The Rolling Stones (novel)
First edition cover
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| Author | Robert A. Heinlein |
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| Cover artist | Clifford Geary |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Heinlein juveniles |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
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Publication date
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1952 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| 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.
The Stones, a family of "Loonies" (residents of the Moon, known as "Luna" in Latin), purchase and rebuild a used spaceship, and go sightseeing around the Solar System.
The twin teenage boys, Castor and Pollux, buy used bicycles to sell on Mars, their first stop, where they run afoul of import regulations and are freed by their grandmother Hazel Stone. While on Mars, the twins buy their brother Buster a native Martian creature called a flat cat, born pregnant and producing a soothing vibration, as a pet.
In the asteroid belt, where the equivalent of a gold rush is in progress prospecting for radioactive ores, the twins obtain supplies and luxury goods, on the principle that it is mostly shopkeepers, not miners, who get rich during gold rushes. En route, the flat cat and its offspring overpopulate the ship so the family places them in hibernation and later sells them to the miners. Subsequently, the family sets out to see the rings of Saturn.
Heinlein and his wife Virginia spent hours in research, fiercely dedicated to getting it right for their readers.
Heinlein later credited the 1905 Ellis Parker Butler short story "Pigs Is Pigs" with informing the flat cat incident. A similar concept and plotline appeared in the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". According to screenwriter David Gerrold, the show's producers noticed similarities in the two stories and asked Heinlein for permission to use the idea. Heinlein asked for an autographed copy of the script, but otherwise did not object, noting that both stories owed something to the Butler story "and possibly to Noah".
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