Read Prometheus Award finalist Tobias S. Buckell’s novel Crystal Rain over at TOR Books. Free only for a limited time. This is not the Prometheus Award finalist novel (that would be Ragamuffin), but might give readers a taste of Buckell’s fiction.

Well, I’m not even sure the second word in the title comes close to accuracy. Locus Online posted the notice about the Prometheus Award finalists today. In the sentence about the Classic Novel category they editorialize with the following snarky comment – “finalists for classic fiction (which can be and are nominated year after year until they win).” Personally I have grumbled about some of the repetitiveness about the nominees, but I have rarely seen Locus Online editorialize about any other science fiction award, so this behavior is questionable at best, and simply bad form. Nor is it entirely accurate. The same nominees do not show up year after year (go check the past list of nominees at www.lfs.com), though as of late this seems to have been the case. Some years ago I compiled a list of the most nominated books in the Classic category (or as it originally was called, the Hall of Fame). Several books dominated this list, while others appeared regularly but sporadically. But it just the fact such a comment was made that bothers me, not so much having to pull the facts to dispute it. I gave up pushing a couple of Jack Vance novels that I thought deserved the award, as he never got enough votes to make the second round, and I fear too few people read Vance, and his older books now are rarely reprinted and thus inaccessible.

The press release went out today, and news should be posted at LFS.com fairly soon. I have not yet read any of the finalists (I am not part of the selection committee), but I’ll need to read them all soon before the voting deadline in July. I’m a little disappointed that two of the books I nominated did not make the final cut, but so it goes. From the release:
* Ragamuffin, by Tobias S. Buckell (TOR Books), set in the same world as Crystal Rain, focuses on a struggle for power that leads to total war for humanity’s right to live free from alien rulers.
* The Execution Channel, by Ken MacLeod (TOR), imagines a post-9/11 era of terrorism, paranoia, espionage in an environment of media spin, disinformation and a rogue media outlet that broadcasts murders and executions.
* Fleet of Worlds, by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner (TOR), is a prequel to Niven’s classic Ringworld that dramatizes the deception and dominations of alien Puppeteers over enslaved descendants of a human colony ship.
* The Gladiator, by Harry Turtledove (TOR) , a Crosstime Traffic story about a future where the Soviet Union won the Cold War but curious teenagers rediscover capitalism.
* Ha’penny, by Jo Walton (TOR), an alternate-history sequel to Farthing, portrays a convincing surrender of freedom for illusory safety in a 1940s-fascist Great Britain.
This is the ninth nomination for MacLeod, who has won three times (The Star Fraction, The Stone Canal, and Learning the World); the third nomination (all as collaborations) for Niven, who won in 1992 for Fallen Angels (with Michael Flynn and Jerry Pournelle).
Turtledove has been nominated once before; this is the first nomination for Buckell and Walton. Special congratulations to TOR Books, for its grand slam of all five finalist slots for the second time in this category’s three-decade history.
The Best Novel finalist-judging committee read more than 15 novels this past year as awards possibilities, including nine official nominees. Here are the other nominees: The Guardener’s Tale, by Bruce Boston (Sam’s Dot Publishing); Echoes of an Alien Sky, by James Hogan (Baen Books); Gradisil, by Adam Roberts (Prometheus Books’ Pyr); and Off Armageddon Reef, by David Webber (TOR).

The new proprietors at Laissez Faire Books continue highlighting great fiction for kids in their last two posts. Here is an interesting take by Dr. Seuss.

“A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare” says the judge who wrote an opinion on Californians’ lack of any right to homeschool their children. Chilling.

When news circulated a few months ago that Laissez Faire Books was closing its doors, I was frankly shocked but not too surprised. Thirty or twenty years ago, or even ten years ago, the catalog model was quite viable for a niche market. Searching for libertarian books back then almost always meant picking up the LFB catalog. Then came the internet, and Amazon.com, the equivalent of Wal-Mart for something like LFB. However, there’s still life left in the business, and after dropping the www.lfb.com domain, Laissez Faire Books now marches onward under the auspices of the International Society for Individual Liberty, and with a new domain and blog. Recently they posted a long essay on fiction for kids, starting with the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. For now I have not been able to locate an online catalog, but they are posting reviews and mentions of all their title in stock.

Robert Shea was the co-author of the Illuminatus! trilogy (with Robert Anton Wilson), plus a great solo author who wrote many a historical novel. Now, one of his older short stories is available free online, originally published in 1957. In related new, his son Mike Shea, is trying to sustain and build up interest in Robert Shea’s fiction. He manages a web site about his father, and recently posted news about Shike, a fantastic novel about Japan from a few years back. This book now is available in a free online edition. Mike Shea also links to a fan-made comic book adaptation of this story.

Wendy McElroy has some good news about a libertarian themed movie with newly rediscovered DVDs at a warehouse, now available at Laissez Faire Books.

Around one year ago I bought the just-released new novel by Dan Simmons, a nearly 800 page imagined account of the real-life disastrous John Franklin expedition to sail the Northwest Passage in 1845. I’ve long been a fan of Simmons’ books, and own a copy of almost every one of his books. Yet The Terror sat on a shelf for over a year before I pulled it out and started reading. The books sits at eye level as I leave my study, so I see it nearly every night. Yet for many months I have been daunted both by its size and subject matter. I’ve read Simmons’ posting about the book on his website, and even many of the non-spoiler reviews. I was intrigued by the tale of polar exploration, but being aware of the inevitable ending, and of the fantastical nature that appears now and then, I felt reluctant to invest so much time in such a massive book. Yet now, nearly 300 pages into the novel (in just over one day of reading), I feel foolish for having held off so long reading the book. In my opinion this is probably the best Simmons novel since Hyperion, and despite the immense detail and sometimes long drawn out episodes, I find it impossible to desist from reading. It’s hard to believe this expedition took place over 150 years ago. How quickly the world has shrunk.

From his original fantasy novel set in India (Song of Kali) to his hard sf novels, then horror, then hard-boiled fiction (yes, I’m bitter that he stopped writing that series after three books…), to The Terror, to his current work on a novel about Dickens, the art of Dan Simmons has come a long way. The coldest weather I’ve experienced was -13 Fahrenheit, which pales in comparison to what Franklin’s men experienced. Let alone the dangers of strange and fantastical creatures hunting men on the ice, just trying to survive winter north of mainland Canada is terror enough for me.

After almost two years as a serialized publication, L. Neil Smith and Scott Bieser’s Roswell, Texas saga recently wrapped up at Big Head Press. Almost without a break, a brand new Smith story debuts online, this time drawn by Sherard Jackson. TimePeeper, a futuristic juvenile tale shows great promise in the first dozen and half pages currently online, though for some reason when I clicked on the story link for the first time it took me to the last page, not the first page. Another difference is that this story is black and white, whereas Roswell, Texas appeared in full color. Not sure if that will affect the rate new pages are added, but Smith fans get to enjoy another story, although once again they will need to read at the publisher’s pace, instead of being able to have the entire story available at once.