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The Rolling Stones (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 First Edition cover of The Rolling Stones |
|
| Author | Robert A. Heinlein |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Clifford Geary |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Scribner's |
| Publication date | 1952 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | Between Planets |
| Followed by | Starman Jones |
The Rolling Stones (also published under the name Space Family Stone in the United Kingdom) 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.
The Stones, a family of "Loonies" (residents of the Moon), buy a used spaceship (which by this time is less complicated than a car), overhaul it, and go sightseeing around the solar system.
The twin teenage boys, Castor and Pollux, buy used bicycles to sell on Mars, their first stop. They run afoul of import regulations and are bailed out by their feisty, colorful grandmother, Hazel. While on the planet, the twins buy their kid brother Buster (who may have the highest IQ of the entire exceptionally smart family) a flat cat. Born pregnant and producing a soothing vibration (compare to the story "Pigs is Pigs" and Star Trek's later tribbles), the endearing creature makes more trouble (and more money) than anyone would have thought possible.
The twins talk their father into taking a detour to the Asteroid Belt, where the future equivalent of a gold rush is in progress; instead of gold, the miners are prospecting for radioactive ores. The boys cannily load up on supplies and luxury goods, since history has shown that shopkeepers are much more likely to get rich than miners. On the trip, the flat cat gives birth, its children do the same, and before they know it, the Stones are knee deep in purring Martians, all happily eating the food they were going to sell. They finally put the creatures in a low-temperature hold to get them to hibernate. Once they reach the asteroids, they are pleasantly surprised to discover that the lonely miners are willing to pay for the Stones' unwanted pets. Then Buster and Hazel get lost, and Hazel almost dies before they are rescued by the twins.
At the end, they decide to indulge their wanderlust further by traveling to Saturn to see the rings.
This book makes reference to Hazel Stone 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.
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.
- The Rolling Stones publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
