הפנטזיות של היינליין

by רוברט היינליין

רוברט אנסון היינליין בכיר סופרי המדע הבדיוני כתב גם סיפורי פנטזיה לאורך הקריירה הממושכת שלו,אבל בעיקר בראשית שנות הארבעים של המאב העשרים, תור הזהב של המדע הבדיוני היה גם תקופה של מהפכה בספרות הפנטזיה, והיינליין היה בחזית המהפכה,כאשר העולם האמיתי משמש רקע משכנע לסיפורי הפנטזיה שלו.

"גישתו השיטתית של רוברט א' היינליין לאקסטרפולציה מדעית הייתה יעילה באותה מידה כשעסק בפנטזיה ובסיפורת על טבעית....
היינליין היה אחד הסופרים הראשונים שמיזגו בהצלחה את חומרי המדע הבידיוני והפנטזיה לכלל שלמות אחת בלי לפגוע באף אחד משני הז'אנרים"
(האנציקלופדיה למדע בדיוני)

כעת מיטב סיפורי הפנטזיה הקצרים של היינליין, שרובם נובלות ארוכות, קובצו בראשונה בכרך אחד ובהם כמה מהסיפורים המפורסמים: קסם בע"מ, המקצוע הלא סימפטי של ג'ונתן הוג, "הם-", "-הנה בית לי קטן", וואלדו, עירנו הנאווה, סוכן הפילים ו"כולכם, הזומבים".

רוברט אנסון היינליין (1907-1988) הינו אחד מסופרי המדע הבידיוני
רבי ההשפעה שהצליח לפרוץ מעבר לחומות הז'אנר.היינליין היה מוסמך למתמטיקה ופיסיקה ובוגר האקדמיה של הצי האמריקאי.הוא פרש ב-1934
בשל בעיות בריאות,ואולם תקופת שירותו כקצין באה לידי ביטוי ברבים מספריו בהם הלל את המשמעת, הנאמנות והמנהיגות הנגזרים מהמסורת הצבאית.
הסיפר הראשון שלו, קו חיים, פורסם ב-1939 בכתב העת Astounding
ומאז ועד מותו כתב למעלה מ-50 סיפורים קצרים ו-30 ספרים, ובהם: גר בארץ נוכריה, לוחמי החלל, השליטים,ועריצה היא הלבנה,היינליין זכה
במספר פרסי הוגו ובפרס נבולה על מפעל חיים.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Science Fiction Fantasy, Mystery

442 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 1999

About the author

See also רוברט א. היינליין. Hebrew name of Robert A. Heinlein.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read this particular collection before, but have read all the stories in it a number of times. It's been a long time, though. Nice to revisit them even if I don't consider several fantasy stories. They're very good for the most part.

"Magic, Inc." (1940) - is my favorite fantasy story by RAH, but it's also one of the few that I consider a fantasy. The idea of a world where magic is a science, told from the point of view of the owner of a building supply owner & contractor is great. I think I also learned more about how our government really works from this story than any civics course I took. I didn't believe some of it was true & looked into it. Wow. Our gov't is screwed up. Tough lesson at 10 years old or so, but a good one. The characters were great, too. Fun.

"And He Built a Crooked House" (1941) I first read about a tesseract in A Wrinkle in Time, but never really got it & that differs from this one, so I actually looked it up. I had to ask the librarian for help & she was bewildered, but the plus was I learned about the Moebius strip at the same time which I found even more puzzling because I could hold it. I went about playing with one for quite some time. It still confuses me, but that's OK. Anyway, the story itself didn't do much for me as some of it never has made sense, but I like it a lot for where it took me. It's SF, though.

"They" (1941) isn't fantasy, but SF horror. Is he paranoid? Very well done & creepy.

"Waldo" (1942) is a good story & made even better by today's tech. Actually, 60 years after it was written, its point is far more relevant. A lot of SF, maybe all, but there's a melding of 'magic' that's interesting.

"The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" (1942) could be SF. Interesting mystery with a great detective couple.

"Our Fair City" (1948) is plain fun about a corrupt city government & the whirlwind that brought them down.

"The Man Who Traveled in Elephants" (1957) isn't one I've ever cared for much. Some will think it sweet.

"All You Zombies—" (1959) isn't fantasy at all, but an SF time travel story that blew my mind on several levels the first time I read it in the early 1970s. Even better than "By His Bootstraps" another time travel story of his. This one is grittier than any other story of his that I recall offhand.

