David Lloyd

Forbidden Planet interviews David Lloyd, who along with Alan Moore recently won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for V for Vendetta. Lloyd has a new book out, Kickback, a crime noir thriller which looks quite interesting. Lloyd also has a generous perspective on the changes made to the V for Vendetta movie. I haven't yet sorted out all my feelings about the movie. Parts of it were quite good, but there were several shortfalls and it fizzled out long before the end. It certainly lacked the power of the book, and had nowhere near the impact of the original Matrix movie. I recently read the original screenplay that the Wachowskis wrote, and I can't really understand why they didn't film it that way, and why they made certain changes. Then again, I read the original screenplay for The Matrix Reloaded and I have no idea what they were smoking when they put that together. Even the strange mis-shapen outcome of the final movie was much better than that screenplay.

Update 9/10/06: I picked up a copy of Kickback yesterday. I'm hoping to review it in Prometheus, but unless I get creative I'm already out of space.

Conger reviews Linaweaver

Wally Conger reviews Brad Linaweaver's new non-fiction book about America's foreign policy, and finds the plumb line of anarchism askew. I know Linaweaver and point #3 does not surprise me at all. As for the content of the book I have not yet read it, so I can't comment.

Terry Pratchett - Libertarian

A brief article from Advocates for Self-Government about writer and Prometheus Award winner Terry Pratchett. Debates have raged elsewhere regarding the supposed libertarian content of Pratchett's books, especially from non-libertarians disparaging any connection. The Discworld scene is a varied lot, and certainly no libertarian utopia, but enough quotes in several books do bolster a pro-liberty leaning and somewhat cynical attitude toward those in power. A select few are reprinted in the article. Another great book not mentioned is Feet of Clay.

The truth

This link probably is meaningless to those who speak no Norwegian, but the blogger here, a young Norwegian lass, prints a letter she found at school that started her down the road to Terry Pratchett worship. In the letter is a brief snippet that mentions "two prestigious awards," namely "Prometheus Award and Carnegie Medal," which links back to a Norwegian Wikipedia entry.

I always knew the Prometheus Award had high status, but this seems, well, stratospheric.

Another shout out

Nice mention of the 2006 Prometheus Award winners by The Forbidden Planet, a UK site dealing with comics, grphic novels and cult merchandise. I'm in the middle of putting together the Fall issue with lots of items of the Prometheus Award event, and am alsways cheered by nice mentions like this. Beats the sarcarsm I've seen over at Emerald City in the past.

L. Neil Smith on his Star Wars books

Smith prints a response to an inquiry about his three Lando Calrissian books.

Prometheus Award mention

Nice mention over at Liberty & Power group blog by Amy Sturgis on this year's Prometheus Awards winners.

25 years ago

Today I came into possession of the full list of Prometheus Award nominees for the 1982 award, held that year at Chicon. Master of ceremonies that year was the late Robert Shea, who wrote a brilliant con report in the pages of Prometheus shortly thereafter, called "Hasta la vista, Chicon." I bring up this tidbit as the LFS web page for the Prometheus Awards (of which I compiled the bulk of information), lists only the winner, L. Neil Smith's The Probability Broach. At the time that was all that I had to go by, and despite several efforts I never found any documentation of the other books nominated that year. Until the LFS site is updated, here's the complete list. Book followed by * were finalists, and ** denotes the winner. What a tough year to pick a winner! I gaze at the libertarian luminaries on this list in wonder - Erika Holzer, Kay Nolte Smith, L. Neil Smith, J. Neil Schulman, F. Paul Wilson, and more.

- Gary Bennett, The Star Sailors
- Lee Corey, Star Driver
- Samuel Delaney, Tales of Neveryon*
- Thomas Disch, On the Wings of Song
- Erika Holzer, Double Crossing
- Stephen King, Firestarter
- Ursula K. Le Guin, Malafrena
- Barry Longyear, Circus World
- Byron Preiss & Michael Reaves, Dragonworld
- Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker
- J. Neil Schulman, Alongside Night*
- Kay Nolte Smith, The Watcher*
- L. Neil Smith, The Probability Broach**
- Norman Spinrad, A World Between
- Norman Spinrad, Song From the Stars*
- Joan Sloanczewski, Still Forms on Foxfield
- Douglas Terman, Free Flight
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jailbird
- F. Paul Wilson, An Enemy of the State*

Linaweaver wakes up

Well, he apparently did say so his own words (see the post at Wally Conger's blog re the WorldCon), a non-fiction take from sf writer Brad Linaweaver, Post-Nationalism: George W. Bush as President of the World by Brad Linaweaver. Available as a paperback from Victor Koman's KoPubCo. I'm delighted to see Linaweaver's on the side against war mongering neo-cons and neo-libertarians.

New Ken MacLeod book

A brief novel (contradiction?) released in the UK only at this point, The Highway Men, published by Sandstone Press. MacLeod describes it thusly, "typical MacLeod stuff: climate change, imperialist war, libertarian grouch, Highland romance and insurrectionary violence."

Denver 2008?

I'm strongly considering an August vacation and drive through the south west to Denvention 3 - the 66th Worldcon.

Whoa

Paging the trademark office. Eerie.

Richard Mgrdechian Interviewed

Prometheus Award nominated author Richard Mgrdechian answers nine questions.

I just received a copy of his latest book -- non-fiction this time -- and enjoyed his novel 3000 Years. Much of the interview deals with his non-fiction book, which also is reviewed at the same web site.

2006 Prometheus Award winners announced

Hot off the virtual presses, the announcement from LFS regarding this year's winners. The presentation was held today at the LA Con IV Worldcon. Trying to see if anyone in the blogosphere made mention of the event...

Interview

All you ever wanted to know about yours truly, plus a little more. Sunni Maravillosa interviewed me for her July Salon. Not sure that I merit an interview, but I found the process fascinating and the interview gracious and considerate.

Books read/reading

Currently I'm burning through a stack ofPYR books at the moment, hoping to review at least four in the Fall issue of Prometheus. They're a relative recent publisher on the sf scene, and luckily they send me a few review copies each year. I've already reviewed at least four books by them, and have yet to be disappointed in their offerings, even though the fare is far from uneven.

Recently read books include
David Louis Edelman, Infoquake. An sf novel about business and politics, with a fari number of mentions of libertarians and radical libertarians, though less so of said ideas.
Keith Brooke, Genetopia. Parallels slavery stories set in unknown environment (possibly far future) where genetic manipulation acts as divider akin to skin color.
Chris Roberson, Paragaea. Adventure tale in tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jack Vance (among others). At times quite fun, yet despite its length I never really bought into the characters as much as in ERB's books.

Currently reading
Ian McDonald's River of Gods Ye Gods. This is near future sf at its best. Complex and difficult to follow due to large cast of characters, but certainly the very essence of why I read sf.

Now, how do I squeeze in my other current books - Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End and Tim Powers' Three Days to Never?

"five-day sci-fi and fantasy geek-out"

That's how Wired.com describe this year's WorldCon or LA Con IV in a brief write-up of the current event. LFS will announce the 2006 Prometheus Awards on the 26th, or Saturday. I was there 10 years ago at LA Con III. I won't make it this year, and even had I planned on attending I would have arrived in somewhat reduced form, as I've been smacked around this week by a cold and stomach virus at the same time. Throw in lack of sleep as the kiddo keeps us off guard, and the end result would have been grumpiness all around. At some point writing will take place and postings follow.

