Prometheus Awards announced

(I reproduce here the official press release. I voted for the winner, THE UNINCORPORATED MAN, although in the Hall of Fame category I was disappointed that CRYPTONOMICON by Neal Stephenson did not win.)

* The Libertarian Futurist Society will hold its annual awards ceremony for the Prometheus Award during Aussicon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention, September 2-6, 2010, in Melbourne, Australia. The specific time and location will be available in the convention program.

* The winner of the Best Novel award is "The Unincorporated Man", by Dani and Eytan Kollin (TOR Books). The Hall of Fame award was won by "No Truce with Kings," a story by Poul Anderson, written in 1964. The Kollin Brothers will each receive a plaque and a one-ounce gold coin, while a smaller gold coin and a plaque will be presented to Anderson's estate.

"The Unincorporated Man" is the first novel publication by the Kollin brothers. It is the first novel in a planned trilogy to be published by Tor. "The Unincorporated Man" presents the idea that education and personal development could be funded by allowing investors to take a share of one's future income. The novel explores the ways this arrangement would affect those who do not own a majority of the stock in themselves. For instance, often ones investors would have control of a person's choices of where to live or work. The desire for power as an end unto itself and the negative consequences of the raw lust for power are shown in often great detail. The story takes a strong position that liberty is important and worth fighting for, and the characters spend their time pushing for different conceptions of what freedom is.

Poul Anderson's novels have been nominated many times, and have won the Prometheus Award (in 1995, for "The Stars are also Fire"), and the Hall of Fame Award (1995 for "The Star Fox" and 1985 for "Trader to the Stars"). He also received a Special award for lifetime achievement in 2001. This was the first nomination for "No Truce With Kings".

Poul Anderson's "No Truce with Kings" was first published in 1963. Like many science fiction stories of that era, it was set in a future that had endured a nuclear war. Anderson's focus is not on the immediate disaster and the struggle to survive, but the later rebuilding; its central conflict is over what sort of civilization should be created. The story's title comes from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Old Issue," which describes the struggle to bind kings and states with law and the threat of their breaking free. Anderson's future California is basically a feudal society, founded on local loyalties, but it has a growing movement in favor of a centralized, impersonal state. As David Friedman remarked about this story, Anderson plays fair with his conflicting forces: both of them want the best for humanity, but one side is mistaken about what that is. This story is classic Anderson and, like many of his best stories, reveals his libertarian sympathies.

The other finalists for Best Novel were Hidden Empire, by Orson Scott Card (TOR Books); Makers, by Cory Doctorow (TOR Books); Liberating Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove (ROC/Penguin Books); and The United States of Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove (ROC/Penguin Books). Eleven novels published in 2009 were nominated for the 2010 award.

The other finalists for the Hall of Fame award were "As Easy as A.B.C.," a story by Rudyard Kipling (1912); Cryptonomicon, a novel by Neal Stephenson (1999); and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," a story by Harlan Ellison (1965).

The LFS is announcing the winning works so that fans of the works and the writers can begin to make plans for attending the awards ceremonies. Anyone interested in more information about the awards ceremony or other LFS activities at Aussicon 4 can send email toprogramming@lfs.org.

The Prometheus awards for Best Novel, Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) and (occasional) Special awards honor outstanding science fiction/fantasy that explores the possibilities of a free future, champions human rights (including personal and economic liberty), dramatizes the perennial conflict between individuals and coercive governments, or critiques the tragic consequences of abuse of power--especially by the State.

The Prometheus Award, sponsored by the Libertarian Futurist Society (lfs.org), was established in 1979, making it one of the most enduring awards after the Nebula and Hugo awards, and one of the oldest fan-based awards currently in sf. Presented annually since 1982 at the World Science Fiction Convention, the Prometheus Awards include a gold coin and plaque for each of the winners.

The Hall of Fame, established in 1983, focuses on older classic fiction, including novels, novellas, short stories, poems and plays. Past Hall of Fame award winners range from Robert Heinlein and Ayn Rand to Ray Bradbury and Ursula LeGuin.

Publishers who wish to submit novels published in 2009 for the 2010 Best Novel award should contact Michael Grossberg, Chair of the LFSPrometheus Awards Best Novel Finalist judging committee online atmikegrossb@aol.com or on paper at 3164 Plymouth Place, Columbus OH 43213.

Founded in 1982, the Libertarian Futurist Society sponsors the annualPrometheus Award and Prometheus Hall of Fame; publishes reviews, news and columns in the quarterly "Prometheus"; arranges annual awards ceremonies at the WorldCon; debates libertarian futurist issues (such as private space exploration); and provides fun and fellowship for libertarian SF fans.

A list of past winners of LFS awards can be found on the LFS web site at www.lfs.org.

Renovating an old computer with Linux

I am posting this article on my blog using an IBM Thinkpad that's about 10 years old.

A Windows computer that ancient would be considered almost useless. It would likely not be able to run a modern Internet browser, for example.

My computer, however, uses a variation on the Linux operating system called CrunchbangLinux. I won't claim that it's fast, but it is adequate. I can use it to surf the Internet, play music, write an article with a word processor, read PDF files and do pretty much anything else a computer is normally used for. A "light" version of Linux, which uses a relatively small amount of memory, can rehabilitate an old PC that otherwise would not be very useful.

