There’s a strong dichotomy of opinion about Heinlein. I’ve long figured that editors influenced what Heinlein wrote, especially before his move to Putnam in 1959 with Starship Troopers. The reality is, no matter how much we all feel like we’ve changed and matured, we’re still the same person all our lives. Up till now I thought Heinlein became a different person sometime in the 1960s, but in his 1949 story, Red Planet, I found all the elements of later Heinlein hidden away. Listening to Red Planet gave me an interesting new insight. I was constantly changing from 1969 through 2008, so it’s understandable that my reaction to the books would change too. Before 1969, most of the novels I read were science fiction, but after that my reading tastes broaden. Why was that such a turning point? As I got older, I also discovered that his novels after 1959 were different, and they had many elements I didn’t like too. Over the years I’ve struggled with why I don’t like the Heinlein books that came out after 1969. For more information on that, read “ Red Planet – Blue Pencil.” This edition of Red Planet from Full Cast Audio uses the restored unedited edition from Del Rey published after Heinlein’s death. In this edition I think they all stay well within the cues Heinlein gave his readers.

I’m not sure what authors think about this technique, because the actors get to emotively interpret their character. This works extremely well for young adult novels, and Red Planet comes off wonderful in this format, making each character dramatically stand out. Full cast audio means each character gets their own actor performing the lines.

Red Planet just came out on unabridged audio from Full Cast Audio, a company that publishes audio books for young people. In the last decade I’ve been listening to audio book editions of his books.

I still love rereading Heinlein, and usually reread a few of his novels every year. After The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Heinlein (1966), Heinlein never wrote another book I liked.

Somehow my literary hero wrote a clinker, at least in my eyes. From 1964 through 1966 I read Heinlein’s backlog of books, some several times, so after a four year dry spell of no new books I was mentally demolished when in 1970 I read I Will Fear No Evil and hated it. Heinlein novel I discovered back in 1964, and with the first reading of that book I turned into a life-long fan of Heinlein’s work.

Red planet by robert a heinlein