"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. Variable Star will delight the fans of the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived, and at the same time, stays true to Spider's passionate themes of optimism, kindness, and humanity's future among the stars."

"For everyone who's missed the old Heinlein magic, Variable Star is a return to the days of wonder - a terrific novel, one which both Spider's readers and RAH's (and I'm sure there's a crossover) will doubtless enjoy."

"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."

"Like a good Ganymedean farmer in the sky, Robinson (Callahan's Key) plants both feet firmly in Heinlein territory with this... credible pastiche of a Heinlein young adult novel circa 1955. Working from an unfinished outline and notes, Robinson tells the coming-of-age tale of Joel Johnston, who flees a broken romance to the new colony planet Brasil Novo 85 light-years away. Joel and his companions demonstrate the odd mixture of innocence and sexual experimentation that Heinlein employed, as Robinson captures the naive yet advanced tone of Heinlein's future history... Nostalgia for Heinlein's early work may pique interest in this posthumous collaboration..."

"I'd nominate Spider Robinson as the new Robert Heinlein"

"When the love of his life turns out not to be what she seems, musician Joel Johnston joins a colony ship headed for a new world outside the solar system. Absorbed in his personal sorrows, Joel eventually learns to appreciate his new surroundings and his new future, as well as his fellow travelers-just before a series of unexpected calamities threatens to rob him of everything. Begun by Heinlein in 1955, this tale of life, love, and loss on a journey to the stars was unfinished at the author's death in 1988.

Authorized by Heinlein's estate to complete the story, award-winning author Robinson has captured the late Grand Master storyteller's essential spirit while adding his own unique brand of lyrical prose and warm humor. A mandatory purchase for all sf collections."

"Heinlein died in 1988, but his works live on... Here is where little Spider Robinson comes in. Now all grown-up, Robinson (with over 30 books of his own under his belt) landed the unique task of finishing a Heinlein juvenile, using a seven page outline and notes on a few index cards, written by Heinlein in 1955 and, for reasons unknown, forgotten until a couple of years ago.

Robinson could have gone one of two ways in writing Variable Star. He could have created a book that's a slavish imitation of a Heinlein juvenile (and few but hardcore Heinleinites would have wanted that), or he could have written the best Spider Robinson novel money could buy, given the constraints of the source outline, and the Heinlein Canon be damned. Happily, he chose a middle course. Variable Star feels like a Heinlein novel, with its modestly chauvinistic opening and adolescent wish-fulfillment. But it has Spider Robinson's bite and humor, his musical predilection, and a wide variety of contemporary cultural references...

Variable Star is both a worthy continuation of the Heinlein legacy and a darn fine Spider Robinson novel to boot. And it begs for a sequel - let's hope Robinson turns his attention to that sooner rather than later!"

Resurrection of a star, with some help from Spider-Man

"How do we get a new Robert A. Heinlein book just now, when the Grandmaster passed away in 1988? Time travel? Voices from Beyond? Serious Studious Scholarship? Serendipity?

Serendipity, definitely. Among the Heinlein Collection papers at UC Santa Cruz, eight pages of an outline and a handful of index cards dating from 1955 showed up. As it happened, Spider Robinson auditioned to write the book, and now, half a century later and just on time, here it is, with all the bells and whistles of a Heinlein juvenile and the polish and panache Spider and his acknowledged helpers could possibly put on it.

... It's there, in print, in a splendid wondrous lovely Spider Robinson novel that also happens to be a new Heinlein novel. At almost every turn, Robinson incorporates familiar items and practices and ways of thinking from the Heinlein canon, filing off serial numbers and filling the seams to a luminous polish. The avid fan will find nuggets and expanded treasures from a universe of previous novels and stories; neophytes will find a strong novel with characters, ideas and lessons. Buy two copies. Give one away -- to someone who'll buy another as a gift."