This is the wrong edition. Mine is an audio edition, but I'm too lazy to create it here.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read much by Heinlein before, but now I'm motivated to do so. Many of these stories were delightful and they show a great range.

"Waldo" starts out seeming like pure SciFi, but takes a turn for Fantasy in the middle. You could still call it SciFi if you want since he tries to offer a possible physical explanation for the magic. If you think of Star Wars as SciFi despite the magical "Force", then so is this.

"The Unpleasant Profession..." was delightful. Reminded me of Cocteau's film version of the myth of Orpheus, but probably that is just me. Anyway, this story came first.

"Magic, Inc." feels very modern. Like a model for "X Files" or "The Magicians". I was surprised to see Heinlein arguing (through his characters) for government action against monopolies since I thought he was thoroughly libertarian. The truth is that his politics fluctuated a lot in his life.

The shorter stories here were a mixed bag for me, but I was glad to see the great variation in subject and style.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've reviewed each of the stories individually below, but my rating for the collection as a whole would be a 4/5, as most of the stories were very enjoyable, but also very thought-provoking. I am very interested in reading some of Heinlein's novels.

"Magic, Inc." 3/5
This isn't my favorite in the collection of short stories I've read by Heinlein, but it was interesting. It's a take on politics and political questions, but from a fantasy standpoint so he can cover whatever viewpoint he wants. He even uses gun control as a comparison...in the 1940s, which is rather interesting.

In the end, it's all a little too neatly wrapped up, although maybe the idea that all of our political problems could only be fixed by magic isn't all that far-fetched.

--And He Built a Crooked House" 3/5
I first heard the term "tesseract" from Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time which gives surprisingly easy descriptions of such a complex idea, making it palatable for a children's book. This story takes the idea of folding space, but puts it in the form of a house that could be quite large, but occupy very little space, because it exists in multiple planes at once. Listening to the description is a bit mind-twisting (pardon the pun), but the story itself is interesting, if a bit creepy. Heinlein's ending takes a more humorous turn than I was expecting from the buildup, more of a "learn from your mistakes before it kills you," but the concept itself is a bit disturbing. Not the most invigorating story, but short and readable.

"They--" 4/5
I've seen some more negative response for this story, that it's not among Heinlein's better works, but if that's the case, then the rest of his work must be amazing indeed, because I thought this story was quite brilliant, for the most part. The whole idea of self, and that the world is so messed up that it couldn't possibly be real, but all in one person's imagination, speaks to all of us, on one level or another, whether we'll all admit it or not. Haven't we all had a moment (or moments) when we've simply found the world to be too absurd to be real? The infatuation with the self, one's own world in one's mind, is not unique to someone in a mental institution. It's a very human introspection. The fact that we often penalize those who are more introspective than others is something worth thinking on.

The ending takes a way a bit from the story, delves more into the sci fi, and is the weak point of the whole thing, but I don't think it destroys the story.

"Waldo" 4/5
This story started in one direction and went several other directions than I was expecting. On one level, is the experience of humanity realizing that all new science is magic until we understand it and then it becomes science. On another level, it's about looking to the future and possibilities. On another, it's a story of a man's journey from self-imposed social outcast due to his infirmity and genius into a man hungry for people and real living, using what he has learned to really live in a way that most men never do. All of these things are somehow combined into one story, and even now, I still can't really decide what I think of it.

Heinlein discusses everything from atomic energy to nanotechology to parallel universes to... good grief, everything! Some of his ideas are very forward-thinking and some never came to be...at least, not yet. It was interesting to pay attention to when the story was written and what technology was available at the time, and see how much he actually predicted.

But the human element is still what remains central to the story and makes it worth reading. A worthy Heinlein story.

"The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" 3/5
This story was interesting until about the last "reveal" section. The explanation, while admittedly sci-fi, was just really "huh?" It was an interesting read, but I wouldn't call it one of the better stories of his that I've read.

"Our Fair City" 3/5
A cute little story that isn't really sci-fi except for one element, telling of the demons of corrupt law enforcement. Nothing spectacular, but ok story.

"The Man Who Traveled in Elephants 4.5/5
While the ending is no surprise, the buildup and anticipation, the journey to get there, are beautiful. It's such a poignant picture of love, hopes, dreams, the beauty of life and getting the most out of every moment. I actually teared up a little listening to it. A very sweet story.

