Liberty & Power: Group Blog

Entries by Amy H. Sturgis

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Can you hear me now?

I am the interviewee today in a special "Engine Room" episode of StarShipSofa: The Audio Science Fiction Magazine. The interview, which covers subjects related to science fiction, fantasy, and technology, among other things, is a little over an hour - the entire show, in fact. You can download it here or via iTunes under "StarShipSofa," or you can listen to it streaming here.

A list of my other podcast commentaries, interviews, and unabridged dramatic readings is available here with links.

Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2008 at 3:42 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Friday, August 29, 2008

Security risks, book prizes & Muhammad's child bride

An American book prize has blacklisted Random House following its "cowardly self-censorship" of Sherry Jones's novel The Jewel of Medina. The Langum Charitable Trust, which awards two yearly $1,000 (£550) prizes, has said that until the novel is published, it "will not consider submissions of any books, for any of our prizes, from Random House or any of its affiliates."

Random House dropped Jones's novel, about the child bride of Muhammad, after it was warned that it posed a security risk akin to the publication of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.

Read "American literary prize blacklists Random House" by Alison Flood of The Guardian

Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008 at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Summer Political Fiction

SF author Jeff Vandermeer has posted his picks for "Summer Political Fiction: From Jessica Z to Black Clock 9."

Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 8:52 AM | Comments (3) | Top

Monday, July 28, 2008

Ken MacLeod interview

Award-winning Scottish author Ken MacLeod talks about libertarianism, the War on Terror, and how they relate to his new novels The Execution Channel and The Night Sessions, in this recent interview.

Posted on Monday, July 28, 2008 at 8:36 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Indigenous Grandmas Oppose Doctrines of "Discovery," "Conquest"

"The ultimate goal of the grandmothers - to hand-deliver a statement to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to rescind several controversial papal bulls that played a part in the colonization of indigenous lands - was thwarted."

Read the story by Rob Capriccioso: "Indigenous Grandmas Nearly Kicked Out of Vatican."

Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 8:22 AM | Comments (4) | Top

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Prometheus Award Winners Announced

The Libertarian Futurist Society has released the names of the novels that will receive this year's Prometheus Awards in advance of the planned awards ceremony at the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver next month.

Read more about this year's winners.

Read more about the Prometheus Award.

Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 12:20 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Politics Killed the Dystopia

Twenty years after political attacks from both the Right and Left grounded a pathbreaking dystopian science fiction television series, fans and critics still remember the Captain Power story.

I discuss how anti-gun and pro-family groups missed the important lessons concerning liberty in the series they destroyed in the latest StarShipSofa podcast, available here.

Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 11:02 AM | Comments (0) | Top

The Wabanaki Confederacy Goes Global

At the end of a weeklong Wabanaki Confederacy conference, the Wabanaki Council of Chiefs passed a historic resolution calling on United Nations nongovernmental organizations, the Human Rights Council and the Organization of American States to intercede on the tribes' behalf against incursions on tribal sovereignty by states and courts.

Read the full article by Gale Courey Toensing.

Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 10:53 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Words on Little Brother

I highly recommend listening to this new interview with Cory Doctorow, author of the "must read" Little Brother (which I recommended here). In this interview Doctorow talks about the Department of Homeland Security, CCTV, Creative Commons licenses, and his inspiration for Little Brother.

Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 10:17 AM | Comments (1) | Top

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Podcast appearances

I have two new podcast appearances to report:

* I was the featured guest for last week's episode of The Future and You, available here. The interview, conducted by futurist and transhumanist Stephen Euin Cobb, runs about half an hour. You can also get The Future and You via iTunes.

* My latest contribution to the StarShipSofa podcast is now available here and via iTunes. My seventeen-minute article (which begins about ten minutes into the program) is about rediscovering the writings of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué.


Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 12:20 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Doctorow's 1984 for 2008

Cory Doctorow's new dystopia, Little Brother, deserves the attention it's receiving. As author Scott Westerfeld says, it's a "rousing tale of techno-geek rebellion, as necessary and dangerous as file sharing, free speech, and bottled water on a plane."

Read the Publishers Weekly review.
Read Neil Gaiman's review.
Read the Omnivoracious review.

Download the book for free.

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 9:16 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Issues of tribal sovereignty, self-sufficiency are universal

With judicial and state assaults on tribal sovereignty, and failed federal policies in Indian Country, the nations need to move toward solidarity in all arenas, according to the president of the United South and Eastern Tribes.

Read "USET President Sees 'New Era of Activism' in Indian Country" by Gale Courey Toensing.

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:56 AM | Comments (0) | Top

The American past meets modern museum doctrine.

