Why are there multiple versions of the short story “Let There Be Light”?
There are two basic versions of the short story “Let There Be Light” in print, as well as a third minor variant. The short story was published in Super Science Stories as originally written. This version, known as the “raunchy” or “dirty” version, is more adult in tone and fairly risque for the venue and era. When this story was collected in The Man Who Sold the Moon, it was first included in original form. For reasons that have never been made completely clear, a second version of this collection was later published with the Foreword and two works omitted. “Let There Be Light” was included in the shorter edition, but in a cleaned-up version of uncertain origin. (The changes are numerous but slight, and along the lines of cutting “figure like a strip-dancer” to “figure like a dancer.”) The three versions can be identified by locating the reference to the celebrity to whom Dr. Martin is compared. The “raunchy” version compares her to Sally Rand, a noted fan-dancer with whom Heinlein sha
