Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master

The New Collected Works portion of this memorial to Heinlein ( Stranger in a Strange Land ) is a delight. Best of these stories, essays and speeches are ``Shooting Destination Moon ,'' an essay on the movie that follows the story on which the film was based, and the prescient Guest of Honor speeches from the World Science Fiction Conventions of 1941 and 1961. Heinlein's contributions, while not necessarily representing his best work, are always thought-provoking and never boring. In contrast, the tributes by such luminaries as Tom Clancy, L. Sprague and Catherine Crook de Camp, Arthur C. Clarke and Spider Robinson offer tedious variations on adulation. The sole exception is Larry Niven's story ``The Return of William Proxmire,'' in which the senator blocks the space program with a time machine. He keeps Heinlein in the Navy and forestalls the body of writing that would influence many to pursue careers in space. Kondo is director of the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite observatory at Goddard Space Flight Center. (Feb.)