Terry Goodkind interview

I must confess I have not been able to make it through any of Goodkind's massive fantasy tomes. When the first book I received was volume seven or eight in an on-going series, it's tough to get into the plot. However, Goodkind has been nominated several times in the past for the Prometheus Award, and his books are deeply influenced by Objectivist ideas. Fans of Goodkind (or those interested in individualism in fiction) might be interested in a new and lengthy interview published online yesterday.

Firefly/Serenity news

1. No excuses. The new Special edition DVD of Serenity is on sale at Amazon for the sweet price of $8.99

2. Dark Horse Comics announces a new set of Serenity comic books.

3. Firefly/Serenity themed lunchboxes (again, from Dark Horse at same link as above).

Poetic justice

This is too, too funny.

The Edge of Reason

It's going to be a long wait until May 2008, when Melinda Snodgrass's new novel is published. This looks like a killer book. Bigger cover at Snodgrass's web site.

Early jump on nominees

While the winner of this year's Prometheus Award is still touring Japan fresh from receiving his prize at the 2007 WorldCon, Pyr (an imprint of Prometheus Books - no connection) has posted a notice on their blog about the first public nominee of the 2008 Prometheus Award - Adam Roberts' Gradisil.

Charles Stross wins Prometheus Award

Direct from Yokohama, Stross's Glasshouse garners the 2007 Prometheus Award (a real gold coin). When I mulled over my vote a couple of months ago, this was the novel I placed first.

Dystopian books

The Guardian (UK) posts a list of it's top 10 dystopian novels. I have read eight of the ten, the only exceptions being the Meg Rosoff novel, of which I've never heard, and the James Clavell book. I've read several of his novels, but never heard of this story.

This is all the constitution we need

I wanted to link to the image from BBC to give proper credit, but couldn't figure out how. Here's comrade Hugo talking about changes to Venezuela's constitution.

Deep liberty

Over at Deep Genre, a long essay on libertarian sf by Lois Tilton. The essay is somewhat shallow, thinking that libertarian utopia can only be achieved by an army of Robinson Crusoes dropped on their own planets.

A single, naked libertarian dropped onto a virgin terrestrial planet with nothing more than a Swiss Army knife or stone hand axe would indeed enjoy the absolute liberty that he [it is usually he] can only dream of on today’s Earth. Happily unencumbered by bureaucrats or environmental regulations, he would be free to carve his way through forests, dig his way through mountains, plow his way across the plains, fish his way through the seas, and otherwise plunder his world to his heart’s content without let or hindrance.

Unfortunately, no works or authors are cited, so Tilton can make brazen statements without having to worry about any proof, or face any refutation. Consider her concept of freedom. Confusing it with the absence of cost, she can say something like this: "On the mythical frontier, everything is free, and here we can see the double meaning of the term. In this idealized setting, the air is free, and the water; meat is free for the hunting, wood is free for the hewing, minerals free for the mining." I wonder if she has read Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, or remembers Heinlein's TANSTAAFL?

But the main thrust of the essay is that libertarian sf writers and fans believe they only can achieve freedom in space, that they have abandoned Earth to the collectivists. Bosh and piddle, I would say. Libertarians are as passionate about freedom right here, right now, as they are in space. But many libertarian sf fans and many writers firmly believe that humans should get into space to because we can't put all our eggs in one fragile, blue basket.

I wish Tilton would provide us concrete examples to back up her thesis. Still, her essay has already generated some interesting comments.

New political label: techie/libertarian

I have not read the subject of this brief review, but the blog called The Stars my Destination speculates about the politics of Matthew Jarpe's novel, Radio Freefall. The verdict of the reviewer is that's somewhat libertarian, so it might be worth while for me to check out in the context of the Prometheus newsletter, as well the Prometheus Awards. Anyone who has read this rock 'n roll inspired book is welcome to post comments in the affirmative or negative.

Libertarian sf at LRC

An all too brief overview of recent movies and books in the sf genre that contain elements of liberty. No mention of Babylon 5, however.

The libertarian divide

Randy Barnett's recent Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal appears as a modern pro-war libertarian manifesto. Quite a few libertarian commentators have responded to the effect that a pro-war libertarian is a contradiction in terms. Barnett's original thesis, that Ron Paul's anti-war stance vis a vis Iraq is not the only view in the libertarian movement, is probably true. I certainly don't agree with Barnett's theories on libertraianism and war. Also, not every libertarian supports Paul, but that doesn't meant they don't agree with his views on the war. Ron Paul has some libertarian qualities, but quite a few other bizarre and statist views (immigration, for example). This doesn't stop the minarchists from beating loudly on the Ron Paul drum. Lew Rockwell's web site and blog usually contain several Paul stories a day. And while Justin Raimondo makes some good points in this essay, I strong disagree with his concluding words, that "Ron Paul is the authentic voice of the libertarian movement." Paul, running as a Republican, is the authentic voice of the libertarian movement? Give me a break. Sure, Paul probably will be the last nail in the coffin of the Libertarian Party (a good thing, really), but by the end of 2007 he will be a non-candidate, and the libertarians hooked on politics will need to find a new fix.

