Hypothesis du jour

If you hit 50 and you haven't written your attempt at a Heinlein
juvenile novel yet, don't bother. Whatever it is that the form requires,
older people [1] don't seem to have it.

Spider Robinson: 58 when Variable Star came out.

John Varley: 56 when Red Thunder came out.

Charles Sheffield: 60 when Higher Education came out.

Jerry Pournelle: 62 when Higher Education came out.

I think we all agree that the best of those isn't comparable to the 
worst of the RAH juveniles (I'd say which one that was but it's so
obvious which is the worst RAH juvenile that it's not worth mentioning). 

For contrast:

Alexei Pan****n: 28 when Rite of Passage came out.

John M. Ford: 36 when Growing Up Weightless came out.


Ritual admissions:

Six examples aren't nearly enough to draw a conclusion, and that 
John M. Ford didn't have much choice when it came to accompli****ng
things at a young age and he knew it. Also, I have no idea why 50
versus 60 would matter. Even at 40, which is roughly when RAH started
the Scribners series, youthiness is a distant memory or at least it 
was for me. 


1: I say "people" to be inclusive but actually this appears to be an 
almost exclusively male form.  

-- 
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll
(For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-****rt, cup and tote-bag needs)