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The Door into Summer is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1957.
The novel opens in the year 1970. A mechanical engineer named Daniel Boone Davis has invented a robot capable of doing household chores and more, but his two-timing fiancée seduces his partner into gaining control of the company the three of them own. Bitter about his loss, he chooses "cold sleep" (suspended animation) with his pet cat, hoping to wake up thirty years later to a brighter future. What he finds upon revival makes him desperate to return to his past.
Perhaps the book's greatest attraction to a 21st century reader is that the future it paints is of years already past. The novel alternates settings between 1970 and 2000/1, and Heinlein describes each setting with enough detail to make it interesting to see what he got almost right and what he missed.
The novel does not fit neatly into either hard science fiction (due to its lack of focus on the science) or soft science fiction (due to its lack of substantive character development). Its narrative tone, the protagonist's quest, even the prominent role given to a cat is reminescent of the work of Kinky Friedman, though it is not crime fiction except in the broadest sense of that category.
The novel's use of time travel and the implications of going back in time explores a classic topic of the genre. Less classic is a minor subplot exploiting time travel as a way around what would otherwise be a pedophilic relationship between the protagonist and his partner's stepdaughter.
Editions
- 1957, Signet, paperback, ISBN 0451085744
- June 1, 1957, Doubleday, hardcover, ISBN 9997412052
- December 31, 1967, Orion Publishing Co, hardcover, ISBN 0575036982
- 1979, Gregg Press, 188 pages, ISBN 0839825064
- October 12, 1986, Del Rey, paperback, 304 pages, ISBN 0345330129
- October 1993, Ballantine Books, paperback, ISBN 9994963260
- June 17, 1997, Del Rey, paperback, 304 pages, ISBN 0345413997
- August 24, 2000, Gollancz, paperback, 192 pages, ISBN 0575070544
- October 1, 2001, Sagebrush, library binding, ISBN 0613134672
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