The Menace from Earth

The future is intimidating enough when one travels there in the conventional fashion, one moment at a time. In this collection of short stories one visits the future minutes, years, decades or centuries ahead and the effect, without time to prepare for what awaits, is disconcerting. This is not a book to dip in to just before putting the light out, unless your favourite nocturnal activity is quietly fretting in the gloom. The future in these stories is a hairy place. And it's the near future, just a few ticks of the clock away, that can be the most dangerous.

The expectation from a collection of science fiction short stories can range from tales involving rocket ships, bug eyed monsters and ray guns, or possibly all three, through to show more shocking dystopian imaginings where mankind struggles against some sort of cataclysmic event, such as the sudden arrival of ray-gun wielding bug eyed monsters in rocket ships. This collection is more subtle than that (but worry not, there are rocket ships) and it's this subtlety that leads to an insinuating disquiet, rather than the kind of science fiction threat that can be easily discounted, at least until the first rocket ship touches down on the White House lawn.

It's usual in this collection for the men in the stories to be exceptionally clever, conventionally or unconventionally brave, and able. The women are usually swell types who are there to stand by their man.

The story that kicks off the collection, 'The year of the jackpot', does so in fine style and sets the scene. In a future so near it's practically the present a statistician who monitors social trends by breakfasting in a diner and noting unusual stories in the daily paper becomes involved by chance with a beautiful woman, and explains to her his diagnosis of impending doom for mankind. What's chillingly and clearly conveyed is how fragile society is and how it can slip into disorder without even realising it. The stories that the statistician correctly identifies as a warning are presented in the papers as quirky, light relief, stories barely worth mentioning. Only somebody looking for the signs would see them and, as is made clear, the sort of people who start talking out loud about their suspicions are not usually taken seriously. The thing to do is to act on them. This is a story that will have you reading those little stories on page seven of the paper in a different light.

The exception to the general theme of impending doom is the title story of the collection, 'The menace from Earth'. Anyone (reasonably) expecting some sort of interplanetary strife involving guns, spies and atomic blasts will be disappointed. Anyone looking for an excellent science fiction short story with an unusual twist will be well satisfied. And there are even rockets and space age gadgets. The story may be as light as a child in the one sixth gravity of the moon, but there is substance underneath the froth. This is an unusual departure in the collection because the protagonist is an adolescent female though she is, of course, incredibly smart, and sticks by her guy.

The focus of all the stories, whether the backdrop is one of rocket ships and moon colonies or a dusty desert road, is the role of humanity when faced with forces far greater than themselves, whether it be cosmic calamity, an 'alien' invasion, the merciless laws of physics or even the course of true love and adolescent hormonal whirls. 'By his bootstraps', a fine exploration about time travel and paradox, has a rather unusual force greater than the protagonist, and a rather unusual protagonist in that he's none to sharp and none too likeable.

The collection is an uncomfortable, but thrilling, read. It scrapes the surface of mankind's fear of the unknown and unflinchingly shows that sometimes the is no comfort to be found in discovery, when what is discovered can be something terribly dangerous. These stories of mankind facing vast cosmic forces conclude with a tale that demonstrates that as vast and powerful as any force may be, with courage and sacrifice, such a force may not be insurmountable. show less

There are no truly bad stories in this collection though the title story features annoying teenagers in an annoying romantic plot. The teenagers annoy with their brilliance, and the plot annoys with its story of the girl narrator discovering, after the introduction of a beautiful Earth woman, that her boy friend is really her boyfriend. Still, you get a travelogue of Luna City, possibly the first example in science fiction of the sport of human-powered flight in low gravity, and another of Heinlein's Future History tales.

Not at all annoying, in fact a downright classic, "By His Bootstraps" is the grandfather of all those time travel stories where the protagonist crosses his own lifepath at different points to make a plot so confusing show more you need a diagram to sum it up. This one also features alien ruins and a changed humanity 30,000 years in the future.

"The Year of the Jackpot" is a tale about the cyclical nature of all sorts of natural and social phenomena from earthquakes to public nudity to ufo sightings to religious fervor and a whole lot more. Its mathematician hero notes that all the cycles will bottom out at the same time, and he decides to take his girlfriend and head for the hills to await the collapse of civilization. It's a fun story and distinguished by a shortage of the can-do spirit of much of Heinlein's work.

On the minor side are three stories. "Columbus Was a Dope" is a short, ironic tale about the sorts who are driven to explore and those that mock that drive. "Sky Lift" is about a space mission at very high gs to take emergency vaccine to an outpost on Pluto. "Project Nightmare" follows the efforts of a team of American psychics to stop a Soviet blackmail attempt that has concealed nukes in US cities.

The Gulf of California flooding the Imperial Valley after an earthquake is the engaging premise of "Water Is for Washing".

Stylistically, "Goldfish Bowl", one of the strongest and oddest stories in the collection, is typical Heinlein, but the plot and ideas reminded me of H.P. Lovecraft. Investigating the appearance of two permanent waterspouts, two scientists are captured by mysterious entities whose relation to us is not at all comforting. show less

With Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke I think their short stories are more impressive than their novels, and if I were to list my favorite short science fiction stories, Asimov and Clarke would crowd out almost everyone else in the top ten. With Heinlein I tend to think it's the reverse--that it's his long fiction that is the most memorable--stronger than that of Asimov and Clarke just as their short fiction is much more memorable than that of Heinlein. I just don't think any Heinlein short is of the same caliber as Asimov's "Nightfall" or "The Dead Past" or Clarke's "The Star" or "The Billion Names of God."

But--it surprised me just how enjoyable these were. This is a reread, although I last read this ages ago in my teens. The story I show more remembered best--and still like the best, is the title story, "The Menace from Earth." It's quite light-hearted and there's a lot here to like. JK Rowling, eat your heart out, Quidditch has nothing on the winged flyers of the Moon! And I quite liked fifteen-year-old Holly Jones--she has quite a lot in common with Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars, only more level-headed and the ending of this novelette doesn't make me want to bounce the book against the wall. "By His Bootstraps," a time-loop story, is another one I found very memorable--although I don't think on first read decades ago I hated Bob Wilson oh so much. With "Goldfish Bowl" I definitely remembered the odd form of the water and the food--and the story does creepy well. "The Year of the Jackpot" is quite unsettling and like many of Heinlein's stories, features a nice little twist. The other four stories aren't as strong--but none is less than entertaining. show less

After the seriousness of the last couple of stories in the Future History timeline, this is a more light-hearted read as a young woman on the Luna colony struggles with the fact that a beautiful tourist from Earth seems to be trying to steal her boyfriend. it ends in a bit cheesy/cliche way, but as i said, it's a more comedic read compared to some of the other stories in this collection.

This is another good collection of short stories by Robert Heinlein, most written in the 1940s and 1950s. The dated aspect of some of the technology mentioned is easily overlooked for the intriguing plots and interesting characters of each tale. Definitely recommended, and not just for fans of this author.

Heinlein's short stories can be a hoot. Sometimes they're smart; sometimes they fail, but at least they're more worthy of my time than most of the novels I've reread by him.

A classic. And proof that Heinlein was versatile. If released today would qualify as YA romance and SF both.