is the pulpiest pulp to ever pulp - it would be pointless to review a sci-fi polemic about race relations, even one written by the perplexing Robert Heinlein, weirdo libertarian, sensitive, far out social progressive, teeth-gritting reactionary pseudofascist. this was a pretty fun read, the coziest catastrophe ever with a bunch of amusing asides, most notably a lengthy jaunt to a post apocalypse colonial world populated by a master class of africans and a subcaste of asians and whites, blahdy fuckin blah
i dont waste my time reviewing books
“It has every excuse. Barbie girl, do you realize that I'm more than twice your age? Old enough to be your father.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
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“Who said we were?” Karen answered. “There's nothing like this in Mountain Springs. Nor in the whole state.”
Hugh frowned. “I guess that's obvious.” He looked at the shelter--gross, huge, massive.”But where are we?”
“Don't you read comic books, Daddy? We're on another planet.”
“Don't joke, baby girl. I'm worried.”
“I wasn't joking. There's nothing like this within a thousand miles of home—yet here we are. We might as well be on another planet. The one we had was getting used up.”
“Hugh,”Joe said,”it sounds silly, but I agree with Karen.”
“Why, Joe?”
“Well, we're someplace. What happens when an H bomb explodes dead on you?”
“You're vaporized.”
“I don't feel vaporized. And I don't see that big hunk of concrete sailing a thousand miles or so, with nothing to show for it but cracked ribs and a hurt shoulder. But Karen's idea—” he shrugged. “Call it the fourth dimension. The big one nudged us through the fourth dimension.”
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“Don't be preposterous! Joseph will get every cent coming to him and he knows it—just as soon as this mess is straightened out. After all, we've saved his life. And we've always been good to him. He won't mind waiting. Will you, Joseph?”
“Grace! Quiet down and listen. Joe is no longer our servant. He is our partner in adversity. Wi'll never pay him wages again. Quit acting like a child and face the facts. We're broke. We're never going to have any money again. My business is gone. The Mountain Exchange Bank is gone. We're wiped out...save for what we stored in the shelter. But we are lucky.”
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Hugh Fernham lay where he had fallen. “Not 'nigger', Duke. Negro.”
“He's a Negro as long as he behaves himself! Pulling a gun on me makes him a goddamn nigger.You can get up. I won't hit you again.”
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He felt sudden grief that abstract knowledge of deaths of millions had not given him. Somehow, the burning of millions of books felt more brutally obscene than the killing of people. All men must die, it was their single common heritage. But a book need never die and should not be killed; books were the immortal part of man. Book burners – to rape a defenseless friendly book.
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Joe is the first Negro I've had a chance to know well – and I think most well of him. He plays contract better than I do; I suppose he's smarter than I am. He is fastidious and never comes indoors without bathing. Oh, get downwind after he has spent a day digging and he's pretty whiff. But so is Duke, and Hugh is worse. I don't believe this story about a distinctive “nigger musk”.
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“It's my duty. Services should be available to those who need them. If there is no good and no God, this ritual is harmless. If God is, it is appropriate – and still harmless. We are bleeding no peasants, offering no bloody sacrifices, raising no vanities to the sky in the name of religion. Or so I see it, Barbara.”
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“All right. I've said it. I need advice. Which is worse? Incest or miscegenation? Or should I be an old maid?”
He placed another shovelful, tamped it. “I would not urge you to be an old maid.”
“That settles that, I feel the same way. How do you size up those other fates?”
“Incest,” he answered, “is a bad idea, usually.”
“Which just leaves one thing.”
“Wait.” I said 'Usually.'” He stared at the shovel. “This is not a problem I ever expected – but we are facing new problems. Brother-and-sister marriages are not uncommon in history. They are not necessarily bad.” He frowned. “But there is Barbara. You might have to accept a polygamous household.”
“Hold it, Daddy. 'Incest' isn't just brothers.”
He stared at her. “You've managed to startle me, Karen.”
“Shocked you, you mean.”
“No. 'Startled.' Were you seriously suggesting what you implied?”
“Daddy,” she said soberly, “it's one subject I can't joke about. If I had to choose between you and Duke – as a husband, I mean – I'd take you and no two ways about it.”
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“I mean it. You can have my razor, you can have my best knife. But snitch one book and I'll skin you alive and bind that book in human skin. There are limits. All right.”
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“Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
He leaned over and kissed her. She kissed him back, lips open, full surrender.
Presently, he straightened up. “Would you like some corn pone?”
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Hugh shut up. He was thinking glumly that Ponse was not a villain. He was exactly like the ruling members of every ruling class in history, honestly convinced of his benevolence and hurt if it was challenged.
this book slayed me, heinlein was fucking hilarious
the jla is fighting amazo and solomon grundy
LOL
click to make it big, that last panel is just beautiful
i am so on board with whatever mike allred feels like doing
ahhh thats the stuff
click to make it big, that last panel is just beautiful
i am so on board with whatever mike allred feels like doing
ahhh thats the stuff