I use my blog almost as a memory device. When I forget to post something it's nearly impossible to go back later and trawl through the web for the same story. Last item that caught my attention was news that new stories are planned in the Babylon 5 universe. Far better that Star Dreck, this show peaked in seasons 2-4, especially the latter half of 3 and first half of 4. I had started a mini B5 marathon a few months ago, but had to set it aside after the early episodes of season 4. I've probably seen most episodes three or four times, and enjoy most aspects of the show immensely. Still, I could not help laughing when I watched the Finnish web movie Star Wrek: In the Pirkinning. They nailed some of the main characters' worst traits quite well.

2006 Prometheus Finalist Mini-Reviews

I'm way behind the curve, but while the baby in the house works his way through a schedule change, blogging and web-surfing remains light. Here, on the other hand, is the indefatigable Sunni Maravillosa with some mini-reviews of the 2006 Prometheus Award finalists from her July Salon. I find myself in accord with her on the Mosely, Stross, and Goodkind novels. As for the Wolfe/Zelman book, this is perhaps 1/3 or 1/4 of a novel, not a complete work in my opinion. That said, I reserve my opinion until the story concludes. As far as The Black Arrow, I found that I really did not care for this book. The characters failed to move me, the story perplexed me (to put it lightly), and the tone concerned me. I also enjoyed MacLeod's novel slightly more, and while I agree the resolution lacked the impact of the rest of the novel, the other 99% of the story retained my interest over the span of several well-spent hours.

Robert Anton Wilson bibliography

I stumbled upon this post from June 18 about an auction to benefit Robert Anton Wilson, who's recovering from some health issues. The post also includes a detailed and lengthy bibliography of RAW's works.

You got a friend in me

A very interesting article from the NY Times on the Postal Service and the internet. It seems like only a few years ago commentators derided the USPS as "snail mail." Yet while the shipment of letters and cards through the stamp monopoly have declined, packages actually increased. This is mainly due to ecommerce sites like amazon.com and eBay. Alas, it would be great if private companies were able to compete and ship packages in the same manner, instead of having to focus on "express" mail services a la FedEx, UPS, and a host of smaller companies. Instead of the internet killing off this ugly state monopoly, it's actually proved to be a major influx of money. Yet the lines remain long and service remains unfriendly.

Cuba comments split libs

A brief posting of comments from actor Andy Garcia on Castro over at Reason seems to have split quite a few libertarians. Editor Nick Gillespie's posting mentions a few anti-communist movies that I may need to check out on DVD.

State and religion

More often than not that combination is deadly. BBC reports of a 16-year old girl executed in Iran for "crimes against chastity." She was hanged, lifted in the air by a crane, for having been raped by a man three times her age. The rapist received a few lashes, the girl received death, her true age masked by court documents. She had the courage to spit in the face of the judge and legal system when she realized her case was hopeless. Atefah Sahaaleh is a martyr for liberty.

Pippi!

A neat book review of Pippi Longstocking over at Sunni's Salon. I, too, remember Pippi and Astrid Lindgren from my childhood, and now that I'm introducing her stories to my daughter as well, I find that adults as well as children can appreciate her character.

New Victor Milan novel

Fans of Victor Milan will be happy to learn he has a new novel, due out shortly. Solomon's Jar, a shred adventure tale in a series called Rogue Angel, under a group pseudonym. Milan promises "serious butt-kick adventure" with the female sword wielding protagonist, Annja Creed.

Yet another federal database

This time it's your college records.

Let just cut right to the chase and barcode everyone right now.

The Jack Vance Treasury

I broke down and ordered a new Jack Vance collection today. Well, there are no new stories, but its possible they've gone through the Vance Integral Edition process and emerged somewhat different from the stories in my Underwood-Miller collections. The book does contain a preface by Vance, which by itself might be worth the $38, though I am sure Vance will be terse as usual. Years ago I collected all the editions of the Underwood-Miller books, over forty hardcovers, many limited and signed. Many of these I bought well below retail cost, other at collectors prices. They are, perhaps, my most treasured tangible possessions. In all I own 54 U-M books (combined and under separate imprints). That makes me a qualified Vance fanatic, I suppose. When the Vance Integral Edition was announced, I signed up as a volunteer and as a customer, but I backed out of both due to time constraints, and also a strange loyalty to the U-M books. I can't say I was happy when the VIE combined some books within the same cover. And, yes, the steep price deterred me from completing the purchase. That act qualifies my fanaticism. There are handful of Vance books I don't have in hard cover, and at this point I doubt that will change, unless some other publisher comes out with dust cover editions of those five or so books. But, if you're a stranger to the fiction of Vance, this collection from Subterranean Press will open your world to perhaps the greatest craftsman of science fiction and fantasy of the 20th century. Jack Vance truly is nonpareil.

Vinge interview

Via Rick Kleffel, a podcast of a recent NPR interview with Vernor Vinge. I'm resisting these recent interviews until I finish Rainbows End.

Summer issue of Prometheus

The Summer 2006 issue went out in the mail late last week to all members/subscribers/etc. This 20-page issue includes reviews of fiction by Russell Madden, Elizabeth Moon, Harry Turtledove, Vernor Vinge, Tamara Wilhite, and John C. Wright; a condensed version of Sunni Maravillosa's interview with Scott Bieser and Vin Suprynowicz; Tamara Wilhite on SETI; review of the movie Æon Flux; anthology Future Washington reviewed; Jim Sullivan on library censorship; plus a last minute essay on private space travel and a guest editorial on RFIDs.

If you're not a member of LFS, more information can be found at www.lfs.org. Subscriptions also are available, and if you'd like a sample issue please email me at editor AT lfs DOT org with an address and I'll send out a free copy.

I'm now taking a brief break before starting work on the Fall issue, which I expect will feature news about the Prometheus Awards ceremony from LA CON IV, held at the end of August. I attended LA CON III back in 1996, my first WorldCon. I remember the long drive from LAX to Anaheim, the vast dealers' auditorium where I secured some hard to find Jack Vance books, and very long nights. I attended two more WorldCons (1997 and 1998), before beginning my long and personal sabbatical away from sf fandom that lasted until the end of 2004. I'm not sure when I'll attend my next WorldCon. With two small kids in the house I am loathe to go through the stress of travel only to spend time away from them, so I'm sure a few more years will pass before WorldCon #4.

I'm getting ready to shell out $36 for three audio CDs from the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, with hopes of writing up the experience in the next issue of Prometheus as well. The three CDs include all the adapted Robert A. Heinlein stories. And then, I have a stack of books that need some attention...

OS Wars

I don't really want to start an OS war, but in reading through Claire Wolfe'sreply to an essay by Brad over on wendymacelroy.com on Linux vs. Windows, I'm tempted to offer up Mac OS X as an alternative. I guess if you have an Intel machine your only choice is Win or Lin, though OS X now runs on Intel. The second fall-back argument is that Macs are too expensive, and while somewhat true, you do get quite a few items standard on the Mac that are add-ons in the Win/Lin world. Of course, the most powerful argument is that OS X is proprietary, while Linux is free and open-source. True again, but OS X includes Unix and exists in a healthy 3rd party developer environment so you don't need to rely on Apple software. And it's a gorgeous OS, far smoother to master than either Win/Lin environment. But that's just my opinion as a Mac user since 1984.

