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The Rolling Stones (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Rolling Stones is a 1952 science fiction
novel by Robert A. Heinlein
.
A condensed version of the novel had been published earlier in Boys' Life
(September, October, November, December 1952) under the title "Tramp Space Ship". It was published in hardcover that year by Scribner's
as part of the Heinlein juveniles
.
, known as "Luna" in Latin), purchase and rebuild a used spaceship, and go sightseeing around the solar system
.
The twin teenage boys, Castor and Pollux, buy used bicycle
s to sell on Mars
, their first stop, where they run afoul of import regulations and are freed by their grandmother Hazel Stone
. While on Mars, the twins buy their brother Buster a native Martian creature called a flat cat, born pregnant and producing a soothing vibration, as a pet.
In the Asteroid Belt
, where the equivalent of a gold rush
is in progress prospecting for radioactive ores, the twins obtain supplies and luxury goods, on grounds that shopkeepers are much likelier to be rich than miners. En route, the flat cat and its offspring overpopulate the ship, so that the family place them in hibernation
, and later sell them to the miners. Subsequently, the family set out to see the rings
.
spent hours in research, fiercely dedicated to getting it right for their readers.
short story "Pigs is Pigs
" with informing the flat cat incident. A similar concept and plotline appeared in the noted Star Trek
episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". According to screenwriter David Gerrold
, the show's producers noticed similarities in the two stories and asked Heinlein for permission to use the idea. Heinlein asked for an autographed copy of the script, but otherwise did not object, noting that both stories owed something to the Butler story "and possibly to Noah
".
The steampunk
novel Starcross also included references to a 'flat cat', but whimsically described it as a terrestrial domestic cat flattened by an automatic laundry mangle
.
as an influential figure in the Lunar Revolution. Fourteen years later, Heinlein published The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
, which tells the story of that conflict, including the small but vital role that Hazel Stone played as a child. Hazel, Castor, and Pollux reappear in The Number of the Beast
and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
. Hazel, alone, appears in To Sail Beyond the Sunset
.
Dr. Lowell Stone ("Buster") is quoted in interstitial material in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and referenced as Chief Surgeon at Ceres General. In that same book, Hazel states that Roger and Edith are now living in the extrasolar colony known as Fiddler's Green (itself first named in Friday
).
The generic description of the Martian met by Lowell is similar to the description of the Martians depicted in Stranger in a Strange Land
and Red Planet
.
described the novel as "a thoroughly delightful job". Boucher
and McComas
praised it as "easily the most plausible, carefully detailed picture of an interplanetary future we will encounter in any year". P. Schuyler Miller
cited the novel's "freshness and simplicity," characterizing it as "a life-size portrait-gallery of real people living in a real world of the future, every detail of which fits into place with top-tolerance precision".
Surveying Heinlein's juvenile novels, Jack Williamson
characterized Heinlein's story as "a dream of personal freedom" written with "an enviable craftsmanship", noted that the novel "carries its thematic burden tightly", unlike Heinlein's later adult novels, and praised The Rolling Stones for its "sense of an accurately extrapolated future background, with all of the new technologies given an air of commonplace reality".
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
.
A condensed version of the novel had been published earlier in Boys' Life
Boys' Life
Boys' Life is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America . Its targeted readership is young American males between the ages of 6 and 18.Boys' Life is published in two demographic editions...
(September, October, November, December 1952) under the title "Tramp Space Ship". It was published in hardcover that year by Scribner's
Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...
as part of the Heinlein juveniles
Heinlein juveniles
"Heinlein juveniles" are the 12 novels written by Robert A. Heinlein and published by Scribner's between 1947 and 1958. The intended readership was teenage boys, but the books have been enjoyed by a wide range of readers...
.
Plot summary
The Stones, a family of "Loonies" (residents of the MoonMoon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, known as "Luna" in Latin), purchase and rebuild a used spaceship, and go sightseeing around the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
.
The twin teenage boys, Castor and Pollux, buy used bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
s to sell on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, their first stop, where they run afoul of import regulations and are freed by their grandmother Hazel Stone
Hazel Stone (Heinlein)
Hazel Stone is a fictional character created by Robert A. Heinlein and featured in The Rolling Stones, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and other novels.-The Rolling Stones:...
. While on Mars, the twins buy their brother Buster a native Martian creature called a flat cat, born pregnant and producing a soothing vibration, as a pet.
In the Asteroid Belt
Asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...
, where the equivalent of a gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
is in progress prospecting for radioactive ores, the twins obtain supplies and luxury goods, on grounds that shopkeepers are much likelier to be rich than miners. En route, the flat cat and its offspring overpopulate the ship, so that the family place them in hibernation
Hibernation
Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernating animals conserve food, especially during winter when food supplies are limited, tapping energy reserves, body fat, at a slow rate...
