The Synopsis Treasury by Christopher Sirmons Haviland Read Free Book Online Page A

which Heinlein was the guest of honor. Courtesy Wikipedia.)
    Robert A. Heinlein, born in 1907, had attempted two careers before he took up writing fiction. He joined the Navy first, but due to health issues he was forced to choose something else. He tried politics, but after a failed campaign that left him broke, he came across a contest notice from the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories asking for new and unpublished writers. Heinlein was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells. Badly in need of an income, he decided to try his luck.
    He felt that the story he wrote in the days that followed, “Life-Line,” was too good for a writing contest. So he took a risk and targeted a stronger magazine: Astounding Science Fiction . It was 1939, and John W. Campbell, the famed editor of Astounding , picked it up. It was a breakthrough, and Heinlein continued writing and submitting to Astounding and other magazines with increasing success. Over the next few years he was published with A. E. van Vogt, Lester del Rey, Theodore Sturgeon, L. Sprague de Camp, Clifford D. Simak, L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov, and the seasoned father of “space opera,” E. E. “Doc” Smith. His new career had been established, and it skyrocketed. He and his fellow authors launched what is now known as the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
    Wrapping his stories around the experience of his first two careers and indoctrinating them with social commentary in the style of H. G. Wells but in his own political voice, he found a niche that suited him and his readers. He became the first to win the award of Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1975, having written the critically acclaimed novels Farmer in the Sky , Double Star , Have Space Suit—Will Travel , S tarship Troopers , Stranger in a Strange Land , Glory Road , The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress , and Time Enough for Love , all of which were nominated for, or won, a Hugo Award (some retroactively).
    Heinlein participated in writing the movie Destination Moon in 1950, loosely based on his young adult novel Rocketship Galileo . Heinlein was also a technical consultant on the movie. Destination Moon became a science fiction classic, and under Heinlein’s scrutiny raised the bar for technical effects, helping to win the movie an Academy Award for Visual Effects.
    By the time of his death in 1988 he became known as one of the “Big Three” in the Golden Age of Science Fiction, along with Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov , the latter about whom Heinlein once said, “There is a writer with the real stuff.” *

    * From a letter dated 31 March 1941 to Frederik Pohl about Asimov’s short story “Heredity” published in Astonishing Stories magazine, alongside Heinlein’s short story “Beyond Doubt.” —CSH

    The following letters introduce the novella Lost Legacy and other stories when Robert A. Heinlein worked with Frederik Pohl, his editor, toward publication. I found these letters in the special collections at the Syracuse University Library and mailed them to Pohl asking permission to publish them in 2004. Pohl thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia, as it had been sixty-four years since he had had these discussions! Pohl remarked, in response to re-reading the letters, “I was astonished to find that Bob Heinlein once told me I could make editorial changes in his work myself. He changed his mind about that, all right.”
    I could find no formal synopses or outlines, but Heinlein’s stories were summarized in these letters. They are mildly abridged. The author and his editor also discussed payments, revisions, and a pseudonym, most of which I edited out as it was irrelevant to this book, though it made for an interesting read. But it’s worthy to note that Heinlein chose to submit Lost Legacy and a few other works under the pen name of Lyle Monroe. Pohl wanted to use the Heinlein name which had already been nicely