killing timeI remarked to a co-worker yesterday that I'm a fan of author Robert E. Heinlein, but that had I read his stuff as a kid, I likely would have loved his work. I remember 'round 1983 and 1984, when I was a Navy brat living in Virginia Beach next to a lake (this was when I was getting into Star Trek, too), and I got to wondering more than once what outer space combat would be like. A title even occurred to me: War and Space. (Hey, I still have trouble titling stuff. And no, it's not as if I'd read War and Peace yet...or still...)
What if I'd run into Starship Troopers at that age? It probably would've blown my mind. Heck, that might've been enough to influence me right into the military come the early '90s, once I was of age.
I didn't get into Heinlein until I moved to Hermiston -- and, not coincidentally, soon after I'd seen the insane Paul Verhoeven-directed film adaptation of Starship Troopers (1997) -- but I've read and enjoyed Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, one of his young-adult SF books (I'm blanking on the title), and his late-period, sex-heavy Friday. Heinlein, from what I heard, really enjoyed getting to be a dirty old man...
Right now on on of my bookshelves is a copy of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. I almost picked that up as my next book to read; instead I grabbed Louis Sachar's Holes, which I'm enjoying. But Heinlein, soon...