The Number of the Beast, with a completely different story-line. The newly reconstructed novel pays homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs and E. E. “Doc” Smith. It was edited by Patrick Lobrutto. Some reviewers describe the newly reconstructed novel as more in line with the style of a traditional Heinlein novel than was The Number of the Beast. The Pursuit of the Pankera was considered superior to the original version of The Number of the Beast by some reviewers. Both The Pursuit of the Pankera and a new edition of The Number of the Beast were published in March 2020. The new edition of the latter shares the subtitle of The Pursuit of the Pankera, hence entitled The Number of the Beast: A Parallel Novel about Parallel Universes. Movies Heinlein contributed to the final draft of the script for Destination Moon (1950) and served as a technical adviser for the film. Heinlein also shared screenwriting credit for Project Moonbase (1953). Influences The primary influence on Heinlein's writing style may have been Rudyard Kipling. Kipling is the first known modern example of "indirect exposition", a writing technique for which Heinlein later became famous. In his famous text on "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction", Heinlein quotes Kipling: Stranger in a Strange Land originated as a modernized version of Kipling's The Jungle Book. His wife suggested that the child be raised by Martians instead of wolves. Likewise, Citizen of the Galaxy can be seen as a reboot of Kipling's novel Kim. The Starship Troopers idea of needing to serve in the military in order to vote can be found in Kipling's "The Army of a Dream": Poul Anderson once said of Kipling's science fiction story "As Easy as A.B.C.", "a wonderful science fiction yarn, showing the same eye for detail that would later distinguish the work of Robert Heinlein". Heinlein described himself as also being influenced by George Bernard Shaw, having read most of his plays. Shaw is an example of an earlier author who used the competent man, a favorite Heinlein archetype. He denied, though, any direct influence of Back to Methuselah on Methuselah's Children. Views Heinlein's books probe a range of ideas about a range of topics such as sex, race, politics, and the military. Many were seen as radical or as ahead of their time in their social criticism. His books have inspired considerable debate about the specifics, and the