We

The LA Times reviews a new translation of Hall of Fame winning novel, Yevgeny Zamyatin's We.

Atlas Shrugged movie moves forward

Personally, I like the idea of Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart, in as close to reality as we've ever seen for an Atlas Shrugged movie moment.

The Column of Phocas

Sean Gabb, UK libertarian and editor of Free Life, has written a novel of "murder and intrigue, set in mediaeval Rome." The first three chapters are available for download.

Songs of Protest

I believe Time Magazine also ran a story about protest music a few months ago. Here the Nation muses on protest and music.

Blurbed

Via reason's Hit and Run, a brief story on deciphering blurbs for keys on how to avoid books. My blurbs appeared on three or four books (I remember two by L. Neil Smith and one by Vernor Vinge--though in the latter they cited the publication in which my review appeared, and not my name). In each case I think the publisher pulled my words from a review, and I wrote those words not with a blurb in mind. Culling the essence of a book down to a few sentences is tough work, and sometimes I wonder about their effectiveness. I buy books for the author or story, not from what others say. But do I read the blurbs? Usually, yes, after I've already bought the book.

Name that writer

Lack of familiarity with any of the writers mentioned makes me wonder which one is the "wrier of Libertarian SF" among this list mentioned at Emerald City. Clue me in, please.

RIP Jim Baen

Jim Baen, publisher and editor, passed away June 28th following a massive stroke. Baen Books website posted a brief notice. David Drake has a longer obituary. I used to buy a ton of Baen paperbacks a few years ago, especially the paperback magazines (I first read Vernor Vinge's short story, "The Ungoverned," in one of these), but in the last decade of so none of the writers in their line appealed to me, nor did the covers; I never really read that much military sf. I also remember meeting Jack Vance's Cugel character in Baen's editions of some of Vance's books. Recently Baen also was a force in promoting unencrypted web versions of books from their line, and proved this model as a viable and ethical business model. Quite a few Prometheus Award-winning sf writers appeared in Baen editions, including L. Neil Smith and James P. Hogan, as well as F. Paul Wilson.

Lit crit

Over at reason Magazine, Nick Gillespie asks "what good are the arts?" As an English major in college (well, English and history), I used the time as an excuse to read books that I enjoyed, and more than once had to endure silly Marxist lit crit teachers and students, who sought to fit every book into a predefined model.

(yeah, I realize this is from April. I keep checking reason's front page to see if they posted an essay on children's literature that ran in the print magazine a few months ago, but nada.)

Reasons to avoid MySpace

The NSA soon might be sniffing there for financial info about users. Via Boing Boing.

Image from the past

The picture in this story sent chills down my spine. I grew up in Zambia, spent 11 years of my life there, and saw those building all the time from the other side, where Cairo Road runs. I rode my bike there all the time, and it's great to see people there talking about alternatives to socialism. History is the history of liberty, someone once wrote, and this certainly is a much better tale than what's happening to Zambia's neighbor in the south under Mugabe's mismanagement. One day I hope to take my children to Zambia, and drive down streets where I walked and biked, and feel safe as we do so.

More data mining

Your bank records safe? This NY Times records indicates otherwise. Hello, AT&T, meet your new friend the local bank. As the government spokesman says, there is no doubt this is "a legal and proper use of our authorities." Uh, yeah, right... "President's emergency powers" sounds horrific in the context of America.

Octavia Bulter from a libertarian perspective

Over at reason magazine Amy Strugis muses on the fiction and recent passing of sf writer Octavia Butler. Sadly, I think I've only read a few short stories by Butler.

Privacy policy? What privacy policy?

The key to remember here is that any record of any activity, once kept by any entity, is subject to being handed over to the government. Your library records, your movie rental records, memberships in any organization, your phone records, etc. In this case AT&T commits double-speak, streamlining information by stripping away any privacy guarantees.

The sound of crickets

If you wonder what happened to this blog, all I can say is that I barely have time these days to read a few regular web sites, as I am trying to read novels and short stories that need to be reviewed in Prometheus, or which are up for the Prometheus Award. I could break down the segments of my day, but even though I'm averaging 6 hours of sleep each day (up from 4), there's still not enough time in the day to get to everything. I started some rather long posts a while back, including reviews of all Prometheus Award finalists, but no posts came close to blogger ready. I also had a change of heart when it came to posting what I wrote, as I was far from happy with some of the nominees. I also started a post listing a stack of books received, some of which I have worked my way through and now am in the process of reviewing. Even when it comes to this part I am way behind schedule. The best novel I read this year originally appeared in 2005 - Ken MacLeod's Learning the World. I just started Vernor Vinge's new novel, but even that has to wait until I have met all my review obligations for the Summer issue of Prometheus. Right now I'm reading Future Washington (sorry, no time for a link), which contains several excellent pieces, including a very timely (and scary) work of fiction on RFIDs. In case you're reading this, and looking for news on libertarian fiction, all I can do is plead baby-duty and hope I'll be able to post more data sometime in mid-July.

Into the Black

Another fan-based show set in the Firefly universe.

Mosquito - cool parady of Firefly

Excuse me a few minutes while I stitch back my gut after seeing this Firefly parody. Mosquito is quite amusing, with a near-lookalike of Kaylee, and neat twists on the other characters from Joss Whedon's universe.

Victor Milan's web page returns

After being down several weeks due to a web hosting snafu, Victor Milan's web site is back. Though Milan now primarily writes action/adventure novels, his classic sf novel, The Cybernetic Samurai remains one of my all-time favorite sf books.

Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet

Good news at last that after ten long years this movie finally may see the light on DVD. I have yet to see Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, but I know the audience will grow significantly once this work reaches the "new" medium. Long my favorite Shakespeare play (along with The Tempest, a character of which is the namesake of my daughter), I've seen many versions of Hamlet, except this one. Branagh is a superb actor and director, and I can hardly wait to see his interpretation sometime later this year. No doubt we'll have to pay a pretty penny for this production, too.

Book watch

This will be an interesting novel to see how it develops. very likely technology will outstrip some premises, but key elements remain.

An Island Called Liberty

Via Wendy McElroy's forum, a link to a children's book called An Island of Liberty, which bills itself as a cross between Dr. Seuss and Ayn Rand. Mainly aimed at kids, with lots of rhyming.

Roswell, Texas goes live!

The online comic book by L. Neil Smith and Scott Bieser went live today at Big Head Press' revamped web site. Right now it appears the web page is ad supported as the comics there are free. Do yourself a favor and check out the site, and if you haven't already done so, I recommend also looking into at least one of the ads: Michael Wentz' novel, Resurrection of Liberty. In my opinion, this novel should have been a Prometheus Award finalist, and as I'm halfway through reading those six books, I know of at least two so far that I can't fathom how made it ahead of this novel.

Another Vernor Vinge interview

This one's in audio, conducted by Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit. Download to your iPod or play on your computer without an iPod.

