"Variable Star" - Book of the Month
"Variable Star" is a Science Fiction book written by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson, two of my favorite authors. Spider read his first Heinlein book when he was 6 years old. It was his first hard cover book and the next 5 were also by Heinlein.
By comparison, didn't even read Tom Swift until I was 8.
Robert Heinlein died in 1988. He left a book he had started some 40 years earlier and never finished. In fact, when the estate requested that Spider finish it he found only 7 pages and a lot of notes on index cards. I think he did a remarkable job of finding the "Heinlein voice." He even kept his normal sense of humor in check and only let puns slip through a few times.
The story opens with a couple that are having their prom night at the Fermi Junior College in 2286. That night the young lady decides to introduce him to her family and he finds out that the family is the most powerful in the galaxy.
Instead of marrying he decides to board a starship and migrate off planet. At one point, he starts entertaining with a saxophone. That music is recorded and he winds up with a contract with the "Apple Empire" back on Earth. Later a catastrophe happens that seem insurmountable.
The other tech connection is that Spider used a G4 Powerbook to write the book and research all the science in near lightspeed travel.
This is the first book in some time that I have gotten totally immersed in. I highly recommend it, but then I would recommend nearly any book that either author has written.
Purchase: "Variable Star"
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