{"id":1146,"date":"2019-10-24T14:45:53","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T19:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lfs.org\/blog\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2024-05-11T14:39:08","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T19:39:08","slug":"40th-anniversary-celebration-an-appreciation-of-victor-milans-the-cybernetic-samurai-the-1986-prometheus-best-novel-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/40th-anniversary-celebration-an-appreciation-of-victor-milans-the-cybernetic-samurai-the-1986-prometheus-best-novel-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneering cyberpunk tale of love, duty, justice: An Appreciation of Victor Milan\u2019s The Cybernetic Samurai, the 1986 Prometheus Best Novel winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Libertarian Futurist Society’s ongoing Appreciation series strives to make clear what libertarian futurists see in each of our past winners and how each fits the Prometheus award’s distinctive focus on Liberty vs. Power. Here’s our Appreciation for Victor Milan’s The Cybernetic Samurai, <\/em>the 1986 Best Novel winner.<\/p>\n

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the undeservedly forgotten works of the early cyberpunk scene, Victor Milan’s prescient 1985 novel The Cybernetic Samurai<\/em> explores the tensions between duty and free will, duty and love and duty and justice in a harsh future where some people struggle to be free within a largely totalitarian Earth.<\/p>\n

Imagining a 21st\u00a0<\/sup>century between the third and fourth world wars in a story whose hero is the world\u2019s first sentient computer, Milan portrays a bloody and terrible future in which much of the world is destroyed but Japan becomes the last refuge of a dying free society and free market.
\n
\nAlthough the computer-being, named Tokugawa by his female creator Dr. O\u2019Neill, is imbued with personality and a sense of honor and immediately can access the world\u2019s accumulated knowledge, he begins his self-aware life as ignorant and as innocent as a child and develops to maturity with help from an unauthorized \u201chalf-pacifist libertarian\u201d mentor Michiko.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For example, when Tokugawa asks Michiko what dictatorship means and learns that such tyranny is established by an absolute ruler with an army and secret police to make people obey, the computer wonders if that isn\u2019t a good thing:<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Neill says people should obey their lords. The trouble with people today is they have so few lords worth obeying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michiko\u2019s frowning response: \u201cShe said\u00a0what?\u00a0<\/em>I\u2019ll agree there are few lords worth obeying these days \u2013 but I\u2019d say there are none worth obeying, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE PERENNIAL QUESTION OF POWER<\/strong><\/p>\n

When confronted with the question of power, and the destruction this often brings, how will the sentient computer Tokugawa choose?<\/p>\n

The Cybernetic Samurai<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(and its sequel) poignantly raises perennial questions for liberty lovers: Is power inevitable?<\/p>\n

Can anyone wield proper and limited power responsibly without abusing it?<\/p>\n

Can something with ultimate power consider and act on the ultimate sacrifice?<\/p>\n

Milan asks penetrating questions in his novel and eloquently dramatizes their implications for humanity and liberty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Victor Milan (Creative Commons photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Note: Victor Milan (1954-2018), an American writer known for exploring cybernetics themes and libertarian science fiction, wrote a sequel The\u00a0Cybernetic Shogun<\/em><\/a>, a 1991 Best Novel finalist, and CLD,<\/em> a 1996 Best Novel finalist.<\/p>\n

During his career, Milan published almost 100 novels and many short stories, including several shared-universe works for the Star Trek, BattleTech, Wild Cards\u00a0<\/em>and Forgotten Realms\u00a0<\/em>series; several \u201cThe Guardians\u201d books under the pseudonym Richard Austin, several \u201cSteele\u201d books under the pseudonym S. L. Hunter, and at least nine novels under the house name of James Axler for the\u00a0Heathlands\u00a0<\/i>and Outlanders <\/em>series.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0Read the Prometheus blog obit<\/strong> <\/a>about Victor Milan, posted Feb. 14, 2018.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Victor Milan, dressed up as emcee for Archon’s annual masquerade. (Creative Commons photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* Read the Prometheus blog author’s update about Victor Milan writing on Tor.com’s excellent \u201cFive Books\u201d section with recommendations<\/strong><\/a> of five classic sf\/fantasy works “by Authors We Must Not Forget.”<\/p>\n

(Among them: Jirel of Joiry<\/em> by C.L. Moore,\u00a0The Planetary Adventures of Eric John Stark<\/em> by Leigh Brackett,\u00a0The Dragon Masters<\/em> by Jack Vance,\u00a0Berserker (Berserker Series Book 1)<\/em> by Fred Saberhagen and\u00a0Lord of Light<\/em> by Roger Zelazny.)<\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE<\/strong><\/p>\n

* See related introductory essay<\/strong> <\/a>about the LFS\u2019 40th<\/sup>anniversary retrospective series of Appreciations of past Prometheus Awards winners, with an overview of the awards\u2019 four-decade history.<\/p>\n

* Other Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For a full list of winners \u2013 of the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the recently updated and enhanced Prometheus Awards page<\/strong><\/a> on the LFS website, which includes direct links from each of more than 100 titles to its Appreciation essay-review.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

* Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards, join<\/strong> <\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS)<\/a>, a non-profit volunteer association of libertarian sf\/fantasy fans and freedom-lovers.
\nLibertarian futurists believe cultural change is as vital as political change (and often more fun!) in achieving universal individual rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Libertarian Futurist Society’s ongoing Appreciation series strives to make clear what libertarian futurists see in each of our past winners and how each fits the Prometheus award’s distinctive focus on Liberty vs. Power. Here’s our Appreciation for Victor Milan’s The Cybernetic Samurai, the 1986 Best Novel winner. By Michael Grossberg One of the undeservedly … Continue reading Pioneering cyberpunk tale of love, duty, justice: An Appreciation of Victor Milan\u2019s The Cybernetic Samurai, the 1986 Prometheus Best Novel winner<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,159,2353,8],"tags":[174,46,175,172,173,171],"class_list":["post-1146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-best-novels","category-book-reviews","category-review","tag-cld","tag-prometheus-awards","tag-science-fiction","tag-the-cybernetic-samurai","tag-the-cybernetic-shogan","tag-victor-milan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-iu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1146"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7574,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions\/7574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}