The kid in you

Perhaps Big Head Press can cash in on this growing phenomenon, the massive growth in graphic novels in the publishing industry. Via Reason's Hit & Run.

Preview art for Roswell, Texas

Big Head Press today released some preview art for their three online graphic novel projects, including L. Neil Smith and Scott Bieser's Roswell, Texas. Methinks that Wild Bill Bear shows a slight resemblance to a famous libertarian sf novelist...

Alida Valli dies

Though no obits mention her role in the Italian movie version of Ayn Rand's We the Living, news of Alida Valli's death broke today. I don't believe We the Living exists on DVD, but I bought the VHS tapes almost a couple of decades ago after it's rerelease (1986) and was impressed by her portrayal of Kira Argounova.

2006 Prometheus Award finalists, part 1

Each year around this time I participate in the voting for the Prometheus Award, which in my case entails reading the five finalists and submitting my vote (deadline: July 4). This year there are six finalists. I have less time than ever to read the books, so I find myself reading at lunch and while walking to and from my car at work. I began this week with Vin Suprynowicz' The Black Arrow and Walter Mosley's 47 in parallel. I just finished Mosley's novel, and only am 50 pages into the Suprynowicz book. The former impressed me, at least the first half. After the critical tipping point of 47 the novel lost impact in some ways, and I'm still sorting out my thoughts. The prose flows well, and the emotional impact of the slave tale sat with me long after I put the book down each day. However, without spoiling the ending, I felt it left out a great deal of information, and perhaps it lost a little direction. The central element, that one is not a slave nor a master, unless one makes that choice, has deep libertarian roots, going back to Etienne de la Boetie. Regardless of Mosley's 'progressive' politics, that alone earns it some points.

The Black Arrow created a stir last year when Laissez Faire Books refused to carry it in their catalog, due to what they termed excessive and gratuitous sex scenes. I have not come across any of these yet, but having read some Ray Garton stories, I doubt I'll blanch when the moments arrive. This is a first novel, and that fact is inescapable when reading the book. The prose certainly isn't unreadable, and Suprynowicz is an experienced writer of non-fiction, so he knows how to tell a story. However, there are moments when I'm jarred out of my reading state of mind and think more about the process of writing and characterization, rather than about the story. No doubt it's unfair of me to say this at such an early stage; the book is fairly long and I'm but a few chapters deep. Still, the blend of Harlequin romance emotions of the characters when looking at members of the opposite sex, plus the clinical analysis of anatomy - "From the look of her breasts, it was unlikely she had yet fed children." - tells me the author is still working to free his fictional voice from his journalistic past. Unlike Mosley, the author is explicitly libertarian, so it ill be interesting to see how the book turns out.

Prometheus in the mail

I finally have the Spring issue back from the printer and the issue will be in the mail to members and subscribers on Saturday the 15th. As always, if you're interesting in finding out more about the newsletter of the Libertarian Futurist Society, send me an email at editor@lfs.org.

H. Beam Piper online

Via Emerald City, a report that four of Piper's works are available free online at Project Gutenberg. Scroll down to see texts of Genesis, Graveyard of Dreams, Little Fuzzy, and Murder in the Gunroom.

Thanks

To everyone who commented on the arrival of our new baby, a big thank you. He tends to sleep a lot at the moment, and we're not sure if this is because he was a little early, or if he just has settled on this sleep habit. However, he sleeps fitfully when not held, so much time is spent with one of us holding the little guy, and then running around like crazy to accomplish things when not holding him. His big sister (three years old) takes her role very seriously, and has been a charm. I've already gone a little nutty and bought some Star Wars spaceship toys that he can't even touch for another three-four years, and of course I have to collect the entire set. My wife jokes that the toys really are for me, and who knows if he'll even care about them when he gets to age he can play with them, but my insanity will pass. It may all be part of the adrenaline and uncertainty around a new baby. All this means little time for reading or surfing, but the Prometheus newsletter was delivered to the printer last week. I was not pleased with how they handled the transaction, and not having heard from them, may be looking for a new printer soon.

Big Head Press

Today Big Head Press announced three online comic book ventures due to launch on May 1st, including L. Neil Smith's Roswell, Texas. Smith's story has been in the planning and writing stage for many years, and it's great to see one version finally coming to fruition. I hope that perhaps some day the text version will see print, not just the comic book, but also the original novel collaboration between Rex May and Smith.

Vernor Vinge interview

Shaun Farrell interviews Vernor Vinge. Via Locus magazine.

Baby 1, Prometheus 0

The day before I planned on delivering Prometheus to the printer our little son decided it was time for him to arrive. So, Sunday morning at 6:12am, after three hours in labor, little Aidan Gabriel arrived into our lives. He arrived three weeks early, but healthy and in good spirits. The little boy's mom is exhausted but could not be happier, and the dad needs a little more sleep. I'm now aiming for Wednesday to get the issue to the printer.

Wrapping up Prometheus

I can't call running around with a three-year old resting, but after last week, that's what today came down to. I spent the evening trying to wrap up the Spring edition of the print newsletter, Prometheus. I am one review away from completing the issue, which I expect to have done by tomorrow night. I'm quite happy with this issue, as I only have two reviews under my byline, and the rest of the issue consists of original essays and reviews. Here a glance at the contents:
Prometheus Award Finalists
Interview with David R. Friedman
Thomas M. Sipos on post-9/11 movies
Richard Mgrdechian on intellectual isolation
Reviews of fiction by David D. Friedman (Harald), Terry Goodkind (Chainfire), Ken MacLeod (Learning the World), Walter Mosley (47), Justina Robson (Silver Screen) , Mike Resnick (Starship: Mutiny), L. Neil Smith (Tom Paine Maru), Charles Stross (The Hidden Family), Michael Z. Williamson (The Weapon), F. Paul Wilson (Harbingers)
News item on Brad Linaweaver’s Mondo Cult

As always, if you're interested in subscribing, or joining LFS, send me an email and I'll mail you a sample issue of Prometheus, free of charge.

B for Betrayal

Forecast: Light and intermittent blogging. No time this week even to read the handful of web pages I visit daily, but this post caught my eye.

William Alan Ritch lashes out at the Wachowskis' verion of V for Vendetta in a commentary he titles, B for Betrayal. Ritch, former editor of Prometheus, argues the Wachowskis "changed [Alan Moore's] point. Its philosophy." I'll break down this commentary more when I actually see the movie, but from my re-reading of the book, Ritch appears 99% spot on in his comparrison of the book and movie.

Robin Guthrie sounds

What can I say, except this is one of quick, personal, not related to the general theme of this blog type of entries. I don't know how long they will be there, but one of my favorite musicians, Robin Guthrie, has put a couple of his tunes on myspace.com. I've never gone to myspace until now, but found the link on Guthrie's blog. Monument, the first tune, is from his forthcoming album, Continental. Lush, wonderful sounds, in the ambient, alternative format. Makes me wish there was an easy, neat way to buy directly from the artist in digital format, rather than wait for the CD or iTunes.

V for Vendetta

If you've seen the movie and want to write a 1000 word review for the Prometheus, let's talk. I think it will be a while before I make it to the movies to see this one, unless I catch a midnight showing some Friday or Saturday a few weeks after the buzz has died down and the place isn't too packed. In the meantime, I've caught a couple of 1/2 hour TV shows about the movie, and looks like Alan Moore is correct about it no longer being his story.

