Science Fiction & Fantasy at Special Collections

Heinlein, Robert A. (Robert Anson), 1907-1988, The puppet masters. Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, 1951. 219 p. 21 cm. Signed and inscribed first edition. Jones Hall Rare Books (Heinlein/Deutsch) PZ3.H364 Pu

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) is one of the classic names of science fiction. Over three months in 1998, Random House conducted an extensive Internet poll that resulted in their list of the 100 best English-language novels of the Twentieth Century. Seven books by Heinlein made the cut: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (15th), Stranger in a Strange Land (16th), Starship Troopers (63rd), The Door into Summer (73rd), The Puppet Masters (84th), Double Star (87th) and Citizen of the Galaxy (88th).

The Puppet Masters is one of the finer (if not the founding) examples of the alien invasion/paranoia subgenre, a subgenre commonly associated with the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s. It has been translated into Polish, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and twice made into movies. The 1956 cheese fest, The Brain Eaters, was a clear ripoff of his novel and Heinlein took the producers to court. An out of court settlement gave Heinlein financial compensation and the right to demand that the most identifiable Heinlein material be removed.

The movie Robert A. Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters (the convoluted title was due to a conflict with the titles of a television series and a series of mostly straight-to-video movies) appeared in 1994. It attempted to bring serious production values to the work and had the credibility of a major star, Donald Sutherland. However, it earned its critical and box office failure.

Many of Heinlein’s works were cut significantly before their initial publication, typically by editors. The Puppet Masters was cut by Heinlein himself. It was originally published in serialized form in the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction in three installments, September, October, and November 1951, and Heinlein worked with the magazine’s editor to shorten it and divide it into three appropriate parts for serialization. Heinlein further shortened it for the book’s publication that same year. 

With his death in 1988, many publishing contracts and options were terminated, and his widow, Virginia Heinlein, was free to renegotiate terms. She often chose to have the original, uncut versions of the manuscripts published, and the uncut version of The Puppet Masters was published in 1990.