Today all issues of Prometheus, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Summer 2005) were mailed to members of LFS and subscribers. The issue includes an article on Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano, by Thomas Sipos; a review of F. Paul Wilson’s latest Repairman Jack novel, Infernal, and much more. Mailed along with this issue was a special print version of the Summer 2004 newsletter, which originally appeared only in email form.
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From the New York Times, a great and inspiring story of Duong Thu Huong, a fiction writer in Vietnam who spits in the face of the regime, and refuses to leave while opposing and denouncing its very oppressive government.
Cheryl Morgan from Emerald City on the Cato Institute:
I am, of course, familiar with the Cato Institute from my “real” job as an energy economist. They are the loony extremist wing of the free market movement and generally argue that no market should have any regulation, ever. It was interesting to actually meet a bunch of Cato Institute supporters. As I suspected, they tended to be very rich, deeply conservative, and strongly interested in protecting what they see to be important American freedoms, such as the freedom to take what you want, the freedom to exploit and opress others, and the freedom to kill anyone who gets in your way.
Yes, indeed. That’s freedom, folks. I shake my head in wonder and amazement.
Via Reason’s Hit and Run pages, and interesting article about Dave Sim and his 6,000 page comic book epic, Cerebus. I think it might be daunting undertaking to read 6,000 words of a comic book, let alone imagine the monomanic effort that went into writing this work.
From Ain’t it Cool News, a script review of V for Vendetta, and it’s not a pretty result. Instead of the book, we probably will end up with “inspired by the title of the comic book” in the credits. All the excitement I felt upon hearing the original news about this movie has evaporated into this air. Not even Natalie Portman’s presence can save this movie. A quote:
There is nothing sinister about the government. It isn’t subtle and manipulative at all like the graphic novel presented it to be. It is Evil with a capital E, black bags over the head and everything. Pothrero is not the Voice of England, but a screaming voice, devoid of nuance and subtlety, a damning indication of elementary screenwriting by two hacks.
As reported by Comic Book Resources, noted writer Alan Moore sets the record straight on the movie adaptation of his graphic novel, V for Vendetta. I guess it was too much to ask when the producers spoke as if they had Moore’s complete approval. Directors and producers of major movies rarely treat writers with any respect. Now the game becomes a question of how many changes are made, how the changes affect the story, and whether the political statements get toned down.
This has nothing to do with culture, but everything to do with liberty. I hope Robert Mugabe ends up in front of a firing squad at dawn for destroying a country. This latest crackdown shows yet again how a government has gone mad.
A glimpse at the forthcoming Serenity comic books from Dark Horse Comics. Scroll down the page. Via Claire Wolfe. Additional info from Scifi.com. Comic books due out July 6.
Via Victor Milan’s website some news about a new novel, Deathlands. It’s a series adventure novel, published under a pseudonym, but might be of interest to any Milan fans out there.
Discovered an audio interview with James P. Hogan called Voices in Your Head, at IT Conversations. The interview can be downloaded or streamed (MP3 and MSWin). The site includes several other audio programs and interviews and seems well-worth some additional browser time.