RAH-AIM chat mtng, June 7 & 10, 2000
AGplusone
(aka Heinlein Readers Group)
Notice of Chat Meetings
Thursday, June 8, from 9 PM to midnight, EDT
and Saturday, June 10, 2000, from 5 to 8 PM, EDT
Our regular chat meetings to be held on AIM this week will continue discussion
of the Future History stories, including "The Black Pits of Luna," '"It's Great
To Be Back,"' and "--We Also Walk Dogs."
To attend the meeting AIM freeware (version 3.0 or higher) may be obtained from
http://www.aol.com/ and should be installed and tested prior to the meeting.
Windows 95 or higher and Macintosh versions are available. Entry into the room
may require an invitation, and you should notify by email AGpl...@aol.com of
the name you have chosen to register as yours well before the meeting so that
it may be placed on the 'buddy list' used to monitor on-line presence and
thereby avoid a delay in entering the room.
All three of these stories may be found in the collection _The Past Through
Tomorrow_ and _The Green Hills of Earth_. The first two, "The Black Pits of
Luna" and '"It's Great To Be Back,"' posit contrasting types of colonists for
space.
What is it about the qualities present in successful pioneers that Robert
Heinlein deeply believed that these stories illustrate? How often did he return
to this theme in other works? What rings true? What not? Are there contrasting
illustrations in Earth's own space programs recently that might profit from
review of these points?
An incidental note by James Gifford, in his recently published _Robert A.
Heinlein: A Reader's Companion_ observes that a partially published earlier
work relates to "Black Pits," an article that appeared in Elks Magazine,
January 1947, one of the so-called failures among RAH's immediate post W.W. II
'save the world' attempts. The article was entitled "Back of the Moon," and the
Elks published only the first half which described a potential danger of
'Atomic Peace'--the now disproved theory that experimental nuclear chain
reactions could get out of control and literally set Earth on fire, turning the
planet into a nova. Heinlein proposed that such experimentation be conducted on
the backside of Luna and detailed how in the unpublished second half of the
article which the Elks did not publish and returned. In this half which has
remained unpublished Heinlein again urges a world government and effectively a
_Pax Americana_, echoing an H.G. Wells radio address of the same year.
Significantly, while it went unpublished, elements were 'high-graded,' i.e.,
used in other stories, appearing in "Blowups Happen," "Gulf," and _To Sail
Beyond The Sunset_. In the published portion of "Back of the Moon" RAH
presented a catastrophe of 1955, in which two scientists, Maurice Feinstein and
Thomas Dooley, have a moment's inattention resulting in disaster, with a plant
exploding and taking the eastern half of the United States (and subsequently
much of the world, by fallout or otherwise) with it. In the unpublished half,
by contrast, a vacationing couple visit the moon and there observe the site of
the analogue Great Disaster in which there is a crater of a nuclear lab
explosion on Luna's back side, in which six unnamed scientists lost their
lives. In "Black Pits" which we are reading this week, the same Great Disaster
appears (here, of '1984'); and the scientists' names include Dooley and
Feinstein.
The push for world government had its heighday in the late 1940s and early
1950s. The more idealistic among those who answered President Truman's call to
arms for the 'police action' in Korea had that idea firmly in their minds. See,
e.g., Pat Frank's _Hold Back The Night_ (J.B. Lippincott Co., NYC, 1951).
Between 1954's armistice and the 1960s Vietnam, the idea seems to have died.
Disadvantages are seen clearly, and those disadvantages seem to outweigh any
advantage. For one recent typical science-fiction treatment and explication of
this theme, see, e.g., Ian Douglas' _Semper Mars_ (Avon, ISBN 0-380-78828-4,
1998). We've had several early instances of Heinlein's postulated world
government both among these Future History short stories and among the
juveniles, and also in short works "outside" the Future History and some of the
later novels, e.g., Methuselah's Children_ and _Stranger In A Strange Land_
there appears others examples. Can we conclude anything specific about what RAH
proposed and how that may have changed in later novels?
Finally, "--We Also Walk Dogs" also found in the same collections, is a story
which many may feel should have formed the basis of other tales; but which
should not be properly be part of the Future History itself. Why not? Do you
disagree? What attracts you specifically to this story? The references to and
connections between art and engineering attract me personally, but am I correct
in seeing this story as part of a coherent discussion of that relationship,
continued in _The Door Into Summer_ and _Stranger In A Strange Land_?
