Concerning Stories Never Written II

In his "Postscript: Concerning Stories Never Written," Robert Heinlein says that the unwritten story, "Eclipse," would have dealt with the Martian and Venerian colonies becoming independent. He adds that this story will probably never be written because:

"...I have dealt with the themes involved at greater length in two novels which were not bound by the Procrustean Bed of a fictional chart; it would be tedious for both you and me to deal with the same themes again."

Which two novels? I know of three possible candidates:

Red Planet, a Scribner Juvenile and a volume of the Juvenile Future History;

Between Planets, a Scribner Juvenile, not part of the Juvenile Future History, e. g., different races of Martians and Venerians;

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, an adult novel which, like both Future Histories, has a family called Stone on the Moon.

It would be possible to extend Heinlein's Future History Time Chart by adding a column for parallel timelines. Several works have features in common with the Future History although they do not fit into that History. Podkayne Of Mars has a Venusburg on Venus but its Martians and Venerians are different again from those in the two Future Histories. The Postscript bestows on the readers auctorial permission to read at least two (or three?) of those works with the knowledge that events like these, the gaining of colonial independence, also occurred within the Future History.

Thus, read the History, then read the supplementary volumes.

Concerning Stories Never Written

I have read Robert Heinlein's post-script to some editions of Revolt In 2100, "Concerning Stories Never Written," for the very first time. Heinlein neatly summarizes the first three volumes of the Future History and the first three unwritten stories, that might have comprised a volume between Vols II and III:

The Man Who Sold The Moon covers the second half of the twentieth century and ends with very early space travel;

The Green Hills Of Earth describes the exploration of the Solar System in the early twenty first century and "...end[s] with the United States a leading power in a systemwide imperialism embracing all the habitable planets";

Revolt In 2100 begins with the US under an isolationist Theocracy;

"The Sound Of His Wings" would have described the rise of the First Prophet;

"Eclipse" would have described Martian and Venerian independence;

"The Stone Pillow" would have described the growth of the anti-Theocratic underground.

(Heinlein does not mention that the contents of Vols I and II overlap.)

He was right that:

space travel might be marginal, subsidized for military reasons, then die out;

anti-scientific televangelization could, maybe in an economic depression, lead to a dictatorship.

This post-script gives a considerable insight into Heinlein and his series. It is an important part of the History and should be included in any future edition.

The Best SF Series?

Although Robert Heinlein's Future History began by incorporating "all" of his sf stories at the time of writing, it soon became only a small part of his complete works and does not incorporate several novels clearly set in closely related timelines. The military hero Dahlquist, the blind singer Rhysling, the Lunar family Stone, the Space Patrol, Martians who "grow together" and swamp-dwelling Venerians occur both in the Future History and in some of Heinlein's Scribner Juvenile novels. The same Martians also appear in Stranger in a Strange Land. In fact, five Juveniles could be classed as a Juvenile Future History consistent with the "Green Hills of Earth" period of the (adult) History. However, longer future histories can become diffuse whereas Heinlein's remained concise. Dahlquist and Rhysling each make a significant contribution by appearing in only one story although, like real historical figures, they are also referenced in other possible futures.

   

Like Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series, the Future History could be collected in two omnibus volumes with the first page of Volume II following directly from the last page of Volume I. The Time Patrol and the Future History are candidate "best" series, dealing respectively with past and future history. Both are definitely superior to Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, which won an undeserved Hugo Award as "Best Ever" sf series.

Larry Niven's Known Space future history, now rather diffuse, contains a Ringworld Tetralogy as a series within the series. The Tetralogy should be read in conjunction with Protector and the Beowulf Shaeffer stories if not also with the rest of Known Space. Again, this series is more imaginative and substantial than Foundation, as are Asimov's own I, Robot, James Blish's Cities in Flight and Anderson's several future histories.

All these series are developmental. Their installments go somewhere, unlike interchangeable episodes of a TV series. Readers of this piece will know of other candidate "best" series, possibly unknown to the present writer. In my opinion, Heinlein's Future History successfully competes with its successors. Heinlein, starting in 1939, skilfully built stepping stones from 1952 to the twenty second century. (See here.) Stories about technological advances were followed by a "first man on the Moon" story, then by several stories set in Luna City before Mars and Venus were colonized. The entrepreneurship that had opened space became economic imperialism with effective slavery on Venus before political tensions on Earth led to an American theocracy and temporary cessation of space travel. Revolution against theocracy had further consequences.

Wells cannot be considered here because he wrote no series. I would vote for Time Patrol as the best sf series with the Future History as a close second.    

Some Details in Stapledon and Heinlein

Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon is a history of the next two hundred million years. One of the Last Men on Neptune induces Stapledon in the twentieth century to write a history of the future. Stapledon thinks he is writing fiction and, in fact, the central nervous system of a First Man distorts most of the Neptunian's thoughts.

 

The Future History by Robert Heinlein is stories and novels set in the period from 1952 to the twenty second century. Let us suppose as a fictional premise that the Future History occurs in a parallel timeline mentally accessed by Heinlein while writing and that there was distortion. We may then deduce that Rhysling, the Blind Singer of the Spaceways, must have written better poetry than the verses attributed to him by Heinlein. Perhaps poetry is particularly difficult to transmit between universes.

