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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other
Brief essay on Clark Ashton Smith’s individualism

Whoa! The Lamviin land in Texas.

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

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