There are many other points that might be raised about this and the earlier two
stories. What would you talk about in the chat? Please remember to post your
thoughts before our meeting, as experience has shown the more posts we have,
the better our discussion.
See you all Thursday and Saturday.
[Note: I appreciated the concern several expressed a few weeks back when they
heard about my mother's illness. She appears to be on a long, slippery road to
recovery, is free of pneumonia and now breathing unassisted once again,
although she will be on oxygen for the remainder of her life, and may soon
recover enough to return home from the hospitals. Thank you all for your
kindnesses.]
David
--
David M. Silver
AGpl...@aol.com
"I expect your names to shine!"
ddavitt
unpublished story David; sounds intriguing.
I had a quick look through he three stories and jotted down a few points;
Black Pits -
This seems to me to be a short story version of Poddy in some ways but with a less
intelligent family (except the hero). Both parents exhibit stupidity, unfairness
and bad manners. The younger, unnamed child, only given the insulting title of
"Baby Darling" or "The Runt" is as obnoxious as Clark but without his genius.
Dickie is bright and like Poddy is weighed down with a self assumed responsibility
for his younger brother and to a certain extent, his parents, whom he views with an
objective, observant and mildly critical eye. The story ends with the wheat being
sorted from the chaff; his family is warned not to return, Dickie is accepted as
belonging, part of the elite.
Adding up the failings of the parents in this story makes for an astounding amount
of black marks against them. The only mitigating circumstance is that they are in
unfamiliar territory. Yet going somewhere unprepared when there is an opportunity
to do research can be seen as the initial error. They are totally unable to control
their younger child ( why is he spoiled when his brother isn't?) and I get the
feeling that to a certain extent Dickie has learned how to manipulate them out of
necessity.
His father gives
in to the demands of BD ( Baby darling) and takes him out on the surface; risking
his life is less important than losing face from a scene and the gibe from Mr
Latham. When BD is lost his mother has hysterics and faints. The crowd of tourists
are shown to be as stupid as she is; someone tries to suggest they take her helmet
off. Someone else says he has to be found by sundown; doesn't realise that it's
different on the Moon and doesn't spot that the main danger is lack of oxygen. Mrs
Logan then recovers enough to wonder if bloodhounds would be a good idea. Mr Logan
mentions helicopters, does realise that he's said something silly but digs the hole
deeper by amending this to rockets. He also tries to fight with Mr Perrin when he
tells him that it's his fault BD is lost.
Contrast this flurry of idiocy with the lead; he switches off the radio link and
_thinks_. Remember Gulf and the sign of a superman? He's not that maybe but he's
showing that he's better equipped than all the other tourists. After a while he
comes up with the idea of trying to follow his brother's trail by the 'lost mule
trick' ( What is that btw?). He is exhausted, numb from cold but refuses to give
up; like the heroes in Gentlemen Be Seated. Again this heroism is in sharp contrast
to his father who tries to pay for his son's rescue.
Great To Be Back is again a wheat from chaff story but in this case it seems at
first that the MacRae's are chaff. Despite three years in Luna they are still
homesick. Others know they belong; Miss Stone ( hmm...sounds familiar!) their
landlord knows them better than they know themselves. They head back for Earth and
in hours are starting to feel homesick again; for Luna. They have to come to the
understanding that they won't fit in back on earth because, like young Dick Logan,
they have that little bit extra that makes them part of the space going elite. It
has to be said that they don't seem all that special but maybe that's just me :-)
They aren't heroes and the trials they undergo on Earth are fairly small but that's
OK; every story can't involve drama.
I think one point about this story is that I noticed how many futuristic gadgets
Heinlein slipped in; video phones, air taxis and such. He even plugs the Saturday
Evening Post <g>
We Also Walk Dogs is a fun story in some ways. As I've said before, I could see
this being a book of short stories or even a series but that wasn't really
Heinlein's style. Pity. It also has some subtle bits; we find out quite casually
that Sance Francis and Grace Cormet are married; she's not only a working married
woman but she's doing it under a maiden name. Plus she's quite willing to dye her
hair and bleach her skin to flirt with someone to get the job done; with the full
approval of her husband. Mildly shocking stuff for the time perhaps. Not sure if
the skin bleaching means she's black; like Eunice she might be, might not be.