Give the "Ancient Americas" exhibit back to the ancient Americans, and the Field Museum along with it. If any of the heirs and assigns of the Aztec, Inca, or Maya feel inclined to practice a little human sacrifice on anthropologists, sociologists, moral relativists, neo-Marxists, and other conquistadors of modern academia, call it "maintaining the natural order of the world."

Read "When Worlds Collide" by P.J. O'Rourke

Posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:51 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, May 26, 2008

Reason Nominated for 16 L.A. Press Club Awards

Reason brought in 16 award nominations from the Greater Southern California Press Club Awards. Winners will be announced June 21. Read the details.

Posted on Monday, May 26, 2008 at 9:33 AM | Comments (1) | Top

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Podcasting update

As you may know, I've begun narrating contemporary science fiction stories for the audio science fiction magazine StarShipSofa. (You can hear my narration of Elizabeth Bear's dystopian "And the Deep Blue Sea" here, and other narrations will go up soon.) As of today, I've also begun contributing an audio "article" for StarShipSofa's "Aural Delights" Wednesday program, in which I give my commentary about a topic related to the history of science fiction. These will run once a month. My first is available on today's show. (It begins approximately 10 minutes into the podcast.) If you listen, I hope you enjoy!

Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 10:13 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Russians Are Coming (To a Theater Near You)

Fyodor Bondarchuk is currently shooting a highly anticipated Russian science fiction epic entitled Inhabited Island. Rumor has it that it boasts one of the biggest budgets of any Russian film to date at $30 million. Release is scheduled for October 2008.

The movie is based upon the 1971 novel Prisoners of Power, a political satire of the Soviet regime written by science fiction legends Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

View the trailer.
Visit the official film website.

Posted on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 4:23 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Friday, February 15, 2008

What are the "must read" dystopias?

Watching all the presidential primary activity has made me think about political dystopias (hmm, I wonder why), which leads me to a question: What would you put on a "must read" list for great dystopian fiction?

Off the top of my head, I might start my list with these titles...

Read More...

Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008 at 2:44 PM | Comments (20) | Top

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Babes and Valentine's Day

Best wishes to all for a very happy Valentine's Day!

Just in time for the holiday, The City Paper reflects on the recent history of popular culture, celebrating "Women of the Years: 20 Babes Whose Babeness Matters."

Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 7:29 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Interviews

Just a quick note re: two forthcoming radio interviews of mine. Both will be available online.

Read More...

Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

In/Near NC? You're invited!

You are cordially invited to discover America through the eyes of its first peoples via the First American: Voices Film Series, a joint effort between Lenoir-Rhyne College and the Women's Resource Center. Both events are free and open to the public.

Voices Poster

Date: Wednesday, February 27, 6:30pm
Place: Auditorium, United Arts Council of Catawba County in Hickory, NC


At 6:30pm, see a performance by the All Nations Drum and Performers of Cherokee, NC.
At 7pm, see a screening of Four Sheets to the Wind. This Native-produced film had its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where Tamara Podemski (Saulteaux) won the Special Jury Award for Acting. Director Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek) is a Sundance Institute Annenberg Fellow and a 2006 Renew Media Fellow. Producer Chad Burris (Chickasaw) has been a selected to participate in Sundance Institute's Producers Lab. This film follows the drama of one family living in contemporary Native America and is rated R.


Date: Thursday, February 28, 6:30pm
Place: Belk Centrum, Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, NC


At 6:30pm, see a scholarly presentation by Dr. Amy H. Sturgis, who will be signing copies of her book, The Trail of Tears and Indian Removal, at the end of the event.
At 7pm, see a screening of The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy. This Native-produced documentary is endorsed both by the Eastern Band of Cherokees and by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. It is presented by Wes Studi (Cherokee), and it has won an impressive array of awards, including the Silver World Medal for History (New York Festivals, 2007), the Silver Film Award (Telly Awards, 2007), Best Documentary (American Indian Film Festival, 2006), the Founder’s Award (International Cherokee Film Festival, 2006), and Best Feature Documentary (Native American Music Awards, 2007), among others.


For more information, see the Voices Film Series blog. Check back for additional updates!

Posted on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 7:15 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

A Good Time to Remember Standing Bear

"A Good Time to Remember Standing Bear" By Kevin Abourezk

Posted on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 10:02 AM | Comments (0) | Top

New interview

As of this morning, there's a new interview with me here, in which I discuss my latest projects and appearances, Native issues, and yes, even the Liberty & Power blog.

Just FYI. Thanks for tolerating my shamelessness. :)

Posted on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 9:21 AM | Comments (2) | Top

Thursday, January 17, 2008

A New Outlet for Aboriginal Cinema

Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk and his co-producer Norman Cohn grabbed worldwide attention for their film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) when it won a medal at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, but neither expected the accolades and attention to trickle down to others telling aboriginal stories.