Latest edition of Prometheus nears completion

Little posting of last due to work on the current issue, plus being knocked out of commission for over a week due to a bad cold. Right now I'm making final edits to a couple of stories. I'm starting to look ahead to the next issue, which is a temptation I need to resist until this one is in the mail.

I've stubbornly stuck to a 12-page format the past year, but find that I'm writing 60-80% of the more recent issues. So, after cutting the page count down from 16 to 12 for the same reason last year, I may now need to drop the issue down to 8 pages, until I can get more contributions. I might as well look into moving everything online otherwise. That's where all the action is these days anyway, and people writing about liberty and science fiction can get their bylines out faster via the internet, along with the options of commentary, linking, and a massive audience. Why should an organization with the word "futurist" in its name stick to a print newsletter? Anyway, the current issue currently contains these items:

Matthew Gaylor, RIP
Book Reviews:
The Guardener’s Tale, by Bruce Boston
The Mount, by Carol Emshwiller
Giant Lizards from Another Star, by Ken MacLeod
Brasyl, by Ian McDonald,
Glorifying Terrorism, edited by Farah Mendelsohn
Mappa Mundi, by Justina Robson
Empire, by Orson Scott Card
The Jack Vance Treasury, by Jack Vance
Off Armageddon Reef, by David Weber
Movie Reviews:
Sophie Schöll: The Final Days
Army of Shadows
Letters, plus news of the LFS Community on Live Journal

Zimbabwe: Death of a Nation

If this wasn't so sad, it would be almost funny, a perfect exercise in planned chaos. By waving the legislative pen to slash prices, the Mugabe government shows yet again reckless disregard for human life. Stop the government money press, boot out that thug in power, and bring about some genuine reforms. Otherwise this country will vanish into a whirlwind of destruction.

Glasshouse redux

In a comment thread below on Glasshouse, Sunni Maravillosa (whose blog and Salon I regularly read), talks about the criteria that "Prometheus finalists' content [be] firmly in the pro-freedom camp," and whether or not Glasshouse fits this recipe. I'd like to think that it does fall into this camp, as the protagonist holds very individualist view about life and self-defense. Also, the villains in the books are mind-controllers who spread their views via worms and viruses that re-write how people think, and they eradicate those who they believe are not susceptible to such a virus (which is basically identity theft on a large scale). In the experiment that is the glasshouse itself, you can also see how the protagonist, Robin, reacts to the conformism of the people in the village as well the those running the experiment. There's a mini-revolution within the glasshouse experiment, and in Robin's flashback as well as the events prior to him entering the experiment we see a post-human society where freedom to remold your self exists almost totally. That this society at one time almost was wiped out points to conflicts being eternal. Government is hardly present in the post-human society, and no one forces you to back your self up should you chose this.

As far as The Prisoner, I have only seen it on VHS tapes from a few years ago, and remember the fake village where Patrick McGoohan's character wakes up. It was a bizarre, self-contained place of happiness and conformity, much like in Glasshouse. Everyone talks about "the village," and in Glasshouse there's a sign that says "Welcome to the village," which to me is a very direct allusion. The taxis in Glasshouse also seem to mirror those in The Prisoner. I probably am reading too much into this allusion.

"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own."

Out Stealing Horses

A Norwegian writer wins one of the richest literary prizes available, for the translation of his 2003 novel. I happen to have the Norwegian version right next to me. Admittedly it was third in line of the Norwegian books on my list to read (my small library is augmented once or twice a year), but it sounds enticing enough to bump it up to next in line.

Glasshouse review

Sunni Maravillosa posts her review of Charles Stross' novel Glasshouse. I did note some similarities between Stross novel and John C. Wright's The Golden Age while reading the former, as she also notes, but then again these are now almost standard sf tropes. Glasshouse is also a sequel of sorts to Accelerando, which was based on several short stories and novellas, and many of these deal with the same themes. Despite its shortcomings, I do believe Glasshouse is the best of the five Prometheus Award finalists. I have now read all the nominees, and I believe the choice comes down between Glasshouse and Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End. I am still mulling my vote, but see no clear cut winner yet. As far as nominees for the 2008 Prometheus Award, I'm firmly behind Adam Roberts' Gradisil, which (as Bruce Sterling would say) rocks hard.

A Scanner Darkly

In my quest to present the entire run of Prometheus online in PDF format, I need to find a tool that allows merging of PDF single PDF files into one document. Today I found a link to a solution on Max OS X hints. This involves using Image Capture (which comes with every new Mac), plus loading a freeware app called Combine PDFs. Simple enough. I install the new app, and open Image Capture. Hmm, no scanner drivers on my Mac. I move onto Vuescan, an application I bought a few years ago to scan images. I proceed to scan three pages of an old issue as a test. Scanning these as B/W images involves adjusting the page on the flatbed scanner just so a few times. After a few minutes of clicking through each step and saving the files, I have three .jpg files to merge. Hmm, will those convert into a PDF? I drop the files, each around 500-600k, into Combine PDFs, and click on Merge. The process seems to work, but the resulting file is 4.2 Mb, quite massive considering it is only three pages. I must have done something wrong.

