Syfy – My favorite science fiction writer
I’ve written about early science fiction writers from the 19th and early 20th centuries. But my personal favorite writer of science fiction remains Robert A. Heinlein. In my pre-teen years I discovered his juvenile syfy stories mesmerized me for hours of reading. I read everything I could find, and was never disappointed.
Early reads included “The Star Beast”, “Rocket Ship Galileo”, and “Have Spacesuit – Will Travel”. These were fun and low key adventures. My favorite from my earliest reading was probably the family adventure of “The Rolling Stones”. It was years later that I discovered that “Farmer in the Sky” started off as a serial for Boys Life, the scouting magazine. “Tunnel in the Sky” was a lot of fun, although I was a bit disappointed in the ending, probably because I was starting to think of girls and the protagonist doesn’t wind up with the girl in the book. It was also the first of his books that I recognized as drawing from the classic, “Lord of the Flies”. But to be fair, this storyline keeps getting remade in other forms every decade include this one.
My favorite Heinlein book is “Citizen of the Galaxy”. It is quite episodic, but a grand story. Again, Heinlein draws from another classic, “Kim”. Thorby is a child sold into slavery with no clear memory of his past. His is purchased by a beggar, who turns out to be a spy investigating the slave trade. Thorby grows to the point of comfort, when his world is turned upside again, and he winds up in a culture dramatically different, the traders. Then he moves on to the military. Finally he is identified and returns to Earth for his most challenging adventures. A great story, I just relistened to it this Spring and it still holds my attention closely.
It seems logical that Heinlein’s works would be great fodder for movie stories and they have been, but not very well. Starship Troopers has been the most successful, and it strays far from the imagery of the book. The Puppet Masters is a weak translation, but his vision had already been used in other more popular movies. Some of his sub-plot ideas have been well used, such as the tribbles in the Trouble with Tribbles in Star Trek. So which would I most like to see converted to a movie?
For kids: The Rolling Stones with a healthy budget and Farmer in the Sky
For all:
Between Planets
Citizen of the Galaxy
Double Star
Podkayne of Mars
I wouldn’t be disappointed to see his other works converted, even stories like “The Door into Summer”
Producers just need to discover and sell the project. But beware, some great stories have been destroyed by the writers, directors, and budgets for other past books such as John Carter.