Customer Reviews

Assignment in Eternity

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a collection of various stories that did not fit into Heinlein's Future History series (at least not at the time they were first published). Like most collections, the quality varies considerably from one story to the next.

"Gulf" first appeared in the Nov-Dec 1949 issues of Astounding magazine, and is the best fleshed out story here. A novella, the first portion of this reads like a James Bond thriller (perhaps better), the action is fast paced and our hero's actions make sense. But it quickly becomes apparent that he is far more than an average man, in fact he is something of a superman in terms of intelligence, reaction time, and decision making, items which are not lost on an entire society of such individuals, who recruit and train him. Some of the science presented here about how such a group of people came to be and the methods used for training them will seem a little dubious to today's readers, and the moral points raised (is a superior being justified in eliminating, without recourse to the law, those he feel are a threat to his society?) might raise a few hackles, but this is still a fun, fast read that will make you do a little thinking. Kettle Bailey is introduced in this story, and it might be considered a prequel to his much later novel Friday, which dealt with some of the same moral issues. Like almost everything else he wrote, this story was tied into his Future History in his last books.

"Elsewhen" is very minor Heinlein, with almost no characterization and very little plot. It originally appeared in Sept 1941 issue of Astounding (as by 'Caleb Saunders'), and clearly showed that Heinlein was still learning the craft of writing at that time. But it introduces the idea of time having multiple dimensions: the normal time flow, the 'parallel universe' branching time flow, and the 'time' dimension associated with author created universes. This was an idea Heinlein would return to in much greater depth (and much better written) in The Number of the Beast, the first of the 'World-as-Myth' books.

"Lost Legacy" is the other long piece here, first appearing in the Oct 1941 issue of Super Science Stories (as by 'Lyle Monroe'). Here again the idea of 'supermen' is tackled, this time positing that in the 'unused' areas of the brain lie the capabilities for the paranormal - telepathy, telekinesis, levitation, etc; talents which have been 'lost' after the fall of Mu and Antlantis. This one is only fair - characterization is somewhat lacking (and the shown expectation level for women is definitely grounded in the '40s stereotype - something that showed up in a lot of Heinlein's work from this period), and the 'bad guys' motivations don't seem totally believable (though perhaps that's just me - I've never understood people whose main drive is power over others). The solution to the problem of training people to remember these hidden talents, though, is a good one. This story may have been a re-working of some ideas that first appeared in "Beyond Doubt", his only known fictional collaboration (with Elma Wentz), which appeared in April of 1941 (and which he referred to as one of his 'stinkeroos' - it is pretty bad).

"Jerry was a Man" is perhaps the story of most relevance to today's world. First appearing in the Oct 1947 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories, it is a world of genetic engineering marvels, from six-legged dogs and pint-sized flying horses to 'enhanced' monkeys - enhanced to the point that they have become a major factor in providing the labor for the 'dirty' jobs of society. The story is an investigation into just where the line can (or should) be drawn between 'animal' and 'man', couched in Heinlein's typical acid humor of court-room shenanigans, shysters, and money-hungry corporations.

These stories are certainly not the best things Heinlein ever wrote, but there is surprisingly little dating to them other than the cultural attitudes of the day, and they still entertaining and in some cases very thought provoking. Recommended for any Heinlein fan looking to see what he was capable of during his 'early' period outside of the Future History, and good for anyone who enjoys science fiction.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Heinlein is one of my all time favorite, with F. Herbert, J. Vance, P.J. Farmer, and a few others. I trully love 'Stranger in a Strange Land', 'Friday', 'Time Enough for Love', and 'Starship Troopers'. This book doesn't get even close to those.

As far as I'm concerned, the merit of a book can be most safely assessed by asking oneself the question "Had this book been written by a total stranger rather than the Grand Master himself, would it (1) still be in print, and (2) sell as much?" In this case, I think that the answer would be a clear no. The stories are very dated, both in their vision of science and in cultural references (blacks are "negroes", women are treated in a superbly paternalistic way...) The story-telling itself is not up to Heinlein's standard: most of them are half finished at best. Finally, the stories totally lack the humor and wittiness that makes Heinlein such a great author.

I'll grant that this book looks into some serious themes, and fosters reflexion. However, some of the themes are just silly.

'Friday', 'Stranger...', and 'Starship...' are as much if not more thought provoking, and the storytelling is light years better than 'Assignment...'

Overall, I would recommend this book to Heinlein's fans - not to people who do not know his work or enjoy it more casually.