Can't say he's the only writer abused by Hollywood this way. A recent essay by Christopher Buckley in Time magazine's latest edition underscores the hassles of making movies, especially for writers whose works are adapted, or even just optioned. After you've read this, check out www.repairmanjack.com for F. Paul Wilson's ongoing sagas about getting a Repairman Jack movie made, and The Touch as a TV show. Not very encouraging.

Prometheus Award finalists

I don't know if there's an embargo on the news, but this is the first posting I've seen out there of the 2006 finalists for the LFS sponsored Prometheus Award, over at Sunni Maravillosa's blog. Scroll down past the yummy mouth-watering images of chocolate to see the list. Here I am, editor of the LFS newsletter, scooped just days after I received the list for the Prometheus Award newsletter... I plan on posting it here over the weekend, but it's been a momentous week in my life, and I'm just too worn out at the moment. Today was my last day at Apple Computer, after 11 years working with the coolest hardware and software on the planet. Okay, so I'm a little biased. I'd keep working there if I could, but small problem: Apple's Texas office is in Austin. I live 90 miles away. The commute for me the last four years has meant two days a week in Austin, three days in my home office, in splendid isolation. On a good day I'm only in the car three hours. It wears on me. I should have changed this scenario a long time ago. The final impetus was the impending arrival of child #2, due any day now. I start work for a local company next week, probably on the not-so-delightful Win XP platform. I have not used Windows since before Win 95. Tough thing for a Gates-hater to have to face.

Regarding the Prometheus Award finalists, I am not on the judges committe. I have not read a single word of the six finalists (and only own one of them, the Ken MacLeod novel). I'm surprised two books I nominated and really liked did not make the cut. Richard Mgrdechian's 3000 Years and Michael L. Wentz' Resurrection of Liberty were books I expected to see as finalists. But, as mentioned, I have not read any of the other works. Walter Mosley is far from being a libertarian, so it will be interesting to read his novel. The Charles Stross novel poses an ethical dilemma for me, as when I read the first book in the series, and realized the publisher took one book, chopped it in half and sold them as two novels, I swore to not give Tor a penny for that second book, despite being captivated by the story. I own of of Stross' other works, and think he's a brilliant writer, but that act by Tor's editors was just immoral, in my eyes. Others may disagree. In January I read not a single work on fiction, but since then I've finished three novels, all of varying quality. My stack of unread books rises like the tower of Babylon.

I'm in the middle of wrapping up the Spring issue of Prometheus, which should be at the printer in less than a week. Twenty pages of reviews and essays. I think it's a great issue, a superb issue.

I just received in the mail a copy of Pyr Books' edtion of Ian McDonald's massive River of Gods. Damn, I need more time in the day. I have five other books that I need to read, and a few reviews to write. And Vernor Vinge's new novel is just around the corner.

David Friedman's Harald

Today I received a review copy by well-known writer of law and economics books, David Friedman. Haraldis Friedman's first novel, published by BAEN Books. Set in an imaginary land, the novel is more historical than fantasy, a sort of imagined medieval geography with kings, emperors, and Norse-sounding names. Poul Anderson comes to mind as an inspiration. Friedman's literary style is sparse, at times quite elliptical. I'm only 20 pages into the book, and hope to feature a review (by myself or someone else) in Prometheus, as well a brief interview with Friedman that I received talking about this book. The Spring issue of Prometheus takes shape, and could go 20-24 pages instead of the usual 16. 

Books received

Below are some review copies that I've received for Prometheus. I'm finally getting around to listing them...

Justina Robson's Silver Screenis a reprint of a novel published in the UK in 1999. Deals with AI rights, weird geniuses, and multi-national intrigue. Review due in the Spring issue of Prometheus.

Mike Resnick's Starship: Mutinya military sf novel, and the first Resnick book I've ever read, a surprising confession as I own several of his books but never opened one before now. This book is sparse and purely action driven, with very little character development. The title foretells the climax of the novel, and it's the first in a five book series. Review due in the Spring issue of Prometheus.

A reprint of a classic sf novel, George Zebrowski's Macrolife: A Mobile Utopia arrived from Pyr books last week. It's been added to the growing stack for the Summer issue.

Keith Brook's novel, Genetopia, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly:

British author Brooke's engrossing far-future parable intertwines old, old human questions: Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? Must I go? After centuries of biotechnology gone berserk, "True" humans inhabit a land of mortal fears where a chance microbe or the changing vats of their enemies can dehumanize them forever. "Mutts," grotesque "Lost" subhumans, outwardly devote themselves to their True masters, though like pre–Civil War slaves, the mutts secretly talk of finding "Harmony," freedom from their inborn servitude.

Currently on top of the pile for the Summer issue.

John David's Passion for Dead Leaves. I read the predecessor in this series. Have not yet opened this book. Review due in the Summerissue of Prometheus.

Steven Burgauer's The Last American, another book I won't be able to review until the Summer issue. Have not yet started this one. Been a while since I read one of Burgauer's books.

James P. Hogan's Catastrophes, Chaos & ConvolutionsOkay, I bought this one myself, but I list it here as the review probably won't appear until the Summer issue of Prometheus.

Walter Mosley, Prometheus Award nominee

I found out this weekend that Walter Mosley's novel, 47, is a Prometheus Award nominee. I believe the final cut of five books is just around the corner, but this is the first time I've heard about the novel. A brief description from Amazon.com (School Library Journal review) goes like this:

The intense, personal slave narrative of 14-year-old Forty-seven becomes allegorical when a mysterious runaway slave shows up at the Corinthian Plantation. Tall John, who believes there are no masters and no slaves, and who carries a yellow carpet bag of magical healing potions and futuristic devices, is both an inspiration and an enigma. He claims he has crossed galaxies and centuries and arrived by Sun Ship on Earth in 1832 to find the one chosen to continue the fight against the evil Calash. The brutal white overseer and the cruel slave owner are disguised Calash who must be defeated. Tall John inserts himself into Forty-seven's daily life and gradually cedes to him immortality and the power, confidence, and courage to confront the Calash to break the chains of slavery. With confidence, determination, and craft, Tall John becomes Forty-seven's alter ego, challenging him and inspiring him to see beyond slavery and fight for freedom.

I'm hoping to run a review of the novel in the Summer issue of Prometheus, as the Spring issue pretty much is set at the moment, even with an increase in page count to 20.

Musically geeked out

I just installed SQLTunes on my Mac, which creates a MySQL table from exported tracks from iTunes, and allows me to run reports or even create web pages with interactive options via PHP, should I so choose. I set it up on my local host (if I had access to a remote MySQL db, I'm sure transferring the data would be an easy task), and it felt a lot easier than when I installed SimpleMachines Forum or Moveable Type to see how they worked. Both those apps took a couple of hours of Unix related experimentation on the Mac, but SQLTunes only ran me 15-30 minutes. My first report showed 5715 tracks from 588 artists, although iTunes often incorrectly interprets tracks on classical music CDs - probably more related to the database that iTunes checks, than iTunes itself. For example, there is no artist called "Act I Connais-tu le pays..." but that's how the db assigned a track when ripping the CD. I haven't ripped all my CDs, but this is a great tool for all sorts of reports (count number of songs with same title, for one), and a different perspective on my music library. No idea if the same thing exists in the Windows/Linux world. One strange quirk is that the track_id field, which stamps all the records with a unique ID, started at 39, not one. Another is that the import from the XML file sorted in no logical fashion, except for maybe the "persistent_id" field, which I don't know how populates.

