knew how bad it was and probably could not stomach writing a character who was so weak. Spyder Robinson should not have resurrected this story.

One last trivial item. Spyder took a direct dig at the Bush administration with this one and somehow attempted to turn the Muslim Jihad we may face in the real world into the Fosterite/Prophet revolution shown in Stranger in a Strange Land and Revolt in 2100 in Heinlein's timelines. This is beyond asinine.

About the only good thing I can say about it is the descriptions of Joel Johnston going overboard on drugs were quite colorful. Amusing even.

I, like Mr. Robinson (and so many others,) came to be a fan of Mr. Heinlein's, when we were still in short pants, back in the early fifties. RAH is, without a doubt, one of my two favorite authors (the other being Mark Twain, who also hailed from Missouri.) He has set a very high standard, indeed, and I think Mr. Robinson has cleared that bar.

I'm very sorry that I've waited so long to submit a review for this book. I remember, three years ago, when I first read it, that I was blown away by how faithful Mr. Robinson had been to the ideals set forth by RAH. Blown away, and very, very pleased. Anyone who is expecting a verbatim, 50's edition, is going to be disillusioned, though. This book is not one of the master's juveniles - nor, should it be. I truly believe that this is very close to what Robert would be writing today, were he still alive. More accurately, it would be very close, I believe, to what he would be writing today, if he were in his prime. Spider has taken the essence of Heinlein, and brought it forward, and infused it with a modern-day sensibility. Any complaints that the author has injected his own views on culture, or politics, into the story needlessly, has no sound knowledge of Mr. Heinlein - or his views - at all. Robert never shied away from making his views known, whether they be his views on democracy, or libertarianism.

Some may say that the story is nothing more than a thinly veiled retread of 'Time For The Stars,' with a twist on the ending. Well, even though it does have some similarities, it is much, much more than that. Mr. Robinson has taken what would have been a pale, insubstantial plot-line, and fleshed it out and made it his own - which I am very glad to say that I find very satisfying.

From one Heinlein fanatic to another, thank you, Mr. Robinson. As I was ignorant of your prior work, this book launched me into trying to find as many of your books as I could lay my hands upon. I always appreciate an author who can tell a really good story.

By the way, as an aside - and as it says in the 20th chapter - Officer van Courtland has a 'pleasant tenor voice.' How right you are. His is possibly the most pleasant tenor voice in this, or any other, parallel universe.

A lot of reviewers seem to be arguing and speculating over things such as what Robert Heinlein would have thought about 9/11; or how much of a succesful Heinlein "pastiche" this book is.

It seems to me that this is completely missing the point. First of all, the 9/11 reference is only one paragraph in a 308 page novel. Secondly, this IS NOT A ROBERT HEINLEIN NOVEL, not even a Heinlein pastiche. It can not be, nor does it claim to be. Those who expect it to be such can only be disappointed: Heinlein is dead.

In reality this is an honest novel cowritten by 2 of Science Fiction's masters. It is as much a Spider Robinson novel as a Heinlein novel. It contains the best of both and the worst of neither and must be judged independently on its own merits, as any other co-written novel would be judged.

I've really missed good SF. I've missed being able to buy a new Heinlein novel, a new Arthur C. Clarke book, or a new Isaac Asimov novel. For me, reading this book recaptured that feeling, that excitement, and that joy. This book is fun, intelligent and clever, it's well written, and reading it was an uplifting experience. It's good SF.

I started this novel out of curiosity, got through about half of it, and then threw it down with utter disgust. WHY was this project undertaken? The only possible answer is dollar signs. And why choose this particular author to attempt it? Again, my hunch is because he sells. Reading the author's afterward (Robinson is in fact the actual author; don't be fooled by the cover credits!) he admits that he had only seven pages of OUTLINE to go by, plus a small packet of 3x5 cards, all found in Heinlein's files, provided by Heinlein's estate, which actually sanctioned this desecration! That fact doesn't give me much confidence in their integrity.

This is one poorly written hatchet job. The author Robinson shows none of Heinlein's signature gifts: his ability to tell a good story, his ear for dialogue, his ability to create believable characters. Nor does the author have Heinlein's scientific knowledge and background...and it shows on every page.

After I gave up on this botch of a novel, I went back and re-read the two Heinlein novels that followed his decision to put this one aside. "Time for the Stars", which followed immediately, shows a more believable motivation for the basic premise of both stories. I'm sure Heinlein himself realized this and based his decision to abandon "Variable Star" on this fact; the motive for taking a long trip to the stars in that story wasn't strong enough to carry an entire book.

Then I re-read his next, "The Door Into Summer", which I confess is my favorite of all of Heinlein's books. It is so filled with integrity and heart that I'm sure he realized that there was no reason to re-visit "Variable Star", ever again!