As I assume there might be other people who might find it interesting to obtain a useful computer by downloading software from the Internet and installing it on an old machine, I'm going to explain how to use Crunchbang Linux, my current favorite version of Linux. I am not a computer hardware expert at all, and I will do my best to write an article for ordinary computer users.

First, I want to define my terms, in case anyone is already confused. All computers run on an operating system, a software program that controls the computer and provides a base for the various other programs it runs. Most personal computers run a variation of Microsoft's Windows system. Macintosh runs an Apple OS.

Linux, invented as a kind of hobby by computer users around the world, is a noncommercial operating system available for little or no money that usually runs on computers that otherwise would usually run Windows.

Anybody is free to develop his own version of Linux, and there are many different versions to meet different needs. There are quite a few light Linux versions written specifically to run on old computers and to run very fast on new machines. Crunchbang Linux runs well on old machines, and so does Antix Linux.

To get started, you'll need an old computer and at least one copy of Linux. You may also need a wireless card or Ethernet card to connect the computer with your Internet provider, if you use a cable connection rather than wireless Internet.

You may not want to run your Linux experiments on the computer your children use for their homework. It's best to find an old computer to play with. Your family, your friends or your employer may have an old computer they consider useless that they are willing to let you have for next to nothing. Otherwise, you may have to shop around using classified ads and other resources.

Next, you'll need Crunchbang Linux, Antix Linux or another "light" Linux.

You can try almost any Linux distribution before installing it by using a "live CD."

To get yours, download a copy of Linux and then burn it on a blank disk using a CD burner.

Any such file will be stored online as an ISO image file. All Web sites for Linux have such files, which are designed to to burned onto a blank CD. The Antix Linux site, for example, has links to many sites which store the files and make them available for downloading. Similarly, Crunchbang has downloading links on its site.

Download Antix Linux 8.5-486 if you have a very old computer, such as Pentium I. Download Antix Linux 8.5-686 if you have a Pentium II or later. The 486 version will work in just about any computer.

Any computer with a CD burner should have a program for burning ISO image files on disk. If you don't have one, you should be able to Google for such a program. If you don't have a CD burner, find the computer nerd in your family or your circle of friends to help you.
Downloading Linux and burning it yourself to a CD may be too much of a hassle for some people. An easier way is to buy a cheap disk from an online vendor. OSDisc.com sells Linux disks for $1.95 apiece, including the latest versions of Antix and Crunchbang. (Click "Live CD" and look under "MEPIS" for AntiX.)

It's probably a good idea to have copies of another couple of varieties of light Linux to test, too. Google "lightweight Linux" for ideas. Xubuntu is probably the most popular light Linux and is easy to use and install.

If your old desktop computer does not have a network card, or if your laptop does not have a wireless card, you'll likely want one to connect to the Internet. Unless you are sure it will work with Linux, don't buy your device on the Internet. Buy it at the store and save the receipt. (The packaging won't tell you if it works with Linux, and the salesman at the store likely won't know.)

Now, it's time to have fun.

Make sure your computer's settings will tell it to boot from the CD drive. If you don't have the manual anymore and can't figure out how to do that, Google for a PDF of the computer's manual. In my experience, there's a PDF of the manual available for download somewhere for almost any computer ever made.

Insert your Crunchbang Linux CD (or whatever Linux CD is being tested) into the CD drive and reboot. It should load. If Antix Linux is being tried, enter "demo" and "demo" in the username and password fields.

This "live CD" version of the software in theory load, and allow the user to see if it works on the computer being tested. If Antix Linux is being tested, right click the desktop with the mouse to bring up a menu of software programs to try. The same action will bring up a Crunchbang menu.

If a laptop is being tested and there isn't an unencrypted wireless Internet signal at home, tote the laptop to a library or coffee shop. If all goes well, the software will recognize the wireless card (or the networking card on your desktop computer.) Clicking on the browser should connect you to the Internet.
If the wireless adapter doesn't work, you can try another version of Linux, including an older version of the same software. (For some reason, only older versions of Antix Linux work with my D-Link wireless card.) If you saved your receipt, as I advised you a few paragraphs ago, you can exchange the wireless adapter for another one.

Make sure the sound card works by playing a sound file or trying an Internet radio station.

When you are satisfied the software works on your computer, it can be installed on the hard drive.

Most Linux varieties will ask for a username and password for an administrator and a username and password for a user. To avoid messing up your computer, always log on as a user for ordinary computer tasks such as surfing the Internet, listening to music files, etc. Administrator log-ins should be reserved for when you really need to tinker with the software.

If the software doesn't work or doesn't recognize all of the computer's hardware, try using a different variety of Linux.

When you have finished, you should have a computer that can do almost any task you'd expect a computer to do.

Using it will be a little bit like switching from Windows to a MacIntosh. The system will seem unfamiliar in some ways, but figuring out how to do something normally won't be too difficult.

Your old computer will not be as fast as an expensive new computer. Because you aren't running Windows, you won't have access to all of the computer programs Windows users can run.