The one bit that jars is the priceless, fragile Ming bowl that she ( for some
obscure reason) is carrying secreted about her person. I don't think so....not even
any bubble wrap? Come on! Was it shoved in her bra the whole way back from England?
And no, it can't fit the FH but it's still fun. I love the side plot of Mrs Peter
Van Hogbein Johnson.
Jane
James Gifford
> I haven't got ARC yet <sob>
Really? It shouldn't be much longer, then. Your copy shipped almost a
week ago.
General commercial announcement: All backorders of RAH:ARC have been
shipped. All US customers should have theirs by the middle of this week;
international customers should have theirs no later than the 15th of
June or so.
--
| James Gifford - Nitrosyncretic Press - gif...@nitrosyncretic.com |
| ROBERT A. HEINLEIN: A READER'S COMPANION now shipping! |
| See http://www.nitrosyncretic.com for details & the Heinlein FAQ |
Marga
ddavitt <dda...@netcom.ca> wrote in message
<snip>
> Black Pits -
> Adding up the failings of the parents in this story makes for an
astounding amount
> of black marks against them. The only mitigating circumstance is that they
are in
> unfamiliar territory. Yet going somewhere unprepared when there is an
opportunity
> to do research can be seen as the initial error... The crowd of tourists
> are shown to be as stupid as she is;
As somewhat of a side note, most people who have worked at a tourist area
would say exactly the same types of things about a significant percentage of
the visitors. I spent 3 years working at a Colorado ski area & my brother
spent 2 summers working at Yellowstone National Park. We had a lot of fun
comparing "idiot tourist" stories from both places & they were numerous.
Without getting into a full blown discussion on whether common sense is all
that common, many people lose whatever they had in an "unfamiliar territory"
& few appear to actually have done anything to prepare.
>
> We Also Walk Dogs... I love the side plot of Mrs Peter Van Hogbein
Johnson.
Priceless satire IMO.
marga
Merfilly8
missing out on this chat. I'll be sure to look the logs over. Have fun, guys.
Filly
http://hometown.aol.com/merfilly8/myhomepage/index.html
"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet
must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.
What a man can be, he must be."
--Abraham Maslow
ddavitt
> We had a lot of fun
> comparing "idiot tourist" stories from both places & they were numerous.
> Without getting into a full blown discussion on whether common sense is all
> that common, many people lose whatever they had in an "unfamiliar territory"
> & few appear to actually have done anything to prepare.
>
> >
I think that the Boy Scout motto of "Be Prepared" is one that Heinlein would
heartily endorse; fitting as a lot of his stories were written with a Scout
readership in mind.
Heinlein gives us quite a few different pictures of who the pioneers would be
and who would forever remain in the "idiot tourist" class. In Black Pits and
Great To Be Back, the emphasis is on intelligence; the sort of specialised
intelligence that goes with a well developed survival instinct perhaps. The
people chosen to live on/in the moon are special, hand picked, an elite. Earth
is shown as being for the groundhogs; not necessarily worthless by any means;
remember the reporter in Gentleman Be Seated who was a hero and yet not suited
for life off planet, but of a different sort. Yet this isn't always the case.
It's evident from the background of Dogs that the planets are open to
colonisation but the top staff and owners of General Services are quite content
to remain on Earth despite seeming to have a lot of the qualities that would
make them an asset to a new colony.
Heinlein doesn't always have his colonies populated by elites; indeed, as they
grow it would be difficult to keep rigid restrictions in force. Compare the
penal colony of MIAHM with the one in Great To Be Back for instance. Or the
colony of miners and prostitutes on the Venus of PM. Sometimes his frontiers are
wild and woolly; sometimes, like Ganymede, in FITS, they are tamer as regards
the people, though the natural hazards are still lurking. In all cases though,
those who can't adapt are winnowed out; there's no way of bribing a hostile
environment.
To sum up, these three stories all seem to be examining people who are special.
Heinlein likes these people and feels no shame in showing them as being
admirable because of their special qualities. This bothers some people I
think......
Jane
Mike Dworetsky
>
> General commercial announcement: All backorders of RAH:ARC have been
> shipped. All US customers should have theirs by the middle of this week;
> international customers should have theirs no later than the 15th of
> June or so.
>
This international customer is happy to report that it just arrived this
morning 5th June in London, UK. But I'm still trying to get the very
secure wrappings off. . . .
