The Rolling Stones (novel)

infobox Book |
name = The Rolling Stones
title_orig =


image_caption = First edition cover of "The Rolling Stones"
author = Robert A. Heinlein
illustrator =
cover_artist = Clifford Geary
country = United States
language = English
series = Heinlein juveniles
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons
release_date = 1952
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Between Planets
followed_by = Starman Jones

"The Rolling Stones" (also published under the name "Space Family Stone" in the United Kingdom) is a 1952 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein.

A condensed version of the novel had been published earlier in "Boys' Life" (September, October, November, December 1952) under the title "Tramp Space Ship". It was published in hardcover that year by Scribner's as part of the Heinlein juveniles.

Plot summary

The Stones, a family of "Loonies" (residents of the Moon), buy a used spaceship (which by this time is less complicated than a car), overhaul it, and go sightseeing around the solar system.

The twin teenage boys, Castor and Pollux, buy used bicycles to sell on Mars, their first stop. They run afoul of import regulations and are bailed out by their feisty, colorful grandmother, Hazel. While on the planet, the twins buy their kid brother Buster a flat cat. Born pregnant and producing a soothing vibration (compare to the story "Pigs is Pigs" and "Star Trek"'s later tribbles), the endearing creature makes more trouble (and more money) than anyone would have thought possible.

The twins talk their father into taking a detour to the Asteroid Belt, where the future equivalent of a gold rush is in progress; instead of gold, the miners are prospecting for radioactive ores. The boys cannily load up on supplies and luxury goods, since history has shown that shopkeepers are much more likely to get rich than miners. On the trip, the flat cat gives birth, its children do the same, and before they know it, the Stones are knee deep in purring Martians, all happily eating the food they were going to sell. They finally put the creatures in a low-temperature hold to get them to hibernate. Once they reach the asteroids, they are pleasantly surprised to discover that the lonely miners are willing to pay for the Stones' unwanted pets. Then Buster and Hazel get lost, and Hazel almost dies before they are rescued by the twins.

At the end, they decide to indulge their wanderlust further by traveling to Saturn to see the rings.

Connections to other Heinlein works

This book makes reference to Hazel Stone as an influential figure in the Lunar Revolution. Fourteen years later, Heinlein published "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", which tells the story of that conflict, including the small, but vital role that Hazel Stone played as a child. Hazel, Castor and Pollux reappear in "The Number of the Beast" and "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls". Hazel, alone, appears in "To Sail Beyond the Sunset".

Dr. Lowell Stone ("Buster") is quoted in interstitial material in "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls", and referenced as Chief Surgeon at Ceres General. In that same book, Hazel states that Roger and Edith are now living in the extrasolar colony known as Fiddler's Green (which itself was first named in "Friday").

The generic description of the Martian met by Lowell is similar to the description of the Martians depicted in "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Red Planet".

External links

*isfdb title|id=1284|title=The Rolling Stones