"--All You Zombies--" 4/5
I'm starting to think I need a bookshelf for "messed-up," "twisted," or "just plain weird" stories/books. This one is brilliantly plotted, but good luck trying to untangle all the knots to make sense of this very short story! How the "zombies" line actually comes into play, I haven't quite figured out, but the story set-up is mind-boggling, to say the least. Now I feel like I need to watch the film just to make sense of it!

[Jon]

1943 Retro Hugo Finalist for Best Novella

“The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag” by John Riverside (Robert A. Heinlein) (Unknown Worlds, October 1942)
“Waldo” by Anson MacDonald (Robert A. Heinlein) (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1942)

[Raymond Rugg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert A. Heinlein is known as the dean of science fiction, and was the first Grand Master of the genre. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke are collectively known as the ‘Big Three’ of science fiction. Just the other day, I saw someone mention in a blog that they had read a science fiction story by Heinlein, and then they mused that the comment was redundant, since all stories by RAH are science fiction stories.

But the fact is, Robert Heinlein actually does have some fantasy in his literary portfolio; more than you might think, and some that you will probably recognize.

It may, however, be helpful to revisit the terminology. In a nutshell, science fiction is speculative fiction that has some sort of speculative element that can be explained as falling within the laws of nature, which may or may not be understood in our current scientific framework. Think robots, space travel, aliens. Fantasy, on the other hand, includes speculative elements that are supernatural. Magic and magical creatures, gods, demons and so on. Yes, there are gray areas, and yes, there are exceptions, and yes, there are stories that blend and bend the genres. But for the purposes of this piece, these are the general guidelines that we’ll be using. (For scholarly and in-depth discussion of the terminology, I humbly point you toward the works of James Gunn, a Grand Master of science fiction in his own right, and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction.)

It makes sense to look at the fantasy stories of Heinlein in chronological order, so let’s begin with Magic, Inc. This novella was published in the September 1940 issue of the magazine Unknown Fantasy Fiction, under the title of The Devil Makes the Law. It’s a nice little story about commerce and corruption in a world where magic is commonplace. You could almost think of it as a precursor to the contemporary ‘urban fantasy’ genre.

Waldo in Astounding Magazine“Waldo” comes next, a short story that was published in Astounding Magazine in August of 1942, under one of his most frequent pen names, Anson MacDonald. “Waldo” has the initial trappings of science fiction, but we, along with the title character, soon find that “Magic is loose in the world!” And although this story does fall within the parameters of the fantasy label, it is notable for two bits of science: Although he didn’t ever patent his idea, Heinlein is acknowledged as having come up with designs for the modern concept of the waterbed, and this is one of the stories in which it is mentioned. The title character of this tale also develops mechanical robotic hands, and they are dubbed ‘waldoes,’ a term used in the real world today for similar remote manipulators, in honor of Heinlein’s story.

In October of that same year, a Heinlein novella was published in Unknown Worlds magazine under the pen name of John Riverside. The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag is not particularly one of my favorite Heinlein stories, not even one of my favorite Heinlein fantasies. The plot runs along the lines that our world is just a pale shade of the true reality, and when that reality bleeds into our lives, terror ensues. It’s not a bad story, and if you’re a Heinlein fan, it’s worth reading…once. But as far as I’m concerned, Roger Zelazny refined and defined this theme, and not even Heinlein can top the Chronicles of Amber, at least in this subject.

On the other hand, “Our Fair City,” a short that ran in January 1949 issue of Weird Tales, is one of my favorite Heinlein fantasies. Drawing on his firsthand knowledge of both journalism and local politics, this is a fun tale about a sentient whirlwind. The language, setting and characters are classic Heinlein. If you haven’t read it yet, do put it on your list.

Nearly ten years later, his next fantasy story came out in a 1957 issue of Saturn Magazine. Knowing that it is a Heinlein story, I can recognize the writing in “The Man Who Traveled in Elephants” – the homespun, Mid-Western Americana – but if I had picked this one up and read it blind, I wouldn’t have pegged RAH as the author. In a way, it almost reminds me of some of Stephen King’s more sentimental short stories (his earlier ones when he was just finding his stride, and his later ones, when he came back to shorts after a successful career with his ginormously-long novels). And perhaps it’s not all that surprising; Heinlein had to have had some sort of impact on King’s writing given that King considered him to be “not only America’s premier writer of speculative fiction, but the greatest writer of such fiction in the world.”

