Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Weekly Themes R. A. Heinlein
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
I've been asking around, tsuwm, and have learned a lot about why Heinlein used pseudonyms, and why he used the ones he did. I have not yet heard from the strongest Heinlein scholar I know, but here's what I've gleaned so far:
John W. Campbell Jr. had a policy of only one story per author per issue of Astounding -- but not necessarily only one story by a given writer. In one issue's "Analytical Laboratory" reader ratings of stories, Heinlein was edged out of first place -- by Anson MacDonald.
Heinlein used his own name for his Future History stories, and MacDonald for fiction not in the Future History that was published in Astounding. He had an informal agreement with Campbell that the Heinlein and MacDonald names would get premium rates, and Heinlein would sell under those two names only to Astounding.
Stories which Campbell rejected were farmed out to other publications under the Lyle Monroe name. Caleb Saunders wrote fantasy, IIRC.
Heinlein also wrote a detective story under the name "Simon York".
"Anson," of course, was Heinlein's middle name, and "Macdonald" was the maiden name of his second wife, Leslyn. Riverside, IIRC, was after the city in California -- he was living in L.A. at the time he was using it. Lyle was his mother's maiden name, and he uses it regularly in early stories, including the protagonist of "If This Goes On" and Mary Jane Lyle, the mother of Valentine Michael Smith. "Caleb" was an Annapolis roommate's name.
There is more to come, I hope.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted R. A. Heinlein tsuwm 02/12/05 06:13 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein Wordwind 02/12/05 06:24 PM Re: more ironic tsuwm 02/12/05 06:39 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein themilum 02/13/05 02:43 AM Re: R. A. Heinlein Sparteye 02/13/05 08:41 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein tsuwm 02/14/05 11:21 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein Alex Williams 02/16/05 11:42 AM Re: R. A. Heinlein tsuwm 02/16/05 02:53 PM Re: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress AnnaStrophic 02/16/05 02:59 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein Sparteye 02/16/05 05:17 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein Alex Williams 02/16/05 05:29 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein tsuwm 02/16/05 06:12 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein Wordwind 02/18/05 01:22 AM Re: R. A. Heinlein Faldage 02/18/05 01:30 AM Re: R. A. Heinlein Sparteye 02/14/05 07:36 PM Re: R. A. Heinlein themilum 02/14/05 10:47 PM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,345Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 1 members (A C Bowden), 765 guests, and 0 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 21ddrinnan 1
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,547tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,918Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org