Hard to argue with this post, which quotes Jeff Riggenbach saying, “All the best known libertarian novels are science fiction novels.”
Author: Anders Monsen (Page 49 of 90)
I should have posted about this sooner, but forgot to link to this February 24 article from the UK’s Guardian online about the social realism of Scandinavian crime fiction. Of course, with all the noise surrounding Sweden’s Stieg Larsson and his Millennium trilogy, attention turns to other Scandinavian crime writers. No mention of Norway’s Gunnar Staalesen, alas. He’s a great writer, and a definite socialist, so would have fit this narrative perfectly. Certainly there are more Scandinavian socialist crime writers, because virtually every member of the literati there grew up a socialist or Marxist-Leninist. Socialism is part of the culture of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Still, there might be some anti-authoritarianism there, and crime fiction written from the perspective of non-police people lends itself more to question authority.
Nice review over at the Wall Street Journal of a recent Poul Anderson collection, Admiralty: The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson, Volume 4, NESFA’s continuing effort to publish all his short works. Discusses the evolution of Anderson from a more rigid engineer view of society to a libertarian world view.
Long review of part 1 of the recently released Atlas Shrugged movie. Not sure if or when it will make it to theaters near me, but it has been many years since I last read the novel.
On April 4 the Libertarian Futurist Society announced the finalists for the 2011 Prometheus Award. Five novels made the cut, out of the ten nominated. I’ve read two of the five nominees, and am in the middle of reading a third.
- For the Win, by Cory Doctorow (TOR Books)
- Darkship Thieves, by Sarah Hoyt (Baen Books)
- The Last Trumpet Project, by Kevin MacArdry lasttrumpetproject.com
- Live Free or Die, by John Ringo (Baen Books)
- Ceres, by L. Neil Smith (Big Head Press, also published online at bigheadpress.com
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Cory Doctorow won a few years ago for Little Brother, a book that I thought was great until the final chapter. I’m 100 pages into his novel For the Win, and so far the theme appears to be “virtual workers of the world, unite.” This theme reared it’s little head ca. 75 pages into the novel, which up until then had seemed quite interesting, sort of a cross between Vernor Vinge and Charlie Stross. Oh, well. Maybe it will make sense later. I’ve never read anything by John Ringo, but from I hear he is far from a libertarian. Strange choice, if that’s the case. Military sf never really makes any libertarian sense. I like parts of Sarah Hoyt’s book, and will have to read Smith’s Ceres once more as I first read it five years ago. I’ve not heard of MacArdry, but the premise seems interesting.
I get occasional comment spam. Not too much, but then I hardly write anything here to warrant spammer attention. However, I am trying out a pair of new plug-ins to see if they have any effect on the few spammer who notice this blog. Let’s see what happens.
A recent post from Cory Doctorow hints that his novel, For the Win, is a finalist for the 2011 Prometheus Award. As the saying goes, more details to follow.
The Libertarian Futurist Society announces this year’s crop of Hall of Fame finalists. I’m almost happy to see there’s a title on there of a story that I have not yet read. Every year there are far too many of the same stories. That’s not to say these candidates are not deserving of the award, but surely there must be some other good books and stories out there on which the LFS could sine some attention.
From the Wall Street Journal (of all places), a fascinating article on the life and fiction of Russian writer and revolutionary Victor Serge (1890- 1947).
Fiction was his means of giving voice to the voiceless, of resisting the seductions of a coercive, monolithic truth, of confronting utopian falsehood with the complications and contradictions of reality.
Although labeled a socialist and communist, a key description that merits further investigation is the author’s statement that “he remained a dedicated libertarian, defending freedom of expression and the rights of the individual, often at great personal risk.”
Children of the Sky, a sequel to Vernor Vinge’s Hugo and Prometheus Award winning novel, A Fire Upon the Deep, is slated for publication from Tor Books in October 2011, according to a report over at io9. Set anticipation level to “high,” as Vinge’s novels are superbly crafted works of the best that science fiction offers.
