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Virginia Heinlein died Jan. 18 at a retirement community in Atlantic Beach, Fla. She was 86. Heinlein died in her sleep after a long struggle with respiratory illness and a broken hip suffered on Thanksgiving. Her husband's muse, manager and literary guardian, Virginia Heinlein was widely known and respected in the science fiction community for her devotion to the Heinlein legacy after the prolific writer's death in 1988 at the age of 80. She was responsible for the posthumous publication of the original, uncut manuscript of Stranger in a Strange Land in 1990, as well as for Grumbles From the Grave, a selection of his letters; the travel memoir Tramp Royale; and a political handbook, Take Back Your Government. Robert Heinlein was considered by many to be the most influential science fiction author since H.G. Wells. During a five-decade career that produced 37 novels and 11 short-story collections, he won an unprecedented four Hugo Awards for Best Novel.
Stranger in a Strange Land was his best-known work. The story behind the novel began with the November 1948 issue of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. In keeping with the speculative nature of the genre, a letter writer complimented the editor on an issue a year in the future, going so far as to mention stories by specific writers. The editor, John...