From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 21:46:19 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
Nicoll) wrote:

In article <luvunk19qfnboebl9b70alk1e2ivosovha@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 14:22:54 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
Nicoll) wrote:

The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein

Can the world, and more importantly, AMERICA! (patriotic song
here) fend off a subversive attack from space?

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/death-and-destruction

I saw the movie. You are correct: it was not good.

Interestingly, this joins /Farmham's Freehold/ on the list of "e-books
of Heinlein's works that came out after my great rereading some years
ago". So I will be reading it after /Farmham's Freehold/.

Which I am clearly reading again for the very first time. I had
completely forgotten the first part of the book, where they are in the >>woods fending for themselves. I have no idea how long that lasts.

I also have no idea if the edition of /The Puppet Masters/ is the
original or the expanded version. If I remember your sample of the >>difference, I should be able to tell. I did not recognize the plot at
all when I saw the /The Puppet Masters/ movie, so either the film is
worse than I thought or this may be a book I never read before. Only
time will tell.

As to related films, /Slither/ has something similar going on. This
film plays as if it were a standard B-movie of the past, yet it is
very well done.

If the opening two paragraphs are

Were they truly intelligent? By themselves, that is? I don't
know and I don't know how we can ever find out.

If they were not truly intelligent, I hope I never live to see us
tangle with anything at all like them which is intelligent. I know who
will lose. Me. You. The so-called human race.

Then it is the original.

I started it yesteday.
It is indeed the original. By this test, at least.
For those interested: <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VXVBSKG?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_digi_asin_title_351>
is the eBook.
Note: past experience suggests that, occasionally, those helpful
alternatives (Audiobook, Hardcover, Paperback) listed off to the side
may or may not be the same original edition as the item they are
attached to is.
IOW, I can /not/ guarantee that any of those are the original. Each of
them may be, or may not be.
Such is the price we pay for tolerating idiots who add stuff back to already-published books.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
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