Today we mourn the passing of a distinguished member of The Heinlein Society, Dr. C. Herbert Gilliland. Herb Gilliland was a retired professor of English at the United States Naval Academy, and a retired naval reserve captain. He taught courses there on topics ranging from Renaissance literature to science fiction. He particularly enjoyed teaching…
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The Sixtieth (!) Balticon took place May 22-25, 2026. The Society had a larger-than-expected turnout this year with Lifetime members surprising us from the West Coast and further north on the East Coast! In person we talked about how to maximize volunteer time, talked to many con-goers about Heinlein’s work and the programs of THS…
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If you’ve been waiting for the next great science fiction film or series—this is your chance to help build it. The Heinlein Hegemony Film Cooperative, in collaboration with The Heinlein Society, invites filmmakers, sci-fi fans, and storytellers to be part of something ambitious: the creation of a bold new cinematic universe inspired by Robert A.…
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Andy Weir, novelist, is the 2026 winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award. The award is bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space. This award is in recognition of Mr. Weir’s novels which have blended the best elements of science fact with the aspirations…
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Recently, we have received several questions asking when The Heinlein Society will allow movies or TV shows to be made from Heinlein books. Also people have inquired about making some of Heinlein’s later novels available in E-book format. The easy answer is we don’t own the copyrights so therefore have no say in the matter.…
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In June of 1935 Robert and Leslyn Heinlein purchased the house at 8777 Lookout Mountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA, near Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills. This house was where the Mañana Literary Society held their meetings and where Robert wrote all his early works until WWII took him to Philadelphia in 1942. “And He…
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The Underlying Option Expiration By Terry Rossio It can be a bit painful to see a film head into production, based on a book that you’ve adapted, but it’s not the adaptation you’ve done. I’ve had that happen three times. Neil Gaiman’s wonderful Sandman graphic novel series. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, which eventually…
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BUILDING THE BOMB by Terry Rossio A screenwriter wrote to me marveling that my name is in the writing credits of the god-awful 1994-released film Robert A. Heinlein’s THE PUPPET MASTERS. After all, I seem like a sensible enough guy, and yet the film is piss-poor terrible. He was quite relieved to find…
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Open access to The Heinlein Journal archives is being considered as a way to maximize the reach, impact, and preservation of Heinlein scholarship by making it freely available and easily discoverable to readers, teachers, and researchers worldwide. The Heinlein Society became stewards of The Heinlein Journal following the death of its founder Bill Patterson in…
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For the tenth year in a row, the Society will raffle off a complete set of the Virginia Edition in September, 2026. All you have to do is join or stay a member! A $45 Regular membership is all it takes to enter. The rules follow: Eligibility: “Regular” members who join or renew their…
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The Annual Meeting was held on 14 September 2025, 4:00 pm eastern time. DRAFT 2024 Annual Meeting Minutes with Roll Call were approved as submitted with no corrections. The presentation slides are linked here: 2025 THS Annual Meeting Slides .
by Peter Scott October 15, 1960 – April 3, 2025 It is my sad duty to report the unexpected death of a luminary within the Heinleinsphere. Jim Gifford passed away at his Colorado home on April 3 of natural causes. The fandom pool we swim in would have been a puddle without his efforts, most…
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We ended our Heinlein birthday celebration by dropping the newest issue of The Heinlein Journal! Some really good stuff in there. Current regular and lifetime members get the issue as a benefit of their membership and should have gotten a direct email announcing it. Not a member? You can join us right now and then…
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Happy Birthday Mr. Heinlein! In your honor we have awarded four more scholarships in STEM fields today. Read all about it at: Scholarship Program
New member, Wayne Hicks, has kindly shared this song he wrote. Wayne said “I believe it speaks clearly about the many beneficial ways that reading Robert’s works have touched so many of us.” Please give it a listen! Lyrics included below. The Spaceman’s Song by Wayne Hicks They linger like the mem’ry…
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(There always seems to be someone that believes Juan Rico was from Buenos Aires. I can only assume that comes from the movie. In fact Rico was Filipino which is revealed near the end of the book when he says his native language is Tagalog. The following passage from the book states unequivocally that Rico…
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It is not clear how Heinlein got from this germ to the story he eventually did write up as his first story, “LifeLine.” Switching it from pure fantasy to science fiction may have suggested the pulp gadget-story format, which is typically about the inventor and his invention. Heinlein began in a way that would become…
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The casual Saturday “at homes” Robert and Leslyn had started for political purposes gradually changed over the course of 1939 into a writers’ group for the local science-fiction professionals. If anything, the changeover of personalities could only have sharpened the sense of being involved in something purposivful and progressive: socializing with writers instead of politicians…
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Since late in 1944, Nelson Eddy’s recording of “The Ballad of Rodger Young” had been playing on the radio, and that song became intensely meaningful to Heinlein. Young, an infantry private, had been killed on July 31, 1943, in the campaign for the Solomon Islands. He had been a runt—five feet two inches—and so nearly…
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By the end of January (1956) he (Heinlein) was generating a new “adult” book. He had an engineer/inventor on a bender because his wife dumped him to marry a rich man. But the elements weren’t coming together quite right, and he kept turning them over in his mind, changing a bit here and a bit…
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Balticon 59 took place May 23-26, 2025 at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. The Society had its “usual” presence with a fan table and stalwarts Betsey Wilcox, Will Hamilton, and Ty Arnold travelling in. We had local members Beatrice & Ursula Kondo, Herb Gilliland, and John Tilden to complete the “staffing” of the fan table.…
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Sharon Lee, novelist, is the 2025 winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award. The award is bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space. This award is in recognition of Ms. Lee’s body of work of over thirty-eight novels and short stories. A majority of…
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The Heinlein Society asks for your birthdate to have some demographic information about its members and website users. We have found that some operating systems (Android in particular) have a non-intuitive way to change your year of birth. If you are presented with this: Your next step to change the year will be to click…
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Recently, a member of The Heinlein Society board of directors received the following email. Since THS has a scholarship program, it only seems logical to share information about internship programs. I can’t imagine a more fitting internship for a Heinlein fan! We have launched our application for the National Air and Space Museum’s 2025 Summer…
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