I am not recommending this horrible "Variable Star" to anyone. I really do think that the publisher should revisit it and relabel it, if it must be republished at all: "A novel by Spider Robinson, based on a sketch by Robert A. Heinlein." It might not sell as many books but it was certainly be more honest!

Variable Star is recognizably the ancestor of "Time for the Stars" by Heinlein. It has the basic elements of that story.
I think it would have been better as a Spider Robinson story. I like Spider's stuff a lot. And Heinlein.

Most people who have reviewed this book, and probably all who've purchased it, were expecting a brand new Robert Heinlein book. As much as it pains me to point out the obvious, that's not what you're getting. But that's not such a bad thing.

As the author, Spider Robinson, points out in the Afterward, he was asked to write a Spider Robinson book - not a Robert Heinlein book. In this, he has succeeded masterfully. The reference to 9/11, and the ensuing 'Terror Wars' are classic Spider fodder - but not something you would expect from RAH. I admit, I even found those references a touch out of place. However, they do not spoil the book.

No-one can write a Robert Heinlein book - only Robert Heinlein could, and he's gone (hopefully rescued at the last moment by a certain dimension-shifting spacecraft and her crew). That does not detract from the quality of this book, or it's enjoyabilty for those of us who miss him terribly.

At its heart, this book does have the ring of a RAH story - triumph against long odds, unconventional bad guys, and a decent (if not quite RAH-level) hard-to-soft science ratio. In the end, it's not about the science anyway - it's about the people, and the people of this story are believable in the same way the Master made them.

In giving this book five stars, I am being slightly generous - I would like to deduct half a star (total) for the very minor preachy bit, just because it didn't seem to fit the rest of the story, and for the associated intermingling of Heinlein's history with ours. But I'd much rather give it five than four.

Don't avoid this book because of reviews. If your prime interest in life is picking nits, buy something else. The only way you'll get something closer to the Master's work than this is to take up a serious study of channeling the dead - but you'll have a long way to go to be better at it than Spider Robinson.

I started reading Heinlein about the time Spider Robinson did and I had the same reaction to his juveniles that Mr. Robinson says he did. I've also read Mr. Robinson's work with a great deal of enjoyment. I looked forward to Variable Star with much anticipation.

The first 2/3rds of the book were occasionally fun to read but often mildly disappointing. Nonetheless the setting of the book in the Future History time line, the references to "Anson MacDonald Day," etc. more than kept my interest, even when Spider proved unable to carry off his attempt to write in another man's style for the entire novel.

To be fair, even though the publisher and the Heinlein Society (and the store) are all hyping this as a "new Heinlein," Spider makes it clear in his afterword that he was asked to write his novelization of Heinlein's notes. That said, it was obvious that much of the first sixty percent or so of the novel deliberately echoed various bits and pieces of Heinlein's oeuvre. When that was done well was when I most enjoyed the book)

However, the last 1/3rd of the book is silly, unHeinlinean, and anti-American to boot. It is no wonder that an aging hippie singer has the most prominent placement among the prerelease reviews: I suspect the book will definitely appeal to most pacifist dopers; it will not, however, impress the folks who expected better work of the man who has been called the "next Heinlein."

In the last few years, I have read several recently discovered books or outlines some written by living authors from outlines from dead authors: Poodle Springs by Chandler and Parker, or Patrick O'Brian's last unfinished novel. All were awful.

This book by Robinson was worse. Bad. Awful. Disappointing. I finished it although I loathed every word, every character, and every scene. I kept hoping the book would get better.

An aimless, knuckleheaded, foolish, shallow, kid who is not like any kid in life or in Heinlein fiction, who has no sense in the beginning and no sense in the end, who is smart (at least he tells us so at the end), but is dumb and dim throughout the book is the star of the story. Who cares. He does nothing of worth, has no aspirations, and only plays music.Compare the main character of this book to the intelligent strivers of Starman Jones or Have Spacesuit Will Travel. Heinlein knew how to use a teenager to describe the world and how to make a teenager interesting to adults. Robinson does not. The lazy nonsensical character Robinson conjures up is not worthy of our interest.

It is hard to decribe music in prose but Robinson spends pages of cliches and gibberish failing to do it.

It is hard to describe dance in prose but Robinson spends pages of cliches and gibberish failing to do so.

Robinson fails to interest me in the story, in the empty characters, and in the book.

The deus ex machina Robinson apparently invented to end the story is stupid.

I am sorry this book was published. I am sorry I bought this book. I am sorry I wasted hours reading this book.

I wanted a good Heinlein story and received trash.

Time For The Stars, which most resembles this monstrousity has problems with its main character (Bartlett), but for God's sake he is an intelligent observer of his world: a world of interest. Bartlett also matures in the book and remains interesting.