Back to the instructions from Mac OS X hints. They suggest installing SANE, and so off to that web page, locate the files, and download them. Install three elements (in proper order, if you please), and open Image Capture again. Browse for devices, and SANE appears. Cool. Follow the directions in the hint, but wait, the Scan button is grayed out. At this point take a deep breath and walk away. After a while to cool down, I will try Google for other options to reduce the size of the end product. I can't see anyone downloading 12-15 Mb files at this point.

This is a conference I'd almost like to attend. Well, probably more than almost.

Safari 3 and Blogger

Apple debuted Safari 3 beta today. The big news: it runs on Windows Vista and XP. I believe it's the second Apple application to run on Windows (after iTunes), and a bold move in trying to extend market share in the browser wars. Is it just a matter of time before the full-blown Leopard (or the cat after that) runs on any Intel computer, and not just an Apple controlled Intel machine? What then will happen to the more expensive hardware line Apple produces? How far will Apple have extended into the consumer market by that time (iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, er, scratch that last one)? Lots of questions, as the former computer company continues to slowly re-invent itself. In the meantime, I had bemoaned Safari 2's lack of compatibility with Blogger, and while it seems the Ctrl-keystrokes still don't work, at least the new version does display icons for the shortcuts. A small step forward, I suppose.

Update: I neglected to mention QuickTime, which has been around for Windows for probably a decade or so, and still going strong.

Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 not about censorship

Now this is an interesting article in LA Weekly. Ray Bradbury revisionism from Bradbury himself.

Bradbury has decided to make news about the writing of his iconographic work and what he really meant. Fahrenheit 451 is not, he says firmly, a story about government censorship. Nor was it a response to Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose investigations had already instilled fear and stifled the creativity of thousands.

This, despite the fact that reviews, critiques and essays over the decades say that is precisely what it is all about. Even Bradbury’s authorized biographer, Sam Weller, in The Bradbury Chronicles, refers to Fahrenheit 451 as a book about censorship.

Bradbury, a man living in the creative and industrial center of reality TV and one-hour dramas, says it is, in fact, a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature.

Clone Wars trailer

Hmm, the trailer for the next installment in the Star Wars franchise hits the web. More toys buy now, we must.

The animation has a rough feel to it, especially for the humans. The droids and ships look great, but faces have to yet to make the seamless leap into realistic animation. I still prefer this over the previous Clone Wars animated episodes from a couple of years ago. Let's hope the story also improves.

Prometheus Experiment

Releasing a first draft into the wild is never a sane idea, but I'm playing around with publishing some older issues of Prometheus online as PDFs. I'm open to any and all suggestions about the pages, keeping in mind I'm still formatting much of the text.

The PDFs can be found here which also is my first attempt at Apple's (not always simple) iWeb software. I'm used to coding html in BBEdit, which is all source code virtually all the time, so again, not perfect. This is more of a proof of concept design.

The content index is identical to the one over at http://www.lfs.org that I compiled over the years. I sent over the index of contributors in 2005, but it has not yet been posted there. Obviously, I need to update both pages at some point.

The url probably will change at some point, and I'll probably move away from the constraints of iWeb towards something more flexible.

Glasshouse

The real reason I logged on was to mention Charles Stross's novel, Glasshouse, a Prometheus Award finalist. I finished the novel today, and am now 3/5 of the way through the finalists. Until reading this novel I did not see a strong candidate, but now I have one, and it probably will take a lot for the next two novels on the list to change my mind. Next up, John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades. I've heard a lot of good stuff about Scalzi, but this is his first novel I've had the opportunity to read, so I'm looking forward to it. My only complaint about Glasshouse is that Stross seems to have spent a lot of time inside the head of his Merchant Princes series' main character, and she sort of jumped into another novel. The protagonist of Glasshouse is female for most of the novel, and acts and talks exactly like a Miriam Beckstein template. I feel like my head needs a cool plunge into The Jennifer Morgue next to shake off that feeling. I stopped reading The Clan Corporate 22 pages into that novel because I just could not take Miriam's voice any longer. Aside from that small (and probably isolated to my own views) issue, I think Glasshouse comes across as a superb science fiction novel, and contains hugely interesting political speculations and implications, and very much driven by libertarian (or classical liberal) ideas.

Moving to Firefox?

As a Mac user I know what it's like to be kicked around and forced to eat the table scraps in the internet wars. I have tried virtually every browser that runs on the Mac, but always fall back on Safari because a) it has all my bookmarks and b) it's the most elegant and visually pleasing browser to my eye. But Blogger no longer lets me spell-check on Safari, and now Preview stopped working. At the bottom of each posting window I see the shortcuts taunting me, as none of them work in Safari. I open the same Blogger posting page in Firefox, and everything works. I guess I should switch everything over to Firefox, though my new LiveJournal page works fine in Safari, and Firefox has just such a hideous interface. Ideally I should dump blogger altogether and figure out how to move the localhost version of my blog on Movable Type that I created as a lark in October 2005. It still works fine, and is loaded with far more features I like than either LJ or Blogger.

