[Robert A. Heinlein] has been a vivid and controversial figure for three decades. His values have been called everything from fascistic to anarchistic, and as a writer he has been described as both a "natural storyteller" [see excerpt by Alexei Panshin in CLC, Vol. 3] and "not a particularly good story-teller" [see excerpt above by Brian Aldiss]. There is disagreement about which of his works are the best and which the worst, and about the value of his work as a whole. The fans have agreed for some time that he is their favorite writer, but the only thing that most critics agree about is the fact that he is there, he is important, he must be dealt with. And the first thing that must be dealt with is the fact that his immense popularity is based on something very real—his immense readability. When a reader picks up a Heinlein he knows that he is likely to get his money's worth of entertainment. That is, he will be engaged by the characters in the work, moved by their situations, and concerned about the outcome of the events in which they are involved. And he will sense this has been accomplished in a natural and apparently effortless way. How, in fact, is it done?
It is done, first of all, through a kind of psychological and social knowhow. Heinlein, who was trained as an engineer at the U.S. Naval Academy, and continued his career until invalided out of service by tuberculosis in 1934, knows how a lot of things work. He also knows how to present unworkable things in such a way as to convince us that they do work. And he knows a good deal about how people work in social situations, how animals work, and how society itself works. What he knows is quite similar to what the best American writers of detective stories have known—people like Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, and John D. MacDonald. And his style is something like theirs. It is not fancy, but it is very workmanlike. The conversation is lively and has an authentic ring, the narration is brisk, the description pointed. As in most popular forms of fiction the good guys and the bad are clearly distinguishable—and the good guys always win.
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