Of the stories listed above, “Waldo” and “Magic, Inc.” have been collected together and published in 1950 as a book under the title, oddly enough, Waldo & Magic, Inc. The others – “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag,” “Our Fair City,” and “The Man Who Traveled in Elephants” – were collected together in book form, along with three other stories, under the title The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, in 1959. This collection was later re-issued as 6 x H.

In 1999, Tor collected the contents of these two books, eight short stories in all, and published them as The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein, although I would debate whether the label of fantasy is appropriate for the three stories in the collection that I am not covering – “All You Zombies”, “They,” and “And He Built a Crooked House”.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Call me a rube, or a jerk, or whatever, but if these are Heinlein exemplars, I don't want to read his novels. In this book the longer stories just get soggier as they go on, the twists and turns seeming more like DETOUR signs. "Magic, Inc." reads like three stories mashed into one, and the shaggy-dog story about political process bloating out the middle wasn't worth the punchline. "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" (what a great, anapestic title) could stand to lose thirty pages for swimsuit season. And "Waldo" . . . "Waldo" is "Waldo."

The shorter pieces, on the other hand, are simpler but much more effective: "—And He Built a Crooked House" reads like pure Asimov, right down to the semi-improbable name of Quintus Teal. "Our Fair City" is fun as hell and made me grin throughout. "The Man Who Traveled in Elephants" isn't terribly surprising but I got misty nonetheless. And "—All You Zombies—" has been anthologized to hell and back, so I probably don't have to add my two cents.

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be clear, there is not a story in this book that I had not read before somewhere or other, and some of them more than twice. There are eight of them, three quite long, and each has its charm -- though there are some problematic matters also.

"Magic, Inc." (one of the long stories) probably best embodies one of these matters. At one point in the story, the narrator -- owner of a contractor's supply business -- finds that certain "colored" workers walk off the job because of magic symbols that have been placed on some of the materials. Yet, and at the same time, one of the main characters, and the most impressive male character in the story for that matter, is an Oxbridge-educated African ... who happens also to be a very skilled shaman/witch doctor. This is not a matter of "native superstition;" he is a trained expert at sniffing out (sometimes it appears to be literally sniffing) bad players in the magical world, a skill vital to the story's happy ending. The former fact seems to be an artifact of the stories early 1940s origin; the latter to Heinlein's determined efforts (which did not always succeed) not to be a bigot.

The next story in the book, "'--And He Built a Crooked House'," illustrates a larger problematic area, one familiar to anyone who has read Heinlein with any seriousness whatsoever: his attitude, or rather his attitudes, towards women. He repeatedly stated that women were superior in many ways to men (not least their ability to make babies), but here we have -- in the middle of what is otherwise a charming tale based on an extrapolation of four-dimensional geometry -- a shrewish housewife, prone to fainting. (Not that the other characters in the story are much better developed: the house in question may have been four-dimensional, but the characters have, at best, two.)

"'They'" is another game based around a single key idea. The protagonist (if that's what he is) is in a mental institution, convinced that he is the only real human being in the world. The ending suggests that he is correctin this belief; but in the meanwhile, his situation enables Heinlein to go through one of the most logical arguments for solipsism I've ever read. The patient is also the only developed character in the story, which is perfectly consonant with its theme.

"Waldo" is another long one, melding a variety of science-fictional and fantastic ideas and making it look effortless. It is at one level ablist, and at another a critique of ablism. (Go figure.) The titular character, one of three viewpoint characters, is a genius hampered by an extremely weak body; he compensates for this, on the one hand, by creating an environment where he can live comfortably and productively (including the mechanical hand-extensions that bear his name in the real world), and on the other by convincing himself that he is to humans as humans are to chimpanzees: weaker, but smarter and in every other way better. Discovering, from a Pennsylvania hex doctor, the means to make himself strong, cures his socio-psychological issues as well.

The third of the long stories, "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag," is the weirdest story in the book. Its protagonists are a married couple who run a detective business, and she is quite as competent as he ... but he is still a protective male and she a fearful female. It isn't quite as bad as that makes it sound, but it's enough to give the whole story a flavor of When It Was Written -- it was published in 1942. Anyway, they are hired by Jonathan Hoag to find out what he does all day, because he doesn't know, and things get stranger from there.

