Best wishes for recovery to sf authors F. Paul Wilson and Gregory Benford, both recuperating from strokes

By Michael Grossberg

Prometheus-winning author F. Paul Wilson is undergoing speech therapy after having a stroke.

F. Paul Wilson (Creative Commons license)

Prometheus finalist Gregory Benford, another veteran sf author well-known to both sci-fi fans and libertarians, also has been recovering from a stroke.

Gregory Benford (Creative Commons license)

Libertarian futurists are sending our best wishes for a full recovery to Wilson and Benford, two bestselling (and libertarian) sf authors whose novels and stories have entertained and illuminated millions of readers.

Continue reading Best wishes for recovery to sf authors F. Paul Wilson and Gregory Benford, both recuperating from strokes

Victor Koman classic returns as an ebook

Victor Koman’s Kings of the High Frontier, winner of the 1997 Prometheus Award, has just been reissued as a reasonable priced Kindle ebook ($5.95.)

We weren’t the only folks who liked it; see the Amazon page for endorsements from the likes of Gregory Benford and Ray Bradbury.

Continue reading Victor Koman classic returns as an ebook

Freedom in the Future Tense: A Political History of SF

 

By Eric S. Raymond

The history of modern SF is one of five attempted revolutions — one success and four enriching failures. I’m going to offer a look at them from an unusual angle, a political one. This turns out to be a useful perspective because more of the history of SF than one might expect is intertwined with political questions, and SF had an important role in giving birth to at least one distinct political ideology that is alive and important today.

Robert Heinlein (Photo courtesy of the Heinlein Trust)

CAMPBELL AND HEINLEIN

The first and greatest of the revolutions came out of the minds of John Wood Campbell and Robert Heinlein, the editor and the author who invented modern science fiction. The pivotal year was 1937, when John Campbell took over the editorship of Astounding Science Fiction. He published Robert Heinlein’s first story a little over a year later.
Continue reading Freedom in the Future Tense: A Political History of SF