But there are advantages to using Linux, too.

Spyware, viruses and other nonsense programs written by troublemakers are written for Windows computers. Running Linux puts an end to having to worry about such things.

'We are Lebron' video

Here's an amusing video: "We Are LeBron," a plea for the Cavaliers star to remain in Cleveland, sung to the tune of "We Are the World." Various Cleveland celebrities take part.

I have a soft spot for Zach Reed, the Cleveland City Councilman -- he was one of the few local Democrats who helped when my wife and I participated in a futile effort to force a vote over whether to raise the sales tax for the Medical Mart boondoggle. So I'll take a moment to note here that apparently Councilman Reed can actually sing.

Barack Obama's crummy Supreme Court nominee

President Barack Obama has nominated a Supreme Court justice who thinks that prosecutors who use fake evidence to convict someone of murder should be shielded from lawsuits. Details here.

There's nothing that can be done about this. Given the partisan realities in Washington, the president could nominate almost anyone, and the Democrats holding a solid majority in the U.S. Senate would set aside whatever private reservations they might have and confirm that person. Only a few of the usual soreheads (libertarians, card-carrying members of the American Civil Liberties Union, those sorts of folks) will raise a fuss. They probably won't get much traction in the media.

I want to thank a couple of the usual soreheads for alerting me to this: Jennifer Abel (via Jeffrey Quick).

Prometheus finalists announced

Much of my free time the last couple of years has been spent reading books that are being considered for the Prometheus Award, a science fiction award that honors books concerned with liberty. I'm a judge on two committees, one that nominates books for the main award and another that nominates for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award.

The nomination committee for the main award has finished its work and put five books on the ballot, which I call to the attention of libertarian sf bookworms.

Here is the official press release:

The Libertarian Futurist Society will present its Prometheus Awards
ceremony in September at the World Science Fiction Convention, which
will be held in Melbourne, Australia from September 2nd to September
6th, 2010. We are happy to announce the finalists for the Best Novel
award. The finalists for the Prometheus Hall of Fame award were
announced in January.

The finalists in the Best Novel category of this year's Prometheus
Award, for the best pro-freedom novel of 2009, are:

* Hidden Empire, by Orson Scott Card (TOR Books)

The sequel to Card's "Empire" (also a Prometheus finalist) covers the
emergence of an imperial president and the role of voluntary action in
saving human lives. Card has had three previous novels nominated for
the Prometheus.

* Makers, by Cory Doctorow (TOR Books)

An inspiring story of entrepreneurial competition in the near future.
The story makes Schumpeter's creative destruction visible, and shows how
even the poorest can be helped by competition and invention. Doctorow's
"Little Brother" (TOR Books) won last year's Prometheus award.

* The Unincorporated Man, by Dani and Eytan Kollin (TOR Books)

This novel explores the idea that education and personal development
could be funded by allowing investors to take a share of one's future
income. The story takes a strong position that liberty is important and
worth fighting for, and the characters spend their time pushing for
different conceptions of what freedom is. This is the first nomination
for the Kollin brothers.

* Liberating Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove (ROC/Penguin Books)

The third book in Turtledove's Atlantis trilogy illustrates why people
of all colors should be treated equally, and shows slaves in an
alternate history demonstrating their humanity by fighting for their
rights. Turtledove's "The Gladiator" was a Prometheus co-winner in
2008. The first book in the trilogy was a finalist in 2009, and he had
one other novel nominated for the award in 1999.

* The United States of Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove (ROC/Penguin Books)

The second book in Turtledove's Atlantis trilogy covers his alternate
colonies' revolution to free themselves from the British crown. This is
the first time an author has had two books as Prometheus finalists in a
single year.

Eleven novels published in 2009 were nominated for this year's Best
Novel category. The other nominees were The Prisoner, by Carlos Cortes
(Bantam Spectra);The Good Humor Man, by Andrew Fox (Tachyon
Publications); The Iron Web, by Larken Rose (Larken Rose); The
Revolution Business: Book Five of the Merchant Princes by Charles Stross
(TOR Books); Prophets: Apotheosis, by S. Andrew Swann (DAW); Ground
Zero, by F. Paul Wilson (TOR Books).

The Prometheus Award, sponsored by the Libertarian Futurist Society
(LFS), was established in 1979, making it one of the most enduring
awards after the Nebula and Hugo awards, and one of the oldest fan-based
awards currently in sf. Presented annually since 1982 at the World
Science Fiction Convention, the Prometheus Awards include a gold coin
and plaque for the winners.

The Prometheus awards honor outstanding science fiction/fantasy that
explores the possibilities of a free future, champions human rights
(including personal and economic liberty), dramatizes the perennial
conflict between individuals and coercive governments, or critiques the
tragic consequences of abuse of power--especially by the State.


For a full list of past Prometheus Award winners in three categories,
visit www.lfs.org. Membership in the Libertarian Futurist Society is
open to any science fiction fan interested in how fiction can promote an
appreciation of the value of liberty.

A few notes on Boskone

Tyler Cowen wrote a book last year called "Create Your Own Economy," arguing that in such a vast, prosperous culture that most of us live in now, each of us has the option to essentially create our own culture to immerse ourselves in, using our iPods, computers, etc.