, and later sell them to the miners. Subsequently, the family set out to see the rings
Rings of Saturn
The rings of Saturn are the most extensive planetary ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometres to metres, that form clumps that in turn orbit about Saturn...
.
Research
Heinlein and his wife VirginiaVirginia Heinlein
Virginia "Ginny" Heinlein , born Virginia Doris Gerstenfeld, was the third wife of Robert A. Heinlein, a prominent and successful author once known as one of the "Big Three" of science fiction .Born to George and Jeanne Gerstenfeld, Virginia was raised in Brooklyn and had one brother, Leon...
spent hours in research, fiercely dedicated to getting it right for their readers.
Influences
Heinlein later credited the 1905 Ellis Parker ButlerEllis Parker Butler
Ellis Parker Butler was an American author.Butler was born in Muscatine, Iowa. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story "Pigs is Pigs", in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a...
short story "Pigs is Pigs
Pigs is Pigs
Pigs Is Pigs is a story written by Ellis Parker Butler. First published as a short story in The American Magazine in September 1905, "Pigs is Pigs" went on to dozens of printings as a book and in anthologies over the next several decades.-Plot:...
" with informing the flat cat incident. A similar concept and plotline appeared in the noted Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". According to screenwriter David Gerrold
David Gerrold
Jerrold David Friedman , better known by his pen name David Gerrold, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one...
, the show's producers noticed similarities in the two stories and asked Heinlein for permission to use the idea. Heinlein asked for an autographed copy of the script, but otherwise did not object, noting that both stories owed something to the Butler story "and possibly to Noah
Noah
Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
".
The steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
novel Starcross also included references to a 'flat cat', but whimsically described it as a terrestrial domestic cat flattened by an automatic laundry mangle
Mangle
Mangle can refer to:* Mangle , a mechanical laundry aid consisting of two rollers* Box mangle, an earlier laundry mangle using rollers and a heavy weight* Mangled packet, in computing* Mangrove, woody trees or shrubs* Name mangling, in computing...
.
Connections to other Heinlein works
This book makes reference to Hazel StoneHazel Stone (Heinlein)
Hazel Stone is a fictional character created by Robert A. Heinlein and featured in The Rolling Stones, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and other novels.-The Rolling Stones:...
as an influential figure in the Lunar Revolution. Fourteen years later, Heinlein published The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth....
, which tells the story of that conflict, including the small but vital role that Hazel Stone played as a child. Hazel, Castor, and Pollux reappear in The Number of the Beast
The Number of the Beast (novel)
The Number of the Beast is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1980. The first edition featured a cover and interior illustrations by Richard M. Powers...
and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1985. Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.-Plot summary:...
. Hazel, alone, appears in To Sail Beyond the Sunset
To Sail Beyond the Sunset
To Sail Beyond the Sunset is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1987. It was the last novel published before he died in 1988....
.
Dr. Lowell Stone ("Buster") is quoted in interstitial material in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and referenced as Chief Surgeon at Ceres General. In that same book, Hazel states that Roger and Edith are now living in the extrasolar colony known as Fiddler's Green (itself first named in Friday
Friday (novel)
Friday is a 1982 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the story of a female "artificial person," the titular character, genetically engineered to be stronger, faster, smarter, and generally better than normal humans...
).
The generic description of the Martian met by Lowell is similar to the description of the Martians depicted in Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. The novel explores his interaction with—and...
and Red Planet
Red Planet (novel)
Red Planet is a 1949 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about students at boarding school on the planet Mars. It represents the first appearance of Heinlein's idealized Martian elder race...
.
Reception
Groff ConklinGroff Conklin
Edward Groff Conklin was a leading science fiction anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories , wrote books on home improvement and was a freelance writer on scientific subjects as well as a published poet...
described the novel as "a thoroughly delightful job". Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
and McComas
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
praised it as "easily the most plausible, carefully detailed picture of an interplanetary future we will encounter in any year". P. Schuyler Miller
P. Schuyler Miller
Peter Schuyler Miller was an American science fiction writer and critic.-Life:Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a life-long interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association.He...
cited the novel's "freshness and simplicity," characterizing it as "a life-size portrait-gallery of real people living in a real world of the future, every detail of which fits into place with top-tolerance precision".
Surveying Heinlein's juvenile novels, Jack Williamson
Jack Williamson
John Stewart Williamson , who wrote as Jack Williamson was a U.S. writer often referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction" following the death in 1988 of Robert A...
characterized Heinlein's story as "a dream of personal freedom" written with "an enviable craftsmanship", noted that the novel "carries its thematic burden tightly", unlike Heinlein's later adult novels, and praised The Rolling Stones for its "sense of an accurately extrapolated future background, with all of the new technologies given an air of commonplace reality".