"Gulf" is a short novel gem, and a slightly sideways-in-time prequel to "Friday." Witten during the period when Heinlein was writing books like "The Puppet Masters" (which it has similarities to), and "The Door Into Summer", it's a good story, well told.

"Jerry Was a Man" is a lesser work, but interesting in that it argues that humanity will constantly have to revisit the slavery thing as our abilities to create non-human servants will outstrip our wisdom in their use. Maybe old hat now, but it wasn't in the 1940's. I'd be willing to be large sums that whoever wrote the Star Trek:TNG story about Data being, leagally, a Man, had read this once apon a time. Very similar viewpoints.

The other two stories are among Heinlein's poorest and keep this from being a 5.

This volume is a collection of four of Robert A. Heinlein's (RAH's) early shorter works that all origninally appeared in various 'pulp' magazines in the 1940's.

The first, "Gulf" (1949) begins as an action filled spy thriller. The hero is a secret agent/courier being pursued for microfilmed plans for a secret weapon. Familiar material for fiction but very well thought out and written. What makes this story science fiction rather than spy thriller is not just the futuristic society but the second half of the story when the hero is made aware of, and joins a group of supermen who are acting to preserve and advance the human race. RAH fans will note the beginnings of FRIDAY.

ELSEWHEN is a much shorter work that first appeared in 1941. The plot revolves around a college professor who has managed to time travel, not only to the past and future, but to also access alternate realities. These ideas will reappear in other RAH works including, THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST and THE DOOR INTO SUMMER.

LOST LEGACY again picks up the 'further evolved human' theme from "Gulf". Three college friends discover a secret group of advanced humans who have accessed ancient knowledge and skills. When they attempt to enlighten the rest of humanity they find that there is an opposing force working to stop them. This premise will also appear in later RAH works, THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and others.

The final work, "Jerry Was a Man", concerns the true nature of humanity. Mankind, with the help of Martians, has learned to genetically modify animals to the extent of making unicorns or six legged dogs. Monkeys and apes have been modified to perform rote tasks, freeing humanity of 'better' things. The question arises though as to just what point does a lower being with enhanced intelligence become a human being. This question will be revisited in many other RAH works, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, THE STAR BEAST and many others.

These are very early works of RAH and show his (then) inexperience. The themes will be revisited many times through out his career and handled much more skillfully. For fans it is particularly interesting to see how these ideas first appeared and connect them to their later incarnations. Also it is interesting to see how RAH's attitude toward women evolved over his career/life. In these early works women are depicted as cute little playthings that are not very bright and exist solely to make men happy. His later works show women as much more equal to men, in some instances even superior, radical ideas for the time they were written.

These stories can be enjoyed by anyone intested in speculative or science fiction. As with all of RAH's work they will make the reader re-examine what he knows to be true.

Because of his reputation as a science fiction writer, many readers assume that everything Heinlein wrote was science fiction...including Stranger In A Strange Land! It's understandable; the millieu (the future) is familiar to SciFi readers, and there are elements (space travel, etc.) that are also frequently used in SciFi.

However, this book, like Stranger, is about metaphysics, presented in the familiar SciFi trappings. Consequently, it makes those who prefer their Science Fiction to cover the familiar and comfortable, uncomfortable.

Lost Legacy, in particular, presents information that will be familiar to readers of Zecharia Sitchin (who hadn't yet written The Twelfth Planet when this story was penned) in an entertaining fashion, and makes one wonder just where Heinlein got his information, since no one else had published any of this (publicly, anyway) at the time.

The stories in this collection blur the often fuzzy line between science fiction and fantasy, and as is often the case with such stories, the results are not entirely satisfactory. By its very nature, a science fiction story should attempt to give a rational explanation of how things are possible, while in the realm of fantasy, such explanations are dispensed with in order to pursue goals other than credibility (ie., a moral lesson, or at the very least, an exciting entertainment). The common theme of the collection is the untapped potential of the human animal, and exactly what it means to be human, but Heinlein doesn't have any specific answers or agenda, leaving the readers to decide for themselves.

