The First in a New Series...

My first post on my new Blog!

In keeping with the theme of this blog, the book currently at the top of my stack is some good ol' (well, not so old) SF. Right now I'm reading _Variable Star_, by Heinlein, or is that Robinson??? Well the truth is per the introduction, the book is based on a detailed outline Heinlein created, but never completed. The Heinlein estate hired Robinson to finish the text.

Robinson does a good job in creating the "feel" of a Heinlein. But there is enough of the author in it to make one feel that the book is an homage, not a rip-off (I shudder to think I should read Brian Herbert's _The Sandworms of Dune_). Robinson also "updates" it with elements current readers appreciate (such as on p.34 of my text, in which it is explained why Jinny refers to her butler as "Smithers." Simpsons reference in the first 50 pages? How could you go wrong!). Also google is used here as a verb, not a proper noun (people -- including myself -- already do that, so no surprises here...but it is nice to find that my abuse of the English language is considered standard slang a century from now).

So far so good, and I haven't set the book aside for other reading amusements. We'll just wait and see how it goes...