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Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein

  • The Pursuit of the Pankera is one of the most audacious experiments ever done in science fiction by the legendary author of the classic bestseller Starship Troopers.

    Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Number of the Beast, which was published in 1980. In the book Zeb, Deety, Hilda, and Jake are ambushed by the alien “Black Hats” and barely escape with their lives on a specially configured vehicle (the Gay Deceiver) which can travel along various planes of existence, allowing them to visit parallel universes.

    However, unknown to most fans, Heinlein had already written a “parallel” novel about the four characters and parallel universes in 1977. He effectively wrote two parallel novels about parallel universes. The novels share the same start, but as soon as the Gay Deceiver is used to transport them to a parallel universe, each book transports them to a totally different parallel world.

    From that point on the plot lines diverge completely. While The Number of the Beast morphs into something very different, more representative of later Heinlein works, The Pursuit of the Pankera remains on target with a much more traditional Heinleinesque storyline and ending, reminiscent of his earlier works.

    The Pursuit of the Pankera was never published, and there have been many competing theories as to why (including significant copyright issues in 1977). Over time the manuscript was largely forgotten but survived in fragments. A recent re-examination of these fragments, however, made it clear that they constitute the complete novel.

    And here it finally is: Robert A. Heinlein’s audacious experiment. A fitting farewell from one of the most inventive science fiction writers to have ever lived: a parallel novel about parallel universes as well as a great adventure pitting the forces of good versus evil only the way Heinlein could do.

  • The definitive collection of the best in science fiction stories between 1929 and 1964

    This book contains twenty-six of the greatest science fiction stories ever written. They represent the considered verdict of the Science Fiction Writers of America, those who have shaped the genre and who know, more intimately than anyone else, what the criteria for excellence in the field should be. The authors chosen for the Science Fiction Hall Fame are the men and women who have shaped the body and heart of modern science fiction; their brilliantly imaginative creations continue to inspire and astound new generations of writers and fans.

    Robert Heinlein in “The Roads Must Roll” describes an industrial civilization of the future caught up in the deadly flaws of its own complexity. “Country of the Kind,” by Damon Knight, is a frightening portrayal of biological mutation. “Nightfall,” by Isaac Asimov, one of the greatest stories in the science fiction field, is the story of a planet where the sun sets only once every millennium and is a chilling study in mass psychology.

    Originally published in 1970 to honor those writers and their stories that had come before the institution of the Nebula Awards, The Science Fiction Hall Of Fame, Vol. 1, was the book that introduced tens of thousands of young readers to the wonders of science fiction. Too long unavailable, this new edition will treasured by all science fiction fans everywhere.

    The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1, includes the following:

    Introduction by Robert Silverberg

    “A Martian Odyssey” by Stanley G. Weinbaum
    “Twilight” by John W. Campbell
    “Helen O’Loy” by Lester del Rey
    “The Roads Must Roll” by Robert A. Heinlein
    “Microcosmic God” by Theodore Sturgeon
    “Nightfall” by Isaac Asimov
    “The Weapon Shop” by A. E. van Vogt
    “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett
    “Huddling Place” by Clifford D. Simak
    “Arena” by Fredric Brown
    “First Contact” by Murray Leinster
    “That Only a Mother” by Judith Merril
    “Scanners Live in Vain” by Cordwainer Smith
    “Mars Is Heaven!” by Ray Bradbury
    “The Little Black Bag” by C. M. Kornbluth
    “Born of Man and Woman” by Richard Matheson
    “Coming Attraction” by Fritz Leiber
    “The Quest for Saint Aquin” by Anthony Boucher
    “Surface Tension” by James Blish
    “The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C. Clarke
    “It’s a Good Life” by Jerome Bixby
    “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin
    “Fondly Fahrenheit” by Alfred Bester
    “The Country of the Kind” Damon Knight
    “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
    “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” by Roger Zelazny

  • Lost in Space

    Hugh had been taught that, according to the ancient sacred writings, the Ship was on a voyage to faraway Centaurus. But he also understood this was just allegory for a voyage to spiritual perfection. Indeed, how could the Ship move, since its miles and miles of metal corridors were all there was of creation? Science knew that the Ship was all the universe, and as long as the sacred Converter was fed, the lights would continue to glow, the air would flow, and the Creator’s Plan would be fulfilled.