--
Mike Dworetsky
Gordon G. Sollars
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
--
Gordon Sollars
gsol...@pobox.com
AGplusone
>Finally, "--We Also Walk Dogs" [large snip]
>What attracts you specifically to this story?
About two years ago, we considered this story along with others that seem
focused on Heinlein's tastes and thoughts involving art. One member of the
group (TomB...@aol.com) inquired whether possibly the "Flower of
Forgetfulness" was real, or an oblique reference to some well-known other work.
Inquiry disclosed nothing, but perhaps entries here might be fun if you've time
enough. Repost of LONG POST FOLLOWS:
Subject: Re: Next Meeting--February 25, 1998--Theme & Comments
Date: Mon, Feb 16, 1998 3:46 PM
From: AGplusone
Message-id: <19980216224...@ladder03.news.aol.com>
I took an hour or so and went looking on the internet for the "Flower of
Forgetfulness" mentioned by TomBolynn, in connection with the short story "We
Also Walk Dogs" which is specifically described at page 334, of the Berkeley
Science Fiction paperback edition of The Past Through Tomorrow (1967). It is
described as a flat blue bowl from the Ming dynasty about four inches across
and two inches
high, unornamented, and in the possession of the British museum. So here comes
one of my typical 'brief' pieces.
At the beginning of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the mongols were expelled,
and native rule was restored to China, and Chinese culture, including its art,
came to be suffused with the sense of well-being that reflects an age of peace
and prosperity
I ran a "hotbot" (http://www.hotbot.com) search using the words "Ming dynasty
ceramics" which brought up 508 sites, only a few of which I've yet looked at. I
next ran the same search, adding "British museum," coming up with around 170
hits. I've looked at several of these. I also ran the same search adding
"Flower of Forgetfulness," but came up with nothing. I haven't been able to get
a hit on "Flower, etc." in any combination with Ming. Typical of
the hits I did get are the following:
Here is a private museum located at http://www.cityu.edu.hk/~tmoa/ming.htm,
called the Tsui Museum of Art, located in Hong Kong (And good luck to it in the
next few years!), that has graphics of quite a few Ming dynasty ceramics. Here
is the site's own discription:
". . .hous[ing] the first privately-owned collection in Hong Kong to be opened
to the public. It is the creation of Hong Kong businessman T T Tsui who began
to collect in the 1970s. . . .The greatest strength of the Tsui Museum in Hong
Kong is its collection of ceramics ranging from the painted pottery of the
Neolithic period to the imperial porcelain of the Qing dynasty. It contains a
number of unique masterpieces such as the Ming dynasty dish with underglaze
blue decoration of bird and lychee illustrated to the right:. . ."
[Zim: "You'll have to hit the site to see it. It's beautiful."]
The scope of the Tsui Museum site encompasses bronzes; bamboo, wood and ivory
carvings; jade, enamelled ware, glass and furniture. Graphics are present at
the web site and its various links of the items in blue.
Here is some of a typical antique dealer's webpage, located at
http://www.berwald-oriental.com/. There are over twenty items displayed for
sale in links this site.
"Berwald Oriental Art, 101 Kensington Church Street, London W8 7LN Tel: 0171
229 0800Fax: 0171 229 1101Email: ber...@aapi.co.uk John Berwald of Berwald
Oriental Art descends from a line of distinguished Asian art dealers and has
built up his own reputation in this field over the last decade. His stock is
chosen with great care and his aim is to offer only works of
fine quality and great beauty in the best possible condition.In the gallery are
Chinese ceramics and works of art from the Han through the Tang and Ming to the
Qing dynasty and he specialises in famille verte, underglaze blue and white and
Imperial pieces from the Transitional, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong periods.
All the early pottery works are sold with a thermoluminescence test certificate
from Oxford and every piece purchased from Berwald
Oriental Art is guaranteed and sold with a fully detailed description,
condition report and photograph. Major items have been acquired and placed in
important private collections and museums world-wide. There are however also
pieces of beauty to suit the decorator and for that very special present.John
Berwald is available to advise . . . [I've put all this advertising in, because
if I cannot find reference to the "Flower," I'm going to mention
this free advertising in the rather odd e mail I'm going to send Mr. Berwald
from us, soon!]. . .Follow the link to view some works from our inventory and
please be patient - there are over 20 pieces to view."