The writing is horrible. The frequent puns are a distraction and a crutch. Events occur which advance no plot, effect no changes in characters. Episodes seem to be filler. Then we have sections where a year is reduced to a few paragraphs. Maybe instead of describing a year's time in 75 words, the author should forget a narrative starting from the past and begin the book with the main character already on the ship with something to do or something about to happen ala Orphans of the Sky. At least we would not have to endure the grating love story and then the senseless and unreasonable grief of the main character.

Scenes are written in which the Star of the story acts in incomprehensible ways or by falling to the floor in some sort of laughing hilarity. I found nothing hilarious or funny about this book except some people used Heinlein's name, to sell me a horrible book.

Robert Schultz

Missouri

What a great suprise this audio book was. Written in true RAH style and read very well. Except for the first 5 min while he found his style and rythm this audio book was a pleasure to listen too. A real audio "page turner"

Naturally, I had my doubts that anyone could fill in the gaps in an RAH outline and end up with an actual Heinlein novel. After putting the book aside, picking it up, putting it aside again, skipping almost the entire middle section, hitting the end and then having to put up with Robinson's political views, I'm sad to say my doubts were justified.

Re-reading my Heinlein collection has taught me that there is more to a book than a plot. I know what's coming next in Time Enough for Love, Starship Troopers, Farnham's Freehold, Citizen of the Galaxy. I re-read these novels because they hold my interest, move me, and teach me the truths that RAH had to offer. The art of the writing itself is enough to keep me going over and over these books. I would be very surprised if other Heinlein fans didn't find this true as well.

Not so Variable Star. The characters are simply not very interesting. What they say is not worth saying. And honestly, they are stupid. As I said, I skipped the middle of the book entirely. It didn't hold me at all. I contrast this with how captivated I felt reading many of Lazarus Long's tales in Time Enough for Love. They really were only marginally SF, but man, oh man, the quality of that writing. You care what happens to these people and what they say makes you think.

Well, at least a plot twist occurred and I began reading again there. (Notice that my missing many chapters hadn't really caused any problem in picking up at this point - kinda like tuning-in to a soap opera after 6 months and needing only one episode to fall right back into the story.)

Then the final blow. Spider defiles RAH with his anti-Americanism. Sorry, Spider, but I, too, have read what the master wrote, all of it, and I simply don't believe that you are speaking in his voice - pretty much the opposite of what I think he would have believed. I'm sure this debate will rage for some time, but for me it's over. I am deeply offended that Mr. Robinson would don Heinlein's mantle and use his status to advance his own personal politics. It's false advertsing at best and a betrayal at worst.

Heinlein was a warrior. Robinson is a pacifist and I don't find him much of writer, either. We all so wanted more RAH. We didn't get it.

The Grand Master (both of them!) at his best. Spider Robinson did a fantastic job fleshing out RAH's outline - Variable Star has the spirit and flavor of the best of Heinlein's work.

I was a little worried at the first couple of chapters; they were good sci-fi, but the contemporary references were a bit jarring. But soon enough I was totally immersed in a true Heinlein universe. The book was quite deftly inserted into Heinlein's Future History timeline, with a chilling reference to current events bringing about the election of Nehemiah Scudder.

If you're a hardcore Heinlein fan, it's a wonderfully rich story that will remind you of the Master throughout. If you just love real sci-fi, it fulfills that desire just as well.

Being a big fan of both writers I went in with high expectations only to be brought back to the realization that outlines of books should remain just that,good ideas left in a file cabinet.

Not a bad book just not up to the standards of either writer.

If you're looking for a so-so sf book, go ahead and read it. But don't expect Heinlein. He did develop the character, who is genuinely interesting once you get past his stunningly boring and stupid-sounding description of a dance, which opens the book (and will probably close it for many people). It's Robinson who has to take that character into space, but he just doesn't manage it.

The character supposedly has great moments of maturity and self-realization, but we never see it. Robinson does have some great moments when describing the saxophone, and some unusual tips about how to handle goats, but the character never grows. In fact, at the end of the book, although the character has aged six years, he doesn't seem different at all.

Robinson also made the unusual decision to refer to Heinlein's N. Scudder storyline in the book. But now it's got a new slant -- Scudder REALLY took over because Bush screwed up and destroyed two countries for no reason after 9/11, according to Robinson's two page dissertation in the middle of the book. I must admit I don't disagree with his criticism of Bush, but it really broke the fiction-mood. Suddenly I was back in reality, going, What? Weren't we just on a spaceship? When did we enter a current-time debate? Eh?