    Of course, there were the muties, grotesquely deformed parodies of humans, who lurked in the upper reaches of the Ship, where gravity was weaker. Were they evil incarnate, or merely a divine check on the population, keeping humanity from expanding past the capacity of the Ship to support?

    Then Hugh was captured by the muties and met their leader (or leaders)—Joe-Jim, with two heads on one body—and learned the true nature of the Ship and its mission between the stars. But could he make his people believe him before it was too late? Could he make them believe that he must be allowed to fly the Ship?

  • Don Harvey is a citizen of the Interplanetary Federation—yet no single planet can claim him as its own. His mother was born on Venus and his father on Earth, and Don himself was born on a spaceship in trajectory between planets.

    When his parents abruptly summon him away from school on Earth to join them on Mars he has no idea he’s about to be plunged into deadly interplanetary intrigue. But the ship Don is traveling on is unexpectedly diverted to Venus, where the colony has launched a revolution against Earth’s control. What’s more, Earth troops have landed on Venus and are looking for him. Flat broke and homeless, Don will have to muster all his resources to stay alive

    A riveting coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of a war between planets, this classic Heinlein novel crackles with action, adventure, politics, wit, and brilliant speculation about the world to come.

  • Jim Marlowe and his strange-looking Martian friend Willis are only allowed to travel so far. But one day Willis unwittingly tunes into a treacherous plot that threatens all the colonists on Mars, and it sets Jim off on a terrifying adventure that could save—or destroy—them all.

  • A tale beloved by many fans of Robert A. Heinlein, Podkayne of Mars tells the story of a young Marswoman and her interplanetary adventures with her uncle and her genius brother.

    Told largely through Podkayne’s diaries, the story details her travel to Earth with her two companions. Podkayne has definite plans on what to do and how to do it, but not everything is as it seems. She is suddenly thrust into the middle of life-or-death situations when the liner they are traveling on makes a stop at Venus.

    Heinlein was originally asked to change the controversial ending, and he reluctantly did. But he felt the original ending better suited the story and was never satisfied with the modified “safer” ending. This edition restores the book to how Heinlein originally wrote it.

  • A compelling coming-of-age adventure from legendary SF master and multiple New York Times bestseller Robert A. Heinlein

    Lummox has been the pet of the Stuart family for generations. With eight legs, a thick hide, and increasingly large size, Lummox is nobody’s idea of man’s best friend. Nevertheless, John Stuart XI, descendant of the starman who originally brought Lummox back to Earth, loves him. But when Lummox eats a neighbor’s car and begins to grow again, the feds decide that enough is enough. John isn’t about to let the authorities take his pet away, and with his best friend, Betty, he determines to save Lummox—even if he must forever leave the life he’s always known.

  • For the millions of Heinlein fans around the world comes a guided tour through the thoughts and insights of “one of the most influential writers in American literature” (New York Times Book Review).

    Robert A. Heinlein has been hailed as one of the most forward-thinking science fiction writers of all time, and Expanded Universe (presented in two volumes) offers the perfect collection of his works to provide listeners with true insights into his uniquely creative mind.

    Heinlein personally selected each story or essay for inclusion in this collection, which is ordered chronologically, with volume two picking up with “Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon.” This remarkable collection highlights the development of Heinlein’s writing style and his philosophy on life throughout his career.

    More importantly, this collection is as close to an autobiography as anything Heinlein wrote during his life. Heinlein was an extremely private person who never wrote much about himself. In this exclusive collection, he offers forewords to most of his stories and essays (and an occasional afterword), giving listeners a rare glimpse into the inner mind of the master.

    Expanded Universe, Vol. 2 is a must-have for any Heinlein enthusiast and any fan of science fiction.