And here is a typical college Art course site:
http://www.multimedia.calpoly.edu/libarts/jwetzel/study.html, which is for a
course entitled "Art 317, ASIAN ART SURVEY, offered by an instructor at Cal
Poly. One if its links
(http://www.multimedia.calpoly.edu/libarts/jwetzel/Study/ChineseCeramics.html)
under the title Chinese ceramics gives the following quick survey, with a link
or two to descriptive graphics.
CHINESE CERAMICS,
Earthenware, The earliest pottery of China is the unglazed earthenware of the
Neolithic cultures. Earthenware is low-fired pottery made from common clay; it
is porous and permeable. Neolithic vessels were decorated by painting,
incising, and impressing. Pottery continued to be made in large quantities for
common use during the Shang dynasty and alter. Glazing was introduced during
the Shang, and some wares were fired at higher temperatures
resulting in stoneware. In later dynasties, stoneware gradually superseded
earthenware. However, mortuary objects continued to be made of earthenware, and
were frequently coated with lead glazes. glaze - a glassy coating on the
surface of a ceramic that seals the clay body and serves as decoration.
Stoneware: Stoneware is made from special clays and fired at 1200-1300 C,
whereupon it becomes vitrified (glasslike); it becomes dense, hard, and
impervious to liquid. Stonewares were first produced in the Shang dynasty and
were brought to perfection during the Six Dynasties period (220-581). However,
the Song period (10th-12th C.) is considered the high point in this tradition.
Longquan celadon vase Colorplate 38) Cizhou stoneware vase (#495) Guan
stoneware objects, Song dynasty (colorplate 39) celadon - a high-fired green
glaze that takes its color from a small amount of iron-oxide fired in a
reducing atmosphere (reduced oxygen in the kiln).
Porcelain: Porcelain is a special kind of stoneware made primarily from a
white clay called kaolin. It is fired at 1280 C and above, becoming hard,
dense, and white. It is impervious to liquid, translucent, and resonant when
struck. True porcelain was first created in approximately the 7th century and
soon became very popular. At first subtle transparent glazes were used, but
later potters created elaborate designs with underglaze blue
and enamel decoration. Enameled porcelains, Ming (colorplate 47). [The
foregoing graphic illustration linked in blue, of red and yellow Mingware, by
the way, is very lovely. I downloaded it].
Then, from a Smithsonian site
(http://160.111.7.240/resource/faq/freersac/chinaart.htm), comes this reading
list on Chinese Ceramics:
Jenyns, Sloame. Ming Pottery and Porcelain. 2nd ed. London: Faber and Faber,
1988.
______________. Later Chinese Porcelain: The Ch'ing Dynasty, 1644-1912. 2nd ed.
London: Faber and Faber, 1959.
Medley, Margaret. The Chinese Potter. 2nd ed. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980.
Vainker, S.J. Chinese Pottery and Porcelain: From Prehistory to the Present.
New York: Braziller, 1991.
Valenstein, Suzanne G. A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics. Rev. enlarged ed. New
York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988.
And then, appropo of today, you can see examples of currently produced ceramics
in China today on a Chinese government site, at this site:
http://www.shnet.edu.cn/jx/jxetc.htm, entitled "A Glimpse at Porcelain." It
takes forever to load, so be patient.
See you all at the meeting February 25th!
David
AGPlusOne
Jim Gray
ddavitt wrote:
>
> After a while he comes up with the idea of trying to follow his
> brother's trail by the 'lost mule trick' ( What is that btw?).
I took it to mean the trick of thinking "If I were a mule, where would I
go?" and following your instincts in that vein. Which is basically what
Dickie did...getting into his brother's mindset to figure out where he'd
have gone.
Jim (in the middle of a massive dose of RAH) Gray
--
"Sin is cruelty and injustice, all else is pecadillo.
Oh, a sense of sin comes from violating the customs
of your tribe. But breaking customs is not sin even
when it feels so; sin is wronging another person."
-Robert A. Heinlein, "Glory Road"
Homepage! Homepage!
http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/PennTeddy/pttoybox.html
Screw the Corporations! Join the Alliance for Democracy!
http://afd-online.org/
Trefor Thomas
wrote:
<SNIP>
>As somewhat of a side note, most people who have worked at a tourist area
>would say exactly the same types of things about a significant percentage of
>the visitors. I spent 3 years working at a Colorado ski area & my brother
>spent 2 summers working at Yellowstone National Park. We had a lot of fun
>comparing "idiot tourist" stories from both places & they were numerous.