The LP is dead

As a non-voting voluntaryist, I haven't paid much attention to the Libertarian Party. For some reason it manages to limp along, sucking in libertarians and spitting out their burnt-out husks every few years. Still, the LP core usually has remained pro-liberty, though vapidly ineffectual. In 2006, a new group took power in a coup against principles, and gutted long-standing articles of freedom. In 2007, the LP officially died when Ron Paul declared for president as a Republican. His candidacy acted like a neutron star, pulling in libertarians left and right who saw Paul as their great new hope. Over at Reason's Hit and Run, Brian Doherty links to one of the current LP'ers bemoaning the former party of principle. I wonder when libertarians will realize that the LP now has no future, through the combination of this coup and Ron Paul. What I don't wonder about is why a Republican candidate enraptures so many libertarians. Politics seduces people, and Paul's candidacy is the most prominent 'libertarian' political candidate in many years, if not all time. I expect to see many libertarian sites cozying up to the new Republican dream (in fact, I think Lew Rockwell's site already is hard at work waving the pom-poms for Paul. I believe former LP presidential candidate Badnarik is working hard inside the Paul republican machine, which shows the pure expediency of politics.) Paul certainly shares many libertarian ideals, and is the only anti-war candidate on the right (but why do so many libertarians ally themselves with just the right?), but I do not believe liberty will be achieved through this political process, nor will the media connect the dots between liberty and Paul. This is a great delusion, and when Paul falls to Rudy McMittney, those libertarians who supported Paul will moan about the great anti-liberty conspiracy. But these are just my curmudgeonly thoughts on a Monday.

New Babylon 5 movie

Via Roderick Long's blog, news that a new, original B5 movie is mere weeks away from release. I've aleady added this to my wish-list at Amazon, along with a bunch of other things I plan to purchase soon.

Unrelated post

I've been checking Centipede Press's web page often, and today discovered the first mention of the new Michael Shea collection, along with the title. No price yet, but I'm sure I will need to start saving early. (This Shea is not related to the other Michael Shea in an earlier post below.) Shea is my favorite horror/dark fantasy writer for his powerful stories and baroque language.

Melinda Snodgrass blog

Sometimes I feel like I live under the proverbial rock. I just discovered Melinda Snodgrass's wonderful blog today via Victor Milan's own blog. She's a superb writer, known for her sf and fantasy books, her work in the Wild Card series, and also from Hollywood. The only Star Trek video that I own is an episode from The Next Generation, called "Measure of a Man," written by Snodgrass for the show in 1989. One thing missing from her website is a bibliography, but perhaps I just didn't see it out there. I would like to know more about those EDGE books she occasionally refers to...

Robert Shea novel freely available

A few nights ago I stumbled upon a PBS show, an episode in a vast series on the Inquisition. This episode focused on the Cathars, and the total and brutal suppression of this 'heresy' in the early fourteenth century by the Catholic church. Having read about this moment in history many years ago, I remained on the channel, and then one word fired off a strong association. The word "light" was mentioned as part of the Cathar belief system, and I remembered Robert Shea's novel All Things Are Lights. Immediately after the show I looked up Shea on Wikipedia, and sure enough that book did deal with the Cathars and Inquisition. (It's bad when you know it's faster to look up the book on the internet rather than search through your own shelves for your copy.) Lo and behold there's a link to an official Robert Shea web page.

Shea, which died in 1994, wrote my favorite historical novel, Shike. The external page on Shea is managed by his son, Michael, who's written fiction himself. If you haven't read Shea's hard to find historical fiction, the text for All Things Are Lights has been made available online at that web site, as well as an outline to the planned sequel to Shaman.

Finally!

The Spring issue of Prometheus is out the door, one month behind schedule, and on the last day before the monopoly raises postage rates. Of course, all the press stories all focus on how the poor Post Office is force to raise rates to compete. Apparently every other business model out there follows the same process, and all succeed in our landy of milk and honey. Nevermind.

This issue was on many levels frustrating, but in the end hopefully rewarding. When I started planning the issue some months ago, I sat staring at a dozen blank pages. I outlined what would be required to fill those pages, and started reading. I hoped that I would receive submissions from other individuals, plus I went out and sought a reprint. In the end, I wrote ten reviews and a couple of news items, which is far more than I wanted, but virtually in line with what I had planned. And all the work on Prometheus takes place late at night during a brief hour or so window in my day. Tough noogies, right?

Huge thanks go out to the other individuals who contributed to the issue, which let me push out at least four of my reviews to the Summer issue. I already have a few pages laid out for that issue, with the tables of contents planned and big goals in sight. As always, if you read this and wuld like to write reviews or articles for Prometheus, feel free to contact me -- editor@lfs.org. The newsletter appears quarterly, but I always wish it were less of a struggle to fill all the pages. I constantly marvel at The New York Review of Science Fiction which has been around ten few years than Prometheus, yet appears monthly with 24 pages per issue, and has produced over twice the number of issues than the LFs newsletter in that time.