  • Robert A. Heinlein has been hailed as one of the most forward-thinking science fiction writers of all time, and Expanded Universe (presented in two volumes) offers the perfect collection of his works to provide listeners with true insights into his uniquely creative mind.

    Heinlein personally selected each story or essay for inclusion in this collection, which is ordered chronologically, starting with his first sale in 1939 of “Life-Line” to Astounding (for seventy dollars). This remarkable collection highlights the development of Heinlein’s writing style and his philosophy on life throughout his career.

    More importantly, this collection is as close to an autobiography as anything Heinlein wrote during his life. Heinlein was an extremely private person who never wrote much about himself. In this exclusive collection, he offers forewords to most of his stories and essays (and an occasional afterword), giving listeners a rare glimpse into the inner mind of the master.

    Expanded Universe is a must-have for any Heinlein enthusiast and any fan of science fiction.

  • Time Enough for Love is the capstone and crowning achievement of Heinlein’s famous Future History series. 

    Lazarus Long is so in love with life that he simply refuses to die. Born in the early 1900s, he lives through multiple centuries, his love for time ultimately causing him to become his own ancestor. Time Enough for Love is his lovingly detailed account of his journey through a vast and magnificent timescape of centuries and worlds. Using the voice of Lazarus, Heinlein expounds his own philosophies, including his radical ideas on sexual freedom. His use of slang, technical jargon, sharp wit, and clever understatement lend this story a texture and authority that seems the very tone of things to come.

  • Featuring "All You Zombies—," the basis for the movie Predestination

    This collection from Grand Master Robert A. Heinlein includes five short stories sure to please science fiction fans everywhere. The title story tells the tale of a young man who meets a time-traveling bartender whose origins—and relation to the young man—are more complex and stranger than the Ouroboros ring on the barkeep's finger. In The Man Who Traveled in Elephants—one of both Heinlein and Spider Robinson's all-time favorite stories—we join a former traveling salesman on a bus. The man and his wife had once traveled with a host of imaginary animals searching for places to sell elephants. "They—" takes listeners inside a mental institution, where a man suffering from delusions has been confined. In Our Fair City, a parking attendant named Pappy, a sentient whirlwind named Kitten, and a crusading reporter named Pete aim to take down their corrupt city government. Lastly, in "—And He Built a Crooked House," a clever architect designs a house in the shape of the shadow of a tesseract, but it collapses through the fourth dimension when an earthquake shakes it into a more stable form.

  • In a distant galaxy of colonized planets, the atrocity of slavery is alive and well. Young Thorby was just another bedraggled orphan boy sold at auction, but his new owner, Baslim, is not the disabled beggar he appears to be. Adopting Thorby as his son, Baslim fights relentlessly as an abolitionist spy. When the authorities close in on Baslim, Thorby must find his own way in a hostile galaxy. Joining with the Free Traders, a league of merchant princes, Thorby must find the courage to live by his wits and fight his way up from society’s lowest rung. But Thorby’s destiny will be forever changed when he discovers the truth about his own identity.

    Citizen of the Galaxy is a suspenseful tale of adventure, coming of age, and interstellar conflict by science fiction’s Grand Master.

  • The wickedest, most wonderful science fiction story ever created in our—or any—time

    Anything can begin at a party in California—and everything does in this bold masterwork by a grand master of science fiction.

    When four supremely sensual and unspeakably cerebral humans—two male, two female—find themselves under attack from aliens who want their awesome quantum breakthrough, they take to the skies—and zoom into the cosmos on a rocket roller-coaster ride of adventure, danger, ecstasy, and peril.

  • E. C. “Scar” Gordon was on the French Riviera recovering from a tour of combat in Southeast Asia, but he hadn’t given up his habit of scanning the personals in the newspaper. One ad in particular leapt out at him: 

    Are you a coward? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man. He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English with some French, proficient with all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential, willing to travel, no family or emotional ties, indomitably courageous and handsome of face and figure. Permanent employment, very high pay, glorious adventure, great danger. You must apply in person, 17 rue Dante, Nice, 2me étage, apt. D.