"Our Fair City" bears a certain resemblance to "Magic, Inc." in that it is a story, involving local politics in an unnamed city. Unlike "Magic, Inc.," the fantastic is not an everyday part of life and business here; rather, it is limited to one thing: a sentient, and seemingly permanent, whirlwind, which lives in a parking lot and is friends with the lot's attendant. "Kitten," as the little twister is called, helps the narrator -- a newspaper reporter and columnist -- to unseat the city's corrupt Mayor and his cronies, to comic effect.

"The Man Who Traveled in Elephants" is a story that has made me shed a tear more than once. This was one of those occasions. It's the story of a lonely widower, traveling around the country and seeing the sights he used to see with his wife and their dog, and that's all I'll tell you.

Finally, "All You Zombies" is, I think the most perfect time-travel paradox story out there. Well, it isn't exactly a paradox; everything eventually fits together, but in a sort of sidewise way. A major character is (rather to their own surprise) transgender, something you wouldn't see much in a 1959 story, so there's that. Again, the characters are pretty flat: it's an idea story, not a people story.

All in all, it was worth rereading.

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magic, Inc.
Retro Hugo Award Finalist (1940) 80pp. 3 stars
This is a rare foray into fantasy for Heinlein, an early "urban fantasy" that uses fantasy tropes to illustrate one of Heinlein's typical problem-solving men. It's an entertaining enough story, but it's fairly predictable if you know how Heinlein writes. One thing that mars the story considerably is some racist language.

"—And He Built a Crooked House"
Did not read.

"They—"
Did not read.

Waldo
Retro Hugo Award Finalist (1942) 88pp. 3 stars
It's a stretch to call this a fantasy, but since Waldo calls what he does magic, then I guess it's a fantasy by definition. But what Waldo does is not necessarily magic; it's never really explained. It could be that he found a way to unknowingly tap the energy of a parallel dimension using some kind of scientific method. This story is certainly more famous for introducing the word waldo into use as a generic term for remote manipulators. This term is not widely used nowadays, as far as I know, but it's a term like robot that came from a science fiction story. Some of the other aspects of this story are less well done. When it was published in 1942 no one knew the effects of space flight on people, so perhaps today's readers can give it a bit of a pass. But to begin with, launch accelerations would almost certainly kill someone like Waldo. And for Waldo to spend years in free fall to alleviate the symptoms of his infirmity would actually be the worst thing he could do, because of the bone density loss associated with long term space flight. Moreover, after spending that much time in space, Waldo would not have ever been able to return to Earth. Waldo's personality transformation over the course of the story, from a mean recluse to a bon vivant celebrity, is interesting, if not entirely believable.

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag
Retro Hugo Award Finalist (1942) 98pp. 5 stars
This is a thriller in the vein of Twilight Zone, where two unsuspecting people get caught in a web of intrigue spun by seemingly alien or demonic forces. Their quest to unravel the mysteries puts them in real danger. Their reactions are believable and the resolution is satisfying.

Our Fair City
Did not read.

The Man who Traveled in Elephants
Did not read.

"—All You Zombies—"
12 pp. 4 stars
This is one of the classics of time travel, perhaps better the second time through when you know what's happening.

[Wekoslav Stefanovski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic, Inc. 3/5

Magic Inc. is very uneven, and feels more like a series of interconnected vignettes, then like a proper story. The characters are underdeveloped, and the story is, well, as boring as watching political proceedings. While it showcases most of Heinlein interests, I don't think that they were presented in an attractive way.

—And He Built a Crooked House 5/5

What's there not to love about the mind-bending math of extra dimensions? One of the best explanations of the topic with extremely fun extrapolations,

They 3/5

Did not love this one. The writing was good, but the story itself was lackluster. Basically, the guy can either turn out to be crazy (in which case we have a "look at the crazy dude" story), or he is right (in which case we have a "the crazy dude was right all along story"). Since the volume mentions fantasy in the title - of course it's gonna be the second kind of story. And it is.

Waldo 5/5

Waldo feels like as the younger, rebellious brother of Valentine Michael Smith, with a mix of hard sci-fi and the Heinlein brand of magical realism.

