A creepy
novella by
Robert A. Heinlein, also the title of an
anthology of shorter
Heinlein works:
- The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag
- The Man Who Travelled in Elephants
- "All You Zombies" (The quotation marks are in the title; hassle the author.)
- They
- Our Fair City
- "And He Built a Crooked House" (Ditto on the quotation marks.)
Spoilers
The
conceit of the story is that
our universe was created by a young god as an entry in a competition; "
Jonathan Hoag" is the cover identity of an older god, one of the judges. The universe is judged good, except for the inclusion of some evil demonic beings called
The Sons of the Bird, who end up tormenting our protagonist and his lovely wife. Hoag removes
The Sons of the Bird. It's really a suspense/horror thing, one of
Heinlein's few departures from
science fiction under his own name.