In the pantheon of science fiction writers, three names continue to arise in any argument over who has been the most influential: Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. (Although, certainly, Bradbury, Verne, and H. G. Wells have their hardcore supporters who will not be denied a voice.) Of all the aforementioned writers, Robert Heinlein is perhaps the least famous name among the general population. Like most SF writers, Heinlein was extremely prolific and probably most widely studied for his novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Today, he is likely most famous for having written the original novel upon which the blockbuster film Starship Troopers was based. But—again like most SF writers—he was equally prodigious when it came to producing a solid body of short stories which allowed him to explore his more familiar themes in a wide variety of ways than his novels. Indeed, like many a novelist, his short stories may well be consider a superior vehicle for transmitting his obsessions.
Born in 1907, Heinlein is an essential figure in science fiction because he—like those other figures battle for dominance as the genre’s most influential writer—established his career by writing for pulp magazines during the s0-called Golden Age of Science Fiction. His short story began with “Life-Line” in a 1939 edition of Astounding Science Fiction. Two years later the same magazine published “They.” In 1943, Heinlein broke into the mainstream when one of the magazines with the wide circulation in U.S. history—the Saturday Evening Post—“The Green Hills of Earth.” The breakthrough was no fluke: the magazine would publish three more of Heinlein stories before the year was out.
Short fiction was just one of many literary forms which Heinlein consistently worked within. In addition to novels for adult readers, he also published Young Adult novels. In addition, many of his stories have been adapted for radio, film and TV. (While not technically an adaptation, for instance, the influence of “They” upon the commercial and critical hit The Truman Show is undeniable). As a result of this widespread exposure to impressionable young minds back when science fiction suffered a low reputation as a literary genre, the transformation of the genre into one of the most dominant across all media by the 21st century can be attributed in great part to Robert Heinlein. It is for this reason that Heinlein remains among that that Big Three in the continuing argument over who is deserving of being the most influential science fiction author of all time.
