Off-topic, Heinlein

[Shelley Hanson/KlezmerAllThatJazz]

Soren wrote:
 if I remember correctly [Heinlein] had more imagination than
> humour and he also belongs to the "hard" department, right?

As a Heinlein fan, I can't agree that Heinlein was lacking in the humor
department. He had a sharp satirical edge, particularly in many of the short
stories which may not be readily availble. If you can find his classic "By
His Bootstraps," you will see that this was one of the first time-travel
stories to really lay out the paradoxes, and hilariously (but with a cutting
edge). Heinlein's juveniles, like "Have Spacesuit Will Travel," also reveal
a sardonic wit. Or check out the treatment of the media at the end of
"Tunnel in the Sky" -- talk about being ahead of his time. Although he, as
an engineer, certainly can be classified in the "hard" category because of
his attention to detail and plausible science, his characterizations are far
above those of most of the writers of his era -- or, in my opinion, now. If
you've read a lot of Heinlein, the magnitude of the sci-fi plots that
Heinlein has already covered becomes very clear. It's really hard to come up
with something Heinlein hasn't already done in one way or another. I view
him as the Carl Barks of science fiction, or as one writer termed in, the
Robert Louis Stevenson of the 20th century.

Speaking of humor, did you like the famous Star Trek (original series)
episode "The Trouble with Tribbles"? Clearly David Gerrold did, as he stole
the plot from a chapter of Heinlein's "The Rolling Stones" for that episode
(not to mention other writing Gerrold claims as his own which is also
Heinlein-plot based). Gerrold has acknowledged the source of "his" idea.

By the way, I hate the stuff Heinlein wrote at the end of his career. In my
opinion, the first half of "Stranger in a Strange Land" was vintage
Heinlein, which took a weird turn halfway through, and I never really liked
anything he wrote afterward.

I'm curious: are Duck fans also sci-fi fans? Or is it just a few of us?