Any good-sized convention allows attendees to "create their own conventions." For example, I just got back from Boskone (Feb. 12-14, at the Westin Waterfront in downtown Boston), a regional convention that includes two writers I really admire, Charles Stross and Vernor Vinge, and I didn't attend a single panel or event that featured either of them. There were so many good panels, I had to make choices.

I haven't been to a convention in 10 years, but I had two particular reasons for wanting to to Boskone. One, I have been obsessed with rediscovering Roger Zelazny ever since I walked into the Poison Pen, a mystery bookstore in Scottsdale, Ariz., in March 2009 and found a copy of his new posthumous mystery, "The Dead Man's Brother." NESFA, the folks who put on Boskone, have been publishing a six-volume set of all of Zelazny's short fiction, all of his poetry and all of his articles that it could find. And I knew that NESFA would give the premiere performance of a Zelazny play, "Godson."

F. Brett Cox and his wife, Jeanne Beckwith

Then, too, I knew that my old friend Dr. F. Brett Cox and his wife, playwright and director Dr. Jeanne Beckwith, would be at the convention. Brett is a very old friend from my teen fan days, but I had not seen him in about a decade.

Brett is a professor, a writer and an academic with a big network of friends, and he turned out to be an excellent "native guide" to the convention in a region of the country where I don't know many people. While I was having dinner Friday with Ann, Brett and Jeanne, Brett waved over a friend to the table, Jim Kelly. As James Patrick Kelly, he's the author of a Golden Gryphon Press collection I have at home, "Think Like a Dinosaur," which is as good a single-author collection as I've ever read. When we got back to our room I told Ann that the guy Brett had flagged down might be the most talented writer at the convention.

Science fiction readers are really privileged in their ability to casually meet many of the best authors in the field. Boston is home to some of my favorite mainstream writers, but I don't know where I could go to be able to meet Elinor Lipman or Janice Weber.

During the NESFA party on Friday night to celebrate the group's latest small press books, such as the two new Poul Anderson volumes, I met Dr. Christopher Kovacs, one of the three editors of the NESFA's Zelazny project.

Kovacs told me that he had spent years assembling many boxes of all of the Zelazny material he could find. When he found out about the NESFA project, which originally was going to be a collection of selected works, he contacted the NESFA folks and told them they could assembly everything, if they wished. Kovacs also took on the job of annotating every work in the volumes and writing a biography, serialized in the six volumes, which covers Zelazny's life and literary career.

Jo Walton, at the autograph-signing table

I went to several interesting panels and discussions on Saturday, including the Jo Walton Kaffeeklatsch.

I had not realized that I was supposed to sign up for the Walton event, and when I showed up I was told there was no room for me at the table, but a participant generously got up to leave and I wa s able to take his place.

I very much admire Walton's "Small Change" trilogy, particularly the first two books, and I also had a chance to pass on some questions posed by my friend Julianne Chatelain. Walton told us that although she is from Wales, she thinks of hersel f as a Canadian writer, as she lives in Canada and has never seen any of her books published in Great Britain. She said that living in Canada gives her distance to write books in a British setting such as "Ha'Penny."

Walton, asked how her LIvejournal blog affects her writing, replied that she is not only a writer, she is a person, and she participates in Livejournal to keep up with her friends. Similarly, Walton asserts that she attends conventions as a fan, not as a writer seeking to promote her books, and said she often sits on panels as a reader rather than as a writer.

Eytan Kollin, left and his brother, Dani Kollin, work well together

I was wise to the rules of Kaffeeklatsch and properly signed up for the Kollin
brothers, the authors of "The Unincorporated Man," currently being weighed
for inclusion on the 2010 final ballot for the Prometheus Award, although in fact they drew fewer fans than Walton. They were both very nice and answered all of my questions.

I told them I was disappointed at finish their novel and not really knowing what their protagonist, Justin Cord, stood for as opposed to what he was against, and they advised me to read the sequel, which appears in May. I asked if their treatment of virtual reality was influenced by Robert Nozick's famous libertarian philosophy book, "Anarchy, the State and Utopia," which makes much the same arguments, and they said, nope, they weren't familiar with the book. I asked if a anyone had complained that the space elevator in New York City could not possibly be at that location, and they said no, they had not heard that criticism.

They also told me stories about their dealings with David Hartwell. They were terrified when Hartwell invited them to breakfast at a science fiction convention after reading their manuscript, not realizing that Hartwell would not have extended the invitation if he had not been interested in the book. In the original ending for "The Unincorporated Man," the hero, Justin Cord, was still trying to decide what to do at the end of the book, a conclusion the two authors described to me as Talmudic. Hartwell told them to forget that and to have Cord make up his mind, and made other changes which the two brothers acknowledge improved the book and its sequels.

I told them that Hartwell's work on Robert Heinlein's novels was probably good preparation for working with them, and that I liked to imagine an alternate universe in which Heinlein allowed Hartwell to edit the books. (Heinlein refused to allow his later books to actually be edited, to the obvious detriment of novels such as "Time Enough for Love.")