    How could you not answer an ad like that, especially when it seemed to describe you perfectly? Well, except maybe for the “handsome” part, but that was in the eye of the beholder anyway. So he went to that apartment and was greeted by the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. She seemed to have many names but agreed he could call her Star. A pretty appropriate name, as it turned out, for the empress of twenty universes. And she sends him on the adventure of a lifetime.

    Robert A. Heinlein’s one true fantasy novel, Glory Road is as much fun today as when he wrote it after Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein proves himself as adept with sword and sorcery as with rockets and slide rules, and the result is exciting, satirical, fast-paced, funny, and tremendously readable—a favorite of all who have read it. Glory Road is a masterpiece of escapist entertainment with a typically Heinleinian sting in its tail. 

  • Two short novels

    Robert A. Heinlein is widely and justly regarded as the greatest practitioner of the art of science fiction who has ever lived. Here are two of his greatest short novels:

    Gulf

    In which the greatest superspy of them all is revealed as the leader of a league of supermen and women who can't quite decide what to do with the rest of us.

    Lost Legacy

    In which it is proved that we are all members of that league—or would be, if we but had eyes to see.

    Plus two great stories

    A pair of the Master's finest: one on the nature of Being, the other on what it means to be a man.


  • It’s six against six million in a brilliantly waged near-future war for nothing less than liberty and justice for all. The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion, and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip through concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America’s new rulers. It’s six against six million—but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander who knows how to get the best out of his ragtag assortment of American discontents, wily operators, and geniuses. It’s going to take technological savvy and a propaganda campaign that would leave Madison Avenue aghast, but the US will rise again. The counterinsurgency for freedom is on, and defeat is not an option.

  • Maureen Johnson, the somewhat irregular mother of Lazarus Long, wakes up in bed with a man and a cat. The cat is Pixel, well-known to fans of the New York Times bestseller The Cat Who Walks through Walls. The man is a stranger to her, and besides that, he is dead.

    So begins Robert A. Heinlein’s To Sail beyond the Sunset. Filled with the master’s most beloved characters, this compelling work broadens and enriches his epic vision of time and space, life and death, love and desire. It is also an autobiographical masterpiece—and a wondrous return to the alternate universes that all Heinlein fans have come to know and love.

  • Travel to other planets is now a reality, and with overpopulation stretching the resources of Earth, the necessity of finding habitable worlds is growing ever more urgent. There’s a problem though—because the spaceships are slower than light, any communication between the exploring ships and Earth would take years.

    Tom and Pat are identical twin teenagers. As twins they’ve always been close, so close that it seemed like they could read each other’s minds. When they are recruited by the Long Range Foundation, the twins find out that they can, indeed, peer into each other’s thoughts. Along with other telepathic duos, they are enlisted to be the human transmitters and receivers that will keep the ships in contact with Earth. But there’s a catch: one of the twins has to stay behind—and that one will grow old—while the other explores the depths of space and returns still a young man.

  • Jonathan Hoag has a curious problem. Every evening, he finds a mysterious reddish substance under his fingernails, with no memory of how it got there. Jonathan hires the husband-and-wife detective team of Ted and Cynthia Randall to follow him during the day and find out, but Ted and Cynthia find themselves instantly out of their depth. Jonathan leaves no fingerprints. His few memories about his profession turn out to be false. Even stranger, Ted and Cynthia’s own memories of what happens during their investigation do not match. There is a thirteenth floor to Jonathan’s building that does not exist, there are mysterious and threatening beings living inside mirrors, and all of reality is not what they thought it was. Part supernatural thriller, part noir detective story, Heinlein’s trip down the rabbit hole leads where you never expected.

  • After firewalking in Polynesia, fundamentalist minister Alexander Hergensheimer never saw the world the same. Now called Alec Graham, he is in the middle of an affair with his stewardess, Margrethe, when natural disasters begin plaguing them. First, there is an impossible iceberg that wrecks the ship in the tropics; then, after being rescued by a Royal Mexican plane, they are hit by a double earthquake. To Alex, the signs are clear: Armageddon and the Day of Judgment are near. Somehow, he has to bring his beloved heathen, Margrethe, to a state of grace, for heaven would be no paradise without her. But time is growing short. And, while he is at it, there has to be a way to save the rest of the world.

