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3.5 

Variable Star

By Robert A. Heinlein & Spider Robinson
Variable Star by Robert A. Heinlein & Spider Robinson digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

The unfinished sci-fi masterpiece by the author of Stranger in a Strange Land—completed by the Hugo Award–winning author of The Stardance Trilogy.

Joel Johnston has found the love of his life in Jinny Hamilton. Life would be perfect if only he earned enough money to support a family. But now that Jinny knows his love is true, she reveals an incredible secret: she is really Jinny Conrad, granddaughter of Richard Conrad, the wealthiest man in the solar system. And now that Joel proven his love for Jinny, her family has a plan for him.

Joel is to be groomed for a place in the vast Conrad empire and sire a dynasty to carry on the family business. Most men would jump at the opportunity. But to Jinny’s surprise, and even his own, Joel turns down her generous offer and sets off on the mother of all benders.

When he wakes up on a colony ship heading into space, he decides it’s time to forget Jinny and make a life among the stars. But his plans—and the plans of billions of others—are shattered by a cosmic cataclysm so devastating it will take all of humanity’s strength and ingenuity just to survive.

When an outline for Variable Star was found among Robert A. Heinlein’s papers, Spider Robinson was commissioned to complete the novel. The result is a thrilling new work of science fiction from two of the genre’s greatest minds.

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35 Reviews

3.5
“When one of my favourite SciFi authors is given the task of bringing a manuscript to life written by the brilliant writer who hooked me on the genre with his “Citizen if the Galaxy” (see review earlier this year), it becomes an imperative read once I track down a copy. The book did not disappoint, it the science got I. The way of the story for me k ce or twice, which is the only reason that it wasn’t a full 5 stars. It is going to prompt me to reread the Stardance novels next, however, and segue off from the 3 I had lined up next. Thank goodness summer is just around the corner and I can read more instead of marking and other administrivia in the evenings!!”

About Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) won four Hugo Awards for Best Novels and three of his novels were given Retrospective Hugos fifty years after publication. He won Science Fiction Writers of America's first Grand Master Award. His many influential novels include Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

Spider Robinson, winner of three Hugos and a Nebula, worked as a folksinger and journalist before publishing his first story in Analog in 1973. Eleven of his 31 books are set in Callahan's Place, a fabulous tavern founded by a time traveler, where puns flow as freely as beer, and smell far worse.

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