SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

What version are you reading?

I found my copy last night, and while I thought it would be the one shown in the photo above, it was the 1984 publication that said it contained the text of the original published version. I know I have read the other one, though and I just don't remember the differences. I will have to see if I can pick up the other version to compare the two.

I read the uncut version. I should look up the links that compared the versions again. It was in the "Heinlein or Not" thead.

ETA: Sorry, that link was in the October results thread, and I can't find it. Does anyone have the links comparing the two versions?

I'm reading one published in 1987, and I believe it's a cut version:

Stranger in a Strange Land

Mine has the cover in the group photo and says "The Original Uncut Version" on it

I read one that was printed in 1968. It was the 50th printing and it's the most famous science fiction novel ever written. Is that the subtitle?

Mine is the one in the group photo too (published by Ace) but nowhere does it say whether it's the uncut version or not. I looked all through it before buying and in the end just had to shrug.

It's fairly thick for a scifi book, especially one from the 60s - they tend to be pretty slim - so I figured it was probably the uncut one.

Sandi, mine also says that it's the most famous scifi book - that's quite a big claim! How do you even judge a thing? Personally I don't think it should be just sales, I think it's also to do with academic and magazine articles, movies, spin-offs, book clubs etc. I don't consider this one to be as famous as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Do Android's Dream... or Ender's Game - such books continue to attract readers no matter how old they get. I'd never heard of this book before. I'm not a big scifi reader but at least I'd heard of Ender's Game! Know what I mean?

You can check your version by ISBN here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger...

Kait, here is an excerpt from the post containing the info on the aritcles:

...the Heinlein society has an article called Stranger vs. Stranger http://www.heinleinsociety.org... which compares passages between the two versions and gives a little history.

Here is another article http://www.wegrokit.com/rah-ti... entitled Stranger Compared. In particular the censorship cuts section (I don't want to give anything away) points to one scene that we noted a particular difference in and therefore colored our entire interpretation of the "nest" culture....

the October poll results thread is now in the old closed out threads section near the bottom of the main group page... http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

Ooh, Thank you Vorlady!

:-)

I hope you find the articles interesting ...

My copy only claims that it's "ONE of the most popular science fiction novels ever published" (my emphasis). I think these publishers need to figure out WHICH superlative they're going to use. :)

I just finished reading, it is too bad the links in message 8 are no good anymore! I wanted to see the difference in the two books.

Angie, that's weird they got messed up. Here they are:

http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/wo...

http://www.wegrokit.com/rah-titl.htm

The differences in the two versions can be summed up with five words: "author's hubris and publishing greed." Having read both versions, the 'unabridged' version, first published in the mid-1980s, before Heinlein died, was both his preferred version, with a hundred+ pages of additional content. It was also the publisher's opportunity to 'resell' the book for an extra nickel.

IMO, the original editing makes a better novel, i.e. the central themes and character development are diluted from the 'unabridged' version. Again IMO this differs from another popular 'authors edition', The Stand, with King's original work, at over 1000 pages, deemed too massive for publication at the time...the 'unabridged' Stand is a better read.

Thanks Jim! I tried to look at my library for the original cut version but they seem to only have the new uncut version. I wonder if the cut one is even available anymore?

You're welcome. Try Amazon or ebay. Personally, I use bookmooch or paperbackswap almost exclusively now (Thanks Jon!) I'd agree about going for the edited version. I haven't read the other & have no desire to. Heinlein's preaching is what killed most of his post 1970 books for me.