Double Star, Robert A. Heinlein
Double Star, Robert A. Heinlein
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Double Star

Author: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrator: Bronson Pinchot

Unabridged: 6 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/14/2020

Categories: Fiction, Science Fiction


Synopsis

Every stand-in dreamed of the starring role—but what actor would risk his life for the chance?One minute, down-and-out actor Lorenzo Smythe is, as usual, in a bar, drinking away his troubles while watching his career circle the drain. Then a space pilot buys him a drink, and the next thing Smythe knows, he’s shanghaied to Mars. Smythe suddenly finds himself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career: impersonating an important politician who has been kidnapped. Peace with the Martians is at stake, and failure to pull off the act could result in interplanetary war.Smythe knows nothing of the issues concerning free interplanetary trade and equal rights for aliens and cares even less, but the handsome compensation is impossible to refuse. He soon realizes, however, that he faces a lifetime masquerade if the real politician never shows up.

About Robert A. Heinlein

Robert Anson Heinlein (1907–1988) took a variety of jobs before beginning to write science fiction in 1939. He became the dominant science fiction writer of the modern era, a writer whose influence on the field was immense. He won science fiction’s Hugo Award for best novel seven times, and several of his books were New York Times bestsellers. In 1975 he received the first Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. 

About Bronson Pinchot

Bronson Pinchot is an experienced narrator and actor who has appeared in multiple films and television shows. His film and television credits include Risky Business, Beverly Hills Cop, True Romance, and Perfect Strangers. A lover of Greek Revival architecture and soft shell crab, he currently resides in Manhattan.


Reviews

Review also posted at Fantasy Literature. In Double Star, a 1956 Robert Heinlein novella, Lawrence Smith (aka Lorenzo Smythe or "Lorenzo the Great"), an out-of-work actor, accepts a job to impersonate a man for a few days, without, perhaps, asking as many questions about the job as he should have. H......more

Goodreads review by Manny

Brian Aldiss, in Trillion Year Spree, says this is Heinlein's most enjoyable novel. Who am I to fault his judgment? It is, indeed, a lot of fun: pathetic, failed actor Laurence Smith (stage name, "Lorenzo Smythe") is hired to impersonate John Joseph Bonforte, leader of the Expansionist party, and th......more


Quotes

“In Double Star you can smell and feel and practically taste the future.” Chicago Tribune

“The story moves at a sharp pace, helped along by Heinlein’s slick prose and the kind of wry good humor demonstrated when he describes the multiconsonant names he has ascribed to his Martians as sounding like ‘a leaking faucet.’” The Guardian (London)

“In this intricately plotted novel of interplanetary intrigue, Heinlein is at his best.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Not too far flung nor far fetched.”  Kirkus Reviews