That's why the two have started a new service allowing such filmmakers from around the world to share and show their work on a website that could become the YouTube of aboriginal cinema.

The duo's new website, called Isuma.tv, has already gathered 100 films and videos from four countries in the four weeks since it began.

The offerings, all free to watch online, range from complete versions of Kunuk's features Atanarjuat and The Journals of Knud Rasmussen to accounts of a Swedish Sami girl's efforts to learn her native language.

Read more here.

Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 6:42 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945

The Times has ranked its picks for "The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945" here. What do you think?

I decided I would make a list of My Top Ten Favorite British Writers since 1945.

Of those I chose, four were on the list by The Times:
J.R.R. Tolkien
George Orwell
J.K. Rowling
J.G. Ballard

Six, however, were not:
Mary Renault
Daphne du Maurier
Neil Gaiman
John Wyndham
Olaf Stapledon
Douglas Adams

Posted on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 1:10 PM | Comments (13) | Top

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Is Russell Means Headed for Jail?

For earlier posts on the unfolding situation with the Lakota Freedom Movement, see here and here.

The controversy continues (as of Jan. 4):
"Legitimacy of 'Republic of Lakotah' Questioned" (from Indian Country Today)

Posted on Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Shameless self-promotion

I have three news items to share with you, if you'll please overlook the shameless self-promotion:

1. My forthcoming book, Tecumseh: A Biography, is now available for pre-order directly from Greenwood Press and from Amazon.com.

2. Pop Thought has just conducted a new interview with me (published Jan. 3, 2008) about the book. You can read it here.

3. Also today, Sword of Gryffindor posted a new review of my Past Watchful Dragons: Fantasy and Faith in the World of C.S. Lewis book here.

4. I will be interviewed on Woodland Star New Radio (which is accessible via computer here) on January 6, 2008 at 6:55pm EST for approximately 40 minutes about my scholarly work regarding J.R.R. Tolkien. The show is entitled "An Afternoon of Wandering with Frodo and Dr. Amy H. Sturgis through Mirkwood Forest." Listeners can email questions before the interview (woodlandstar@hotmail.com) or call in live to ask questions during the interview.

Read More...

Posted on Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 8:30 AM | Comments (5) | Top

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

An Update on the Lakota Freedom Movement

For my original post about this topic, see here.

Since Russell Means (who, as some of you may recall, challenged Ron Paul for the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party for the 1988 election) and the Lakota Freedom Movement announced plans to take historic action to reclaim freedom under natural, international, and U.S. law, a debate has raged about who legitimately represents the Lakota Sioux.

Suzan Shown Harjo, President of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., named Russell Means and the Lakota Freedom Movement to her "Mantle of Shame" Awards for 2007, saying: "News flash to Means: treaties are made between nations; you are a person and not a nation; you are not empowered to speak from the Great Sioux Nation...."

However, on Dec. 27, news broke that suggested that Means' approach does have some resonance with, if not support from, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council: "Tribe Official Says Council Will Consider Treaty Pullout." To quote, "Avis Little Eagle says she understands the frustration that led Lakota activists to announce a plan to withdraw from the tribe’s treaties with the U.S. government. However, the vice chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council advocates holding the federal government to the provisions in those treaties, rather than withdrawing from them."

Means has responded by dismissing the legitimacy of the current American Indian tribal governments recognized under U.S. law, terming their members "those Vichy Indians, collaborators, beggars": "Delegates Announce Pullout from U.S. Treaties."

Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 12:29 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Lakota Freedom Movement

During December 17th-22nd and beyond, the Lakota Freedom Delegation to Washington, D.C. is taking historic action to reclaim freedom under natural, international, and U.S. law, while developing diplomatic relations with the Family of Nations.

Visit the Lakota Freedom website.

Read press coverage:
* "Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse Break Away from U.S."
* "Lakota Group Pushes for New Nation"
* "Lakota Indians Withdraw Treaties Signed With U.S. 150 Years Ago"

Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 8:30 AM | Comments (2) | Top

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Alien Nation?

Have the worlds of science fiction and presidential politics ever been more closely aligned than they were in 2007?

Read "Planetary Politics" by Dave Itzkoff from The New York Times.

Posted on Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 6:06 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Congrats to the LockeSmith Blog!

In the few short months since I first recommended the LockeSmith Institute's brand new blog, it has met a warm reception, making CurrencyTrading.Net's list of the Top 100 Academic Blogs Every Professional Investor Should Read and Bootstrapper's list of the 100 .Edu Sites Every Entrepreneur Should Read. Well done!

Read the LockeSmith Blog here.

Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 3:07 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Floyd Red Crow Westerman, R.I.P.

Floyd Red Crow Westerman has died at the age of 71.