Robinson also uses the total-peace movement that Heinlein referred to in one book. So forget spacing people for rudeness. Even fist-fights aren't allowed. They chemically alter your brain if you try it. Yet the characters manage to overcome this training effortlessly so they can kill some people later, given about five-second's notice to get themselves ready. O-kaaay. In Heinlein's peace story, the character needed major retraining...you couldn't just ditch that peace-thing when you wanted to. Robinson's way seemed nowhere near as believable.

Robinson also takes Heinlein's idea about twin telepaths talking through space and creates an unreadable description of how similar powers are used to actually propel a spaceship at near-c. The people are interesting (Robinson's best original characters in this book), but what they do? No idea. You have to accept it on faith...except in Heinlein's books this propulsion system never existed, as he made very clear when he described a similar space voyage in Time For The Stars. Frankly, I felt Variable Star felt very much like a glossed-over, vague version of Time For The Stars combined with Farmer In The Sky. Both of those books were far better than this one, by the way.

My final criticism: Robinson resorts to deus ex machina to resolve the plot at the end. Come on. Give us better than that if you're going to put Heinlein's name on it.

Pretty weak overall. The middle 100 pages or so could have been left out, they seem to be mostly filler that doesn't advance the story much. Also the ending is quite predictable. Not in detail but what will happen in general.

Also Mr.Robinson should not have used RAH's name to preach his own political views. Esp considering that RAH would probably have disagreed with him.

If you want to read something that reminds you of RAH, read Red Thunder from Varley for example.

I got this book from the store yesterday afternoon around 4. I devoured it in two sessions, finishing it at 1 AM the next day (it would've been sooner but I had a previous engagement for dinner and a movie). It was wonderful! And...I wish there was a sequel in the works. I doubt there is, but I'd love to read more about these characters and their universe.

Is it a Heinlein novel? No, not quite; although it comes very close. But who cares? It's a wonderful story. The characters are most definitely vintage Heinlein.

Regarding two points that tend to come up in negative commentaries on the book: The language is sometimes the most "unHeinlein-esque" aspect of the book (e.g., the profanity, and most definitely the puns). But, for me, somewhow it all still works. For example, the profanity (of which there isn't all that much) somehow feels like what a younger Heinlein might've written had he come of age in the late 20th century rather than when he did. Cultural mores have shifted, after all. The puns...well, Spider isn't Heinlein. And most of them are pretty funny (I'm sure I missed many of them).

Second, a number of commentators focus on one particular (small) piece of backstory explanation as being politically unHeinlein (tiny spoiler alert). It involves the explanation of why the story's universe experienced a global totalitarian interlude (which occurs in the past of the story itself).

I think the folks who key on this issue have made the classic mistake of concluding Heinlein was an unabashed conservative, in the key of early 21st century US politics. I believe they're incorrect in doing so; the politics expressed in Heinlein's stories (which may, let's remember, be different from his own) always seemed much more like populism crosssed with libertarianism (which is consistent with his early 20th century Missouri roots).

Heinlein disliked (hated?) Big Government in all its forms, because it got in the way of individuals expressing and enjoying their individual liberty. He also disliked (hated?) dogmatic religion, because it, too, has a well-documented history of overwhelming individual liberty. When viewed with these perspectives in mind, this one small issue really isn't an issue at all -- it's a reasonable application of his philosophy to events that took place long after his death, a cautionary note on why wise people shouldn't trust Big Government, and shouldn't surrender their skepticism in the name of Belief.

And, it makes the reader stop and think for a second...which is absolutely classic Heinlein.

Buy this book. Enjoy it for what it is. You won't be disappointed.

Who was the greatest science fiction author to have ever placed word on the page? If you've answered anything other than "Robert Anson Heinlein", you're an idiot. For me, the best proof that there is no god and has never been is that in any universe run by an intelligent higher being, Heinlein would have been immortal. It has now been nearly 20 years since the master passed, but I have in my hands, right now, a new Heinlein novel! I have contented myself since Heinlein's death with the works of lesser men, good solid writing, but still, not Heinlein - Bova is good, Varley, Allen Steele, Walter Jon Williams, Vernor Vinge, William Gibson - but to have a new novel by RAH in my hands, to be reading it, brings back just how good he really was. It feels like coming home again. I am filled with joy and lightness to be reading new work by him, eagerly hanging on every word and losing sleep to see what happens next; at the same time, I am dreading what happens when the novel is finished, and I have to return to a world where there will be no more new Heinlein, ever.

Heinlein and Robinson are a great mix - this is one of the most engaging sci fi books I've read. I don't know what other reviewers' gripes are (haven't read them) but I for one loved this book. A compelling story. I wish there were more like it.