Via sf writer Charles Stross' LiveJournal, a list of Tor's new ebooks that will available starting this month. Includes new titles as well as previously paper-published books.

TOR sells unencrypted fiction

Via Emerald City, a link to Tor's release about their
new program of selling e-books, oddly enough from competitors BAEN, who pioneered the unencrypted format. Among the authors featured starting in March are Vernor Vinge, Charles Stross, Mercedes Lackey, and Sara Douglass.

Continuing the musical note

I'm recharging my batteries when it comes to books and literary matters, and will post more appropriate stuff soon. In the meantime, an amusing review of an album released today, Trespassers William's Having. The review is more about reaching for flowery prose than the album itself. The band, named after Piglet's grandfather in A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh (the scene explaining this is amusing, as the sign to which Piglet alludes is a broken one, which really should read Trespassers Will be Prosecuted), plays quiet, lush music, complemented by vocalist Anna-Lynne Williams soft voice. Preview before you buy, as what I might like now, you might not like ever.

Em, url...

While I didn't jump to a Microsoft site as someone stated happened to them (perhaps because I use a Mac?) when drawing this issue to my attention, I did have a bad link to Eric Raymond's blog on this site. This has been updated to the correct location. People jumping over there will see HRC doing an excellent Hannibal Lecter impersonation, as well as more serious stuff.

James Hogan moves to Ireland full time

Just spotted this brief note from Wendy McElroy talking about a conversation she had with sf writer James Hogan. Turns out he no longer splits his time between the US and Ireland, but due to the Iraq war has left the US permanently for Ireland. More details at Wendy's site.

Music videos

Sweet heavens! Completely unrelated to the mission of this blog, but wow, some cool music videos over at Silent Sessions by (among others) two of my favorite current bands, Explosions in the Sky and The Album Leaf. Very different types of music, yet both are mainly instrumental. Sadly, I am so far removed from the music scene that I missed both Austin performances, only 90 minutes away. Might be of interest to a future Musical Maundering from Sunni...

U. S. Cartoonists coment on the Danish situation

A nice collection, more a comment on the aftermath than the causes themselves. Via Instapundit.

"Tone down and cover up"

Female Muslim pop singer,Deeyah faces death threats for daring to speak her mind, and also stripping down from burka to bikini in a recent music video, "What Will It Be". This video also shows several men and women with tape over their mouths, a pointed criticism at some repressive trends in many Islamic countries. Forced to leave Norway, where she was born to immigrant parents and started her musical career, she moved to London. There she now experiences the same death threats that forced her to leave the so-called liberal Norway. This FreeMuse site has some interesting articles on women and music censorship, in particular this one, which also can be downloaded as a PDF. View Deeyah's video at this page. Not my kind of music, but still a great statement for the right to free speech and free expression.

One billion statements of apathy

My long delayed (and brief) response to this story about the apathy of the "download generation" falls on the eve of Apple Computer's announcement that it's sold one billion songs through iTunes. I'm sure they count album tracks individually if sold as such, but I think that's one statement against the study itself. I personally feel the opposite. The ability to download music, to locate tunes not available in record stores, or available at excessive prices at these stores or online at Amazon, has opened up my appreciation for modern music once more.

The survey states (among other things) that "easily accessed tunes mean many music lovers are no longer excited at discovering and playing unfamiliar work." Surely the surveyors have no idea what it means to seek out information. Via iTunes streaming at work, or simply browsing artists and songs and sampling these online, I have discovered a host of artists and records that I never would have found in a regular chain music store. When I attended college in the early 1990s, there was an independent music store near campus. A great place to find unusual stuff. It faded out a few years ago. My tastes in modern music (setting aside classical and jazz for now) veer slightly off the beaten track. I stopped listening to radio years ago, because they played the same few songs every day, and I rarely liked those songs then, let alone now. If not for the download option, I never would have heard of Trespassers William, Devics, Sigur Ros, The Album Leaf, to name a few. I now thrill to discover new music, whereas a few years ago I gave up altogether and focused only on adding to my classical and jazz libraries. With iTunes I can collect the entire Devics discography for under $50 (currently my latest 'new find' band), whereas one early record costs nearly the same amount from Amazon, and cannot be found in chain record stores. CD prices also prevented me from buying much music. A current copy of Harold Budd's minimalist piano recordings costs twice the iTunes price as CD.

No recorded state is safe forever. Digital copies can get lost, but CDs only have a few years of life anyway. Contrary to the people studied, music remains "life-changing and special" to me, and that's due to the birth of download options. One billions downloads later, apathy as a definition now needs to be re-written. The hell with that study.

One billion statements of apathy

My long delayed (and brief) response to this story about the apathy of the "download generation" falls on the eve of
No recorded state is safe forever. Digital copies can get lost, but CDs only have a few years of life anyway. Contrary to the people studied, music remains "life-changing and special" to me, and that's due to the birth of download options. One billions downloads later, apathy as a definition now needs to be re-written. The hell with that study.

My peeps

Can't say I was too surprised...


Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in?
created with QuizFarm.com

Political Quiz

Not quite your World's Smallest Political Quiz, but rather a satirical quiz to see whether you fall into conservative, liberal, libertarian, or communist camps, with a twist. Don Hagen's Satirical Political Beliefs Assessment Test pokes fun at all four groups. I found myself mostly in the "Antigovernment Libertine" group, though I wasn't sure about #2, and disagreed with the premises for question #10, and too many questions dealt about voting (for this avowed non-voter, at least). Aside from those issues, reading most the answers were a blast, though at times the humor wandered away in the libertarian answers, replaced by what seemed like normal libertarian party platform statements. Total number of questions approaches 200, so some patience is required if you want to read them all.

LibriVox

Listened to NPR's The World while driving home tonight and heard an interesting report about LibriVox . The site is a joint effort of volunteers around the world who record chapters of the books in the public domain. The audio files then are published, and can be downloaded or subscribed to as podcasts via iTunes. I plan on making full use of this site, and may even volunteer to read some chapters. I can't say I've listened to that many audio books, but my listening habits while driving to work change all the time, and I might give this a shot.

Prometheus Award nomination deadline looms

February 15 is the deadline to nominate novels for the 2006 Prometheus Award. Eligible books must have been published for the first time in 2005 (or November/December 2004). If there's such a book should think deserves the Prometheus Award for best novel, please email me at editor AT lfs DOT org.

Perhaps truth matters

Cynicism takes a blow to the chin? In a follow up to my last post, I need to remark that Oprah changed her mind at long last, and today railed against James Frey for the lies in book. What took so long? Perhaps some backlash and negative comments from her listeners (but not critics and other commentators) convinced her that truth does matter.

