Yesterday I finally received what surely is the strangest and rarest piece of Heinlein art I have ever encountered personally: the original typed manuscript for “The Year of the Jackpot,” an engaging and ultimately moving tale that was published as the cover story of the March 1952 issue of Galaxy.
I had always found the piece enjoyable and even in some regards instructive, and I drew upon it, along with Heinlein’s early postwar “world-saving” articles and Farnham’s Freehold and The Number of the Beast and whatnot when I wrote the chapter titled “ ‘Locked in Somewhere Safe’: Robert A. Heinlein and the Bomb Shelter” in my 2015 Critical Insights: Robert A. Heinlein from Salem Press. Naturally, the Pulp Magazines page of my Heinlein Cover Art galleries contains both the cover art from original Galaxy appearance, along with the interiors.
But now... Now I have encountered the original manuscript of this story, typed by Heinlein himself, submitted by agent Lurton Blassingame, and hand-marked by the editor at Galaxy. I have opened the folder and held the yellowed pages in my own hands. I have smelled them. Wow, what an exciting find this is for me—47 pages of one-of-a-kind science fiction history. To me, this is even more special than the signed copy of a book. Heinlein might have signed a number of various books here and there...but he only submitted a single manuscript copy of this story for publication, and this is it.
In celebration I have opened up a new sub-page under Pulp Magazines, specifically for The Year of the Jackpot Manuscript, and for the delight and edification of like-minded Heinlein aficionados I hope to scan all pages there.
Enjoy!
Rafeeq
I had always found the piece enjoyable and even in some regards instructive, and I drew upon it, along with Heinlein’s early postwar “world-saving” articles and Farnham’s Freehold and The Number of the Beast and whatnot when I wrote the chapter titled “ ‘Locked in Somewhere Safe’: Robert A. Heinlein and the Bomb Shelter” in my 2015 Critical Insights: Robert A. Heinlein from Salem Press. Naturally, the Pulp Magazines page of my Heinlein Cover Art galleries contains both the cover art from original Galaxy appearance, along with the interiors.
But now... Now I have encountered the original manuscript of this story, typed by Heinlein himself, submitted by agent Lurton Blassingame, and hand-marked by the editor at Galaxy. I have opened the folder and held the yellowed pages in my own hands. I have smelled them. Wow, what an exciting find this is for me—47 pages of one-of-a-kind science fiction history. To me, this is even more special than the signed copy of a book. Heinlein might have signed a number of various books here and there...but he only submitted a single manuscript copy of this story for publication, and this is it.
In celebration I have opened up a new sub-page under Pulp Magazines, specifically for The Year of the Jackpot Manuscript, and for the delight and edification of like-minded Heinlein aficionados I hope to scan all pages there.
Enjoy!
Rafeeq
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