Robert A. Heinlein's Life and Work Quiz

Answer: Anson MacDonald

Anson MacDonald was used by RAH for several pre-World War II stories and was derived from his own middle name and his second wife's maiden name. Ron Reynolds was a pen-name used by Ray Bradbury. John W. Campbell Jr. was the influential editor of the pulp magazine "Astounding" and would sometimes publish stories by "Anson MacDonald" and RAH in the same issue. Alfred Bester is the Hugo award winning author of "The Stars My Destination" and "The Demolished Man".

Answer: Starman Jones

He also won a Hugo award for "Stranger in a Strange Land".

Answer: future history

Some of Heinlein's later work, such as "The Number of the Beast", fits into something called "The World as Myth" which postulates an infinite number of universes, many shaped by writers.

Answer: Time Enough for Love

The "Notebooks" are a collection of sayings spanning simple advice on where to keep beer to rules for dealing with anarchists to thoughts on pacifism (he was against it).

Answer: Virginia

Virginia Heinlein died January 18, 2003. The Boston Globe reported that "she became the model for many of the red-haired and seemingly improbably talented women in Mr. Heinlein's stories." Joan Eunice Smith was a character from "I Will Fear No Evil". Estelle was the Empress from "Glory Road". Deejah Thoris was a Martian princess in Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter stories, and RAH borrowed the name for a character in "The Number of the Beast".

Answer: Life-Line

RAH earned $70 for "Life-Line", published in "Astounding" August 1939.

Answer: Revolt in 2100

If you answered "Pebble in the Sky" you're probably taking this quiz for reasons other than to congratulate yourself for your encyclopedic knowledge of Heinlein's work. It's an Asimov novel.

Answer: Oscar "Scar" Gordan

Johnny Rico, Manuel Garcia O'Kelly, and Jubal Harshaw are from "Starship Troopers", "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", and "Stranger in a Strange Land", respectively.

Answer: stobor

The stobor was fictional, a ploy to keep the students alert during the survival test. The students, after the nova kept them on the exercise planet longer than expected, assigned the name stobor to an animal they formerly called "dopey joes" when the creatures became suddenly vicious. Thanks go to JediMasterAJ for spotting an error in the question. It has been corrected.

Answer: Rodger W. Young

Rodger Young posthumously won the Medal of Honor for drawing the Japanese machine gun fire that had pinned down his unit on to himself, thereby allowing his comrades to disengage. Johnny Rico, the protagonist of "Starship Troopers", serves aboard the troop transport Rodger Young. Two lines from the World War II era song "The Ballad of Rodger Young" are quoted in the book, but for some reason are mixed together from two different verses. RAH also mentioned Young in an essay he recorded for Edward R. Murrow's "This I Believe".