Westerman is best known as a musician and as an actor who appeared in over 50 films and televison productions, including Dances with Wolves, Hidalgo, DreamKeeper, and multiple episodes of The X-Files. In 2006, he won a NAMMY Award for his third album.

Beyond being an entertainer, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Westerman was an activist, a member of the American Indian Movement and a spokesman for the International Indian Treaty Council. His first album, Custer Died for Your Sins, provided a theme and slogan for the Red Power Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Read his obituary here at Native American Times.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 2:05 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Sovereignty revisited

Steve Russell is a Texas trial court judge, an associate professor of criminal justice at Indiana University at Bloomington, and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

His recent article is "The Politics of Foreign Aid":

What, I have been asked by many readers, does an Oklahoma Choctaw do when effectively barred from running for office? What do tribal citizens do when disenrolled, whether the purpose is to grow the per caps for those remaining or to rid the administration of a voting bloc based on race?

Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 1:57 PM | Comments (2) | Top

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The LockeSmith Institute - new blog

The LockeSmith Institute, which seeks to promote the scholarship of classical liberalism through the exploration of the principles of individualism, private property and the free market, the rule of law, and social toleration, now has a new bag - blog, that is.

Visit The LockeSmith Blog.

Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 6:10 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Jane Eyre, Hannibal Lecter, and the Welfare State?

Upward Mobility and the Common Good: Toward a Literary History of the Welfare State by Bruce Robbins is new from Princeton University Press (July 2007):

We think we know what upward mobility stories are about--virtuous striving justly rewarded, or unprincipled social climbing regrettably unpunished. Either way, these stories seem obviously concerned with the self-making of self-reliant individuals rather than with any collective interest. In Upward Mobility and the Common Good, Bruce Robbins completely overturns these assumptions to expose a hidden tradition of erotic social interdependence at the heart of the literary canon.

Reinterpreting novels by figures such as Balzac, Stendhal, Charlotte Brontë, Dickens, Dreiser, Wells, Doctorow, and Ishiguro, along with a number of films, Robbins shows how deeply the material and erotic desires of upwardly mobile characters are intertwined with the aid they receive from some sort of benefactor or mentor. In his view, Hannibal Lecter of
The Silence of the Lambs becomes a key figure of social mobility in our time. Robbins argues that passionate and ambiguous relationships (like that between Lecter and Clarice Starling) carry the upward mobility story far from anyone's simple self-interest, whether the protagonist's or the mentor's. Robbins concludes that upward mobility stories have paradoxically helped American and European society make the transition from an ethic of individual responsibility to one of collective accountability, a shift that made the welfare state possible, but that also helps account for society's fascination with cases of sexual abuse and harassment by figures of authority.

Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 at 8:37 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, July 30, 2007

Book Announcement

I am very pleased to announce the publication of Past Watchful Dragons: Fantasy and Faith in the World of C.S. Lewis.

This volume provides a broad sample of the research presented at the "Past Watchful Dragons: Fantasy and Faith in the World of C.S. Lewis" international conference held at Belmont University on November 3-5, 2005. The contributing scholars reflect a truly interdisciplinary discussion representing the fields of literature, theology, history, and popular culture. The assembled essays offer insights on the messages of C.S. Lewis's fiction and nonfiction, the dramatic adaptations of his work, the influence of his faith, and his relevance to related fantasy literature and authors from J.R.R. Tolkien to J.K. Rowling.

Of particular interest to those at Liberty and Power may be chapters about Lewis's commentary on Empire, Lewis's conception of compensational justice, and J.K. Rowling's exploration of feminism in the Harry Potter book series.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Past Watchful Dragons is now available from Mythopoeic Press and Amazon.com.

Read More...

Posted on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 10:09 AM | Comments (2) | Top

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Standing Silent Nation - a recommendation

I highly recommend checking out the website for Standing Silent Nation, a new independent documentary about one Oglala Sioux family's legal and political battle to rise above poverty and be economically self-sufficient by raising industrial hemp, and the government's efforts to stand in their way. Read more.

Posted on Saturday, July 28, 2007 at 12:40 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Friday, July 27, 2007

Harry Potter and the Libertarian Love

What are some scholars saying about the political implications of the Harry Potter series?

Posted on Friday, July 27, 2007 at 11:49 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Daniel Day-Lewis, American historian

"...the Day-Lewis message is not a particularly fashionable one in the academy. In the long, ongoing argument about whether the heroic individual or the impersonal process shapes history, the pendulum has long lingered on the latter."

New from Common-Place:

"National Character: Daniel Day-Lewis, American historian" by Jim Cullen

Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 1:19 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Happy 100th Birthday, Robert Heinlein!

Happy 100 to the Grand Master himself, and one of my very favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein.