EW's 25 best sf movies/TV shows

Lists always create controversy, and this one from Entertainment Weekly is no exception. The new Battlestar Gallactica at number 2? WTF? No Star Wars except for the decent (yet Samurai Jack inspired Clone Wars), not even The Empire Strikes Back? and where is Babylon 5 or Alien Nation? Most of the shows listed are fairly recent, except for weird selection of V: The Miniseries. Whatever happened to Logan's Run or Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Or even The Incredible Hulk. And Lost? Another popular yet faddish choice. In a few years that show will have drifted off into obscurity, just like the show it mirrors, Twin Peaks: nice first season, then fell over the cliff and impaled itself on its own incoherence. I do agree with the number one choice, and still have vivid memories of the first time I saw The Matrix. Too bad the producers of that movie didn't stop there.

Victor Milan blog

Prometheus Award-winning writer Victor Milan has a new blog.

F. Paul Wilson interview

Brief interview over at Sci-Fi.com with F. Paul Wilson, discussing his novel Harbingers and a forthcoming YA series about a teenage Repairman Jack. Harry Potter sure opened up some new markets, and we're all better off as a result, if that means we get more FPW stories.

Poul Anderson

Nice story over at Yahoo (a reprint from 2001, the year Anderson died) about sf writer and multiple Prometheus Award winner Poul Anderson. One very typical quote from Anderson in this story:
"If I preach at all, it's probably in the direction of individual liberty, which is a theme that looms large in my work."
I did not know that Anderson didn't allow phone calls until after 6:30pm. One time in 1995, I actually called him up, having been given his number by another writer who knew him personally. Anderson that year had won both Prometheus Awards, and I was looking for some comment from him for the newsletter and award ceremony. I can't remember the gist of the conversation, or what time I called, but he of course had no clue who I was at the time, though he was quite cordial. I regret never having met him in person.

The Guardener's Tale

I'm hoping to review Bruce Boston's new novel, The Guardeners Tale for the Summer issue of Prometheus. One blurb opens like this "Brave New World. Fahrenheit 451. THX 1138. A Scanner Darkly. Bruce Boston's new novel, The Guardener's Tale, assumes its rightful place in this noble lineage of anti-authoritarian fables." Boston in an interview a few years ago said, " I am not a libertarian or an anarchist, but I do see government as it has existed as a necessary evil." He also views himself as somewhat left of center, but anti-authoritarian views come in many packages, and cares little for left or right. Read more about Boston at his website.

Regular activity to resume shortly

Now that I've completed the Spring issue of Prometheus, after a couple of delays caused by what my optician called a "corneal ulcer" in my right eye that made any bright light unbearable and migrane inducing, I have a little time for my irregular blogging. I'm getting ready to read through all the finalists for this year's Prometheus Awards. I read F. Paul Wilson's Harbingers when it appeared as the limited edition from Gauntlet Press, and am awaiting his latest Repairman Jack novel due out from that publisher next month. While I'm an FPW fan and like the RJ story and books, I don't see any libertarianism in Harbingers. I enjoyed Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End but not nearly as much as his two previous sf novels. Certain ideas and trends raised by Vinge are sobering, and I see his "You Gotta Believe Me" meme cropping up in another book, Justina Robson's excellent Mappa Mundi (not one of the finalists, but the US edition appeared in 2006, while the original UK edition was ahead of Vinge, in 2001). So maybe it's not Vinge's meme after all...

I have not yet read the other three books, but Charles Stross' Glasshouse is next on the list. I like Stross' work, and have read all his other novels published to date save the latest Clan Corporate novel. I haven't read anything from Orson Scott Card in many years, and nothing by John Scalzi, so those books will be interesting.

Sometimes I'm right there on the edge of new sf, but sometimes I'm way behind the times, staring over the fence at non-sf books. Currently I'm trying to finish Mark Shorer's biography, Sinclair Lewis: An American Life. I started the book last November, but set it aside to read a dozen sf books and review most of them. I'm also in the middle of The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce, Varlam Shamlov's Kolyma Tales (one of the many frightening results of Stalin's gulags), Nora May French's Poems, and Brian Doherty's Radicals for Capitalism (which, for some reason, I feel as if I've already read, since I followed almost the same path 20 years ago when reading as much as I could about the history of libertarianism). I am compiling a list of fiction and non-fiction written under totalitarianism, especially the Soviet Union, possibly towards a long essay on the subject. Lest they are forgotten, writers are imprisoned and exiled for their work even now, in such countries as Vietnam, China, Cuba, Turkey and elsewhere.

Best book I've read so far this year: Adam Roberts' Gradisil. I have to inquire about the current Prometheus Award rules, since the UK edition appeared in 2006, but if the 2007 US edition is eligible, I'd say at this point that Roberts' novel is a shoo-in for the 2008 Prometheus Award. No freakin' contest.

Glorifying Terrorism

Today I received a review copy of this British sf anthology, with stories from such writers as Ken Macleod, Charles Stross, Ian Watson, Adam Roberts, and many more. Unfortunately, due to deadlines, I won't be able to run the review in Prometheus until the summer issue of that newsletter, but with the spring issue nearing completion, there just isn't enough space and time to get it into this issue. Looks very interesting through, and sure to cause controversy.