When the art is more important than truth

Queen Midas poo-poos the controversy surrounding James Frey's (fictional) memoir, A Million Little Pieces. The story came to light recently from the Smoking Gun that Frey's best-selling non-fiction book, propelled to fame from joining Oprah's book club list, and thus converted to gold, contained a few, well, inaccuracies. Oprah calls a few lies "much ado about nothing," citing the powerful message of hope in the book. Quite telling is the fact that Frey "originally tried to sell his book as fiction." When publishers failed to bite, a simple switch to non-fiction was all that it took. Frey's actions have drawn ire from other non-fiction writers, been parodied in the Foxtrot comics, but with Oprah refusing to back down from endorsing the book, appears to have just as much life as lying politicians forgiven again and again by voters and the media.

So, is this really "much ado about nothing?" Two other recent scandals also have surfaced. Fake Navaho writer, Nasdijj won awards for brutally honest portrayals of Native American hardships. JT Leroy, another media darling, appears to be an entirely made up persona created by two writers, using a relative as a front for media appearance. Could this be the tip of the iceberg? Can readers now really trust non-fiction as truth? Memoirs are tricky, as most of the deal with events happens years in the past, usually with little or no verifiable records. And yet, somehow all these pieces need to fit within the constraints of a story. Even if that that story is supposed to be true, the narrative must flow in order to sell and market the book.

If writers at major publications such as The New York Times and The New Republic can manage to sell lies, why not major publishers? In the end the truth does come out, and just as Nixon shook the faith of the American public, and showed that politicians are in general lying crooks, even among those at the top (especially those at the top), these scandals should act as warnings. Be careful of what's packaged and sold. Oprah, that purveyor of populist hope, gives not a fig for thr truth. What's import is the effect of the message, not the content.

As far as this reader goes, truth does matter.

Call for articles

With the January (slipping into February) issue of Prometheus working through its tortuous process at the printer (I drop it off, show up a couple of days later to approve the pages, and pick it up a few days after that), it's time to think about the next issue of this quarterly newsletter. If you have any reviews, essays, articles dealing with books, movies, music, etc. and liberty, I'm always open to submissions. As an indication of what usually appears, here is a list of the contents of the current issue (each issue runs to about 16 pages):

Reviews of fiction by P. Bagge, Greg Bauder, Scott MacKay, John Meaney, Richard Mgrdechian, Charles Stross, Michael L. Wentz,
and Claire Wolfe & Aaron Zelman;
Review of non-fiction by Ray Kurzweil
Movie review: The Island
Eric S. Raymond on Rudyard Kipling’s SF
Letters; Editorial; Prometheus Award update

Also, if you'd like to subscribe to Prometheus or you're thinking about joining the Libertarian Futurist Society, send me an email at " editor ATMARK lfs DOTMARK org " and I'll mail you a complimentary copy of the newsletter and point you in the right direction to join.

Death of creative animations?

Disney buys out Pixar in a 7.4 billion dollar deal. There were rumblings about this for several weeks, and now it appears official. I'm a little wary of this, as Disney really showed little creative output since 1989's The Little Mermaid. Lately they have re-issued updated prints of their classics on DVD, alongside releasing clunkers at the box office. The failures largely suffered from a lack of story, followed by senseless sequels, which has has not been the case over at Pixar. Even their lone sequel, Toy Story II, stood head and shoulders above anything, um, original that Disney produced. Nor have I been impressed with DreamWorks, where all they do is produce re-treaded ideas then sold to the public by over-hyping the names behind the voices. I doubt we would have seen The Incredibles emerge from either Disney or DreamWorks. No new titles had been announced by Pixar beyond this year's Cars, (which originally was slated for 2005 and then pushed back to mid-2006). Still, maybe with a new boss at Disney and John Lasseter still in charge things might be different.

Brief comments, and a review

After almost four weeks without posting, it seems strange to write again here. I'm breaking a rule about not posting on a borrowed computer, but there's some light ahead in the tunnel of computer despair so I'm taking that silly risk anyway. Looks like a hardware issue brought down my Mac (after fourteen years of using Macs, it's the first time such an event happened), but no indication as to the cause or solution yet. I've let a multitude of posting opportunities go by, and if I write about them now they'll seem dated (though I really do want to address a recent study on music availability and apathy, and list books received for review). Blame at least one week on my first vacation in two years, a brief sojurn in Southern California without any computer access. I decided to give up sodas of all kinds for 2006 (in particular Coca Cola), but I'm not sure if giving up computer access was harder, since I had fewer temptations while away. We hung out near Palm Springs for a couple of days, then drove to San Diego for another three. That latter part was mostly for the three-year-old in the family, and so the days were spent at the zoo, Legoland, and on the beach. This was only my second time in SoCal, and quite unlike Anaheim at the Worldcon in 1996, ten years ago. I had no idea the desert played such a huge role south of LA, nor that San Diego was that hilly, though I can see why people flock to San Diego, as it's a beautiful city. Maybe next time I can hit some of the book stores we spotted along the way.

The good news is that I did manage to restore and complete the January issue of Prometheus, which goes to the printer next week and almost a month behind schedule. This issue contains 16 pages of reviews, letters, fiction, news, and an editorial. For now, here's a brief review as an example.