Recent articles:
* "Heinleiniana" by John Derbyshire
* “'We must ride the lightning': Robert Heinlein and American spaceflight" by Dwayne A Day
* "In A Strange Land" by John J. Miller
* "Heinlein's Ghost" by Dwayne A. Day
* "Robert Heinlein at One Hundred" by Ted Gioia

For additional information:
The Heinlein Society
The Robert A. Heinlein Page
Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Website

TANSTAAFL!

Posted on Saturday, July 7, 2007 at 9:51 AM | Comments (1) | Top

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Have Ayn Rand, Will Not Travel

From The Chronicle of Higher Education today:
"Tenure Shrugged: A Scholar's Affinity for the Philosophy of Ayn Rand Cost Him His Job"

Posted on Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 8:54 AM | Comments (9) | Top

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Did Yale's Skull & Bones Society Steal Geronimo's Skull and Bones?

Legend has it that Yale University's ultrasecret Skull and Bones society swiped the remains of American Indian leader Geronimo nearly a century ago from an Army outpost in Oklahoma.

Now, Geronimo's great-grandson wants the remains returned....

President Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, both attended Yale and joined the elite club. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, is also a Bonesman, as are many other men in powerful government and industry positions.


Read "Geronimo's Heir Seeks Legend's Remains From Yale" from CBS.

See also "Grandson of Geronimo Asks Secret Society at Yale to Return Warrior's Bones" from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 7:56 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Thursday, June 14, 2007

"unmixed and unaccountable evil"

Deeply controversial in the 19th century for its honest treatment of the subjects of divorce, unwed pregnancy, and class politics - North American Review called it "A wild phantasmagoria of unmixed and unaccountable evil" - The Magic Goblet was nonetheless one of Emilie Flygare-Carlén's most popular works. Flygare-Carlén, once widely read and highly regarded both in her native Sweden and across the English-speaking world, often considered the first professional Swedish novelist and one of the first great women authors, has long since fallen into obscurity. Recently her work has received new attention from scholars in Sweden, and now Valancourt Books offers a new edition to give English-speaking readers the opportunity to rediscover this important, fascinating, and subversive writer.

(Please excuse the personal plug!)

Visit Valancourt books here and read more about the novel here.

Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 10:01 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Beijing bans scary stories to protect young

"China's capital is seizing ghost and horror books from shops to protect the 'physical and mental health' of its youngsters, local media said on Tuesday."

Read the entire article.

Clearly the authorities missed the insight of C.S. Lewis in "On Three Ways of Writing for Children": "A far more serious attack on... children’s literature comes from those who do not wish children to be frightened... that we must try to keep out of his mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil... [This] would indeed be to give children a false impression and feed them on escapism in the bad sense. There is something ludicrous in the idea of so educating a generation which is born to the Ogpu and the atomic bomb."

Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 8:15 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, April 30, 2007

Libertarian Futurist Society blog

The Libertarian Futurist Society has a new blog here.

Posted on Monday, April 30, 2007 at 7:18 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Friday, April 27, 2007

An invitation for those in/near Nashville, TN

On May 8, 2007 at 7:00pm, join the Tennessee Center for Policy Research and ABC News 20/20 reporter John Stossel for an evening of delicious food, refreshing libations and stimulating conversation as John exposes the errors behind hundreds of media-generated myths—and reveals that the truth is often the opposite of what we've been taught to believe.

Stossel, the winner of 19 Emmys and five awards for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club, will discuss his impressive and irreverent career in television journalism, and expound on his many high profile dust-ups and years of unearthing politically incorrect dirt.

His irrepressible penchant for skewering sacred cows and shattering the herd mentality culminates in his new book, Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity.

Find more information on the "Freedom and Its Enemies" event here.

Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 10:54 AM | Comments (2) | Top

Monday, April 23, 2007

Virginia Tech, Artistic Freedom, & Implications for Teaching/Writing Genre Fiction

Marleen Barr, a genre scholar who taught at Virginia Tech for 14 years, has written a thought-provoking letter to Locus about last week's shooting massacre and its implications for the writing and teaching of genre fiction.

...If Stephen King enters a time machine, appears in Nikki's class as a young student, and writes as he customarily does, could Lucinda as department head justifiably remove him from class? Or, more generally speaking, consider this possible story opening: Once upon a time, feminist extraterrestrials killed all the male human astronauts who landed on their feminist utopian planet. Should the author of this sentence be barred from Cape Canaveral because she poses a clear and present danger to male astronauts? [Please know that on the evening after I wrote this sentence, Larry King reported that a shooting incident had occurred at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. I did not for a moment worry that a feminist science fiction writer was responsible for this act.] Or, more personally speaking, the penultimate scene of Oy Pioneer! describes the feminist protagonist's extraterrestrial clones arriving in spaceships to circle the Blackhole State University administration building. Thus it is. What would happen if Marleen S. Barr had written this scene post April 16, 2007 instead of when she was thirty-four years old?

Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 8:53 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, April 16, 2007

Ed Kramer's Long Wait for Justice

Dark Echo points out that anthologist and former VP of the Horror Writers of America, Ed Kramer, remains under house arrest in Georgia after seven years, charged with aggravated child molestation but never tried (and suffering from brain damage after an attack by a jail guard).

Seven years is a long time to wait for a trial, especially considering Georgia law presumes a violation of speedy trial rights for delays of over eight months between indictment and trial [Scandrett v. State, 279 Ga. 632 (2005)].

For more information:
"Truth, Justice, and Ed Kramer" from American Jewish Life
Ed Kramer Defense Site
Ed Kramer Official Site

Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | Top

No bliss in feds' marriage initiative

Re: The Native American Healthy Marriages Initiative, managed by the Administration for Native Americans:

The third theme gets to the real point of the report: ''Marriage seems to be particularly important in civilizing men, turning their attention away from dangerous, antisocial, or self-centered activities and towards the needs of a family.''

Excuse me, but did you just suggest that men of color are uncivilized? Indeed they did, on top of ''dangerous,'' ''antisocial'' and ''self-centered.'' The report's fourth theme elaborates these ideas in a manner I can only describe as bizarre: ''Marriage influences the biological functioning of adults and children in ways that can have important social consequences. For instance, marriage appears to drive down testosterone levels in men, with clear consequences for their propensity to aggression.''

My question is this: Are we equally concerned with the testosterone levels of other men, say, aggressive stock traders or the paladins orchestrating the war on terrorism?


Read "No bliss in feds' marriage initiative" by Scott Richard Lyons here.

Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 9:58 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Robert A. Heinlein on the 'Net

This month's Asimov's Science Fiction includes an excellent review of online Heinlein sources and resources: "On the Net: RAH."

Posted on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Thursday, April 12, 2007

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007)

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General...

U.S. author Kurt Vonnegut, born 1922, died yesterday at the age of 84. His novels include such titles as Player Piano (1952), The Sirens of Titan (1959), Cat's Cradle (1963), God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), and Slaughterhouse Five (1969), and others, along with later works Galapagos (1985) and Timequake (1997). His short story "Harrison Bergeron," quoted above, is widely regarded as a classic political dystopian work.

Read the New York Times obituary.

Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 9:34 AM | Comments (4) | Top

Monday, April 9, 2007

Heinlein Turns 100

2007 marks the centennial of the birth of the Grand Master himself, and one of my very favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein.

Recent articles:
"Heinlein's Ghost" by Dwayne A. Day
"Robert Heinlein at One Hundred" by Ted Gioia

For additional information:
The Heinlein Society
The Robert A. Heinlein Page
Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Website

TANSTAAFL!

Posted on Monday, April 9, 2007 at 7:38 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, March 26, 2007

Harry Potter, Legally Speaking

Now that excitement for the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is at a fever pitch, it is worth noting that the Harry Potter and the Law issue of Texas Wesleyan Law Review is now online. Its excellent essays include "Making Legal Space for Moral Choice" by my friend Andy Morriss of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and "Harry Potter and the Miserable Ministry of Magic" by Benjamin H. Barton of University of Tennessee College of Law, among others.

Posted on Monday, March 26, 2007 at 8:55 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Prometheus Award Nominees Named

The Libertarian Futurist Society has named the finalists for this year's Prometheus Award:
Empire, Orson Scott Card
The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi
Glasshouse, Charles Stross
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge
Harbingers, F. Paul Wilson

Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 6:18 PM | Comments (3) | Top

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Who is John Horse?

John Horse's story feels like an answer to every Hollywood studio's wish list: a mix of Spartacus, Braveheart, Amistad, and Glory, with just a pinch of Dances With Wolves. A sweeping tale of a decades-long struggle against oppression, the movie would show how Horse and the Black Seminoles created the largest haven for runaway slaves in the American South, led the biggest slave revolt in U.S. history, won the only emancipation of rebellious North American slaves before the Civil War, and formed the largest mass exodus of slaves in U.S. history....

Read "Florida's Forgotten Rebels" at Reason Online.

Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 1:37 PM | Comments (2) | Top

Thursday, March 8, 2007

R.I.P., Captain America (1941-2007)?

The New York Daily News yesterday ran the exclusive story that Captain America, the Marvel Comics superhero created in March 1941 and touted as the original sentinel of liberty, was shot dead by a sniper in Captain America #25 (which also debuted yesterday). The shooting follows Captain America's arrest at the end of the Civil War storyline, in which Iron Man and the forces of law and order defeated Captain America's underdog band of freedom fighters.