  • The stars were closed to Max Jones. To get into space you either needed connections, a membership in the arcane Guild, or a whole lot more money than Max, the son of a widowed, poor mother, was ever going to have. What Max does have going for him are his uncle’s prized astrogation manuals—books on star navigation that Max literally commits to memory word for word, equation for equation. When Max’s mother decides to remarry a bullying oaf, Max takes to the road, only to discover that his uncle Chet’s manuals, and Max’s near complete memorization of them, is a ticket to the stars. But serving on a spaceship is no easy task.  Duty is everything, and a mistake can mean you and all aboard are lost forever. Max loves every minute of his new life, and he steadily grows in the trust of his superior officers. He seems to be on course for a command track position—but then disaster strikes, and it’s going to take every trick Max ever learned from his tough life and his uncle’s manuals to save himself and the ship from a doom beyond extinction itself.  

    From the First Golden Age of Heinlein, this is the so-called juvenile (written, Heinlein always claims, just as much for adults) that started them all and made Heinlein a legend for multiple generations of readers.

  • From the author of Friday and Rocketship Galileo comes this classic tale featuring the grand master of science fiction’s most remarkable heroine. Podkayne Fries, a smart and determined maid of Mars, has just one goal in life: to become the first female starship pilot and rise through the ranks to command deep-space explorations. So when she is offered a chance to join her diplomatic uncle on an interstellar journey to distant Earth via Venus, it’s a dream come true—even if her only experience with diplomacy is handling her brilliant but pesky younger brother, Clark. But she’s about to learn some things about war and peace—Uncle Tom, the ambassador plenipotentiary from Mars to the Three Planets Conference, is traveling not quite incognito enough, and certain parties will stop at nothing to sabotage negotiations between the three worlds.

  • Engineered from the finest genes and trained to be a secret courier in a future world, Friday operates over a near-future Earth, where chaos reigns. North America has become Balkanized into dozens of independent states, sharing only a bizarrely vulgarized culture. Now, Friday finds herself on shuttlecock assignment at the seemingly whimsical behest of her secret employer, known to her only as "Boss." Traveling from New Zealand to Canada, from one new state of America's disunion to the next, she is confronted with a series of professional as well as personal crises that put her to the test. She must findquick, expeditious solutions as one calamity after another threatens to explode in her face.

    Not since Valentine Michael Smith, hero of Stranger in a Strange Land, has Heinlein created a more captivating protagonist. Fridayproves once again why Henlein's novels have sold millions of copies, won countless awards, and earned him the title of Grand Master of Science Fiction.

  • Robert A. Heinlein has written some of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time, including the beloved classic Stranger in a Strange Land. Now, in The Cat Who Walks through Walls, he creates his most compelling character ever: Dr. Richard Ames, ex-military man, sometime writer, and unfortunate victim of mistaken identity.

    When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.

  • We pray for one last landing
    On the globe that gave us birth;
    Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies
    And the cool, green hills of Earth.

    The Green Hills of Earthis a collection of short stories from one of the masters of science fiction who has held readers spellbound for over thirty years. This collection includes "Delilah and the Space-Rigger," "Space-Jockey," "The Long Watch," "Gentlemen Be Seated," "The Black Pits of Luna," "It's Great to Be Back," "'—We Also Walk Dogs,'" "Ordeal in Space," "The Green Hills of Earth," and "Logic of Empire."

    The arching sky is calling
    Spacemen back to their trade.
    All hands! Stand by! Free falling!
    And the lights below us fade.

    Out ride the sons of Terra,
    Far drives the thundering jet,
    Up leaps a race of Earthmen,
    Out, far, and onward yet —

    We've tried each spinning space mote
    And reckoned its true worth:
    Take us back again to the homes of men
    On the cool, green hills of Earth.

