Robert Anton Wilson Needs Our Help

Douglas Rushkoff posts distressing news about the great Robert Anton Wilson, author of many brilliant books including the Illuminatus! trilogy. I corresponded briefly with Wilson ten years ago and was impressed with his kindness, wit, and intelligence.

Prometheus covers

My vision of Prometheus as a newsletter features cool cover art with cutting edge articles and reviews within. I don't always get artwork for the cover, and as you can see from these three samples sometimes the newsletter leads off with the article on the front page.


When L. Neil Smith's novel, The Probability Broach was published as a graphic novel in early 2005, I immediately asked Neil and artist Scott Bieser for permission to reprint some of the art in the issue. They agreed, and so I took advantage or their generosity. The last page of the newsletter contains a small frame of the delectable DJ Thorens, and I wrote a review of the graphic novel version. I've now actually bought more graphic novels since 2004 than between 1990 and 2004, but I can still count them on two hands. My personal opinion is that the graaphic novel version of TPB should have been a best novel nominee, but instead the book won as a Special Award. It probably would not have won as a novel, since it already won back in 1982.


The issue with the gunslinger and was inspired by the two articles for each WorldCon site. This issue almost never appeared in print. In 2004 there was a transition in editorship for the newsletter, and this issue was sent to members in two emails. this was around the time I thought about volunteering to help edit the issue, and so I created a sample newsletter to sort of see if I actually could put together an issue again. I had already moved from OS 9 on the Mac to OS X, and my PageMaker software no longer ran native. So, I upgraded to InDesign 2, and threw together an issue and learned a few things about the software. I never released this issue to anyone, and almost lost all the electronic bits in a hardware crash. When I recovered the drive and after I already had put out a couple of issues, I redisovered this 2004 print version, and decided to release it as a special issue.


And here is a plain, almost vanilla cover. A few of the most recent issues have gone 16-20 pages, and with page real estate in these issues at a premium I decided to skip creating a distinctive cover. The current issue again features artwork on the cover, but I'll hold off on posting this until after the issue is published, some time in mid-October. The issues shown on this page are all available for $3 (just send me an email for details), or you can join LFS and receive each forthcoming issue per year of your membership. A few years ago I had several complete sets of all the back issues of Prometheus, but now there are quite a few that I lack, especially for issues prior to 2004. If anyone knows how to scan pages into PDF, please let me know and I can start the process to put all the back issues online at some point.

By the way, I'm always looking for articles and reviews for the newsletter. Please contact me for details.

As a preview, here's what's in store for members and subscribers in the Fall 2006 issue:
Inside Prometheus:
Prometheus Award winners’ remarks from David Lloyd, Patrick Nielsen Hayden (editor), and Ken MacLeod
WorldCon Report by Fred Curtis Moulton with photos of the event
A brief review of the movie version of V for Vendetta
Fiction reviews:
F. Paul Wilson's The Keep: The Graphic Novel
Gary Bennett's The Star Sailors, a 1982 novel recently available again
Keith Brooke's Genetopia
David Louis Edelman's Infoquake
A trio of Naomi Novik books reviewed
Ian MacDonald The River of Gods
Chris Roberson's Paragaea
David Lloyd’s Kickback

Comic buying inexperience

I first heard about F. Paul Wilson's graphic novel version of his 1981 novel, The Keep, in 2005. I even wrote down the schedule, with volume 1 out in October 05, and volume 5 due in April 06. It took me through September to collect all five volumes, going to seven stores in two cities, and finding the comic books in one three of the stores (and thes are all comic book stores). Instead, I probably should have waited and bought the trade paperback. I think I spent a buck more on the five volumes, and a lot more time... But it's good. I'm featuring the book as the lead item in the Fall issue of Prometheus.

The Philadelphia Orchestra goes online

A great way for orchestras to make more money, and many city orchestras are indeed pinched for funds, is selling their performances. An online music store certainly is vastly better than begging for public funds, and the prices appear quite reasonable.

Via Boing Boing

Article 301

Turkish fiction writer Elif Shafak avoided prison today. she was brought to trial under Article 301, an ominously sounding law on speech and the written word in Turkey. Acquitted for the crime of insulting Turkish national identity, she's one of several writers accused and tried for this crime. Apparently bringing up the fact that almost one million Armenians were murdered in the early 20th century is bad form. Several dozen writers of non-fiction and fiction are awaiting trial for voicing various opinions on Turkish history and policy, rendering free speech in that country a fragile risk. Insulting Turkishness is a vague term, usually limited to people to criticize those in power, and often used to stifle opinion. When The Bastard of Istanbul is published next year (not Shafak's novel), I'm tempted to buy it just to grab onto that ability to speak one's mind.

