It’s Good But Is It Good Science Fiction?

Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein

Cover by Frank Kelly Freas

Greetings and salutations! In this issue of the Official William Emmons Books Newsletter I’ll be sharing my thoughts on Robert A. Heinlein’s 1956 novel Double Star, a book about an out of luck actor who fakes it until he makes filling in for a prominent interplanetary politician who has been kidnapped. The reflection will be more about my ideas about what makes good science fiction than about the novel itself.

Double Star was originally serialized in the February through April issues of Astounding Science Fiction which can be viewed here, here, and here. I enjoyed listening to the 2020 Blackstone audiobook of this novel read by Bronson Pinchot. Pinchot gets the voices just right, especially the oh so dramatic narrator-protagonist, thespian Lorenzo Smythe.

It was an engaging listen but early on I got a sinking feeling that there isn’t much substance to this novel especially not of the science fiction variety. Sure there are Martians, spaceships, and speculations about what systemwide politics might be like in an interplanetary era—all things welcome in a science fiction story—but the thing driving the story is the drama of Smythe getting into the role of politician John Joseph Bonforte and the suspense created by Smythe being forced to stay in the role longer and longer by exigent circumstances.

The questions posed are, “Will he keep going?” and, “Can he pull it off?” It doesn’t get deeper than that. There’s not a science fiction kernel that Heinlein is meditating on or developing. In the end, you have been entertained and to a lesser extent propagandized on Heinlein’s views about free trade.

I’ve hypothesized before that a story can be good science fiction even if it is technically flawed so long as it has good or interesting ideas. Double Star is making me have to update and expand this hypothesis. Firstly, my hypothesis has to be updated with the clarification that the good or interesting ideas have to be science fiction ideas. Secondly, the hypothesis should be expanded to state its inverse. A work of science fiction can be technically well crafted but still be bad science fiction on the basis of its science fiction ideas (or lack thereof).

I fear I have taken us into dangerous territory with this hypothesis because it forces me to either define the concept of a “science fiction idea” or simply wave my hands. The latter would not advance anyone’s understanding, so for now let’s use the following working definition. A science fiction idea is an idea involving speculative science, including speculative social science.

Note that this is a hypothesis dealing with what makes science fiction good rather than a hypothesis about what makes science fiction science fiction—a stickier wicket. Moreover, I’m intentionally using the term hypothesis because I intend to test it out by reading a lot more science fiction and seeing if it’s accurate.

Many consider science fiction to merely be a form of entertainment. Those folks won’t be able to get on my level here. But I’m enough of a traditionalist of a certain kind to think that the literature is supposed to be edifying. One needs science fiction ideas for that.

And I’m not arguing that science fiction ought not to be plot- or character-driven. I love The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester and Sirius by Olaf Stapledon and recently enjoyed wrestling with A Case of Conscience by James Blish—all of these are character-driven novels but they’re also all swimming with science fiction ideas.

By contrast, the idea in Double Star is that of an actor replacing a politician. This is a pretty good idea for a story and it’s well-executed. But as executed, it’s not a science fiction idea. Smythe just studies reels of the subject and applied his trade. You could change the setting of this story to the present in a real or Ruritanian country without much of a problem. The science fiction is window dressing.

This is shorter than my usual missives but that’s because I have less to work with than usual. Still it’s been productive for me and I hope for you as well. I’ll be back with something more typical near the beginning of next week.

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