  • From the grand master of science fiction comes this classic story about pioneers at the dawn of space exploration.

    Ross Jenkins, Art Mueller, and Morris Abrams are not your average high schools students. While other kids are cruising around in their cars or playing ball, this trio, known as the Galileo Club, is experimenting with rocket fuels, preparing for their future education at technical colleges.

    Art's uncle, the nuclear physicist Dr. Donald Cargraves, offers them the opportunity of a lifetime: to construct and crew a rocket that will take them to the moon. Cargraves believes their combined ingenuity and enthusiasm can actually make this dream come true—but there are those who don't share their dream and who will stop at nothing to keep their rocket grounded.

  • Dan Davis, an electronics engineer, had finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot that could do almost anything. Wild success was within reach—and Dan’s life was ruined. In a plot to steal his business, his greedy partner and greedier fiancée tricked him into taking the “long sleep”—suspended animation for thirty years.

    But when he awoke in the far different world of AD 2000, he made an amazing discovery. And suddenly Dan had the means to travel back in time—and get his revenge.

    Once again, grand master Robert Heinlein’s genius shines through, illustrating why his books have sold millions of copies and won countless awards.

  • Revolution is brewing on twenty-first-century Luna, a moon-based penal colony where oppressed “Loonies” are being exploited by a harsh Authority that controls it from Earth. Against all odds, a ragtag collection of dissidents has banded together in revolt, including a young female radical, an elderly academic, a one-armed computer jock, and a nearly omnipotent supercomputer named Mike, whose sentience is known only to this inner circle and who is committed to the revolution for reasons of his own.

    Drawing many historical parallels with the War of Independence, Heinlein’s fourth Hugo Award–winning novel is a gripping tale bursting with politics, humanity, passion, innovative technical speculation, and a firm belief in the pursuit of human freedom.

    Robert A. Heinlein was the most influential science fiction writer of his era, winning the Hugo Award for best novel a record four times. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress was the last of these Hugo-winning novels and is widely considered his finest work.

  • From a master of science fiction comes eight startling stories of time and space.

    In “The Year of the Jackpot,” a statistician charts a curve of unusual happenings throughout the earth, only to find that his facts and figures prove the approach of the end of the world.

    In “By His Bootstraps,” a man steps thirty thousand years into time and is trapped in the fourth dimension with three strange, yet oddly familiar, people.

    In “Goldfish Bowl,” people disappear one by one, in great swirling balls of fire, and are held captive in space by beings of vastly superior intelligence.

    Also in this collection of short stories originally published in 1959 are “Columbus Was a Dope,” “The Manace from Earth,” “Sky Lift,” “Project Nightmare,” and “Water Is for Washing.”

  • In one of Heinlein’s most controversial bestsellers, a recruit in a future world is sent through the toughest boot camp in the Universe to join the Terran Mobile Infantry in battle against mankind’s most alarming enemy.

    Juan Rico signed up with the Federal Reserve on a lark, but despite the hardships and rigorous training, he finds himself determined to make it as a cap trooper. In bootcamp he learns how to become a soldier, but it is in war that he will learn why.

    Many consider this Hugo Award–winning book to be Heinlein’s best. Forget the battle scenes and the high-tech weapons; this is Heinlein in his element, talking people and politics.

  • Stranger in a Strange Land is the epic saga of an earthling, Valentine Michael Smith, born and educated on Mars, who arrives on our planet with “psi” powers—telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, telekinesis, teleportation, pyrolysis, and the ability to take control of the minds of others—and complete innocence regarding the mores of man.

    After his tutelage under a surrogate father figure, Valentine begins his transformation into a kind of messiah. His exceptional abilities lead him to become many things to many people: freak, scam artist, media commodity, searcher, free love pioneer, neon evangelist, and martyr.

    Heinlein won his second Hugo Award for this novel, sometimes called his “divine comedy” and often called his masterpiece. This Blackstone audiobook is the “as published” version, read from an Ace paperback published in 1987. The full, uncut text was not made available until 1991.