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Glory Road is a fantasy novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1963.
Discharged from the war in Vietnam, Oscar sits in a cafe in France hoping to win the Irish Sweepstakes. Into his life walks a beautiful woman (witch or empress?) who brings him on a quest to retrieve the Egg of the Phoenix. (When he objects that the phoenix does not lay eggs, she tells him that that is why it is uniquely valuable.) Assisted by Rufo (shameless rake or comparative culturologist), he treads the glory road in swashbuckling style.
Glory Road is Heinlein with no apologies for the nature of his characters and plot. He seems to have decided to go with his strengths: an excellent picaresque plot, monsters (wait till you meet Igli!) and villains, barons and empresses, swords and hard science fiction are served up in a delightful confection. These elements are commingled with other, technical elements conceived at a high level.
For example, the art of fencing is revealed in this book in some detail and quite accurately. Various social structures are explored, from that of a "medieval barony" to a "galactic empire." The psychology of how a hero may be motivated, or not motivated, is described creatively.
This book is a worthy successor to books of the 'thirties about the legends of King Arthur's knights, in a science fiction context,
for example, T.H. White's The Once and Future King or Hal Foster's Prince Valiant.
Editions
- January 1963, Gregg Press, hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 0839824483
- January 1976, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425028348
- January 1976, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425031349
- November 1977, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425037835
- October 1979, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425043495
- April 1982, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425048659
- May 1983, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425064387
- February 1984, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425073114
- December 1984, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425081567
- August 1985, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425088987
- August 1986, Berkley Publishing Group, paperback, ISBN 0425096661
- August 1, 1991, Ace Books, paperback, ISBN 0441294014
- May 1, 1993, Baen, hardcover, 304 pages, ISBN 0671721674
- January 1, 1996, Baen, paperback, 304 pages, ISBN 0671877046
- October 1, 1999, Sagebrush, library binding, ISBN 078571328X
- October 1, 2004, Tor Books, hardcover, 320 pages, ISBN 0765312212
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