First the good. The book begins reading like Heinlein. The ending almost reads like Heinlein. That's the good. Now the bad. After Joel boards the starship the writing enters a gravity well of boredom. My advice: STOP. Fast forward to the end. Joel is a shadow of Heinleinian characters. He starts off appearing as a Heinlein character: decent, determined, and heroic--standing up to Conrad. After he gets on the starship he becomes a thumb sucking wuss. Not Heinlein! In addition to boredom, the other things that Robinson gives us is compulsively annoying puns (and I enjoy puns), vulgarity, profanity, and pyscho-babble. It's really a shame Heinlein's name is on the novel. At the end of the book Robinson relates how as a child he went to the public library and discovered Heinlein and wanted to read all he had written. This was my experience. Sadly, after reading Variable Star, I have no desire to read a Spider Robinson novel.

It seems to be an occupational hazard for sci-fi writers, this tendency to go off on rants or digressions about whatever is on the writer's mind. Perhaps we can blame Heinlein a bit for this, but he managed to embed his libertarian sermons into the plot so that you didn't feel like you were wandering aimlessly through someone's half baked idea of a story. Unfortunately, Robinson hasn't mastered this last trick - so many side-trips! I patiently waded through them all until he gave me 8 straight pages on the work of Alex Grey, a mediocre contemporary artist. Whaah? I gave up at that point.

I can see Heinlein in this book, but am disappointed in the modernization process Spider Robinson used.

I know Heinlein wanted to be a lot more graphic in his descriptions of Sexual encounters, and use language that is considered profane, but his editors were able to keep him from doing that.

I for one enjoyed the fact that he created cuss words and phrases rather than use the words we use today. I got a kick out of his catch sayings as well.

Spider use the "F" word way too much. He also does some fart jokes which don't stay in line with RAH's writing. For these reasons, I am disappointed. But, all in all, this is a good book, and is otherwise a good RAH novel.

I Just read "Variable Star" by Robert A. Heinlein (RAH). Just another science fiction book, right? Sort of. It was written 51 years after it was conceived, and 18 years after the author died. Lest images of poltergeists dance in your heads, the ghost co-writer was actually Spider Robinson. After RAH's death in 1988, and Virginia Heinlein's death in 2003, an incomplete and unpublished book outline was discovered among RAH's files. Spider Robinson was tasked by the estate to write the book suggested by Heinlein's 1955 notes. Published in 2006, "Variable Star" contains not only the sympathetic characterizations that made Heinlein's novels so easy to walk into, but also the odd quirks and twists of Spider Robinson's people and plots. Robinson paints strong-opinioned and often disrespectful souls who laugh and emit egregious puns and make rude noises at the universe. The novel examines a future humankind's first toddling steps toward maturation, opening with the narrow life of an impoverished college student who falls in love and wants to get married, if only he had enough money to support a family. He discovers a secret about his intended, and stunned, runs away. With each step and plot twist, the view keeps expanding, while keeping the camera on our protagonist as he struggles and grows. The pages end with a like struggle for both physical and psychological survival by the human race. The outcome remains uncertain, depending entirely on the potentials of human ingenuity and effort.

Heinlein's characters are both sophisticated and naive in many ways. Robinson's characterizations in the "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" series likewise eschew the darker side of human nature in favor of optimism and hope. There is plenty of conflict and tension in both Heinlein and Robinson works, but the reader is not left hopeless. Altogether a healthy trend and an anodyne against newspaper headlines and television infomercialism.

The book is worth reading both for entertainment and for its optimistic outlook. It is Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels with interstellar flight thrown in for good measure. Reading it rewards the time invested.

I am a huge Robert Heinlein fan. This book gave me, for the first time in years, the same sort of joy I felt reading Friday for the first time. Sure Spider Robinson adds his own flavor to the mix, but who cares, the result is quite enjoyable. This isn't a Stranger in a Strange Land, or Time Enough for Love, but I'm perfectly happy with having a new The Door Into Summer/Friday/Glory Road style sci-fi book on the shelf.

If you pick up this book expecting another novel by Heinlein, you'll be disappointed. As an avid fan of Heinlein, I was hoping for another great thought provoking and page turning sci-fi read. The first half to two-thirds of the book reads like a poor imitation of the late Robert Heinlein's style and skill. The book isn't without merit however. Spider Robinson, in this interpretation of Heinlein's original outline, does create some unique and interesting situations. However, it is only in the last part of the book that Robinson seem to get into his stride and write something worth reading. Perhaps fans of Robinson will like this book - from this first introduction to Robinson, I wouldn't recommend his work.

I've been a Heinlein fan for a long time. My problem with this book is that it is not what it purports to be: a book in the Heinlein style, written as a collaboration between Heinlein and Robinson posthumously.

If he wanted to do a Heinlein book, Robinson should have done two things that he did not do:

1) eliminate, almost without fail, every single vulgarity or swear-word in the book, and

2) not directly related elements within the book to our "real world".

