Heinlein & Larry Niven are my two favorite SF authors. I have many of Heinlein's works, from the juveniles like Podkayne of Mars to the mature audience titles like Stranger, Job, etc. Lazarus Long stories are almost always enjoyable. I was less enthused, though, about his works that came out around The Number of the Beast and later. While the stories were still fine, I found that the use of sex was more & more gratuitous and sometimes was a distraction. And this even though I was in my teens & 20s at the time. Grumbles from the Grave was an interesting read to understand RAH himself & his spin on the publishing process.
Niven's works come at you from a different approach than Heinlein, but he is still a great storyteller. I especially like his desire to make the SF as close to S vs. F as possible. A World Out of Time was the novel that got me into SF to begin with way back in 7th/8th grade. And if you hadn't read it, go read Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex; its a 'serious' take on Superman & Lois Lane trying to concieve a child; very funny. It's a short story included in one of his anthologies.
To stay on topic, my American view is that the French author is perfectly entitled to criticize any religion he chooses, including his own. It is too bad the French seem to think there's a problem with this and that they are actually banding together to fight him. Here, it would be the reverse: the ACLU would be right beside him defending him 'til the last breath.
- Fushigi