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag 5/5

This is just superbly done. It was written fairly early in Heinlein's career, yet it shows most of the ideas that he'll eventually fully develop in novels like Stranger in a Strange Land. It has a distinctly Dickish feeling, especially the end.

Our Fair City 4/5

A fast paced and very funny vignette about a sentient whirlwind. It is a political satire, and reads as such.

The Man who Traveled in Elephants - 5/5

Nice and warm-hearted short story about lasting love. It was a joy to read.

—All You Zombies— 6/5

Wow. I've read this before and I'll read it again. Or the other way around. Who knows. This is up there with Nightfall, Omelas, Algernon... as the best SF story of all time.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heinlein, Robert A. The Fantasies of Robert Heinlein. Tor, 1999.
The Fantasies of Robert Heinlein gets together some stories from the 1940s and ‘50s that are not pure science fiction but aren’t pure fantasy either. Heinleinian engineering is everywhere apparent. “Magic, Inc.” describes a world where magic is just another construction tool. “And He Built a Crooked House” plays with fractal math. “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag” provides a cautionary tale about using computational data to make predictions. “All You Zombies” is a classically efficient time-travel paradox story. “Waldo,” my favorite story of the bunch, has so many instances of clever technology that it is hardly fair to call it fantasy at all. In his later career, Heinlein turned to long, rambling epics, but these stories show what he could do with the short form when there was a market for it. 4 stars.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came for "—And He Built a Crooked House" & "—All You Zombies—"...and to be honest, those were the best parts of the book

The other stories just didn't age as well
"Magic, Inc" is a protection racket scheme but set in a world with MAGIC. The exceptionally dated language was pulling me out of it constantly.
The rest of the stories biggest weaknesses were the final few pages. It would set up a fantastic concept (like in both "They" and "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" there's a mindfuck of an idea of what's real in the world and what isn't), really get in there....aaaaaaaand fizzle out in a mess

[William Bentrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein
I tracked down this book because I have fond memories of Glory Road which was the only other fantasy, I recalled written by Heinlein. This was disappointing, not that the stories but the fact that I didn’t really see them as fantasies. It was more lip service with mention of magic. I guess they could be considered early urban fantasy but I felt they fit more with his general body of work than in the fantasy genre.
My impression of Heinlein was that he was a frustrated philosopher. Much of his work struck me as proposing a different way of seeing and doing things. These stories had some interesting twists and I did enjoy them.

[Mender · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars. I have never been great at short stories, and these ones aren't clicking for me. The first story was fine, with a nice concept. The second story was dull, and the third was a circular story where you feel trapped in an annoying man's brain and did me in for the rest of it. I skimmed from there and couldn't make myself be grabbed.

It's probably a fine set of stories, but I'm never going to be the intended audience.

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I consider Robert Heinlein one of the best writers of our time and his stories very often give you something to think about. Most of these stories do the same, some are very short while others are much longer. I enjoyed most of them but a few were not really my cup of tea. All good just not all for me. I would still recommend this to any fan of Heinlein.

[Ryan Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not always a big fan of short story collections -- if it's a good story I want it to keep going -- but all of these were pretty good, and about the right length.

[Austin Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool collection! Rare and Forgotten stories!

[Anna Hawes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved almost all, especially Magic Inc, Waldo, and They

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really liked the first half with most of the stories at 4* plus, but the second half didn't work as well for me.

[AVANTI KUMAR · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of stories that have aged well in here - but I read this for the sake of form.

[Gr1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had previously read most of these stories. I made my third attempt to read Magic Inc. It was also my third failure.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of short stories.

[Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixed bag, but mostly solid stories.

[Mcandrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing short stories. Still my favourite "All you zombies"

[Beth Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook reread. A mixed bag, but I'm exceedingly fond of "Magic, Inc.," even if it' hasn't aged quite as well as I'd hoped. "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" is a mixed bag in itself. I love the viewpoint couple -- not enough marriages of that sort in Heinlein -- but there's a lot of sneaking around that's just tedious. The story probably could have been trimmed down by a third. The average is three stars, but there's a lot of variation.

