From: "Roy C. Lackey" 
Subject: Re: (urth) Moorcock
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 23:04:49 -0500

Dan'l quoted and wrote:
>>Mike would be deeply insulted to be compared in any way to Heinlein,
>
>That's a pity, because to refuse such comparison is essentially to
>insist on situating himself outside the SF/F genre entirely; RAH is,
>so to speak, the elephant in the room. Like every SF/F writer from
>the 1950s on, Moorcock uses (consciously or not) rhetorical techniques
>and moves invented or improved by Heinlein to establish the nature of
>his discursive pseudo-realities.

Amen! I don't think I've ever been so entirely in agreement with Dan'l about
anything so much as his eloquent defense of a man who shouldn't need
defending.

Perhaps the most conspicuous instance of Heinlein in Wolfe is "The Last
Thrilling Wonder Story". From my first reading of it to today, I have always
thought that Wolfe was making some sort of dig at Heinlein -- putting him
down in some way -- that I've never been comfortable with. Maybe it's just
me.

-Roy


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