Today marks the centennial of Robert Heinlein‘s birth. To mark the occasion, there is a convention in Kansas City this weekend. I’m sorry I’m missing it, but I’m seldom able to attend out-of-town conventions these days.
He’s one of my favorite SF authors, and, though I never met him, we have something in common – besides being graduates of the U. S. Naval Academy (although he predated me by a number of years), we both fenced for Navy. In Starship Troopers, one of the characters shares the last name of Andre Deladrier, who was my coach at Navy.
In his office in the fencing loft, Coach Deladrier kept a rusty antique rapier, which he once told me had belonged to his incarnation in an earlier life. I can’t say I believe in reincarnation, but I think I’d like to know about my earlier lives, if there were any. If there is reincarnation, though, I’m not certain my future incarnations would care to know about this life.