Every time I saw a swear word I was reminded that this was not Heinlein. (I am hardly prudish, but I know the Master could write about things such as polyamorous bisexual group sex between related people, or convey absolute disgust and hatred, without once using Anglo-Saxon terminology).

Every time I saw him talk about 9/11 or Star Wars in the context of future history, I was reminded that this was not Heinlein.

The real disappointment is that Spider //should know better//. Was he trying to put his mark on the book with those swear words? How could he not know that these would be jarring to those who were looking for Heinlein?

Quick summary of this review for the busy person:

This is a Spider Robinson book, PERIOD. I recommend you pass on it and read his other works if you're a fan of his, or read other Heinlein works (that he actually wrote) if you're a Heinlein fan. This marriage of a goat and a sheep comes up a shoat, and that animal doesn't even exist.

As the only Spider Robinson book I've ever read, I can attest that he is a professional who does solid work. However, he is not Heinlein, and does not write like Heinlein, except when he directly imitates him. Somehow, altho the imitative passages are "Heinleinian", they are also "not quite right" and that's somewhat irritating.

I personally feel that he should've just written a book using Heinlein's excellent plot, as HOMAGE to his idol, and left it at that. It would probably be a much better book, especially if you like Spider Robinson. Personally, he doesn't rock my world, so what we have here is a real tease - an excellent Heinlein plot, right in the vein of his best works, with a lot of the drive (pun intended) of works such as Methusalah's Children, but with disjointed and startling interpolations of contemporary stuff (9/11, email, artistic works).

The back cover says that this books is "Faithful to the spirit of Heinlein's original version, and laced with contemporary touches that will appeal to modern readers" (which should read "contemporary readers"). However, they do not "appeal", they are actually startling and annoying.

Remembering how enjoyable his stories were when read as I was growing up, this pastiche fell far short. Perhaps it was the updating to current events that made it so. Politics and continued referrences to what we know today spoiled an otherwise expected-to-be good read. A real disappointment.

I'm old enough to remember reading Heinlein first editions, and I grew up on Ziff-Davis pulps, and I mourned the loss of the old master's voice even as I was grateful for the huge body of work he left behind. Most happily, I can report that Spider Robinson's collaboration is not new wine in an old bottle; it's a miraculously distilled vintage with a recent date. How's that possible?

Heinlein's conceptual framework and Robinson's active voice are blended like a fine whiskey, with all the fire and body of single malt brew.

Bravo, and I'll have another, please. Cheers!

I've never read a Spider Robinson novel before. I've read Heinlein over and over, until my copies are worn and torn. I know Robert Heinlein and this book, unfortunately, is not even close.
1. I was bored.
2. I was distracted by the attempts to set this book in a Heinlein world using throw-away references or plot twists from other Heinlein books.
3. I was annoyed by the profanity and vulgarity.
4. I was bored.
5. I was disappointed by characters both uninteresting and unlikable.
6. I was irritated by modern day references disguised as historical references (google, Smithers, etc)
7. I found long passages describing musicality or artistry uninspiring and inane.
8. I missed reading about a character with a sense of purpose, identity, honor and integrity. Heinlein's characters valued work and education, and reacted to disappointments by finding an alternate way to a goal. Robinson's characters reacts to disappointments by going off on on bender or another, looking for solace in a bottle or a pill. Hardly Heinleinesque.
9. I hated the attempts to connect Heinlein's future history with 9/11 events.
10. I was bored.

What this book needed was an unknown author willing to put aside his own ego, with an editor not afraid to pare it down to at least half its current size.

I love Heinlein, and while you can tell it was Heinlein's story, Spider Robinson is no Heinlein. It is an interesting read and profound at times. I thought that the book was almost ruined by a politically charged rant against the current War on Terror. Yes....it is in there and I wanted to barf. I don't read fiction books so that I can get what I read in the news all day long. The twist at the end is very surprising and fun. I enjoyed it but would not put it up there with my favorite books.

I thought it was a mistake to tie current references (google, the simpsons) and events (9-11, was in Iraq) into the story.

Bob is probably turning in is grave over this one.

Minor plot giveaway - but since there really isn't much of one :-(

The first half of the book is about a guy who has had a romamance with someone who turns out to be the granddaughter of one of the most powerful and richest men on the planet. He can't handle it, runs off to space where there is lots of talk but absolutely nothing happens for chapter after chapter. I won't give away the ending, such that it is, since it is so absurd anyway.

If you think this is Heinlein you need to go back and reread some of his works to see what a great author he was. Stranger in a Strange Land, Glory Road, Puppet Masters, etc. etc. And for my money the best time travel short story ever written By His Bootstraps.

I have a complete colection of RH's works and I had hoped to add to it but sadly this one is going in the garbage.