Saturday's highlights also included a performance of Zelazny's play "Godson." Jeanne Beckwith, who had served as a consultant for the staging, sat next to me and gave me a bit of commentary. I thought it was pretty good and would have been better if only the participants had had more time.

Brett reads from his novel

I attended little programming Sunday but did make it to Brett Cox's reading of his work in progress novel. It sounded really good, although I think Brett is going to regret reading it because all of his friends who heard it will no doubt pester him endlessly until he finishes the book. I certainly intend to.

Prometheus 'Hall of Fame' ballot announced

The Prometheus Award Hall of Fame ballot has been announced, and I nominated two of the four works that will be on the ballot: "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson and " 'Repent Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison. Balloting will be decided by members of the Libertarian Futurist Society.

Here's the official press release, minus contact info at the end:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 30, 2010

The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced the finalists for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. This category honors novels, novellas, stories, graphic novels, anthologies, films, TV shows/series, plays, poems, music recordings and other works of fiction first published or broadcast more than five years ago.

The Libertarian Futurist Society’s Hall of Fame committee has selected four finalists for the 2010 award, from a field of 13 nominated works:

“As Easy as A.B.C.,” a story by Rudyard Kipling (1912)
Cryptonomicon, a novel by Neal Stephenson (1999)
“No Truce with Kings,” a story by Poul Anderson (1964)
“’Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman,” a story by Harlan Ellison (1965)

Final voting will take place in June and early July of 2010. All members of the Libertarian Futurist Society are eligible to vote. The winner will be announced after the counting of the votes; the award will be presented in a ceremony at the World Science Fiction Convention.

The Prometheus awards for Best Novel, Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) and (occasional) Special awards honor outstanding science fiction/fantasy that explores the possibilities of a free future, champions human rights (including personal and economic liberty), dramatizes the perennial conflict between individuals and coercive governments, or critiques the tragic consequences of abuse of power--especially by the State.

The Prometheus Award, sponsored by the Libertarian Futurist Society (lfs.org), was established in 1979, making it one of the most enduring awards after the Nebula and Hugo awards, and oneof the oldest fan-based awards currently in sf. Presented annually since 1982 at the World Science Fiction Convention, the Prometheus Awards include a gold coin and plaque for each ofthe winners.

The Hall of Fame, established in 1983, focuses on older classic fiction, including novels, novellas, short stories, poems and plays. Past Hall of Fame award winners range from Robert Heinlein and Ayn Rand to Ray Bradbury and Ursula LeGuin.

Founded in 1982, the Libertarian Futurist Society sponsors the annual Prometheus Award and Prometheus Hall of Fame; publishes reviews, news and columns in the quarterly "Prometheus"; arranges annual awards ceremonies at the WorldCon; debates libertarian futurist issues (such as private space exploration); and provides fun and fellowship for libertarian SF fans.

A list of past winners of LFS awards can be found on the LFS web site at www.lfs.org.

No good deed goes unpunished, Iain M. Banks edition

One of my favorite writers is a Scottish science fiction writer, Iain M. Banks. He is arguably the best living SF writer who has never won a major award in the field (e.g., Hugo or Nebula).

Doing my small bit to redress this injustice, I nominated his novel "Matter," for the Prometheus Award, and my fellow judges voted to put it on the final ballot last year, where it duly lost to Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother."

A few months ago, as I read his great new novel, "Transition," I got more and more excited. It's a really fine work of science fiction, and politically it's all about the dangers of abuse of power, why it's important to guard against the loss of civil liberties, etc. Sounded like a strong candidate for another Prometheus nomination.

Then I ran across this passage, in which the novel's heroine, a Mrs. Mulverhill (a freedom fighter, apparently great in bed, too) is talking to an assassin about one of the hired killer's victims:

"No, he really was a shit. He wasn't really a genocidal racist as such but whenever he's not stopped he ends up causing such havoc he might as well as been. Wanted to buy up a state in the U.S. midwest and build an inpregnable Nirvana for the super-rich; Xanadu, Shangri-La.

Fantasy made real. A Libertarian." From his expression she must have thought he wasn't entirely familiar with the term. She sighed. "Libertarianism. A simple-minded right-wing ideology ideally suited to those unable or unwilling to see past their own sociopathic

self-regard." (Chapter 13, page 326 of the American edition.)

It's a gratuitous passage, unrelated to the rest of the book as far as I could tell. Banks apparently just wanted to give a poke in the eye to any libertarian who might be reading his book.

You can see my dilemma. I wanted to nominate it, anyway — if Banks didn't want the nomination, well tough. It's not his decision. He's not a libertarian, but neither are other recent winners such as Charles Stross, Jo Walton, either. But I didn't want to subject my group to ridicule. If "Transition" showed up on the final ballot, inevitably someone would ask if members of the Libertarian Futurist Society can actually read. So I didn't nominate it, and nobody else has so far, either.

Well, maybe "Transition" will get a Hugo nomination. It certainly deserves one.

Let's hope she gets the android vote

Tessa Dick, ex-wife of Philip K. Dick, is running for Congress. Campaign blog here.

I've had a smile on my face ever since I heard about this. (Via Marty Halpern. Thanks for the informative Tweet!)

Books Read 2009

1. When Will There Be Good News? Kate Atkinson. Really well-written novel, somewhere between a genre mystery and a contemporary work of fiction.
2. The Phoenix Exultant, John C. Wright. Libertarian-oriented, far-future novel. Quite interesting.
3. The Edge of Reason, Melinda Snodgrass. Fantasy novel set in New Mexico. Didn't really work for me.
4. The Ruin of the Roman Empire, James J. O'Donnell. Argues the empire was "ruined" by Justinian's expansion. Not bad, but not great.
5. Little Brother, Cory Doctorow. Excellent novel, written for young adults but a good read for all ages. Won the Prometheus Award. Everyone in the Libertarian Futurist Society was enthusiastic about it, myself included.
6. Saturn's Children, Charles Stross. Science fiction novel about horny robots. A good read.
7. Dilbert 2.0, Scott Adams. Massive collection of Dilbert comic strips.
8. Opening Atlantis, Harry Turtledove (audiobook). Entertaining, average Turtledove novel.
9. Roswell, Texas, L. Neil Smith, Scott Bieser, et al. (graphic novel). Rather interesting look at an alternative Texas.
10. Liberation, Brian Francis Slattery. Unusual novel mixing literary and pop styles. I want to read more by this author.
11. The January Dancer, Michael Flynn. Good far-future SF novel.
12. By Schism Rent Asunder, David Weber (audiobook). Political-military soap opera. Held my attention.
13. The Dead Man's Brother, Roger Zelazny. Lost mystery novel finally published years after author's death. I thought it was quite good.
14. Cosmic Trigger 3: My Life After Death, Robert Anton Wilson. Essays by my favorite writer.
15. Down in the Black Gang, Philip Jose Farmer. Re-read this after hearing about Farmer's death. I think the book proves he was a skilled short story writer.
16. The Cutie, Donald Westlake (audiobook). Fun and fast-moving.
17. The International Spy Museum Handbook of Practical Spying, Jack Barth. Amusing book I picked up at the Washington, D.C., museum.
18. The Spartans, Paul Cartledge (audiobook). Good study by respected scholar.
19. Freakanomics, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt (audiobook). Fun. I don't know enough about economics to really judge this book.
20. The Dream of Scipio, Iain Pears. One of the best historical novels ever. Individuals in three societies in crisis (fall of Rome, Black Death, World War II) in what is now southern France face difficult choices.
21. Hit and Run, Lawrence Bloch (audiobook). Typically entertaining outing by my favorite mystery author.
22. The Book of Lost Books, Stuart Kelly. I would have preferred more scholarship and less commentary.
23. Give Me Back My Legions! Harry Turtledove. Historical novel about the defeat of Varus by Arminius that essentially ended Roman attempts to conquer Germany.
24. The Family Man, Elinor Lipman. One of her best, which means it's really good.
25. As They See 'Em, Bruce Weber. Behind the scenes look at the role umpires play in baseball.
26. The Good Humor Man, Andrew Fox. Enjoyable novel about food Prohibition.
27. Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny (audiobook). I love Zelazny, but I can't figure out why people love the Amber books so much.
28. Prophets, S. Andrew Swann. Enjoyable, fast-moving space opera. First book of a trilogy.
29. Threshhold, Collected Stories Volume 1, Roger Zelazny. Wonderful beginning to NESFA's six-part chronicle.
30. Pallas, L. Neil Smith. Not as good as The Forge of the Elders.
31. Conspiracies of Rome, Richard Blake. Historical novel about Italy in late antiquity. I'm eager to read the sequel.
32. Power and Light, Collected Stories Volume 2, Roger Zelazny. NESFA is performing an excellent service by publishing these.
33. Rocket Men, Craig Nelson (audiobook). Excellent chronicle of the moon flights.
34. Saratoga, John F. Luzader. I read this because I knew I'd be visiting the battlefield. Somewhat revisionist treatment argues that Horatio Gates deserves much of the credit for the key victory.
35. Isle of the Dead, Roger Zelazny. One of Zelazny's best.
36. Bend Sinister, Vladimir Nabokov. Another excellent Nabokov, more political than his usual work.
37. Songs for the Missing, Stewart O'Nan (audiobook). Chilling book about murder of young woman.
38. The End of Empire: Attila the Hun and the Fall of Rome, Stuart Kelly. Shows role Huns played in Rome's fall. See comments in my 'Best of 2009' posting.
39. Healthy Competition, Michael F. Cannon and Michael D. Tanner. Cato Institute's take on health care reform.
40. The Unincorporated Man, Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin. Very political science fiction novel. Interesting and intermittently good
41. By Heresies Distressed, David Weber (audiobook). Not as good as the previous book in the series.
42. This is Me, Jack Vance! Jack Vance. Memoir of one of my favorite authors.
43. Death of a Gentle Lady, M.C. Beaton (audiobook). Funny, very enjoyable mystery. Decided to try Beaton after reading Jack Vance's statement that Beaton is his favorite living author.
44. The Quiet War, Paul McAuley. Science fiction novel about global warming and its consequences. Pretty good.
45. Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories, M.R. James. My Halloween book. He's quite good at ghost stories.
46. The Healing of America, T.R. Reid. Useful look at health care systems in other countries.
47. Transition, Iain R. Banks. Really excellent alternate-worlds SF novel.
48. Makers, Cory Doctorow. Doctorow's tribute to entrepreneurs shows a gift for characterization.
49. Create Your Own Economy, Tyler Cowen. Insightful study of how technology allows each of us to create our own little worlds of education and entertainment.
50. The United States of Atlantis, Harry Turtledove. Dull plot that essentially recapitulates American Revolution, but interesting political insights.
51. A Highland Christmas, M.C. Beaton. Brief holiday novel by the Scottish mystery writer.
52. The Secret Life of Eva Hathaway, Janice Weber. Passionate, energetic and often funny novel by author who is also an acclaimed classical pianist.