Smith's Forge of the Elders

L. Neil Smith has a long essay about the travails his novel Forge of the Elders went through in order to get published in full. Ther book is still in print, and can be ordered through online retailers or your local bookstore, and Smith hints at free goodies ahead when the current stock sells out. And if you haven't check out his work in progress at Big Head Press, I highly recommend the time and effort.

Blogging light - Prometheus heavy

This month is crunch time for getting out the next issue of the print newsletter of the LFS - Prometheus. I've been busy reading several long novels and trying to wrie reviews, and I'm happy to say I have several contributions from other individuals already. If you are interested in submitting material for this libertarian sf newsletter, please contact me - editor@lfs.org. Blogging for the next three weeks probably will be very light while I wrap up the issue. Tentative (link free)table of contents includes the following:

Contents:
* Prometheus Award Finalists - a listing of the finalists for the
2007 Prometheus Awards for best novel and classic work of fiction.

In Memoriam
Jesse Walker on Robert Anton Wilson (reprinted from Reason Online)
Brad Linaweaver on Chuck Hammill (possible)

Book reviews
Spider Robinson & Robert A. Heinlein, Variable Star
Elizabeth Moon, Command Decision
John Varley, Red Lightning
Charles Stross, Glasshouse
Orson Scott Card, Empire
Sherri Tepper, Six Moon Dance
Carol Emshwiller, The Mount
Ken MacLeod, Giant Lizards from Another Star
Jack Vance, The Jack Vance Treasury
Jack Vance, Emphyrio
Justina Robson, Mappa Mundi
Mike Resnick, Starship: Pirate
Adam Roberts, Gradisil
T.H. White, The Book of Merlyn

Film reviews
Sophie Scholl (possible)
F.Paul Wilson's Others (possible)

Other
Brief essay on Clark Ashton Smith's individualism

Roswell, Texas

Whoa! The Lamviin land in Texas.

Liberation kid lit

I kept looking for this article from the front page of reason Magazine for many months, but to no avail. I knew I should have tried Google instead. The essay originally appeared in the print edition a little over a year ago, and covers two writers who have written interesting books dealing with liberty, aimed at a younger audience. Lois Lowry and Margaret Peterson Haddix have written two distinct series of books that mainstream readers might not have seen. Young Adult literature is all the rage these days. After the reign of Harry Potter comes to an end this summer, other writers will try to step in and fill the void. In the meantime, here are some great books already in place, waiting to be read.

NIN concept album?

I am not very familiar with NIN beyond a couple of songs from more than a decade ago, but I found an interesting link to a site linking to some viral marketing for a possible future album, including a "resistance" site.

What happened to the Prometheus Awards?

James Nicoll asks this almost rhetorical question in a forum, with a bevy of replies, some from people familiar with the Prometheus Awards, some from individuals hostile to libertarian ideas. Nicoll, no friend of libertarians, closes with this question:

I understand why SF is increasingly not an American genre but Libertarian SF seems ideally suited to the US. Why, then, is the Prometheus Award going to people who aren't libertarians (left or right) and not American?

The debate makes interesting reading. There are many points I could try to rebut, such as the statement that the Prometheus Award is marginal (why, then, do winners of this award seek to state "Winner of the Prometheus Award" on their novels, or other writers when writing about winners often mention how many Prometheus Awards that writer has won? Among other points, of course.)

John C. Wright interviewed

Over at Sci Fi Weekly, Nick Gevers has a long interview with John C. Wright, author of (among others) The Golden Age trilogy, two Everness books (so far), and the recently completed Orphans of Chaos trilogy.

Political history of SF

Someone reprinted Eric S. Raymond's essay in their LiveJournal, spurring a lengthy debate. I reprinted this essay in Prometheus a few issues ago, and while I don't agree with all the points, it's a very interesting essay.

Free speech in America sighs another death-rattle

How long before this much maligned and restricted right dies completely? The most recent example is grim: convicted and arrested for a joke about Scientology? Give me a freakin' break.

Libertarian writer?

Here's an interview with novelist Scott Nicholson, who apparently describes himself as a libertarian writer. However, in the response to this question, he demurrs, stating:

"Well, libertarianism just plain won’t work in the human world. It would only work if we each lived alone, in a vacuum, where our actions didn’t affect other people. But we live in communities that are bubbles inside larger communities. And I also diverge from the traditional party line: for example, while I favor the legalization of most drugs, I don’t favor unlimited access to guns. The government’s role could be much smaller in our lives, but it also can do good things. Libertarians are mostly out on the extreme fringes of both major U.S. political parties, and if you really press them on their beliefs, a mass of contradictions emerges. So I don’t articulate that so much in my fiction."

And, in the other corner, we have Claire Wolfe, who does seeks some solitude in her life, stating something quite the opposite in a blog entry:

"So many things can bind us to a place. Family. Work. Inertia. Fear. History. Money is a big factor, considering leaving the country. But the ties can be so intricate, so multi-layered, so difficult to convey to anyone who isn't walking that mile in one's own moccasins. Being part of a community like this one -- where people help each other so freely and with such enthusiasm -- is a little miracle (especially for people like me who grew up rootless and unattached to the places we lived and the people who lived there). So I speculate often about getting out of this going-to-hell country. Then I think I'd have to be mad to leave a place like this, a place that embodies the essence of real, old-fashioned community, a place that is what America was at its best and ought to be again."