"Gulf" is the most exciting and realistic of the offerings, a spy thriller replete with secret organizations, evil geniuses, and doomsday weapons. The hero finds himself recruited by an organization of self-proclaimed "supermen" who set about trying to contain the evil forces loose in their not-too-futuristic society. Rather disappointingly, Heinlein chooses not to discuss the serious moral implications of this group, focusing instead on their training, methods, and ideals. Ultimately however, the reader may be repelled by the fascist notion that a group can consider itself so superior to the run of humanity that it can act outside the law, even though they claim to be acting for the greater good. Moral qualms aside, this is a fast-paced and exciting adventure, although the ending is rather too abrupt. "Elsewhen" is a wild fantasy wherein a college professor teaches some students how to use hypnosis to travel to different "realities". The students' adventures aren't all that exceptional, but the story is at least fairly well constructed. In "Lost Legacy", three academians unlock the hidden potentials of the human mind, but have to fight to get the world to listen. Unlike the supermen of "Gulf" and the ivory-tower theoreticians of "Elsewhen", these heroes want to spread their knowledge in order to benefit mankind. Unfortunately they find themselves stymied by widespread skepticism. (In Heinlein's Engineer's philosophy, unwillingness to believe the evidence of one's senses is a cardinal sin). More portentously, certain sinister forces have their own reasons for wanting these discoveries kept secret. This story could have moved a bit faster, but it's not a bad effort. The final offering, "Jerry Was a Man", tells the story of a genetically modified primate and the wealthy socialite who wants to secure him his rights as a "man". The fact that Jerry is really just an overly intelligent chimp makes this difficult, but not impossible, and allows Heinlein to indulge in his predilections for courtroom drama, legal shystering, and back room political maneuvering. Unfortunately, this upstages the perhaps more interesting technical aspects of genetic engineering, (which in all fairness to Heinlein was in its infancy when the story was written), and more importantly, the moral ramifications and sociological consequences of giving "human rights" to species other than homo sapiens.

Overall, Heinlein raises some interesting questions with this collection, but takes the easy way out by ducking any conclusions. Fantasy fans who aren't looking for great revelations will probably enjoy this book, but the average science fiction reader will likely be disappointed.

The short story, "Lost Legacy" was written far ahead of it's time, and reveals an insight and a foresight that is extraordinary!

Assignment in Eternity (1953) is an SF collection, containing four standalone short works. These stories were originally published in magazines during the 1940s.

"Gulf" (1949) is about a couple of secret agents who meet and marry during a mission against an evil woman.

"Elsewhen" (1941) tells the adventures of five college students through time.

"Lost Legacy" (1941) recounts the experiences of two men and a woman in search of the source of psionic powers.

"Jerry Was a Man" (1947) follows an extremely rich woman who orders her attorneys to protect a mutated anthropoid ape.

These stories are oddballs that are not in the Future History timeline. Yet the first and last are among the best short works ever written by the author. Both presentations induce strong emotions, at least in the reviewer.

My favorite is "Jerry Was a Man". While not remembering everything, I have recalled this story for decades. It just stuck in my mind.

"Gulf" has been described as a tale of superhuman agents. Yet the hero and heroine are not really superhumans. They have been trained using methods that enable them to perform mental and physical feats that are improbable in normal people.

"Gulf" has the character Kettle Belly Baldwin as an independent agent. He also appears in Friday heading an ultrasecret agency. Such agencies also appear in other Heinlein works, including The Puppet Masters.

All four stories have strong female characters, a characteristic of this author, but not all the females in these stories are strongwilled. Notice also that strength of character does not necessarily mean a rational mindset. Martha van Vogel believes in astrology, as do several other female characters in other works.

Highly recommended for Heinlein fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of weird science, competent protagonists, and strong female characters. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

There are two major Heinlein camps and a few crossovers. This may account for the wide variation in what people think of this book. Artists in any field paint what is real, and then what is real to them. Realists like the early works that they can relate to on their daily lives and see the later works as off the deep end. Others see the early works as silly or something that they could do better and the later works as profound and insightful. They see two people instead of one in the process of transition.

The reason I bought this book is for a story that deals with transition. "Lost Legacy" (1941) I do not want to go into too much detail as it is fun to have the story unfold in its time. However the story speculates as to what the so-called unused portion of our brain is for. Heinlein is not the first to speculate, but he does put together a great story combining many previous speculations.

While enjoying his story, look at the rudiments that will be used in later Heinlein writing, "Stranger in a Strange Land." Even some of the names are the same.

"Assignment in Eternity" is a collection of relatively short stories written by Robert A. Heinlein in his "adult" mode. These stories were written fairly early in Heinlein's carrer. Do not expect the author who coddled "juveniles" to be present here. Heinlein was a serious thinker and his early works sometimes have an edge to them that can be suprising to some folks.

I happen to have enjoyed reading these stories. I hope you will enjoy them too.