Heinlein had frog-like Venerians who found eating obscene and had to do it alone. Stapledon had had frog-like Venerians and also Neptunians. Some of the latter found eating obscene and had to do it alone. Some of Heinlein's characters travel physically to the past or future. Stapledon's characters can visit only the past and then only by occupying the central nervous systems of earlier beings.

Heinlein was the first American future historian whereas Stapledon followed Wells in British sf. Both followed Wells in writing about time travel, space travel and alien invasion.  

 

...Or An Independent Story

An alternative reading of "' - We Also Walk Dogs'" (see here) is that, despite being listed in the Time Chart and despite being included in a Future History collection, it does not really fit into Heinlein's Future History. Its newly invented gravity control technology is not mentioned in later stories where it would have made a difference. It refers to seven extra-terrestrial races in the Solar System whereas other Future History stories mention only two: Martians in "Ordeal in Space," Venerians in "Logic of Empire" and both in "The Green Hills of Earth." Further, these Martians and Venerians seem unlikely to engage in the kind of interplanetary power politics suggested by " '- We Also Walk Dogs.'" The story mentions Luna City but a lunar colony of that name could exist in almost any future involving space travel. 

Because the Future History is a series, not a serial, most of its installments could be read and assessed separately. "Common Sense" is a sequel to "Universe" and "The Man Who Sold The Moon" was written as a prequel to "Requiem." The latter, about Harriman's death, would have remained a valid story even if Heinlein had not later added the longer account of Harriman's earlier career.

If "' - We Also Walk Dogs'" is read separately, then it need not be seen as leading to the worsening political conditions of "Logic of Empire." Instead, its protagonists look forward to profiting from the application of the "O'Neil effect" to space navigation, colonization and recreation. One comments that, "There's always money in giving people what they want." That sounds like a utopian future for all: the public gets what it wants and their suppliers get "...gobs of money..." in the process. In practice, of course, many members of the public might not be able to afford luxury items and a market economy can be guaranteed not to expand indefinitely but we still seem to be looking at a brighter future than the one described in the ensuing episodes of the History.

A Pivotal Story

Some stories in Robert Heinlein's Future History are pivotal whereas others are not. Thus, three works, "Blow-ups Happen," "The Man Who Sold The Moon" and "Delilah and the Space Rigger," are collectively pivotal between Earth-bound stories and Luna City-based stories. The stories cover the development of an escape velocity rocket fuel, the landing of a man on the Moon and the construction of a space station necessary for regular Earth-Moon flight. "The Green Hills of Earth" is pivotal between Luna City and the wider Solar System. "Logic of Empire" pivotally shows that interplanetary exploitation does not benefit everyone while an extreme political alternative gains ground on Earth. "If This Goes On -" is pivotal not only between the first interplanetary period and the Prophetic Interregnum but also between the latter and the post-revolutionary Covenant which is pivotally broken in Methuselah's Children. Pivots become more frequent as political change moves to the foreground of the series.

By contrast, some stories are set in a particular period of the History but do not advance the History beyond that period. This is certainly true of the three Moon-based stories added later. However, I argue for the pivotal status of "' - We Also Walk Dogs.'" This story informs us that Earth has gained a planetary government although national legislatures remain. This sets the scene for the United States seceding from the Federation later in the series. The story features a world-wide general purposes organization called General Services. This organization's ubiquity might explain why the phrase, "Can I do you a service?," sometimes abbreviated to "Service," becomes the polite greeting in a later period. The story generates the impression of being set in a utopian future but only because it focuses on the lives of the rich or of those who earn high salaries by providing them with quality services. "Logic of Empire" shows economic divisions and inequalities. However, the move towards a utopia is more nearly realized in the sequel to "If This Goes On -," "Coventry."

Gravity control, discovered in "' - We Also Walk Dogs,'" must be lost in the Interregnum because it is absent from Methuselah's Children and "Universe" where interstellar spacecraft are spun to generate centrifugal force. Martians, Venerians, Jovians, Titans, Callistans and two other unnamed Solar races are mentioned although only the first two make brief appearances elsewhere in the History. (Since the first successful interstellar explorers meet two extra-Solar races in a single round trip, the galaxy of the Future History seems to be  well populated.)

Unlike "Logic of Empire," "' - We Also walk Dogs'" gives no hint that "Things are bound to get a whole lot worse before they can get any better" but that is because it reflects a different segment of a complicated future society where one highly paid General Services operator has a pocket phone. The background information and optimistic tone of the story make positive contributions to the Future History.        

Heinlein's Future History and Social Change II

I mentioned regular space travel and alien contact as features of Heinlein's Future History that have not yet materialized in reality. We can add that, if there is to be any alien contact, then it will have to be extra-solar. Neither the humanly habitable Venus nor the easily colonized Mars, let alone the swamp-dwelling Venerians or the contemplative Martians, really exist.

Also, we have neither a world federation nor an imminent religious dictatorship in the United States. A federation is unlikely in the foreseeable future. How about a US religious dictatorship? There are certainly potential First Prophets.

In the Future History, the post-Revolutionary Covenant is followed by social unrest, then by a "mature culture." What would that be like? To a writer like Heinlein, a mature civilization might be based on something like a crisis-free capitalism. However, Marxists argue that crises are inherent in capitalism because competitive re-investment necessarily causes the rate of profit to fall. Such questions will be answered in real political conflicts but science fiction writers can try out some answers in advance.