Stranger in a Strange Land, Library Edition

Product Description Stranger in a Strange Land is the epic saga of an earthling, Valentine Michael Smith, born and educated on Mars, who arrives on our planet with ''psi'' powers - telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, telekinesis, teleportation, pyrolysis, and the ability to take control of the minds of others - and complete innocence regarding the mores of man. After his tutelage under a surrogate-father figure, Valentine begins his transformation into a kind of messiah. His exceptional abilities lead Valentine to become many things to many people: freak, scam artist, media commodity, searcher, free-love pioneer, neon evangelist, and martyr. Heinlein won his second Hugo Award for this novel, sometimes called his ''divine comedy'' and often called his masterpiece. Stranger in a Strange Land caused controversy and uproar when it was first published. Still topical and challenging today it is in the great tradition of stories that endure through the power of the author's imagination that stretches from Gulliver's Travels to 1984.This Blackstone audiobook is the ''as published'' version, read from an Ace paperback published in 1987. It is not the uncut, uncensored version that Heinlein originally wrote , but which wasn't published until 1991. From Library Journal In 1939 Heinlein published his first sf short story and became one of the most prolific and influential authors in the genre. Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) is an international best seller and a landmark in more ways than one: it opened the trade best sellers lists to sf writers, breaking down longstanding barriers that will never be seen again. At the same time Stranger became an emblem of the 1960s generation in its iconoclasm and free-love themes. Telling the story of an Earth baby raised by an existing, ancient Martian civilization, the novel often reads as if it were the "Playboy Philosophy" in dialog form. The man/ Martian comes to Earth and broadcasts his ideas by forming his own Church. Heinlein has been rightly criticized for presenting as facts his opinions, which state that organized religion is a sham, authority is generally stupid, young women are all the same, and the common individual is alternately an independent, Ayn Randian-producing genius and the dull-witted part of an ignorant and will-less mob. Yet the book is hard to put down; in its early pages it is a truly masterful sf story. Every library with a fiction collection should have it. Christopher Hurt reads with authority, nicely drawing the characters via barely perceptible changes in intonation, harshness, and pacing. Highly recommended.?Don Wismer, Office of the Secretary of State, Augusta, Me.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review ''[D]isturbing, shocking and entertaining. . . . It sparkles and crackles and produces goose bumps of apprehension and dissatisfaction with the human race. . . . The best of his many books. . . '' --Washington Post ''[A] landmark in more ways than one. . . . a truly masterful SF story. . . . Christopher Hurt reads with authority, nicely drawing the characters via barely perceptible changes in intonation, harshness, and pacing. Highly recommended.'' --Library Journal''A brilliant mind-bender, a thought-provoking book.'' --New York Times About the Author Robert A. Heinlein was one of the greatest science fiction writers of the century and won the coveted Hugo Award on several occasions. He died in 1989. From AudioFile Heinlein's cult classic about a man raised by Martians who teaches humanity to make love, not war, doesn't read aloud very well. The narrative is heavy, the dialogue contrived and unnatural. The tone is dated. Competent, but no miracle worker, Christopher Hurt tries gamely to keep things moving and believable. His performance will satisfy the nostalgic and uncritical but won't win new converts. J.N. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine