liberty sci fi

[Dewars]

For excellent libertarian sci fi, don't forget John Twelve Hawks.


http://www.amazon.com/Traveler-Fourth-Realm-Trilogy-Book/dp/030727859X

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Twelve Hawks's much anticipated novel is powerful, mainstream fiction built on a foundation of cutting-edge technology laced with fantasy and the chilling specter of an all-too-possible social and political reality. The time is roughly the present, and the U.S. is part of the Vast Machine, a society overseen by the Tabula, a secret organization bent on establishing a perfectly controlled populace. Allied against the Tabula are the Travelers and their sword-carrying protectors, the Harlequins. The Travelers, now almost extinct, can project their spirit into other worlds where they receive wisdom to bring back to earth—wisdom that threatens the Tabula's power. Maya, a reluctant Harlequin, finds herself compelled to protect two naïve Travelers, Michael and Gabriel Corrigan. Michael dabbles in shady real estate deals, while Gabriel prefers to live "off the Grid," eschewing any documentation—credit cards, bank accounts—that the Vast Machine could use to track him. Because the Tabula has engineered a way to use the Travelers for its own purposes, Maya must not only keep the brothers alive, but out of the hands of these evil puppet-masters. She succeeds, but she also fails, and therein lies the tale. By the end of this exciting volume, the first in a trilogy, the stage is set for a world-rending clash between good and evil.

[sillyperson]

Not really libertarian, but the best overlooked work of hard SF in the history of the genre.

[Dewars]

I'm a big LEM fan.

[sillyperson]

I think in The Star Diaries or Memoirs of a Space Traveler (one of the two) he has some chapter introduction text that is supposed to be written by a robot in the far future, which is refuting the claim that these stories were written by some being named "LEM", since historical proof is that LEM stood for Lunar Excursion Module, a device whose electronic brain was so simple it could hardly even be called a robot, much less have written these books...

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Stanisław Lem - I know him well from my Soviet childhood, and that's why I have negative connotations toward him... 

Communist science fiction is lies.

[sillyperson]

Communist science fiction is lies.

Even if the author is an anti-communist?

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Yeah, yeah, and some of the people working at the concentration camps were also against them, they just "went along with it because they had no choice". 

Lem compromised with evil, and he allowed his works to be twisted into communist propaganda.  That's mega-fail!  Everyone was conflicted and anyone can claim to be anti-communist (even the communists, because everyone's idea of communism is irreconcilably different), but it's the actions that count!

In fact, I would hold people like Lem even more responsible for the crimes of fascism / communism than the dumb butchers, because if one dumb butcher goes on strike there are millions of other idiots out there to replace him.  It is people like Lem that make evil possible!

[sillyperson]

Lem [..] allowed his works to be twisted into communist propaganda. 

How exactly would he have stopped that? Gun down the guys running the printing presses?

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Sakharov.

Pasternak.

Solzhenitsyn.

Or do what Ayn Rand did -- emigrate -- which would have been easier from Poland.

[MacFall]

l think it was Michael Z. Williamson.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

Well L. Neil Smith definitely rocks.  He's got a column he writes for JPFO.org http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/lneilsmith.htm

I've read a couple of his books and they are great.


I really dig F. Paul Wilson also. An Enemy of the State rocks even harder.

[Cognitive Dissident]

L. Neil is a huge gun nut!  He and I spent a half hour talking about handguns at the last FreedomFest.  He lives right up the road near Ft. Collins and he's really personable (invited me up to shoot "any time") but sadly I haven't yet taken the opportunity.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

L. Neil is a huge gun nut!  He and I spent a half hour talking about handguns at the last FreedomFest.  He lives right up the road near Ft. Collins and he's really personable (invited me up to shoot "any time") but sadly I haven't yet taken the opportunity.

You need to take the opportunity and share it with us.  I'm jealous.

[Cognitive Dissident]

L. Neil is a huge gun nut!  He and I spent a half hour talking about handguns at the last FreedomFest.  He lives right up the road near Ft. Collins and he's really personable (invited me up to shoot "any time") but sadly I haven't yet taken the opportunity.

You need to take the opportunity and share it with us.  I'm jealous.

I know.  I suck.

[spicynujac]

I love Babylon5 and watched a good bit of it when it aired back in high school.  Is there any station or site like hulu that airs this fine program or am I gonna have to bittorrent the whole damn series?  I don't know why SciFi doesn't show stuff like this, even if it's in the middle of the night so we can tape it.  It's way better than 90% of the stuff they air (although I am looking forward to Caprica).