About the Book
"Rarely has Heinlein
pushed his imagination further...a vivid, stirring experience."--Chicago
Tribune"One of the superb
Heinlein stories that has excitement, urbanity, humanity, rationality, pace,
understanding, and is a joy to read."--The New York Times
With
over-population stretching the resources of Earth, the need to find and
colonize other Terra-type planets is becoming crucial to the survival of the
human race. But finding these planets is time-consuming and very costly. With a
seemingly inexhaustible budget, the scientists at the Long Range Foundation
create the remarkable Torchships, which are able to traverse to different Star
Systems within the matter of months. However, communication between Earth and
these ships would still take countless years--even decades. How would they alert
Earth of the planets they find?
Tom and Pat are recruited by
LRF to become the human transmitters and receivers for the mission. Growing up
together they had felt like they were so similar, so in sync, that it was
almost as if they read each other's minds.... Only to discover, that was indeed
what they could do. Along with other telepathic pairings, their abilities are
tested, and it is discovered that time nor distance impedes their connection;
communication between Earth and the Torchships would be instantaneous.
But
there is a catch: during the course of the mission, while one of them stays
behind and grows old, on Earth, the other will be traversing the stars, and--if
he survives--will return a young man.
"The word that
comes to mind for him is essential. As a writer--eloquent, impassioned,
technically innovative--he reshaped science fiction in the way that defined it
for every writer who followed him.... He was the most significant science fiction
writer since H. G. Wells."--Robert Silverberg
About the Author:
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science-fiction
author, aeronautical engineer, and retired Naval officer who is known as the
"dean of science fiction writers". His works emphasized scientific
accuracy, pioneering hard science fiction, and expressed admiration for
competence and critical thinking.
He was one of the
best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades and is often considered
one of the "Big Three" of English-language science fiction authors
along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
Heinlein's work
continues to have a significant influence on the science-fiction genre and
modern culture more generally. He coined terms that have become part of the
English language, such as "grok", "waldo", and
"speculative fiction", and popularized existing terms like
"TANSTAAFL", "pay it forward", and "space
marine". He anticipated technologies such as mechanical computer-aided design
and the modern cell-phone in his writing.
Four of Heinlein's
novels won Hugo Awards, and he was named the first Science Fiction Writers
Grand Master in 1974. Seven of his works were awarded "Retro Hugos"
fifty years after publication. Heinlein repeatedly addressed social themes such
as individual liberty and self-reliance, the nature of sexual relationships,
and the influence of organized religion on culture and government within the
framework of his science-fiction stories.
He died in Carmel,
California in 1988.