Centipede Press

Yowza! I'd better start saving now for the 2007 Michael Shea colleciotn, if these prices are any indication of the publisher's offerings. Reminds me of Charnel House's extra special editions. Collectors and die-hard fans only, I guess.

Michael Shea

I'm a huge Michael Shea fan. The man is a master with words, charaters, and turns of phrase, all in the weird/horror/fantasy genre. Today I saw by chance two new short stories coming in out later this year while idly searching Shocklines.com. I jumped to Shea's web site, and almost sprayed my tea on my monitor. Shea states that in 2007 a 400 page collection of all his stort stories and novellas will be published. I have almost all of Shea's published works, except for three very hard to find short stories. I hope the tables of contents soon will be available, to check off if all the stories are indeed there.

Shea is not for everyone, but this award-winning author should have had another collection years ago. To date there's only been the Arkham House collection, Polyphemus, but now I'm excited about 2007. Now, maybe other publishers will take note and publish some of his finished novels...

Updates

It's been a while since I updated my blog roll, but I'm adding a section on resources, otherwise known as "places that will take your money and give you stuff." I like stuff.

I'm starting small, and probably will add links to places I've patronized, or that I know have good reputations. (I got ripped off my first time on eBay ad have never been back since. Lesson learned: know from whom you are buying.) Shocklines is a great source for horror, fantasy, and the occasional sf. I recently placed an order there in hopes of getting an sf book (more of which later if I get that book), and found it amusing that the site had to stress this was science fiction. Forbidden Planet gets a mention because Joe Gordon there does some great stuff, and they have cool things.

I probably need to make other link updates, and that photo is twenty years old... but in due time.

Rushkoff graphic novel

Joe Gordon at Forbidden Planet pointed out to me a new series of comic novels by noted tech writer Doug Rushkoff, called Testament. According to the author himself, "It’ll follow a band of cyber-alchemist revolutionaries, in a future just a day after tomorrow - when the draft is reinstated, and the mind virus known as the dollar requires military enforcement."

I've recently discovered a somewhat decent comic book store in San Antonio (nowhere near as comprehensive as Austin Books in, duh, Austin), so I plan to see if they have any copies on hand.

Often imitated

Forgive me while I sneer yet again at a company that wants to be all things to everyone, as Microsoft imitates yet another technology. Now they want to replicate YouTube. Previously they ripped of the Mac OS, the spreadsheet, Playstation, iTunes, iPod, smart phones. The list goes on. When do we ever see innovation from this behemoth?

Getcha F. Paul Wilson films right here

The cover photo's a little creepy, but now you can pre-order Others: The Tales of F. Paul Wilson from Shocklines. This DVD contains three short stories where the author granted permission to three young filmmakers - "Foet", "Traps," and "Lipidleggin." The first two are horror tales, and the last a libertarian sf story that originally appeared in Asimovs in 1978, and then reprinted in Survival of Freedom an anthology edited by Jerry Pournelle in 1981. None of the shorts run longer than 20 minutes, but you can bet I'm ordering this little item. Expected ship date is October, 2006, and the cost is a mere $13.99.

Free Jazz Downloads

I'm trying to minimize surfing while working on the Fall issue of Prometheus, but while wasting time elsewhere trying to add cover art to some iTunes albums, I stumbled upon a site that lets you sample tracks via free downloads, for jazz fans only, I guess. All available by permission from artist or record company, and all in the mp3 format. No apparent DRM. Probably friendly across many digital jukeboxes. There are currently 421 available downloads. I'm hoping this will lead to me discovering cool new jazz, as my tastes tend to be stuck in the 1950s and 1960s in that genre...

Prometheus Fall issue

The next issue of the print newsletter of the Libertarian Futurist Society is slowly coming together. So far this is what's planned:
Prometheus Award Winners’ remarks. Reviews of fiction by Naomi Novik, Keith Brooke, David Louis Edelman, Ian MacDonald, Gary Bennett, Chris Roberson. Movie review of V for Vendetta. Scheduled publication date is early to mid-October.

I've just finished putting together a wickedly cool cover for the newsletter, which I won't yet reveal. My only concern with this issue is that it looks like I'm writing five or six reviews to fill content. Not that I mind, but I'm hoping for submissions from others so I can step back a little.

Speaking of which, if you like libertarian sf, and like to review stuff, please consider Prometheus.

Ooh, I'm a cult member

I'm not longer sure... Do I belong to the cult of Apple, or a libertarian sf cult. I'm astonished at the intellectual strength required to label different ideas as cult like. Gosh, some weird people actually like an OS and and hardware design, instead of living with clunky and imitative software, viruses, blues screens of death, and grey boxes. You are a cult! Some people like liberty and dream of space. Cultist! With friends like this, who needs enemies.

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.