>Without getting into a full blown discussion on whether common sense is all
>that common, many people lose whatever they had in an "unfamiliar territory"
>& few appear to actually have done anything to prepare.
I have lived in tourist areas for about 20 years and have seen
more than enough silly people (mostly boaters and swimmers). However,
occasionally I find people who are tourists but don't look and/or act
like it.
I just wonder how many of the people you write off as "local"
(even if you don't know them) because they don't embarrass themselves
in spectacular ways, are really well-integrated tourists? I mean, how
would you know?
Trefor Thomas
To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem.
To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized,
merely the domesticated.
Marga
Trefor Thomas <tree...@nexicom.net> wrote in message
> I just wonder how many of the people you write off as "local"
> (even if you don't know them) because they don't embarrass themselves
> in spectacular ways, are really well-integrated tourists? I mean, how
> would you know?
>
> Trefor Thomas
>
Well...the out-of-state license plates are usually a pretty good indication
<g>. BTW, the fact that a tourist does not embarrass themselves (many
locals do the same thing when they're "playing") simply means they have
learned the basics of being a tourist which Jane wrote is "being prepared"
for "unfamiliar territory" or as I wrote "using common sense".
marga
David M. Silver
Marga wrote:
One thing I find notable in all of these 1940s-1950s written for popular
magazine stories is how easily Heinlein ties the here and now into stories of
the future of moon and space, by techniques that we all can see were designed
to be recognizable such as the "dumb tourist" gag (or tragedy). This was a
time of family magazine reading, after work and school was done, before the
maglignant grey and white eye in the corner of the living room cast its spell
on our society. I remember reading and being read to, from say age five or six
onward, from those magazines. There were short stories and serialized novels
that were designed to resonnate immediately for a family audience. They all
had a certain touches of "commonality" like Heinlein's that the most TV shows
shortly after then and now strive for but rarely touch. There is a great
abandoned mine of reading in these old magazine pieces. I thought Heinlein did
quite well among the writers of the day in these very well-subscribed
magazines. I can think of C.S. Forrester's Hornblower series as an example of
another author I can recall with joy from that time. Can you think of others?
Prnzofthvs
<snip>
>. I can think of C.S. Forrester's Hornblower series as an example of
>another author I can recall with joy from that time. Can you think of others?
>
Not really on-topic, but related: I remember reading a 1920's era National
Geographic, in which one of the ads gave a good example of the mind-set of the
elite of the time. The ad was for a cruise line, and one of the "advantages"
they cited about their cruises was the fact that voyagers would be protected
from excessive contact with the indigenous people at the various ports of call.
Can you say "Ugly ________?" (fill in blank with your favorite country name)
Steve
"On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for
everyone drops to zero." Craig Franck (I love stealing clever sigs)
Trefor Thomas
wrote:
>
>Trefor Thomas <tree...@nexicom.net> wrote in message
>
>> I just wonder how many of the people you write off as "local"
>> (even if you don't know them) because they don't embarrass themselves
>> in spectacular ways, are really well-integrated tourists? I mean, how
>> would you know?
>>
>> Trefor Thomas
>>
>
>Well...the out-of-state license plates are usually a pretty good indication
><g>. BTW, the fact that a tourist does not embarrass themselves (many
I wasn't thinking of the long-distance traveler. Here in rural
Ontario we get a lot of city-dwellers trying to escape for a weekend
in the country. The gaffes may not be as many, but they can be quite
spectacular. As an example, men taking a break from driving to relieve
themselves should learn to recognize electrified cattle fence.:-D It
may only be 40 volts, but it still smarts when applied to the right
body parts! (Makes me cringe just thinking about it.)