Judge for yourself. Libertarianism: an atomistic impossibility, or the true spirit of a voluntary community?

When fictioneers bite politicians

The vision of real politicians squirming from seeing themselves potryed in a bad light warms my heart. The fact that this is happening in Great Britain and that it's Labor politicos makes me raise an eyebrow or two in surprise. Then you read further and you see the real cause -

"I didn't mind a little betrayal of socialist ideals," says Beaton, "but the war was it."

Still a healthy dose of disrepect of public figures is always a good thing.

Note: I am far from pro-war, but I wonder if the motives had been non-socialist whether this would have reached the airwaves.

Transhumanism

Interesting interview with a leading transhumanist, Nick Bostrom. According to conservative historian Francis Fukuyama, transhumanism is "the greatest threat to the future of humanity" so you know it has to be interesting and probably a good idea. It's definitely a hot topic in modern sf, viz the novels and short stories of Charles Stross, Vernor Vinge, Chris Moriarty, and countless others.

Libertarian pseudo-novels?

A not easily identifiable person writes a LiveJournal essay on what he/she calls two libertarian pseudo-novels - Henry Hazlitt's Time Will Run Back and J. Neil Schulman's The Rainbow Cadenza. I think the writer is spot on in terms of the Hazlitt book, which is one of the dullest works of 'fiction' that I've ever read, but I can't remmber Schulman's book being as much a 'p o r n' novel as alluded to in the review. Sure, there's sex in the book (some of it not very pleasant), and it's been almost two decades since I read the book, but I thought it was a decent work of fiction then. I'll have to re-read the novel to refresh my memory, but I came away thinking more about the musical sections than the erotica or sex scenes.

Wolfe recommends

Claire Wolfe recommends a book that I think I will need to hunt down - The Secret of Santa Vittoria.

Novel dealing with war on terror

This seems like a very interesting book.

The time is a very near future, whose features are only slightly stepped up from today's. The war is still on, and even more misdirected; domestic anti-terror measures have increased to the point where roadblocks and searches are universal and national identification cards are mandated. (In a nicely absurdist sequence, armed agents so thoroughly ransack a Canadian of Middle Eastern descent on his way into a Mariners game that they deposit a whiff of ammunition on his clothing. When he leaves the stadium in the middle of a disappointing afternoon, he is searched again and the residue prompts the evacuation of 30,000 spectators. One dies of a heart attack.)

One character is "August Vanags, the Latvian-born author of a bestselling Holocaust memoir, is a vociferous libertarian whose charm and wit suggest a concealed degeneracy," and the other personalities in the book range all over the spectrum.

Tapping the global subconscious

A few years I wrote a short story along comic lines, that I called "Bubba Builds a Spaceship." I passed it around at a writers' group I where I attended two sessions and then left. I sent it to a writer friend, who recommended a total re-write along very different lines, with more drama. Instead, I turned it into a short screenplay, and changed the title to "Mars, the Redneck Planet." I put it away and did nothing. Tonight my wife saw a trailer on TV for this movie, and said, "Anders, they made a movie out of your story!" I watched the trailer again, and it's eerily similar, although this is a drama with a few funny lines, and my story was intended as humorous and totally unrealistic from the beginning.

MacLeod collection

I just placed an order for this book by Ken MacLeod, which collects some of his shorter work, both fiction and non-fiction. NESFA Press runs a nice business, but the cover looks a little low-budget this time.

Prometheus redux

The newsletter is back from the printer, and I'm busy attaching labels and stamps to mail it out over the next couple of days. I've already started collecting articles and writing reviews for the next issue, due out some time in April.

If you want to review a book or movie for Prometheus, please send me an email at editor@lfs.org - yes, in the internet age there are still a few print publications around.

WhatSpace

I read last week that there are 140 million member of MySpace. I've only visited the site to listen to a pre-release version of a Robin Guthrie song. I believe David Louis Edelman's piece is a major reason I see no use in joining the site. That, and I'd probably end up with zero friends and go jump off a bridge. Ha.

The Horror!

To hide my shame at not knowing how to link to YouTude directly, a nod to the fellow ERB fans over at Rebels of Mars.

This has to be The. Worst. Movie. Adaptation. Of. A. Book. Ever.

The fact that this was filmed in 1976, one year before Star Wars, speaks volumes for the horrible state of social effects at the time, but even the actors look woefully miscast.

Amazon AStore

I'm messing around with building an Amazon AStore. I found that I've never been able to keep up with linking to Amazon when I mention books, so instead I found I can create a single site with several categories. While still under construction, I have added titles for all past Prometheus Award winners, as well as the 2007 preliminary list of best novel nominees. Since a group of judges whittle down this list to five or six, and I know more novels are currently under consideration*, here's a chance to see the list of early nominated books. I'm embarrassed to say I have read only two of the books of the current nine. I'm going to re-work this site over the next few days before the main categories are set in stone, and also I plan to add remarks to as many selections as possible.