Download a great, free Christmas audiobook

Librivox is a site that offers free audiobooks of public domain books, read by volunteer readers. (A public domain book is a work, usually old, that has gone out of copyright. Think Jane Austen.)

As you might expect, the quality of the volunteers varies quite a bit, and many of these works feature a succession of readers, some of them good, some not. That's a good description one of the site's versions of "A Christmas Carol." But I've made a discovery. A guy who goes by the name "Smokestack Jones," from my old stomping ground back in Oklahoma, made an excellent recording which you can download here.

More on Christmas audiobooks here.

Best Books of 2009

Everybody else does a best books list; why not me? Mine is shorter and easier to get through.

1. The Family Man, Elinor Lipman. Another warm, funny novel about human relationships by an author often characterized, not unfairly, as a latter-day Jane Austen. Uncharacteristically, the most important romance in the book is between two gay characters. Characteristically, the two gay men offer Lipman a chance to say something wise and humane about what being a "family man" is really all about.

2. As They See 'Em, Bruce Weber. A book by a New York Times reporter that examines the roles of umpires in baseball, and explain what it's like to be an umpire. If this wasn't the best book about baseball in 2009, the better ones must be pretty great.

3. The End of Empire: Attila the Hun and the Fall of Rome, Stuart Kelly. I love to read about the later Roman Empire/late antiquity/the "Dark Ages." I read more than one such book this year; this was the best. Kelly shows how the Huns damaged the Roman Empire not just by helping to cause a series of invasions by various tribes, such as the Goths, but also illuminates how Attila's attacks critically hindered the Eastern Roman Empire's efforts to bring north Africa back into the Roman fold.

4. The Healing of America, T.R. Reid. If you want to understand how health care systems work in other countries, this is where to go. Reid's book suffers from flaws and bias, as any book on such a politically-charged topic is likely to do, but I learned a lot from it and and admired the way he could clearly illuminate difficult topics.

5. Transition, Iain M. Banks. Banks is the best science fiction writer in the world who has never won a major SF award (such as the Hugo). I'll defend such statements by pointing to books such as this one, a politically-charged, masterfully-plotted alternate worlds novel. What an indictment of our literary culture that outfits like NPR and the New York Times ignored this book.

6. Create Your Own Economy, Tyler Cowen. Cowen shows how technology has allowed each of us to create our own private university (or "economy," as the George Mason University economist puts it. The book could have benefitted from a little editing to force Cowen to define his terms more and tease out his arguments, but the book is full of sharp insights.

Notes and Honorable Mentions: I thought Roger Zelazny's "The Dead Man's Brother" was quite good; others seemed to disagree. I read quite a few excellent books that just weren't published in 2009, among them 2008's "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow. (His 2009 book, "Makers," also is quite good). I finally got around to reading "The Dream of Scipio" by Iain Pears, which is maybe the best historical novel I've ever come across.

Last-minute Halloween suggestions

I don't usually read horror, but I try to find something suitable every Halloween. In past years, I've read the Library of America collection of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories (good), Stephen King's vampire tale "Salem's Lot" (good) and Arthur Machen's "The Hill of Dreams" (a little disappointing.)

This year I am reading classic ghost stories by M.R. James. He's brilliant. I'm reading "Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories," an Oxford University Press book, but you can also simply download his stories from Project Gutenberg. (They are available as an audiobook as well as text.) Gutenberg also has oldies-but-goodies such as Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (also available as audio and text) and stories by Edgar Allen Poe.

For more suggestions on free Halloween content, go here.

Hey, sheriff, where do you want me to put this bomb?

My favorite news story today is from my own newspaper, the Sandusky Register, and it's about a guy who found a pipe bomb out in the woods in a wildlife area. Naturally, the only thing he could think to do about it was to tote it somewhere where it could hurt somebody if it went off. Apparently he was under a time crunch and couldn't find a nursery filled with babies, or a kindergarden class, or a dormitory full of nuns, so he had to settle for taking it to the local sheriff's office. The lobby was immediately evacuated, and a brave official then carried it outside. It was a live bomb, too. It was detonated by a bomb squad.

Internet column (Cooking By Numbers)


You probably have all kinds of food sitting in your cupboard and refrigerator. Ever wonder what you can cook with what you have on hand?
Cooking By Numbers (www.cookingbynumbers.com) has a simple menu that lets visitors check off which common ingredients they happen to have in stock. Click "search," and the site then provides a list of recipes for dishes you can make.
You may have noticed that Allrecipes (www.allrecipes.com) has a similar service. You can enter four ingredients you happen to have on hand (and optionally, four ingredients you don't want to include), run a search, and get a list of recipes. I entered lentils, onions, rice and tomatoes, and 10 recipes popped up. When I omitted the tomatoes and included the other three ingredients, I got 25 recipes. I was really just testing the feature for this column, but I found a recipe I wanted to keep and e-mailed a copy to myself, using the site's handy e-mailing tool.
Tipnut has put together a list of "25 Vintage Food Prep Tips" at tipnut.com/vintage-food-tips that are drawn from old cookbooks. (Sample tip: "Fried potatoes will be deliciously golden brown if sprinkled lightly with flour before frying.") TipNut has various household tips and is available at tipnut.com.
Thought4Food (food.blogdig.net) tries to collect the "best cooking and food posts from around the Web." The site includes a large collection of links to food and cooking Web sites and blogs.
If you are interested in cooking, or just looking for a site that fits your particular needs, here are a couple of places to check.
www.100topcookingsites.com is just what it sounds like -- a straightforward list of 100 recipe sites. BestCookingSites.com seems more comprehensive, covering kitchenware, baking and many other topics.
A fast browser. I've never been particularly interested in Apple's Safari Web browser. (A Web browser is the program you use to look at Web sites, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.)
The Macintosh computer I used at work came with Safari, but I noticed that not all Web sites worked well with it. And I can't afford to run out and buy an iPhone.
I was startled, however, when the Wall Street Journal's ace technology columnist, Walt Mossberg, reviewed the new Safari and reported that it is much faster in loading Web sites than any other browser he had tested. Mossberg also pointed out that Safari is available for Windows as well as Macintosh computers, which I hadn't realized. He also allowed he didn't like some of Safari's features. (You can read the review at his Web site, ptech.allthingsd.com.)
I decided to try the browser, so I downloaded it to my Macintosh work computer. I discovered that my computer's operating system isn't up to date enough to use it. Windows users, though, can try it if they have Windows Vista or Windows XP with Service Page 2.
If you want to give the browser a try, you can find it at www.apple.com/safari.
Baggage fees. Planning a trip soon? One of the most unpleasant recent developments for air travel is that the airlines have been tacking on hidden fees.
Flyingfees.com tracks baggage and other fees for the various airlines. I looked at it last week and saw that my wife and I would have to pay $30 for two checked bags if we each checked one each for a spring trip.
(Tom Jackson wants to hear about interesting Southwest Oklahoma Web sites and blogs. Write to him at tom.jackson@gmail.com).

Where good environmental practices and frugality meet

Connie Schultz has a nice column in Sunday's Plain Dealer about what she calls the "eco-friendly" practice of hanging clothes out to dry instead of using an electrical dryer. I thought I was being cheap when I did this in Lawton, Oklahoma, years ago, but apparently I was part of the pro-environment avant-garde.

If she writes about such topics again, I hope she'll mention that her readers can also save energy (and money) if they simply turn off their desktop computers when they aren't using them. This is a good idea for other reasons, too. My computer runs better when it hasn't been on for hours and hours, and computer security expert Bruce Schneier points out that a computer can't be a target for hackers when it's turned off. He writes, "Turn off the computer when you're not using it, especially if you have an "always on" Internet connection."

CNN has just posted an article on "Six Simple Ways to Save Energy at Home." Some of these were new to me.

Jack Vance: A couple of miracles

Science fiction writer Jack Vance has been one of my favorite writers ever since I was a teenager. I've never wavered in my opinion that he's wonderful.

When his 2004 novel, Lurulu, came out I thought that was the last we had heard of him. But it turns out there was more.

The New York Times magazine ran a wonderful article about Vance in July.

And now there's even a new book, a memoir, "This Is Me, Jack Vance!" published by Subterranean Press. I've just finished it, and I'm hoping to get somebody to accept my review of it.

New recording of Duckworth classic

I've been waiting for quite awhile for someone to get around to making a second recording of composer William Duckworth's signature piece, "The Time Curve Preludes."

It's finally happened. Pianist Bruce Brubaker has released "Time Curve," which includes many of the preludes. It's a little maddening that he didn't record all of them, but I have to say I like the Philip Glass etudes also include on the disc. The recording is available as a cheap "Web album" at lala.com and is listed at Emusic.com.

Duckworth, by the way, has revamped and modernized his Web site.

Doctorow's 'Little Brother' wins Prometheus

Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother" has been awarded the Prometheus Award for the best science fiction novel of 2008 by the Libertarian Futurist Society. J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy picked up the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. Full announcement here.

The other finalists also are good books and deserve to be listed here: "Matter" by Iain M. Banks, "The January Dancer" by MIchael Flynn, "Saturn's Children" by Charles Stross, "Opening Atlantis" by Harry Turtledove and "Half a Crown" by Jo Walton. (Cross posted at Libertarian News Network.

Roger Zelazny's lost novel

I've published my piece on Roger Zelazny's lost novel, "The Dead Man's Brother."