The Pursuit of the Pankera is a previously unpublished Robert Heinlein novel… wait, WHAT?
Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Number of the Beast, which was published in 1980. In the book Zeb, Deety, Hilda and Jake are ambushed by the alien “Black Hats” and barely escape with their lives on a specially configured vehicle (the Gay Deceiver) which can travel along various planes of existence, allowing them to visit parallel universes.
However, unknown to most fans, Heinlein had already written a “parallel” novel about the four characters and parallel universes in 1977. He effectively wrote two parallel novels about parallel universes. The novels share the same start, but as soon as the Gay Deceiver is used to transport them to a parallel universe, each book transports them to a totally different parallel world.
Apparently this one is more like early Heinlein, as opposed to NotB. Which is… well. I don’t like to say anything bad about Heinlein’s last few books, so.
Hopefully a clearer explanation is given for the egregiously delayed publication. The vague use of copyright as an excuse is grossly insufficient.
I have no problem criticizing them at all. Number of the Beast should be hidden from new science fiction fans until they’ve had a chance to consume at least five other Heinlein novels. It was the first one I read, and I never picked up another Heinlein novel until I was over 40. That is a lot of goram time lost.
I mainly remember The Number of the Beast as an excellent thing for adolescent boys to keep on their nightstand in the pre-internet days.
Right next to the Kleenex.