"I just finished reading Variable Star. I've been waiting for this day since you first sent the news--and I had to write and tell you--it's everything I hoped for!

It has elements of a classic Heinlein juvie--but with all the maturity of his later novels. It has the dark, somber, urgent warnings that Heinlein rarely indulged (but which he was too honest to sugarcoat or ignore), yet it sustains an unconquerable hope that is the hallmark of any Spider tale. It is a true collaboration--created across time. It is, in every possible sense of the phrase, death-defying.

I laughed out loud at times--Lawrence Cott and Perry Jarnell! (I had dinner with them the night they received their Heinlein awards). And I mourned in Chapter 17, when all seemed lost. And even though I knew you would leave us with hope, you didn't soften the tragedy--you showed us the true horror and despair--absolutely essential--and kicked our butts with all the Admiral's authority ordering us "To the stars, now!"

It will take a few days to come off the high.

I'll be writing a review for The Heinlein Society, and I want to write a paper for the Popular Culture Association and the SF academic journals. But tonight, I'll be sailing beyond the sunset with a new novel by my two favorite visionaries.

Thank you for fulfilling the dream, so magnificently. This was such a marvelous and unanticipated gift!"

"... Here, Spider has combined references from several different Heinlein sources, so I suppose this one can be considered just another variant of the multiverse concept that RAH developed late in his writings. I suppose it could be argued that Spider included so many varied Heinlein references merely as a tribute to his favorite writer.

... There are also a couple of not-so-sublte nods to other writers I am sure Spider feels would also have been capable of completing this book, both of them huge Heinlein fans themselves.

... I do recommend it, although there is no way to guarantee you will like it as much as I did, any more than I can say I would have liked it more if Heinlein had completed it himself. It is not a long book, and written in a crisp prose style so reminiscent of RAH. I nearly finished it in one sitting, and probably would have if the mail had come earlier yesterday.

... There is only a small portion of the concluding chapters that I had anticipated happening, and I can truthfully say I was completely surprised by the climactic plot event in this novel.

... In conclusion, if you like Heinlein, if you like Spider Robinson, either or both, you will want to read this book. Barring any other gems hiding in the archives, it is likely to be the last ideas we will ever get from the mind of the Grand Master."

"Variable Star arrived in the mail a week or so ago, and either I've been out of touch, or I somehow forgot you were doing it, but I was very surprised when it arrived. Two of my favorite authors, and even better, NEW Heinlein. I jumped it to the top of my to-read pile, and just finished it today. I was bummed several years ago, when I realized I had read all of Heinlein's novels. So reading this was definitely a bittersweet experience: the one additional Heinlein novel I hadn't read, and yet quite definitely the last I'll read (for the first time).

It was wonderful! Thank you so much for writing it. I liked your comment about wanting to read a new Heinlein even if you had to write it -- I got that joy without writing it. There are lines that felt completely like Heinlein had written them... except they refer to things that happened after he died, so you must have written them. You were definitely channeling him in sections. And yet there was so much of you in the book that it was like a duet of masters. But the novel itself had me so caught up in it that it wasn't until the third reference to the Prophet that I realized you meant Scudder. Then the other references to Heinlein's universe came through loud and clear (I did get Leslie LeCroix on the first mention), though after the mention of the New Frontiers, I thought I was going to read a tie-in to the Howard families.

... Can it truly be 115,000 words long? I thought it was a very short novel that I was merely savoring, knowing it would be the last. It was a very quick, easy read (as I remember Heinlein's others are).

Thanks, again, for writing it for us. You did a great job."

"Spider Robinson is often blurbed as the next Robert Heinlein, but I've never quite been able to buy into it. Not until Variable Star. For bringing this posthumous collaboration back to Earth safe and sound, I'd be more than happy to pin the medal on him myself.

... The rest of us should just be grateful that this job was done by someone with real affection for the original, rather than the folks who've done so badly with the movie versions. Spider, we owe you."