MANSON AND HEINLEIN

Rucker made the mistake of resurrecting that myth about Charles Manson and his gang gaining some kind of inspiration from the book.

I am still not sure where this story started, but it was thoroughly debunked long before Heinlein’s death. According to Frank Robinson’s lengthy obituary for Heinlein (Locus; June, 1988): “Unable to refute the Manson story at the time, Heinlein later hired a lawyer to interview Manson in jail. It turned out that Manson had never heard of Heinlein, had never read ‘Stranger.’ In fact, he had read few books at all and was barely literate.�

M. RUSSELL, LOS ANGELES