Semi-mad scientist Jake Burroughs, his beautiful daughter Deety, her strong love interest Zeb Carter, Hilda Corners (“Aunt Hilda” if you prefer) and their time/dimension-traveling ship Gay Deceiver yak and smooch their way though many time periods in many universes (including that of
Lazurus Long), soon realizing the true nature of the world as pantheistic multiperson solipsism.
In Heinlein’s first version of this novel, written in 1977, the middle third of the story takes place on
Barsoom, but in the 1980 published version, Barsoom was replaced by a futuristic British Mars
—Michael Main I had to choose between a panic if the fathead got them to thinking, and a possible panic from the flash of the gun. But when a 20th gets to talking about his “rights” and what he is “owed,” things can get out of hand.
