The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein (Introduction by William H. Patterson, Jr.; Afterword: “The Endless Frontier” by Steve A. Hughes)
Baen, $13.99, 229pp, tp, 9781416591498. Science fiction.
This is another of Heinlein’s classic “juveniles”, which Baen is bringing out in new, gorgeous trade paperback editions. Unlike the last one I reviewed (Between Planets), the afterword in The Rolling Stones really is a good addition.
The novel itself, of course, is wonderful storytelling. Heinlein knew his audience, and knew how to keep them engrossed. Short, punchy chapters, each of which tells a little story unto itself, most with the threat of dire consequences (from death to bankruptcy to punishment) which are resolved by the time the chapter ends. Heinlein also knew his market was young boys, so sister Meade isn’t much more than a place-holder in the book, but read it for what it is: great adventure.
Twins Castor and Pollux Stone (Heinlein’s characters always have such wonderfully evocative names) would be juvenile delinquents at home on the Moon, except they’re also Heinleinian supergeniuses. Instead of running around causing trouble, they want to run out to Mars to cause trouble (or make their fortune, as the case may be). Staid, stolid dad Roger knows better, is fed up with the science fictional soap opera he’s been writing for several years (ah, if only. We now know that soap operas are written by committees), is ready to chuck it all, sell the tiny family home in Luna City, buy a spaceship, and head out to Mars. While this plan gets the twins headed where they wanted to go, they’re immediately demoted from freelance speculators to junior crew members on the family-owned ship. Mom, Doctor Edith, is of course coming, as is preternaturally smart baby brother Lowell. And Grandma Hazel, one of the founders of Luna City, a superannuated juvenile delinquent herself who is obviously more of an influence on the family than Dad. Oh, and because there needs to be a girl, big sister Meade is along for the ride, too (though we hardly see her at all on the trip).
Heinlein’s telling an adventure story, but he’s also teaching his readers. Not only about the value of education (all the children are expected to study on the trip, and study they do), but about investing, trade, orbital mechanics, science, and whatever else he can throw in. The Stones make it to Mars, find the colony planet much too buttoned down for their tastes (and much too expensive to turn any sort of profit on their trade goods), and head on out to the asteroids (a much newer frontier). Along the way, we get to experience the joys and fears of the endless deeps of space, intership personnel transfers at orbital speeds, odd colonies and alien life forms, floating junk yards, the small-town feel of the really big spaces of space, and more. He keeps the story rolling from first to last, and proves once again why he was one of the greats.
This time out, Steve Hughes’s afterword goes Heinlein one better. He puts the novel in the context of the time it was written (1952), and looks at the technology and science it postulates and assumes. Heinlein was good enough to leave out a lot of things that would go clunk with the modern reader, yet he wasn’t godlike in his foresight, and he did get some things wrong. Hughes talks about Heinlein’s knowledge, his attempts at foretelling the future, what he got right (and wrong), and why. It makes the reader wonder, if we’ve advanced so far in the last 56 years, and yet see what things haven’t changed in that time: where will we be five decades from now?