I didn’t see your discussion of the first part of Gulf, but it’s worth mentioning the trick issue in which that appeared. A year earlier, a fan had written a letter of comment enthusiastically praising the contents of a 1949 issue which did not yet exist. The editor, John W. Campbell, did his best to assemble an actual issue to match. Heinlein was no longer writing for Astounding at that point, but he agreed to have a novelette appear in two installments, as if it was the novel described in the letter, and with the title “Gulf” cited in the letter reinterpreted as the gap between ordinary humans and Homo superior. That accounts for some of the awkwardness in the story as published.
I didn’t see your discussion of the first part of Gulf, but it’s worth mentioning the trick issue in which that appeared. A year earlier, a fan had written a letter of comment enthusiastically praising the contents of a 1949 issue which did not yet exist. The editor, John W. Campbell, did his best to assemble an actual issue to match. Heinlein was no longer writing for Astounding at that point, but he agreed to have a novelette appear in two installments, as if it was the novel described in the letter, and with the title “Gulf” cited in the letter reinterpreted as the gap between ordinary humans and Homo superior. That accounts for some of the awkwardness in the story as published.
This is helpful and interesting. I began my read thru at kind of a random place in 1949, so missed that 1948 issue. Thanks.