[Michael Emond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Heinlein and this book helps complete my almost complete Heinlein collection. It was a pleasant surprise how much I enjoyed this collection of short stories and novellas and I will do a quick blurb on each one:
Magic Inc (novella): An interesting take on a world where magic is commonplace and practitioners of it are hired like skilled laborers. It is really a fantasy that is taking aim at the Mob and unionization with even a touch of Mr. Smith goes to Washington to lobby (and fails)and even a journey to hell itself. It was fun and had some good characters and great creativity but maybe tried to do a bit too much. Still, probably my fav of the three novellas.
- And He Built a Crooked House (short story): Fun little look at a crazy architect who decides to build a fourth dimensional building - good silly fun.
They - (short story): A theme which has been looked at many times, a man in a mental house is certain he isn't c razy and the world we think we live in is a lie. Meh - not an interesting take on this theme - and it just ends abruptly.
Waldo (novella): A lot of nice themes in this one - world's science starts to fall apart and the leading reclusive scientist, Waldo,is going to help figure out why. The why turns out to be "supernatural" in explanation. I enjoyed this - with my only quibble being, Waldo's transformation at the end is far too sudden and not really believable.
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (novella): Suspenseful, interesting, with some good characters. As I read, I wrote some "questions" the ending had to answer if it was to be truthful to its start (a lot of mysteries are suspenseful up until the reveal, at which time you think "but that still doesn't explain why X did Y") and the ending was pretty good at addressing them all. My one problem is that his "profession" just comes out of nowhere - it is an interesting idea but not hinted at anywhere else in the story so it wasn't a satisfying ending to me. There was no moment of "oh wow!", just a moment of "oh really? okay."
Our Fair City (short story): A whirlwind is alive. What a fun short story. Totally whimsical, makes no sense, but I loved it. Fun and humourous (great running gag with cameraman) and my fav of the book. I am probably alone in thinking that but its light tone and absurdness made me smile.
The Man Who Traveled in Elephants (short story): Meh - disliked it. A parable about a man going to the afterlife. Not very engaging and no real point to it.
All you Zombies - (short story): I had heard this described as the ULTIMATE sci fi time travel story. this was my first time reading it and while it is semi-clever, I think I liked "By His Bootstraps: better as a time travel story (it is also by Heinlein). This one didn't work because you have to throw in the idea of a guy changing his gender to make it work. Works better as an idea than an actual story.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for "All You Zombies", but "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" was also excellent.

[Thomas Fackler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A smattering of Heinlein's fantasy oeuvre. Of particular interest to me were The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, He Built a Crooked House, and Waldo. The first is interesting for its development of a character who knows nothing about himself. The second is great of its explanation and use of four dimensional geometry. The last is an intriguing thought-experiment in parallel universe.

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag has the least number of cracks in its structure, but is the most fantastical so the base set of assumption are already outside of our Earthly reality. He Built a Crooked house gives a good mathematical introduction to the behavior of lower-dimensional objects in higher dimensions, but falls to Heinlein's insistence on the mind's (particularly the subconscious') role in warping and restructuring fixed structure. This last wouldn't be a problem except that Heinlein, much like Chrisopher Nolan in Interstellar, uses this subconscious ability to work his character's out of physical jams. I don't know that it is possible to avoid this problem in fiction of the sort mentioned, but it definitely detracts through its hand-waving. (Squirrel!) Waldo does a better job of balancing on the edge of fact and fiction. The parallel universe is subtly developed and there isn't a lot of explaining of the alternate universe except to say that they could exist. The story made me think a lot about how similar beings in the parallel universe, which was now a power source for our universe, felt about their loss of energy resources. Poignant for our times.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heinlein is a master chef. He mixes science fiction and fantasy so adroitly that those people who are fans of one but not the other are still able to appreciate his work. His comments on our society, (still valid from the 1940’s) are remarkable and given with so much humor that the required self reflection tastes less like medicine and more like a gourmet meal. This short story collection is awesome. I don’t know of other fantasy writers (other than Ursula Le Guin) of the time who sewed so many issues of social equality into their writing. I appreciate that in Magic Inc. (the first story in the collection – copyright 1940) there is a brilliant female character and learned black male character as well. In All You Zombies (from 1959) he tackles issues of gender identity. Another thing I appreciate in these stories is that the men and women who are in relationships together are respectful of each other, loving, loyal and expressive without shame. Go figure. Heinlein was brilliant! This collection is worth the read.

[Pedro L. Fragoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep, the years pass but this doesn't change: There's Heinlein and then there's everybody else; good to the point of it being unbelievable.

(In Chimoio, Mozambique.)