His death is sure to ignite controversy in the comic book world - still reeling from Superman's death in 1993 and resurrection the following year - and even political pundits, who may see Captain America's demise as an allegory for the United States.

"It's a hell of a time for him to go. We really need him now," said co-creator Joe Simon, 93, after being informed of his brainchild's death.


Posted on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 1:46 PM | Comments (6) | Top

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Libertarianism in Mainstream Science Fiction

"People whose basic political philosophy is flatly incompatible with libertarianism will continue to find the SF mainstream an uncomfortable place to be."

Eric S. Raymond's essay "A Political History of Science Fiction" is making the rounds again.

Posted on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 at 12:02 PM | Comments (4) | Top

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Trail of Tears as a Turning Point

The story of the Trail of Tears (1838-1839) continues to command attention and remain relevant because, from a variety of perspectives, its represents a turning point in history.

Viewed as an event on the world stage, the Trail of Tears supplies one example of the ongoing phenomenon of ethnic cleansing.

The Trail of Tears was a watershed national event for the United States in two key ways. First, removal signaled a radical departure from previous U.S. policy towards American Indians. Second, the Trail of Tears marked a somewhat uneasy transition in U.S. political thought from Jeffersonianism to Jacksonianism.

Obviously the Trail of Tears marked a turning point for the Cherokee Nation, as it meant the loss of Cherokee lands and many Cherokee lives, and the challenge of creating a new existence and constitution in Indian Territory. But removal also meant political upheaval for the Cherokees, as violent change underscored the conflicts between preexisting factions and their differing conceptions of Cherokee civilization.

FYI, I discuss these issues and others in my new intellectual history of removal, out this week with Greenwood: The Trail of Tears and Indian Removal.

Posted on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 at 12:44 PM | Comments (2) | Top

Sunday, October 8, 2006

What is Columbus Day doing to "Americans"?

A new article by Scott Richard Lyons of St. John Fisher College:
"What Columbus Day does to Americans?"

Excerpt:
Indeed, one might observe that these Columbian imperialist values are diametrically opposed to the more Jeffersonian American values of democracy, liberty and equality.... There is no room for American Indian history, the past that we're still living today, in official commemorations of Columbus. The same can be said for Americans of any ethnic persuasion who detest imperialism, whether in the Americas, Vietnam, or the Middle East.

Posted on Sunday, October 8, 2006 at 7:07 PM | Comments (4) | Top

Thursday, October 5, 2006

the "one book" meme

I've been tagged! Here goes.

Read More...

Posted on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 1:54 PM | Comments (1) | Top

Monday, September 25, 2006

Banned Books Week

According to the American Library Association, September 23-30 is Banned Books Week.

Here's the ALA's list of the top 10 most challenged books of this century so far:

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
The Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
The Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
Forever by Judy Blume


Posted on Monday, September 25, 2006 at 12:50 PM | Comments (3) | Top

Monday, September 11, 2006

Vermont Eugenics Program in the news

The first recipients of the American Indian Youth Literature Award include a book on the Vermont Eugenics Program. Hidden Roots is written by Joseph Bruchac and published by Scholastic Press. The book is set within the historical framework of the Vermont Eugenics Program, a Native American sterilization program in the 1930s, and tells the story of the haunting effects of this shameful and tragic deed on one of the Abenaki families victimized by it. Author of more than 70 books for adults and children, Bruchac is of Abenaki ancestry and is a nationally recognized professional storyteller living in Greenfield Center, New York.

Read More...

Posted on Monday, September 11, 2006 at 9:22 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Prometheus 2006 Awards Winners Announced

The Libertarian Futurist Society presented its annual Prometheus Awards in three categories Aug. 25 at the World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, Calif.

Read More...

Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 at 9:34 AM | Comments (1) | Top

Saturday, August 12, 2006

TV Watchers Watch TV

From Vinay Menon of The Toronto Star, Aug. 10:

In our culture of default victimhood, those who advocate nanny-state regulations enjoy playing the blame game because it advances their own special interests. TV is a reliable scapegoat.

Read the article.

Posted on Saturday, August 12, 2006 at 11:56 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Who's Afraid of the Big Question?

In his essay "The Little Picture," historian Edward Gray considers the state of the history profession and admits, "I have found myself drawn once again to the likes of Tocqueville, particularly the impulse—which he was the first to yield to in any serious way—to ask, 'What does America mean?'"

Read "The Little Picture" by Edward Gray from the July 2006 issue of Common-Place.



Posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 1:53 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Friday, July 14, 2006

The Cherokee Nation - Exercising Its Sovereignty

In May 2003, citizens of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma voted to remove the U.S. federal approval clause from their 1975 Constitution. The clause stated that no amendment or new constitution shall be effective without presidential approval.

