Andre Norton died

[John Reynolds]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/03/17/obit.norton.ap/index.html

 

[epicstruggle]

A great writer, will be missed by many readers.

epic

 

[Geo]

Some of you know that I'm associated with The Heinlein Society (www.heinleinsociety.org). But it wasn't one of Robert Heinlein's juveniles that started me reading science fiction, oh, 35 years ago. . .it was one of Andre Norton's, "Galactic Derelict", and I still have the very one it was. Never had an opportunity to cross paths with Ms. Norton, but she'll be missed very much.

 

[digitalwanderer]

 

[Babel-17]

Some of you know that I'm associated with The Heinlein Society (www.heinleinsociety.org). But it wasn't one of Robert Heinlein's juveniles that started me reading science fiction, oh, 35 years ago. . .it was one of Andre Norton's, "Galactic Derelict", and I still have the very one it was. Never had an opportunity to cross paths with Ms. Norton, but she'll be missed very much.

I guess I'm just a few years older than you and it sounds like we had a roughly similar introduction to sci-fi literature.

One of my very first novels was Starman's Son.

While she wrote frequently of aliens she was one of the most "human" authors ever to pick up a pen.

Godspeed



Off Topic: What's the deal with "The Sound of His Wings"? I thought he was never going to write that and now I hear it has been released posthumously. Any info or links? Tia

 

[Geo]

Off Topic: What's the deal with "The Sound of His Wings"? I thought he was never going to write that and now I hear it has been released posthumously. Any info or links? Tia

Link for this rumor, please? I rather strongly suspect someone is pulling your leg. Tho there was a book called "The Counterfeit Heinlein" that revolved around a fake "The Sound of His Wings" (or was it "The Stone Pillow"? One of those two). His first previously unpublished novel, _For Us, The Living_ was released last year, and clearly much of the early Future History (including Scudder) was mined from there in proto-form --maybe that's what you are thinking of. It certainly is not "The Sound of His Wings", but possibly "The Sound of His Wings" would have relied on some of it.

Spider Robinson is also working on a new book called "Variable Star" that is being done from a detailed synopsis that RAH prepared in the '50s and never got around to writing. I would guess we'll see it late this year or maybe next (that's a guess).

 

[Babel-17]

I regret having to say that I never bookmarked the link.

IIRC it wasn't exactly a definitive link. But I remained curious, hence my question.

I just did some googling and did turn up the following curious info.

http://www.heinleinsociety.org/newsFUTL.html

Lol, that's "you" I guess.

Perhaps someone took a snip from that page and rendered it an extremely disproportionate significance.

A fellow named Nehemiah Scudder even appears in "For Us, the Living."

Lol, I just this instant found this. http://www.2meta.com/april-fools/1995/Heinlein.html

Perhaps I read something that was based on that ....... and the "April Fools" part was left out.

Forgive me if this book has been reviewed here before. It's not an easy
title to find, and I haven't seen people discussing it.

The Future History of Robert Heinlein's works was commissioned by John
Campbell after he noticed that many of Heinlein's stories seemed to fit a
pattern. The specific events are dated - his famous story _The Roads Mus
t Roll_ which depicts a US covered in mechanised highways was set in 1975 -
but none the less it helped create a consistent vision which he used to
great effect. The concept was adopted by later writers, and is now a
standard tool of SF writers.

The History has many gaps, stories that Heinlein may have intended to
write, but never completed. One such gap has now been filled. _The Sound
Of His Wings_ documents the death and rise of Nehemiah Scudder, the
prophetic tyrant who appears in several stories.

The title is peculiarly appropriate, as so many of his were. It is taken
from one of the war poets, and refers to the sound of a falling plane,
comparing it to the sound of Lucifer being thrown from heaven. No better
title for the story could have been conceived.

Heinlein feared that the US - and the world - was heading toward a time
of insanity. Some might argue that he was right. In this novella the
world is entering a period of mad balkanisation. Some international order
is kept by the Unified Space Command, which alone controls the satellites
containing nuclear missiles.

Nehemiah Scudder is just a demagogue, but one wielding more power by the
day. His message is strangely plausible, and seems to many to be the one
force capable of uniting the weakened and divided United States. He not
only gathers the support of the masses, but seems to be able to convert
the leaders which oppose him. Convert them easily, in fact.

Dayle Spencer is an lieutenant aboard one of the nuclear satellites. He
thinks little of it when the Scudderite movement starts to gain ground
there, but then notices that officers unfiendly to Scudder are rotated
back to Earth - and when they return they are suspiciously enthusiastic
about the New Crusade.

Scudder's plan must be left to purchasers of the book, but it's a thriller
that still grips today. As the tale reaches its climax the readers are
reminded that not only Satan had wings ...

This is a remarkable read. Most of us thought that there would be no new
stories from Heinlein's back list. I have no idea why this novelette has
finally been released, but I'm sure that it will be incredibly popular.
It's oddly hard to acquire. I suggest that readers of this newsgroup
lobby their book suppliers to bring it in. It's published by Underbridge
Press, at a RRP of $4.95 US.

Lol, not bad, sounds like a mix of "The Puppet Masters" and "The Long Watch".

Ah well, so now I put my hopes to rest.


I'm intrigued though to have serendipitiously learned during all my google searches that Heinlein grokked General Semantics.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Heinlein was deeply interested in Count Alfred Korzybski's General Semantics and attended a number of seminars on the subject. His views on epistemology seem to have flowed from that interest, and (some of) his fictional characters continue to express Korzybskian views to the very end of his writing career.

I did some studying up on that after reading The World of Null-A by Van Vogt.

Hmmm, basking in the shades of Ms. Norton has gotten me all wordy.

 

[Geo]

I just did some googling and did turn up the following curious info.

http://www.heinleinsociety.org/newsFUTL.html

Lol, that's "you" I guess.

Even closer than you think --my wife wrote that piece!