Variable Star

Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson

Tor Science Fiction

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A never-before-published masterpiece from science fiction’s greatest writer, rediscovered after more than half a century.

When Joel Johnston first met Jinny Hamilton, it seemed like a dream come true. And when she finally agreed to marry him, he felt like the luckiest man in the universe.
 
There was just one small problem. He was broke. His only goal in life was to become a composer, and he knew it would take years before he was earning enough to support a family.
 
But Jinny wasn’t willing to wait. And when Joel asked her what they were going to do for money, she gave him a most unexpected answer. She told him that her name wasn’t really Jinny Hamilton---it was Jinny Conrad, and she was the granddaughter of Richard Conrad, the wealthiest man in the solar system.

And now that she was sure that Joel loved her for herself, not for her wealth, she revealed her family’s plans for him---he would be groomed for a place in the vast Conrad empire and sire a dynasty to carry on the family business.

Most men would have jumped at the opportunity. But Joel Johnston wasn’t most men. To Jinny’s surprise, and even his own, he turned down her generous offer and then set off on the mother of all benders. And woke up on a colony ship heading out into space, torn between regret over his rash decision and his determination to forget Jinny and make a life for himself among the stars.

He was on his way to succeeding when his plans--and the plans of billions of others--were shattered by a cosmic cataclysm so devastating it would take all of humanity’s strength and ingenuity just to survive.

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Book Excerpts

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Chapter One
For it was in the golden prime
Of good Harun Alrashid . . .
 
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
 
Recollections of the Arabian Nights
 
I thought I wanted to get married in the worst way. Then that’s pretty much what I was offered, so I ended up going trillions of kilometers out of my way instead. A great many trillions of kilometers, and quite a few years—which turns out to be much the greater distance.
 
It began this way:
 
Jinny Hamilton and I were dancing.

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Spider Robinson and David Crosby talk about Variable Star

A never-before-published masterpiece from science fiction’s greatest writer, rediscovered after more than half a century.

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Praise for Variable Star

“I’d nominate Spider Robinson as the new Robert Heinlein”—The New York Times
 
“An enjoyable read.”—Entertainment Weekly
 
“A splendid wondrous lovely Spider Robinson novel that just also happens to be a new Heinlein novel.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune
 
“Completing a book from notes by a dead author is almost always a mistake. But Robert A. Heinlein apparently isn’t really dead. He was obviously standing at the side of Spider Robinson as he wrote this book, guiding his hand.”--John Varley, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of The Persistence of Vision and Steel Beach

“I’ve already laughed hard and wanted to cry….This book is a delight and I love you for doing it. I love you even more for doing it so damned well. Thank you.”--David Crosby, Grammy Award--winning singer/songwriter and member of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash
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About the Author

Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) is widely acknowledged to have been the single most important and influential author of science fiction in the twentieth century. He won science fiction’s Hugo Award for Best Novel four times, and in addition, three of his novels were given Retrospective Hugos fifty years after publication. He won Science Fiction Writers of America’s first Grand Master Award for his lifetime achievement. Born in Butler, Missouri, Heinlein graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served as an officer in the navy for five years. He started writing to help pay off his mortgage, and his first story was published in Astounding Science-Fiction magazine in 1939. In 1947, he published a story in The Saturday Evening Post, making him the first science-fiction writer to break into the mainstream market. Long involved in politics, Heinlein was deeply affected by events such as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Cold War, and his fiction tended to convey strong social and political messages. His many influential novels include Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and Time Enough for Love. At the time of his death in 1988, he was living in Carmel, California with his wife Virginia.

Robert A. Heinlein
Spider Robinson

Robert A. Heinlein

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Available Formats and Book Details

Variable Star
Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson

Mass Market Paperbound

Mass Market Paperbound
Tom Doherty Associates
Tor Science Fiction
November 2007
Mass Market Paperbound
ISBN: 9780765351685
ISBN10: 0765351684
4 3/16 x 6 3/4 inches, 352 pages
$7.99
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Hardcover

Learn more about this edition
Hardcover
Tom Doherty Associates
Tor Books
September 2006
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780765313126
ISBN10: 076531312X
6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches, 320 pages
$24.95

e-Book Agency

Learn more about this edition
e-Book Agency
Tom Doherty Associates
Tor Books
December 2010
e-Book Agency
ISBN: 9781429983457
ISBN10: 1429983450
352 pages
$7.99
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