Bob we miss you.

Okay, so the rich girl wants to marry the poor boy RIGHT NOW so she can have children asap. But when we meet her again, years later, she's got her smart husband with her but no kids and NOT EVEN A MENTION OF THEM.
Huh?
Did I miss something?
Did Mr. Robinson?
The book was fun but unsatisfying.

First Robinson book I've ever read and as a die-hard Heinlein fan I though I would be disappointed with someone else writing one of his books. I was pleasantly surprised and did not put it down. Me and the BF have been trying to read it at the same time and fighting over time with it. Excellent!

This is a really bad book.
There are three major problems with it, and each problem is annoying in a distinct way.
Now, I do give Spider Robinson some credit for taking on the near impossible task of trying to produce a Heinlein-like book based on a handful of notes. But at some point he, or his editor, should have realized that it just wasn't going to work and they should have dropped it. If Virginia were still alive, she might have at least insisted that the cover said `based on an idea of...' rather than letting the cover imply that the book was co-authored by Robert Heinlein. Which brings me to Problem #1.
Problem #1: This book was NOT written by Robert Heinlein; not any part of it. So, the publishing company severely bent the truth when they put Heinlein's name on the cover. The book is loosely based on some notes by Heinlein, but the writing is entirely Spider Robinson's. And although the story he creates has a somewhat Heinlein-ish beginning, the plot quickly degenerates into a chaotic mess. Heinlein frequently pushed the boundaries on social interactions and politics. Spider Robinson gives us the kind of mediocrity you see on morning TV news magazine shows, or `The View'.
Problem #2: The planet to which Spider Robinson has the colonists emigrating is a physical impossibility. If this were a book of fantasy, the description of the planet could be overlooked. But the book is written as somewhat hard SF, so some scientific reality is required. The planet is described as smaller than Mars, yet it has an Earth-like atmosphere. Hello? Spider, ever hear of `Jeans escape'? Mars can't hold an Earth-like atmosphere because its surface gravity is too low. For Brasil Novo oxygen and hydrogen would slowly escape into space since the rms velocity is a large fraction of the planet's escape velocity. The state of the atmosphere would place it near the triple-point of water, which would mean your blood would boil at the higher mountain elevations. The planet shouldn't have a useful atmosphere, nor liquid water, yet it is described as a water planet.
Problem #3: The book lacks romance. Yes, there is a romantic relationship between Joel and one of the female characters (and the little twist Robinson provides is blatantly obvious from the beginning of the book). But this book lacks the romantic spirit that Heinlein's characters had: that combination of purpose, nobility, courage, dedication and honesty that made Heinlein's protagonists so special. This is a mean little book with unsympathetic characters. Spider's inability to create likable characters reflects his attitude toward many people who might pick up this book - he doesn't like you. Spider has his own warped agenda and he thinks it's better than yours. He sees himself as enlightened, and has contempt for those he thinks aren't.

Although billed as a "collaboration", I saw little of Heinlein here other than the universe in which the story is set. This is typical Spider Robinson - the same arrogant and conflicted protagonist with a new name, lots of stale puns and self-righteous moralizing, illogical science, gratuitous profanity and bisexuality, and far too many convoluted attempts to describe the characters' supposedly profound insights. Heinlein's plot was just good enough to keep me from quitting halfway through, but I'm glad I borrowed the book from a friend rather than paying good money for it.

Great job in the spirit of RAH. I ate it up. I felt like I was back home again, a teenager delving into another Heinlein book (and that was a looonngg time ago). For those few hours in that world, thank you Spider Robinson (and everyone else involved).

As a yellow-dog Democrat who's been reading and re-reading Heinlein for thirty years -- and who recently gave his entire oeuvre to a hard-right Republican, in hopes of encouraging a glimmer of rational thought -- I take umbrage with the negative reviewers of "Variable Star" who seem to have confused R.A.H. with Jerry Pournelle, and who would do well to reacquaint themselves with the aphorisms of Lazarus Long.

To go to the heart of the matter (Spider's characters' occasional cussing being as appropriate in a Robinson novel as was Heinlein's non-juvenile books' inclusion of characters with genitals), by what logic might one presume Heinlein would take issue with Spider's view of the war on terror? Heinlein certainly believed in the defense of one's nation; his championing of the Strategic Defense Initiative has been cited as instrumental in Reagan's taking up of same. By extension, he believed humanity must remain ready to make war, if attacked, on other species...but his Future History comes quite rapidly to a point where humans cease to make war on themselves. His highest ideal, invoked again and again throughout his work, was "get the facts" -- resist the madness of crowds.