Trefor Thomas
<agpl...@loop.com> wrote:
<SNIP>
>One thing I find notable in all of these 1940s-1950s written for popular
>magazine stories is how easily Heinlein ties the here and now into stories of
>the future of moon and space, by techniques that we all can see were designed
>to be recognizable such as the "dumb tourist" gag (or tragedy). This was a
>time of family magazine reading, after work and school was done, before the
>maglignant grey and white eye in the corner of the living room cast its spell
>on our society. I remember reading and being read to, from say age five or six
>onward, from those magazines. There were short stories and serialized novels
>that were designed to resonnate immediately for a family audience. They all
>had a certain touches of "commonality" like Heinlein's that the most TV shows
>shortly after then and now strive for but rarely touch. There is a great
>abandoned mine of reading in these old magazine pieces. I thought Heinlein did
>quite well among the writers of the day in these very well-subscribed
>magazines. I can think of C.S. Forrester's Hornblower series as an example of
>another author I can recall with joy from that time. Can you think of others?
Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour?
Damn! Now I'm going to have to start digging into my library again!
Gaeltach
ddavitt wrote:
> I haven't got ARC yet <sob> so I look forward to reading the bit about the
> unpublished story David; sounds intriguing.
>
> I had a quick look through he three stories and jotted down a few points;
> Black Pits -
> This seems to me to be a short story version of Poddy in some ways but with a less
> intelligent family (except the hero). Both parents exhibit stupidity, unfairness
> and bad manners. The younger, unnamed child, only given the insulting title of
> "Baby Darling" or "The Runt" is as obnoxious as Clark but without his genius.
> Dickie is bright and like Poddy is weighed down with a self assumed responsibility
> for his younger brother and to a certain extent, his parents, whom he views with an
> objective, observant and mildly critical eye. The story ends with the wheat being
> sorted from the chaff; his family is warned not to return, Dickie is accepted as
> belonging, part of the elite.
<snip>
The title "The Black Pits of Luna" is interesting. What exactly are the "black pits"? I
guess all the craters on the moon could be described as pits, but the most prominent
one mentioned in the story is man-made.... the so called "disaster crater". Also, the
rock out-croppings near this crater were filled with over-hangs and blow-holes
(possibly created by the explosion), which could also be the pits mentioned in the
title. Since Dickie finds the Runt in one of them, they play an important part in the
story. But maybe as well as these pits, Heinlein is making a reference to the dark
"PITfalls" that await those who are not adequately prepared for space? This theme is
fairly strong here, both through the inexperience/ignorance of many of the tourists,
and to a lesser extent the explosion which caused the crater in the first place.
Also, commemorative monuments of tragic events are fairly common in Heinlein stories.
The first that springs to mind is for the "Kilroy" in Space Cadet. The monument near
the crater here is equally dramatic... "HERE ABOUT YOU ARE THE MORTAL REMAINS OF (list
of names) WHO DIED FOR THE TRUTH WHAT MAKES MEN FREE....". Stirring words which I feel
have been repeated elsewhere, but can't remember where. Against this backdrop of
tragedy the story of a lost child unfolds, this time with a happy ending. But the
message is strong.... Ignore common sense or be ill-prepared, and you too (or those you
are responsible for) could easily find tragedy. The black pits of Luna are a good
reminder of all the pitfalls that await the unwary.
Sean
gael...@fan.net.au
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.... and now for something completely different:
Drowsy baby's word.
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Gaeltach
Trefor Thomas wrote:
<snip>
> I wasn't thinking of the long-distance traveler. Here in rural
> Ontario we get a lot of city-dwellers trying to escape for a weekend
> in the country. The gaffes may not be as many, but they can be quite
> spectacular. As an example, men taking a break from driving to relieve
> themselves should learn to recognize electrified cattle fence.:-D It
> may only be 40 volts, but it still smarts when applied to the right
> body parts! (Makes me cringe just thinking about it.)
>
> Trefor Thomas
Sounds like a scene from a "Vacation" movie. I wonder what "Vacation on the
Moon" would be like? <shudder> BTW, don't the fences have signs on them warning
that they are electrified?
I have lived the greater part of my life near one of Australia's major tourist
destinations.... the Gold Coast. Similar to Honolulu the beaches are a major
draw-card, but there are plenty of other attractions, theme-parks, national
parks, wildlife parks etc. I was surprised (and pleased) when I returned from
Melbourne recently and was presented at the airport with a brochure on "Surf
Safety". Every person disembarking was handed one of these, written in several
languages. While lack of education about potential dangers should be addressed
by the individual, I don't think it hurts if the "locals" make it a bit easier
for visitors to find the best information.
Sean
gael...@fan.net.au
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.... and now for something completely different:
Lay a wallaby baby ball away, Al.
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