Variable Star

By: Robert A. Heinlein, Spider Robinson

Narrated by: Spider Robinson

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

At his death in 1988, Robert A. Heinlein left a legacy of novels and short stories that almost single-handedly defined modern science fiction. But one of Heinlein's masterpieces was never finished. In 1955, he began work on Variable Star, a powerful and passionate tale of two young lovers driven apart by pride, power, and the vastness of interstellar time and space. Then he set it aside to focus on other novellas.

The detailed outline and notes he created for this project lay forgotten for decades, only to be rediscovered almost a half century later. Now the Heinlein estate has authorized award-winning author Spider Robinson to expand that outline into a full-length novel. The result is vintage Heinlein, faithful in style and spirit to the Grand Master's original vision.

©2006 The Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust and Spider Robinson (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"I'd nominate Spider Robinson as the new Robert Heinlein." ( New York Times)

I'll likely listen to it again!

Left wishing for more, but loving what there was. Need to revisit many of his stories.

A fun book by Spider Robinson

First, realize this is a Spider Robinson book based off 12 pages of notes left by Robert Heinlein. He wrote it as Spider Robinson would, not some caricature of Robert Heinlein. That said, it's a fun adventure.

The narrator was good, and the story worked along well. It's not an earth shattering, point of view changing sci fi book, but not all can be. The universe he sets up seems interesting, and I wouldn't mind a follow up book.

Funny!

Spider Robinson did a great job finishing this Robert A. Heinlein book. It was really funny. Generally Heinlein's books do have good humor especially for scifi! Easy to listen and follow even if multi-tasking. The book has a lot of interesting character development and a future-based action story like most scifi.

"Variable Star (Unabridged)".

A great book, funny, fun. I really liked it and would like to see more like it.
It was one of the best.
Etta

Good Job

I think Spider captured the essence of Heinlein. Many people wil be turned oof by this story because Heinlein's work is, well, dated. But if you enjoy his classic works, you will enjoy this story as well. Spider really captured Heinlein's essence in this story.

Heinlein theme material, pure Spider Robinson

Oh, you look at this and think "GOODY! A Heinlein novel I haven't read, and yay! written from material dating back to his Young Adult novel days, when he really turned out some great stuff such as Citizen of the Galaxy, Tunnel in the Sky and many others." But no, that's not what we have here. In this case, the estate of Virginia Heinlein left some material sketched by Heinlein and Spider Robinson was proposed as the author who could take this buried treasure and develop it into a bestselling sci fi novel. And that's what happened. The story revolves around a typical Heinleinian ingenu-- Joel Johnston young hero, who chucks it all including an alluring marriage proposal to a very rich and pretty girl, and takes off on a one-way, decades-sublight voyage to colonize a new planet. The life in the space vessel, the newly formed society of pioneers and the challenges they face as they traverse space are incredibly well developed and quite exciting. There are many turns of fate that will have you gasping. But...it is not Heinlein, it's definitely Spider Robinson, with his devilish plays on words and a much more modern tone. I couldn't put it down. Annd this is true Space Opera, no fantasy, unicorns or wizards need apply. Robinson does an admirable job reading his own work. As long as you realize what this is, you may enjoy it as much as I did. Just don't expect Robert Heinlein writing from beyond the grave, because as you already knew, that's impossible.

Fantastic segue from Heinlein to Robinson

Would you listen to Variable Star again? Why?

Maybe if it was abridged. Some of the details were just too technical for me.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Our hero because he was so clear and real and made the whole thing seem like it should be happening now.

What does Spider Robinson bring to the story that you wouldn???t experience if you just read the book?

Oh my. I fell in love with his voice and the way he speaks his words.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I broke it down into many listenings.

Any additional comments?

I truly enjoyed how Spider Robinson brought the book up to date.

Spider Robinson reads AMAZINGLY.

Spider Robinson is so fun and down to Earth. The more I learn about him as an author and a person, the more enamored I become. Even if you normally don’t listen to Afterwords, please stick around for the story of how this project landed in his lap. This book isn’t a new favorite, but I’m so so glad that I read it (TWICE!) A must for any fan of either author, or a fan of the saxophone ;)

great read for sf buffs

except that the author had knowledge of Heinlein's future, this could have been a classic 50's novel when Heinlein's classic fore thought

Pleased and surprised.

As a lifelong Heinlein fan, I was a little skeptical. But I'm also a longtime Robinson fan, so I gave it a shot. I was pleased by the end product and pleasantly surprised by how the voices of both authors distinctly rang through in the story. A beautiful collaboration.