The fact is, Bin Laden remains uncaught; the fact is, Bush -- whatever his motives -- forsook Afghanistan (now re-falling to the Taliban) for a "protective reaction strike" on Iraq, a war as yet un-won by anyone's definition despite having endured near as long as that waged against Hitler. Far from being "jarring," Spider's notion of the Terror Wars leading to the rise of the fundamentalist Nehemiah Scudder takes the impersonal historic long view of current events that Lazarus Long took of World War I...before signing up in what he knew was a pointless battle for the sake of a woman.

Heinlein, to my recollection, wrote little of Vietnam; "Glory Road" opens with Johnny enlisting for economic reasons, and comments on dead soldiers smelling the same whether the fighting's called war or not, and Johnny's being shafted out of benefits. Heinlein was respectful, nee reverential, of veterans, going so far as to posit in "Starship Troopers" a society in which vets alone could vote...but interestingly, this culture arose from the ashes of one in which public safety itself had collapsed (as Heinlein predicted repeatedly for the rest of his days). Moreover, one of Lazarus' aphorisms opposes the draft for reason of personal liberty...even as others decry those who will not fight to defend their land. Who, then, would Heinlein have respected: John Kerry, who served, or Bush, Cheney, and the like, who had "other priorities?"

As to Spider's protagonist being un-Heinleinian, and learning nothing, I can only observe that to turn down being the richest man alive to play saxophone on a colony ship...and end up raising one's child in soon(?)-to-be wartime, in constant hyperlight flight, for the sake of alerting humanity, seems to me to represent, respectively, Lazarus Long at his contrarian best, and the Heinlein individual who rises from immature emotionalism to the highest of service.

Finally, as to Spider's spacedrive being silly, I refer the hardline "Heinlein-the-hard-SF-er" to the stories "Magic, Inc.," "They," "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag," and "Gulf" (at least, I think that was the one about Mt. Shasta) as evidence that R.A.H. could deal fantasy with the best of them.

I would also point to Spider's own essay, "Rah, Rah, R.A.H.!" as proof positive the man knows whereof he wrote backward and forward, better than some of his critics here.

Lastly, complaints that "Variable Star" doesn't fit into the Future History miss the point of Spider's incorporating elements from non-Future History works as well (specifically, sentient Martians & Venusians), which imply this novel occupies a unique timeline of its own (a concept itself taken from Heinlein's own "The Number of the Beast").

Is this Heinlein? No, nor does it claim to be. It is, however, a masterful carrying to fruition of premises original to Heinlein, in a manner a "fair and balanced" reader would find both well-crafted and "true."

Robinson and I are nearly the same age, we probably read the Heinlein books at about the same time. We both lived through the Hippie era too. Robinson seems to be stuck in 1968...and sipping the same Kool Aid.

I find it absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to believe that Robert Heinlein, a Navy veteran, would have allowed his name to be put on this book. Robinson disparages current US efforts against terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq at a time when US men and women are fighting and dying everyday. Robert Heinlein would have a FIT if he saw this.

Further, by allowing his ultra leftist political feelings to overcome his literary judgement, Robinson's work will quickly become dated as current events are suplanted by future events.

I won't even try to comment on the mystical zen buddist drit that permeates the book. Anyone who has read Heinlein knows what he thought of Shamans.....of all stripes.

And not only that, by blatantly refering to current political events within a work of SF, Robinson jolts the Payer of Hard Cash out of his dearly bought "suspension of disbelief". The story is ruined, forevermore.

RIP, Robert A. Heinlein, if you can.

Had a lot of trouble putting this down as is usually the case with Spider or R.A.H. Spider has done the old man proud while remaining Spider Robinson. You have to like Spider Robinson's style to enjoy this. He was not channeling R.A.H., he was collaborating. I think the book would have stunk up the universe if Spider has to become R.A.H.

Buy this book if you love Spider Robinson.

The only problem I had was where to shelve it. I put it under Heinlein.

I am an avid sci-fi reader. I usually go through about one book ever day or two. This particular book started out pretty promising. At first, it did actually seem to be a little like Heinlein during his early years. Then, around the middle of the book, he started making sarcastic and offensive comments about God and religion in general. Unfortunately, this seems to be a growing trend among a certain sort of sci-fi author and despite my conscience I kept reading and tried to ignore the offensive and anti-God references. Then on page 212 Spider Robinson decided to play a little more politics. For no discernible reason he decided to have his main character engage in homosexual sex with another man. I stopped reading right there. Why can't people like Robinson keep their sexuality to themselves? Or, if Robinson isn't gay, why can't he keep from trying to desensitize the rest of us to this immoral lifestyle? If you are already gay, an atheist, or just think homosexuality and atheism are perfectly OK and I'm just a "bigoted, right-wing, evangelical, Christian," then Spider Robinson is the author for you. As for me, I'll never read Spider Robinson books again.