3000 Years
By Richard Mgrdechian
iUniverse, 2005, $16.95
0-595-36072-6
Reviewed by Anders Monsen

3000 Years is a sharp thriller, one that at times sent my heart racing with excitement and anticipation. Richard Mgrdechian’s first novel blends scientific speculation with elements of the near-future thriller genre. Ostensibly the novel deals with a sort of time-travel, but the underlying focus really deals with human society and how individuals acting in certain, often narrow ways leading to far-reaching implications and unintended consequences.
Professor John Bennett is driven to find ways to cheat death. Motivated by the death of his dog during Bennett’s childhood years, and later his much-admired grandfather, he pours all his energy into physics. He also is a man with many heroes, studding his walls around his punching bag with images of boxing greats like Ali, Dempsey, and Marciano, and his office walls with Einstein, Newton, and other scientists. Bennett’s mood upon discovering a startling new application makes him almost ebullient. By slowing down the speed of light, Bennett is able to place living tissue in a stasis field, preserving youth over great lengths of time. He stands at the cusp of changing the world, granting him instant acclaim and recognition. He’s blessed with admiring students, a wonderful girlfriend—Dawn Whitmore, a cultural anthropologist—and a wide open future at PacTech; all seemingly intended to keep him anchored to the present.
Tom Walsh, the arrogant bureaucratic president of PacTech, despises Bennett for his success. In the aftermath of a bar brawl when Bennett protects one of his star students, Paul Branning, Walsh gets his chance to publicly humiliate Bennett. Yet instead of going down meekly Bennett resigns; he has other plans. He decides to make personal use of his discovery, placing himself into stasis. While the outside world continues along its unabated pace, Bennett will sleep for decades at a time, appearing briefly to witness the progress of history, skipping like a pebble across the river of time. When he finds out that Dawn suffers from incurable ovarian cancer with scant years left, he hatches a plan to place them both in stasis and leap forward until they find a future with a cure. Along for the ride is Sam Tobin, one of Bennett’s old college friends. They fake their deaths and enter stasis in an abandoned missile silo that they bought on the cheap from the government, setting the timer for fifty years in the future.
They arrive into a fragmented America, with California split in several parts, none of which seem enticing or welcoming. They still manage to somewhat adapt themselves into society, with a few mishaps along the way. Bennett secures a visiting professorship at a local college, while Tobin hooks up with Linda Moreno, an attractive attorney after he spends some time in jail for the unpardonable sin of the times, Abhorrent Vocalizations. Speak ill of anything, or have someone find offense in your words, and you end up jail. Farewell free speech. Political correctness runs amuck.
The second act of the novel thus deals with how the trio handles the fifty year leap into the future. Friends and family left behind now are dead, or aged naturally into post-retirement years. Almost alone they face a two-pronged threat: how can they integrate themselves—even temporarily—into a culture of fear and social repression, and also deal with an escalating threat of nanotech hackers bent on tearing apart integral communications technologies?
In their new world, the trio seeks others of like minds, from Sam’s attorney friend, to a student (who later proves false), and another professor that Bennett meets at his new university. Against the latter they team up with a former hacker, Harold Fu, who immigrated to America from China on the advice of his brother.
With Harold along for the ride, the novel takes on a thriller aspect, as they race to locate the nano-hackers, only to discover a ghost from Bennett’s past. Can they defeat this threat, and is there a chance of saving Dawn from her cancer? Indeed, the effects of the statis appear only to have accelerated her illness, and instead of a possible cure, time grows ever shorter, with another stasis trip seemingly impossible, even fatal. The twist thrown in here certainly highlights how deep-reaching a simple event can become, even decades after the cause.
Some of the secondary characters encountered in the novel receive short treatments. I expected more about the young boy, Tommy Vesely, who Bennett befriends as a fellow science fan. The swift transformation of Tinny Morrison, from flirtatious student to predatory troublemaker, took me by surprise, but played out well in showing the interplay between Bennett and Dawn. It also makes for one of the more interesting scenes in the book, in the virtual global “mood-bar.” Linda Moreno, the attorney who latches onto Sam, also is dropped later in the book, but not before she walks us through some of the stranger new legal aspects of this society.
Despite these few misgvings Richard Mgrdechian succeeds in writing a convincing thriller rooted in present day technological, social, and legal trends. Blending moments of fast-paced narrative with occasional and brief info-dumps, Mgrdechian crafts an enjoyable work that I believe many libertarians and futurists will enjoy. In fact, I felt many of the chapters were too brief, leaving some threads unfulfilled. I felt the title of the novel to be a little misleading, although the novel certainly leaves open the possibilities for sequels. However, writing about how present day people deal with events fifty years in the future probably is quite different from one hundred or one thousand, but not altogether impossible.
http://www.3000years.org/

Why We Fight

Why We Fight may well become one of the most interesting and controversial documentaries of 2006. The trailer itself is a chilling insight into the current state of the growth of the American war machine. The website advertises the movies as "a bipartisan inquiry into the workings of the military industrial complex and the rise of the American Empire." I did detect a focus on profit as the main motive, but sure there is more that this at work.

Adrift off the sea of OS X

This weekend I suffered not one but two apparent computer deaths. The most critical is that main system, where I have all my 2005 documents and all my issues of Prometheus, including the oh-so-nearly completed January issue. Backed-up? Not really. I had used my old external harddrive to back up another system that I recently migrated to OS X Tiger, and this drive was full. As hard drives continue to grow in size, I failed to keep up, and now I need to spend a couple of hundred bucks on a 200G external drive, hope my machine can get fixed, and make sure to schedule daily backups. My secondary system, now ca. five years hold, was pulled into duty, but today also failed. So far I have made no headway in bringing either machine back to life, and so I'm using a third option, my trusty PowerBook from work. I have to hope it makes it through the last minutes of 2005 without crapping out. Offers have been made to certain computer gods, but these are notoriously fickle.

All this means that the January issue of the Prometheus newsletter, instead of going to the printer next week, is at least a week delayed, and the four reviews I wrote last week will not be posted to this blog as planned, until I know I can get the data back. Worst case scenario means installing In Design on a borrowed machine and writing all the reviews again from scratch, which means at least a month's delay or more, something to which I do not look forward.

Mood: Grim.

Harald by David Friedman

Harald is the debut fantasy novel from David Friedman, libertarian writer and author of The Machinery of Freedom. You can read an excerpt at BAEN Books, publishers of the hardcover edition, due April 2006.

Adventurous fantasy/sf

I just finished reading a new novel from Scott Mackay, called Tides. Longer review completed and forthcoming in the January edition of Prometheus. This book details the adventures of a mariner driven to sail the vast and treacherous seas that surround his homeworld, in search of a possible other continent. A rollicking sea-tale that also examines clashing cultures, and questions the status quo of an apparent peaceful yet corrupt society.

In the mail

I received a copy of the American edition of Justina Robson's Silver Screen. Alas, the UK cover looks far cooler than the Pyr edition. I've just started the book, with plans to review it in neither the January or April edition of Prometheus. So far I am very impressed by the story and writing.

Writer fined for 'Turkish insult'

Another writer fined for Turkish insult against the state. Zulkuf Kisanak's novel describes the forced evacuation of Turkish Kurds from their villages. How can Turkey expect to join the EU with these illiberal laws?

Resurrection of Liberty

I'm working on a long review for Prometheus, but if you like adventurous science fiction that takes you back to the days of Robert A. Heinlein, Michael L. Wentz's novelResurrection of Liberty is on sale for under $20. I really enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it. It's hard to beat this price for a nicely bound hardcover book, and would make a great gift to youngsters and adults alike.

L. Neil Smith's movie treat(ment)

Over the Libertarian Enterprise, novelist and Prometheus Award winner L. Neil Smith shares a movie treatment he wrote called TimePeeper. Written in the 1980s, it's an interesting addition to Smith's North American Confederacy universe.

Master and Margarita to debut as TV movie in Russia

The New York Times writes about a nearly nine hour TV movie version of a superb Russian novel, Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. "For the Soviet or Russian person, meeting with Bulgakov's novel in 1966 was a taste of freedom," states the director. The book can be read on many levels, one of which details how people "disappear" into the basements of the KGB. Other elements are more fantastic, such as the Devil setting up shop in Moscow. The novel is a hallmark of wit and elebance, but devilishly difficult to adapt to the screen. I seriously hope this gats translated and shown outside Russia one day.

Turkish novelist on trial for speech

I heard about the case of Orhan Pamuk's trial on NPR driving home today. The trial begins on December 16. Here is a country's most famous novelist on trial for saying something that insults the national character. Apparently, by discussing the verboten subject of over one million alleged Armenian deaths in Turkey in 1915, Pamuk stepped on the toes of Turkish national honor. It's a shame that so many of his countryfolk hate him for daring to speak his mind, but Turkish children are taught at an early age to venerate all things Turkish, and that means no criticism of the government view. Whether or not one million Armenians died should be investigated fully, not swept under the carpet.

V for Vendetta teaser

Wally Conger passes on some positive comments from a pre-screening report of V for Vendatta in Austin, Texas recently. Interestingly, the guys at Ain't It Cool News, which posted the comments, wrote early on about disturbing changes to the script. Either the movie changed, or the opinions did, but regardless this does appear positive. The posters are superb.