Principal Chief Chad Smith said the Cherokee Nation was exercising its sovereignty by approving the new constitution without federal approval and has received all proper approvals by passing a vote of the Cherokee people in July 2003.

Now, by a 2-1 decision, the Cherokee Judicial Appeals Tribunal has ruled that the Cherokee Nation's 2003 Constitution is effective and the tribe's governing law.

Read more.

Posted on Friday, July 14, 2006 at 6:05 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Saturday, July 8, 2006

A word of thanks...

It's been a big week for me, and I wanted to thank publicly Heren Istarion, The Northeast Tolkien Society and its international membership for honoring me with the 2006 Imperishable Flame Award for Tolkien/Inklings Scholarship. It's all the more meaningful to receive this honor on the week when Valancourt Books and I have celebrated the launch of our newest project, the first scholarly English version of Baron de la Motte Fouqué's The Magic Ring (and the first reprint of this English translation in over one and a half centuries).

Thanks to all for the encouragement and support!

Read More...

Posted on Saturday, July 8, 2006 at 7:03 PM | Comments (4) | Top

Why Are Indigenous (American Indian) Soldiers Serving in Iraq?

An open letter from Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Ph.D., the Founder and Director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples' Critical and Intuitive Thinking (CIPCIT) and Associate Professor of Indigenous Nations Studies at The University of Kansas:

Read More...

Posted on Saturday, July 8, 2006 at 6:49 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Release of Open Letter on Immigration

The Independent Institute has just released its Open Letter on Immigration to President Bush and Congress on the economics of immigration. The Open Letter on Immigration has been signed by 500+ American economists and other scholars, including five Nobel Laureates, plus more than 40 scholars from other countries.

The media release for the Open Letter

The Open Letter, followed by the complete list of signatories

Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at 8:11 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Write Fiction, Expect the Police

"Philip Sandifer is the U Fla grad student in Gainesville from whom the campus police demanded DNA and fingerprints. Sandifer had published a short story about a murderer who cites his crimes in a letter to the Special Forces as qualifications for a job with them. The cops' rationale was that even if it was fiction, you can't be too safe, and besides, they didn't think that English students should be writing about murder."

Lawyer demands U Fla cops' documents on fiction writer
U. Florida cops ask fiction writer for fingerprints, DNA
Police Harassment 2
Police Harassment

Posted on Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 4:31 PM | Comments (2) | Top

Monday, May 8, 2006

You can't take the sky from me.

Joss Whedon's 2005 film Serenity, the companion piece to his television series Firefly, has won this year's Nebula Award.

Why people interested in liberty and power should care.

Why people interested in film should care.

Posted on Monday, May 8, 2006 at 7:12 PM | Comments (2) | Top

Friday, May 5, 2006

Rights Under Attack

This year marks the tenth anniversary of PhreakNIC, the event that began as the largest U.S. hacker convention east of the Mississippi, and evolved into a national technology and culture symposium with a distinct cyberpunk mentality. This year's theme is "Rights Under Attack."

Last year's focus was surveillance. Artist Todd Lyles set the tone with his striking parody of Uncle Sam: "I Watch You."

Posted on Friday, May 5, 2006 at 5:48 PM | Comments (0) | Top

It Takes A Village?

It's official: Christopher Eccleston, recently the ninth Dr. Who, will take on the role of Number Six in "Sky One's biggest drama commission ever," the six-part remake of The Prisoner (due for broadcast in 2007).

There's no word yet if the 21st-century Prisoner will be as overtly libertarian as Patrick McGoohan's original anti-authoritarian classic.

Posted on Friday, May 5, 2006 at 5:10 PM | Comments (6) | Top

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006)

One of the world's leading science fiction writers, Polish author Stanislaw Lem, died on Monday in Krakow. During World War II, Lem was a resistance fighter against the Nazis; he used science fiction because he felt he could communicate his controversial ideas more freely through the genre, often under the radar of the communist regime of the People's Republic of Poland (though he did face censorship at times). His stories - nearly 30,000,000 copies in all - have been published in over 40 languages.

Additional information on Lem:
Wikipedia
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Lem's Website
CNN
Reuters

Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 at 9:01 AM | Comments (7) | Top

Monday, March 27, 2006

If you liked The Lord of the Rings...

Available for the first time in 181 years, The Magic Ring by Baron de la Motte-Fouqué is an epic masterpiece.

Read More...

Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 at 10:30 AM | Comments (6) | Top

Monday, March 13, 2006

Cherokee Nation Rules on Freedmen Case

The highest court of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has reversed a prior ruling and opened the door for descendants of freedmen (black slaves owned by Cherokees) to pursue Cherokee citizenship.

Further reading:
The Allen v. Ummerteskee decision (PDF)

"Jim Crow and the Indians" Salon.com article on the Allen v. Ummerteskee case

Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 at