*Full disclosure - I am not a member of the judges committee, although I do vote on the final selection.

Tamara Wilhite Amazon short

Author Tamara Wilhite, whose fiction has appeared in Prometheus in both past issues and the forthcoming January 2007 issue, has a short available from Amazon.com in their Amazon Shorts program. Her story, Natural Talent, is available for download, and her collection of tales called Humanity's Edge also is available.

Prometheus in flight

The January 2007 issue of Prometheus has been shipped to the printer, and should be in the mail to subscribers and members of the Libertarian Futurist Society some time next week. Contents include a review of the Heinlein audio plays from the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, fiction by Tamara Wilhite, a review of John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades, a review of Jack Williamson's The Humanoids, a review in poetic form of Sinclair Lewis's novel, It Can't Happen Here, a review of Brad Linaweaver's political broadside, Post-Nationalism, and photos from the FreFan party at the 2006 WorldCon in Los Angeles.

If you're interested in writing anything for Prometheus, please contact me at editor@lfs.org - the next issue is planned for April 2007, and I expect this one to be full of book reviews. Your contributions are most welcome.

The big tease

L. Neil Smith talks about sequels to books that his fans dearly hopes he gets around to writing. I counted at least 15 planned books, which is an ambitious outline of ideas.

RIP Robert Anton Wilson

Sad but not unexpected, given his recent health issues. Robert Anton Wilson, author of numerous books and articles, including Illuminatus! (which was co-written by Robert Shea) died earlier today.

Spectator and Jim Baen

Via Locus Online an article in The American Spectator about Jim Baen, who died last year. Baen published Baen Books, and was noted for hard science and military science fiction novels (though it also published fantasy and non-military sf). The writer of this article, whether consciously or not, remembers the conservative military sf aspects of Baen Books, despite some libertarian and also non-political works published. Aside from other points raised about sf and politics, I take issue with the conservative, revisionist interpretation of Western values of the writer. Apparently instead of individual rights, America and Western Europe rest on "traditional Western values like honor, patriotism, chivalry, duty and military valor." These could be applied to any other non-Western culture, such as China, Islamic nations, Russia, and Latin American nations. Baen, more libertarian than conservative, is being hijacked by conservatives as some sort of knee-jerk supporter of the military nation (with a conservative commander in chief, of course).

Happy New Year

Here's hoping that 2007 is a great year for everyone, with lots of good reading ahead.

I wrote another 1000 words for Prometheus last Thursday, including my poetic impressions on reading Sinclair Lewis' novel, It Can't happen Here, once again. Inspired by John Keats' poem on re-reading Shakespeare's King Lear, my poem follows the rhyming scheme, mimics the title and opening line, but then bears little resemblence (nor, I fear, does it even approach anything as well-written as anything by Keats). It took me 10 minutes to complete the first draft of the 14 line sonnet. Once I started words flowed surprising fast. I had jotted down a few notes while reading the book, and used some of these, but bypassed others, and the ending was not what I expected.

I have a mere 850 words left before the issue is done, all the words within one book review, and then the rewriting and proofing commences. All the artwork for the issue has been placed, and so far it looks good. There are several reviews where I could have written a lot more, but I planned specific word constraints for each article, and lacked space for one more book review that I planned to write. The one I'm currently work on is a little tough, so I'm re-reading the book to solidify my impressions.

I've been reading a lot from and about Clark Ashton Smith lately. Some new biographical stuff certainly jumped out of nowhere, especially his last few years and how he died. He's enjoying a sort of ressurgence of attention lately, with new books of stories appearing quite often, and 2007 should see the first volume of a 'complete' edition of his works. It's not realy complete, I learn, since it only covers fantasy stories, and leaves out his many science fiction tales, as well as almost all his poetry. Ah well, maybe next time. Smith is my second favorite writer, so I'm floating around a few thoughts for a brief article as to why. I've also learned through reading his letters that his political ideas could be classified as having libertarian leanings, though he tended to eschew politics.

I'd rather be watching Heroes right now, but my network connection this evening is spotty, and one second of video vs. three seconds to load the next one is something I only could take for ten minutes. I spotted several inconsistencies and questions with the show, but despite those issues, I think it's the best thing on TV in ages. For now.

Pre-ordered F. Paul Wilson's new novel today, the first day one could do so. Bloodline isn't my favorite title, and after the last Repairman Jack book left me grumbling and depressed about certain events, I am not sure of the direction in the next book. Also learned today that FPW had open heart surgery in December '06. Here's wishing him a speedy recovery. I met him in early November, and probably came across like a total fan-boy, despite only being 20 year his junior.

And so, a rambling entry comes to an end with one more thought. After wrapping up my review of the ATRC audioplays by Robert A. Heinlein, I dug out all my Heinlein books from various shelves in my disorganized study. I think I own less than half his published books, though I've read almost all of his books (friends, libraries). I'm going to try to squeeze in some time to read a few of his short stories. I know that the next issue of Prometheus will require quite a few book reviews, and I have a stack of candidates sitting next to me, but it's been a while since I read anything by RAH, so no time like the present.